21-man squad vs Hull KR

[Mickw]

I has to listen the game on radio today and when you listen it brings home how many penalties we give away or loose the ball. We really need to address this side of our game its been like this for years and never gets better.

The last year we were good at not giving penalties was when Maguire was coach.

Not long back from the game and the ref was awful. One penalty in particular was baffling. One of their players who hadn’t got the ball ran diagonally from left to right and ran into a Wigan player.

He was nowhere near the ball but the ref blew for a penalty.

I have been frustrated to see Wigan give away stupid penalties but today several were of the “what was that for?” variety.

The ref turned the game into a dour spectacle in my opinion. HKR we sometimes a good 5m offside so we struggled to get any moves on a lot of the time. That said we were also our own worst enemy at times with sloppy play from TL and Powell leading to interception tries. That was more of a concern for me than the penalties. Even so the number of penalties didn’t help the game flow so all in all two points but one to forget.

I thought Kenny Dowell was playing for us he was that far offside all game and was allowed to get away with it.

[bertina]

I has to listen the game on radio today and when you listen it brings home how many penalties we give away or loose the ball. We really need to address this side of our game its been like this for years and never gets better.

The last year we were good at not giving penalties was when Maguire was coach.

Not long back from the game and the ref was awful. One penalty in particular was baffling. One of their players who hadn’t got the ball ran diagonally from left to right and ran into a Wigan player.

He was nowhere near the ball but the ref blew for a penalty.

I have been frustrated to see Wigan give away stupid penalties but today several were of the “what was that for?” variety.

The ref turned the game into a dour spectacle in my opinion. HKR we sometimes a good 5m offside so we struggled to get any moves on a lot of the time. That said we were also our own worst enemy at times with sloppy play from TL and Powell leading to interception tries. That was more of a concern for me than the penalties. Even so the number of penalties didn’t help the game flow so all in all two points but one to forget.

I agree completely Dave. The ref had a shocker. I also think that it’s time we started with Smith. Tommy is now well past his sell by date. I think we missed Bullocks impact today as well. Don’t understand why he wasn’t in.

[ancientnloyal]

When we brought off Havard for Smith we had three half backs on... is the game changing that we don’t need a loose forward any more? Also we ended up with three props towards the end when Tommy went off.

[DaveO]

I has to listen the game on radio today and when you listen it brings home how many penalties we give away or loose the ball. We really need to address this side of our game its been like this for years and never gets better.

The last year we were good at not giving penalties was when Maguire was coach.

Not long back from the game and the ref was awful. One penalty in particular was baffling. One of their players who hadn’t got the ball ran diagonally from left to right and ran into a Wigan player.

He was nowhere near the ball but the ref blew for a penalty.

I have been frustrated to see Wigan give away stupid penalties but today several were of the “what was that for?” variety.

The ref turned the game into a dour spectacle in my opinion. HKR we sometimes a good 5m offside so we struggled to get any moves on a lot of the time. That said we were also our own worst enemy at times with sloppy play from TL and Powell leading to interception tries. That was more of a concern for me than the penalties. Even so the number of penalties didn’t help the game flow so all in all two points but one to forget.

I agree completely Dave. The ref had a shocker. I also think that it’s time we started with Smith. Tommy is now well past his sell by date. I think we missed Bullocks impact today as well. Don’t understand why he wasn’t in.

I agree with you about Tommy and that we could have done with Bullock. Hopefully he will play v Salford.

I was very surprised Tommy wasn’t subbed sooner and said so at the ground. His kicking was as bad as ever if not worse and he offered nothing with the ball. We looked disjointed and I think TL ‘s poor performance was a big reason for that.

[wall_of_voodoo]

When we brought off Havard for Smith we had three half backs on... is the game changing that we don’t need a loose forward any more? Also we ended up with three props towards the end when Tommy went off.

I think Powell was playing loose forward!

