WIGAN WARRIORS have suffered a double injury blow ahead of Friday’s trip to the Huddersfield Giants.

Head coach Shaun Wane has revealed props Paul Prescott and Ben Flower will both be sidelined for up to six weeks.

Prescott suffered knee ligament damage during Saturday’s Challenge up quarter-final triumph over St Helens, while Flower damaged a hamstring in the Under 20s against the same opposition the night before.

Their absences mean the Warriors could be lacking some firepower up front, especially as there’s also a question mark over the explosive Epalahame Lauaki, who suffered a bad mouth injury against Saints.

“Paul Prescott has damaged knee ligaments and is out for six weeks as is Ben who popped his hamstring in the 20s,” said Wane.

“He would have played against Huddersfield this week, so sadly those two are out for the foreseeable future.

“It does, however, give a chance to some of our youngsters. Gil Dudson and Dom Crosby and the like are ready to play and I have put pressure on our junior coaches to make sure these sort of players are up to speed and are ready to come into our team and are a good asset.”

But there is better news for Wane over the fitness of winger Darrell Goulding who is set to return on Friday following injury.

And the Wigan chief is delighted he’s back for what Wane knows will be a very tough test.

“We need to be as strong as we possibly can on Friday, because we’re facing such a good team,” said Wane.

“To be honest, as soon as we beat Saints in the Cup on Saturday we began to think about Huddersfield.”