21-man squad vs Warrington

[Mike]

We wiganed em. Smothering and relentless is the best way to describe our defence when we're on form. And our attack has enough individuals to be very dangerous. Great win.

On the other hand I think some of our territorial problems come from a fairly passive mid field defence. We move up only a couple of yards and make contact about 8 metres behind the game line. Opposition players make at least an average of 10metres per tackle against us and if we can do the same we spend a long time in out sets and not enough letting our individuals threaten.

My only other issue is that I'd prefer Tommy to go to hooker instead of Hastings. I feel Hastings and Smith are a great pairing, both offer threat of running, kicking and passing. Tommy isn't as dangerous at first receiver IMO.

[Charriots Offiah]

We must have won, nobody is having a go at Lockers.

[The booze hound]

Zak was brilliant.
Hastings had Austin rattled off his game.
Singleton did really well on his debut.
Smith looks a great prospect.

We did well to hang in the game for a long period but it was all Wigan for the last 20. We definitely looked fitter than them. Willie Isa was running as fast and hard at the end as anyone was at the beginning.

[ian.birchall]

I love rugby! All the talk before the game is about coaching, tactics, team selection and so on. But as soon as the whistle blows it's blood and guts.

Sheer determination not to be beaten by every one of um. Sure no shortage of skill, or mistakes, but who cares about a dropped ball or missed tackle when we show that level of bloody-minded will to win?

+1

[CheshireWarrior]

Delighted with the full time score! I think we showed extreme grit and determination to grind out a hard fought battle.

Could see the desire and passion in both the team and Lam! That said, I still think there is room for improvement and changes are certainly required for 2021!

[fozzieskem]

Both sides looked knackered to me certainly not a great game but a win was needed and got so that’s good enough.

Hardaker MOM for me he just gets better

[Southern Softy]

I was going to say that I had no idea how we won it but actually I do. Price sent Warrington out to batter us into submission and when that didn't work - they kept on doing the same thing and ran out of ideas and stamina, especially after an hour. Warrington were a bit like some of our dodgy nights under Wane when he thought brute force world work and if it didn't, there was no Plan B. The fact that we don't seem to have a Plan A at the moment is not strictly relevant. We don't have a coach in the stands, just a fan who holds his head in his hands and shouts like the rest of us.
Agree about Zak. I don't recall him having a better match for us. Very few weak links (apart from the obvious one) - Faz never stopped as always and although I was never a Singleton fan, that was a very impressive debut and we had some real go-forward with both him and Greenwood. I assume Smithies has got that game out of his system and will get back to his proper form.
As for Smith? He really has to play. Tommy's defence is still impressive - his kicking not.
And isn't Austin a complete arse? Whinges like Coote - fouls sneakily and can push off back to Australia as soon as he likes.
I've never seen so many forward passes missed by the linos but I did think Isa's sinbinning was justified (at least make it look like you're trying to jump for the ball) and sadly, the penalty try was inevitable.
I feel more optimistic after that match and we might just be coming good at the right time as opposed to Saints and Wire who look to be running out of steam a bit.

[Firestarter]

Tommy is a great defender when the attacking player runs straight at him....... when they run around him he gets found out...... he did , however, put some really good hits in( as did isa)...... isa is in the same mould defensively....... i still think we would be better with smith playing 80 and tommy and sam swapping hooker......hastings needs to be left to his natural creative game in order to get the best out of him..... he isnt letting us down though and is doing it tough...... it’s understandable why a few of our fans want him at loose the way we are playing him.......get budgie,gilly and burgess fully fit and we should be ok...... ide prefer havard in the back row to start judt for his workrate

[pearsy]

Iam big Dom fan but he never seams to get a chance near the line now.Is that because we need a decent centre on that side .And how long did SOL play last night?
.

[wall_of_voodoo]

Warrington won that game on every level except the scoreboard. No wonder Price looked shellshocked at the end

After the first half I thought to myself we had done exceptionally well to hang on to be behind by only 6 points after the dominance from wire in the first half. There was a sheer determination to hang on for grim life at times - coupled with a very poor Gareth Widdop and a clearly rattled Blake Austin who appeared to want to complain more than play rugby.

I admit I worried for a moment after Mamo dived for the corner and whilst in the air was pushed out of play and I thought "not another penalty try"

Hardaker for me, like others have pointed out, was brilliant. Probably should have dummied and gone himself rather than pass to French but those are the plays players have seconds to decide and it didn't end up being too costly

Smith, like I have pointed out should be playing alongside Hastings. TL and SP mixing it at hooker gives us options and as such a better kicking game.

Lockers I didn't even notice on the field. A apart from few carries for few metres when wire were dominant and taken off after about 25 minutes to come back on late in the game. Greenwood/Farrell and Bullock were out "go to" forwards and Singleton too when he came on helped down the middle

It was noticeable after Gelling dropped the ball over the line (phew) that we increased the intensity. Clearly giving the ball some width and with players running both left and right it really opened them up and made them look tired. I don't think that (tired) is fair, as I think we started to play more expansively after a very conservative 60 minutes or so and it was that which made them look a little leaden footed

How animated was Adrian Lam throughout? Looked like someone under pressure and rightly so