NRL-bound Wigan coach Michael Maguire has defended his decision to impose a media ban on his players ahead of their Super League elimination semi-final with Catalan Dragons.

Maguire, who will coach South Sydney next year, believes talking to the media in the lead-up to Sunday's game would be a distraction for his players.

"It is an important week for us - we just want to make sure that our focus is completely on this game," he said.

Reigning champions Wigan, who fell 26-18 to St Helens in week one of the finals, come up against a Dragons side who are on a roll.

The Dragons are coming off a slashing 56-6 victory over Hull KR and veteran Australian Steve Menzies, who played 349 games for Manly in the NRL, called on his side to pick up where they left off last week.

"Our last month of football has been a little bit up and down but it was good to keep Hull KR to six points - that was good for our defence and was probably the biggest positive we took from the game," said 37-year-old Menzies.

"We started well against Hull KR and got the first try and just went from there. I thought our forwards were great and, when they are on form, we can compete against the best - we just need to keep doing that the further we get into the play-offs."

Huddersfield play Leeds in this weekend's other elimination semi-final.

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