[Wiganer Ted]

Not a good game to watch.
Wigan appeared complacent from the start, whether that was down to Lam's team selection who knows?
Having Byrne & Partington as starting props gives the wrong impression. We need at least one senior starting prop and we had little or no go forward and HKR were full of enthusiasm from the start and never lost it.

Bewildering decisions throughout unsettled both teams and it proves that three referees don't work. We had an inexperienced ref but having Hicks and Child telling him what to do seemed to make matters worse than they otherwise would have been.

At Salford on Friday Lam has to start with a senior prop and hopefully Smith will get on from the begining. TL was taken off after kicking out on the full so perhaps Lam finally admitted to himself that Tommy's kicking game is simply not good enough. We were also more fluent with Smith on as he links with Hastings better than TL does.

Two points put us in a good place but anyone who was there knows how much we have to improve.

[wall_of_voodoo]

Not long back from the game and the ref was awful. One penalty in particular was baffling. One of their players who hadn’t got the ball ran diagonally from left to right and ran into a Wigan player.

He was nowhere near the ball but the ref blew for a penalty.

I have been frustrated to see Wigan give away stupid penalties but today several were of the “what was that for?” variety.

The ref turned the game into a dour spectacle in my opinion. HKR we sometimes a good 5m offside so we struggled to get any moves on a lot of the time. That said we were also our own worst enemy at times with sloppy play from TL and Powell leading to interception tries. That was more of a concern for me than the penalties. Even so the number of penalties didn’t help the game flow so all in all two points but one to forget.

I agree completely Dave. The ref had a shocker. I also think that it’s time we started with Smith. Tommy is now well past his sell by date. I think we missed Bullocks impact today as well. Don’t understand why he wasn’t in.

I agree with you about Tommy and that we could have done with Bullock. Hopefully he will play v Salford.

I was very surprised Tommy wasn’t subbed sooner and said so at the ground. His kicking was as bad as ever if not worse and he offered nothing with the ball. We looked disjointed and I think TL ‘s poor performance was a big reason for that.

Don't go posting comments like that on the Facebook page you'll be burnt at the stake as a heretic

Lockers/Clubb/Tommy shouldn't be anywhere near the side on what they are serving up. A season or two too far for them imo

[southportcdm]

It's great to see the young talent that we are developing and Lammy has admitted he's trying to rotate the squad and give the youngsters plenty of game time in the first part of the season. However, when it really matters, and the others are fit, I think two of the young props per game is enough. At present, George Burgess isn't fit, he looked injured again after the first tackle, and we should get him right before playing him again. Clubby is clearly struggling (not certain why) so we should be playing both Clarke and Bullock. Ideally I'd add Flower, who looked good today but may get a ban, and then two from Partington, Havard and Byrne. I've been impressed with Byrne recently, he seems to have progressed from last season, and Ollie is solid and good for long spells. However, the one that really surprised me today was Ethan. The youngest of the three, he played well for a long spell and I hadn't realised how big and athletic he is. Anybody else think that he could develop into the best of the three?

P.S. we must keep giving Harry Smith game time, preferably a bit more than 20 mins

[CheshireWarrior]

Interesting game today! Felt pretty flat and off pace (considering the Huddersfield performance) but was good to grind out the win! Never really like to comment on officials but I must say, I thought the referee looked rather exposed and clearly inexperienced (some very questionable calls)!

Thought Sam Powell looked solid today, Dom Manfredi is looking great (all things considered), just needs to regain his previous pace. Oliver Partington and Liam Byrne certainly lead from the front and its very encouraging considering how young they are! Ben Flower certainly offers more than Tony Clubb but unfortunately for them there is far too much competition in the front row!

Harry Smith needs to start IMO week I week out with Jackson. Only concern for the team which I've seen more than once this season is their ability to complete tackles and prevent the offloading!

[Gerrumonside]

Spot on with the props and giving Harry more game time...

One point I maybe miss read was why was Bibby constantly flying out in defence? Marshall shone last week with Hank inside but he appeared to struggle more today alongside Bibby.