Wigan vs roosters

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
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EagleEyePie
Posts: 434
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 9:42 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by EagleEyePie »

We were always going to struggle against a Roosters side packed with stars but to have the best chance we needed to be aggressive in defence and flawless in terms of errors. The start was an absolute disaster and I feared the worst at that point.

It's early days, but a worry for me is that our line speed and overall aggression in defence seems to have disappeared over the off-season. In the early stages they just didn't look fired up and let the Roosters walk all over us. Thankfully thanks to a little bit of a flare up we found some aggression and came back into the game.

I thought Sean O'Loughlin was outstanding as you'd expect. Sarginson had one of his best games and deserves huge praise for his defensive effort because he's been criticised quite a bit for that aspect of his game. Williams was mostly good and I thought Bullock once again showed why he could be the signing of the season.

However, there were far too many areas where we struggled. Our long kicking game was non-existent. That's not really a surprise but it's frustrating that we didn't get to see what Sammut could add. It was back to the bad old days with Leuluai. Losing Tomkins is another blow to our kicking game because Hardaker's kicking is poor.

On the subject of Hardaker, there are some promising signs there but at times he was poor and looked nervy. He was lucky not to cost us on a couple of occasions and if we don't find a bit more creativity in the halves we could struggle because he doesn't seem to have much ball playing ability.

Farrell was dangerous in attack but hearing he could be out for quite a while with a torn bicep is a blow. Yes, we may have been dodgy in defence on that side but that was mostly to do with Leuluai, Gildart and Davies. The prospect of having Isa fill in is worrying because he's just a passenger in most games and adds nothing.

We really needed more from the front row. Flower was fine but Clubb may as well have not been there. I know he suffered a concussion in one game but overall he's offered nothing at all this season and has barely been able to play a decent amount of minutes. Navarrete didn't impress either so there's definitely room for improvement there. Dare I say Tautai might be worth another shot to see whether we can get a bit more out of him under Lam than Wane.

Tom Davies looks to be having a tough start the season. You can never fault his effort but he's becoming error prone and a little bit shaky with kicks (not that he could have prevented Tupou's try). Marshall seems to be doing a little bit better. Hopefully Manfredi will return soon but if not surely Davies might be under a bit of pressure from Forsyth (playing on the wing for Swinton and seems to be impressing), Brown or even Mullen.

Gildart struggled, which is a surprise given how he looked pretty solid defensively for England. He could be one of those players who has a difficult start to the year after playing in the international games. A few years back when we have about 5 or 6 playing for England they all started the season in poor form. These things can happen but hopefully he finds form again soon.

Leuluai put some good shots in when defending in their half but he was exposed for pace several times tonight. That's probably one of the reasons why he was earmarked for a return to the hooking role and I'd love to see that happen sooner rather than later, as for all the effort Powell puts in he just doesn't have enough about him to cause teams problems.

Overall it was a decent effort after the shambolic start, but we were still our own worst enemy and needed a performance were everyone was on top of their game to really trouble the Roosters and sadly that wasn't the case.
doc
Posts: 1795
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 10:08 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by doc »

We got torn apart on our right edge. It's no coincidence that we have moved Gilly and Farrell from left to right to accommodate Greenwood and Sarge. While their attack is passable they are not used to defending that side of the field and need to alter their favoured leading shoulder in the tackle.

Sadly it would appear that we have to make a decision on whether Gilly or Sarge plays on the left with Hankinson, who is a natural right centre, playing on the other side. For me Sarge was our MOM tonight so it would have to be Gilly who misses out.

John Winder said that the shoulder injury that Farrell picked up wasn't looking good but they would have to wait for his scan results so less of a selection problem wrt 2nd row. I guess Isa will take the right second row spot until Faz is fit despite having a shocker tonight.

Navarette has reverted to his 2017 form so we should give Tautai a chance next week.
The Yonner
Posts: 104
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 10:02 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by The Yonner »

I wasn't too disappointed overall, but the most obvious areas where Sydney were superior were the halves and hooker.

Of course we already knew that, and as others have posted, Lam really must consider introducing Sammut and Leuluai to hooker.

The last tackle kicks were poor again, especially the one from Williams in the first half when he kicked for touch. Surely Sammut can do better.
Woody1989
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:16 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by Woody1989 »

Absolute joke. Gildart and Davies should hang their heads in shame for that performance. Every try down their wing. As for Lam, where is this free-flowing attacking rugby he promised? No idea in attack, no one running onto Williams's passes and kicks, 4 forwards on the bench so no one who could change the play. We needed Escare tonight.

At least Wane had them drilled defensively!
shaunedwardsfanclub
Posts: 6338
Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 2:08 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by shaunedwardsfanclub »

doc wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:56 pm We got torn apart on our right edge. It's no coincidence that we have moved Gilly and Farrell from left to right to accommodate Greenwood and Sarge. While their attack is passable they are not used to defending that side of the field and need to alter their favoured leading shoulder in the tackle.

Sadly it would appear that we have to make a decision on whether Gilly or Sarge plays on the left with Hankinson, who is a natural right centre, playing on the other side. For me Sarge was our MOM tonight so it would have to be Gilly who misses out.

John Winder said that the shoulder injury that Farrell picked up wasn't looking good but they would have to wait for his scan results so less of a selection problem wrt 2nd row. I guess Isa will take the right second row spot until Faz is fit despite having a shocker tonight.

Navarette has reverted to his 2017 form so we should give Tautai a chance next week.
Isa is not good enough.
Winning is down to 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration - Shaun Edwards
Woody1989
Posts: 182
Joined: Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:16 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by Woody1989 »

doc wrote: Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:56 pm We got torn apart on our right edge. It's no coincidence that we have moved Gilly and Farrell from left to right to accommodate Greenwood and Sarge. While their attack is passable they are not used to defending that side of the field and need to alter their favoured leading shoulder in the tackle.

Sadly it would appear that we have to make a decision on whether Gilly or Sarge plays on the left with Hankinson, who is a natural right centre, playing on the other side. For me Sarge was our MOM tonight so it would have to be Gilly who misses out.

John Winder said that the shoulder injury that Farrell picked up wasn't looking good but they would have to wait for his scan results so less of a selection problem wrt 2nd row. I guess Isa will take the right second row spot until Faz is fit despite having a shocker tonight.

Navarette has reverted to his 2017 form so we should give Tautai a chance next week.
The fact that we have moved Gildart to right centre to accommodate an average-at-best player like Sarginson is nothing short of a joke. Hankinson needs to come in at right centre and Gildart moved to the left where he has proven to be most effective.
moto748
Posts: 4583
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:30 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by moto748 »

I'm not too dispirited by the result, but agree that ATEOTD Gildart is better on the left side, Poor defence in the first half cost us in a game where I expected our attack to be the problem but in fact it was our defence that let us down. I thought we looked fairly lively in attack, but we need to see what Sammut can bring to our long-kicking game, which was again poor.
old hooker
Posts: 1980
Joined: Fri Feb 24, 2006 5:53 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by old hooker »

Once again the Aussies proved they are so far ahead of us.Sarginson, Lockers and Greenwood played well, Davies and Gildart had shockers.Our front row were by battered by their props.Hardaker less than average.Williams had the chance to show if he is as good as some people think but he did nothing to say hes better than average.Take away his short kicking game and he offers very little.
Wintergreen
Posts: 1611
Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 2:13 pm

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by Wintergreen »

old hooker wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:29 am Once again the Aussies proved they are so far ahead of us.Sarginson, Lockers and Greenwood played well, Davies and Gildart had shockers.Our front row were by battered by their props.Hardaker less than average.Williams had the chance to show if he is as good as some people think but he did nothing to say hes better than average.Take away his short kicking game and he offers very little.
Pretty much agree with that, slightly more favourable to Williams though.

The reality is that unless the RFL increase the salary cap, then results like this are inevitable (or at least highly likely and to be expected).
fozzieskem
Posts: 6494
Joined: Sat May 14, 2016 10:54 am

Re: Wigan vs roosters

Post by fozzieskem »

Wintergreen wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:50 am
old hooker wrote: Mon Feb 18, 2019 6:29 am Once again the Aussies proved they are so far ahead of us.Sarginson, Lockers and Greenwood played well, Davies and Gildart had shockers.Our front row were by battered by their props.Hardaker less than average.Williams had the chance to show if he is as good as some people think but he did nothing to say hes better than average.Take away his short kicking game and he offers very little.
Pretty much agree with that, slightly more favourable to Williams though.

The reality is that unless the RFL increase the salary cap, then results like this are inevitable (or at least highly likely and to be expected).
Who’s to say that even if the SL (isn’t it the chairman who vote on an increase,I lose track with this nonsense)where to increase the cap would they spend up to it?

There seems to be more than a few clubs that don’t spend the cap now do it seems pointless to up it if it’s not being spent now.
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