Wigan squad for Huddersfield

[Charriots Offiah]

Right then, positives - O'Neil, Miski, Nicholson, Smith, Thornley, Bibby, Havard - Negatives - Isa, Partington, Mago, French (looked tentative), Astley (too soon).

Need to be on point to win the final against this mob.

We should have let Astley express himself more, I think he was told to make it simple.

[Charriots Offiah]

Personally, I thought Shorrocks had a superb work rate this evening!

I wouldn't criticize Astley, I liked the fact he had confidence tonight (whether it was successful of not).

I really hope Partington makes the 17 for Spurs. He's not the biggest, he does have old school aggression, he gives it his all and is familiar at 13!

It will be a choice between Partington and Shorrocks.

[moto748]

I thought Shorrocks was one of our better performers too tonight. Of course he's not a natural dummy-half like O'Neill, but he put in a hell of shift, and did plenty of good things. Still see him as more of a 13 than a 9, but Smithies is going well, and much improved. It's a squad game, it's all good.

[moto748]

And Astley put in a few decent positional kicks too, it wasn't all bad from him by any means. He'll learn from it. He's certainly looked a confident ball-runner at Academy level. I'm sure he won't be written off after one game.

[nathan_rugby]

Shorrocks had a shocker imo.

Threw some terrible passes and a couple of errors or penalties (cannot remember which).

Got a feeling he will fall into the Partington category soon. I hope not, as he does work hard, defends well and sometimes makes decent meters but I just don’t think he’s big enough at all.

Is there a smaller forward in the league?

[jaws1]

Partington and Isa should be not be in the Wigan team at all.

[josie andrews]

No excuses” for Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet as he concedes Huddersfield Giants now have Challenge Cup Final advantage

There were “no excuses” from Wigan boss Matt Peet as his side lost 32-22 to Huddersfield Giants in a dress rehearsal for their Challenge Cup Final clash in two weeks’ time.

There were “glimpses” from the Warriors as Peet acknowledged which nearly had them staging a huge comeback having trailed 22-6, but Peet ultimately felt his rotated side – on a night when both sides rested key players – weren’t at the levels they need to be.

“Huddersfield played well,” Peet said after the game, “They deserved the win and I thought they were better than us.

I know we had some times where we posted a few tries but whenever it was set for set, Huddersfield looked the stronger team.”

When asked if the rotation was the reason for the loss, Peet pushed against this line of thinking: “No, all our team are fulltime professionals, they all train together day in, day out. There’s no excuses

I wouldn’t single out any individuals, but I thought there were times where there were lapses in concentration, where we were off. Credit to Huddersfield, they’re a clinical team.

“I think everyone needs to learn from tonight.”

The Warriors gave debuts to two youngsters in Logan Astley and Matty Nicholson with the latter scoring twice and Peet was pleased with their performance: “I thought Logan and Matty stood up well, James McDonnell had some glimpses. They’ll be much better for the experience but didn’t look out of place.”

Nonetheless, he believes the squad need to react to this defeat after taking “a step back” for the first time in his reign: “We need to have a good talk about tonight, we need to learn a lot as a group after tonight. We’ll have a catch up with the lads tomorrow.

“Tonight was the first time I felt we’ve taken a step back. It’s how you react to that, it’s how you respond and I’m sure we will. We can’t brush over it. It needs to sting this one.”

He also believes that this gives Huddersfield a psychological advantage going into the final: “I think they will [have an advantage], they probably should. We didn’t start a weakened pack and they rolled us down the field.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/no-excus ... age-53077/

[culinator]

It wasnt a great spectacle lets be honest but not overly unexpected.

I think without the unforced errors we would have possibly won.

Halsall in defense agree didnt look great, but his runs i was very impressed with, in the same token cant blame one player for defensive errors, it also depends a lot on what his inside team mates are doing.

So not a great game but also some positives

[EagleEyePie]

I thought Shorrocks was one of our better performers too tonight. Of course he's not a natural dummy-half like O'Neill, but he put in a hell of shift, and did plenty of good things. Still see him as more of a 13 than a 9, but Smithies is going well, and much improved. It's a squad game, it's all good.

I agree. I've really not been keen on Shorrocks at 9 as I don't think it gets the best out of him. I'm glad that tonight he came on at 13 initially. We just get so much more width in our play when he's on the field. Tonight probably wasn't the easiest game to exploit that because we weren't effective enough down the middle, but it makes us a bigger threat. I also thought until O'Neill's final spell that Shorrocks was more effective at hooker. The passes were quicker and more accurate, whereas in the first half O'Neill was going through the motions as Powell can sometimes do. We then got to see a little bit more of what O'Neill can do late in the game and his try assist was outstanding.

[Southern Softy]

Well, it wasn't great, to put it mildly.
Probably a game to forget and at least Watson won't have been given aby clues to our Final line-up and tactics. Noticeable how he nullified French's likely attacking runs last night.
Not that many positives apart from Halsall's runs (less said about his defence the better) Shorrock's enthusiasm (better at 13 than 9) Nicholson's impressive support play and one other player.
The big worry is Mago. I'm beginning to fear that he's just another in a long line of big lumps from the NRL who don't offer a great deal. He never seems to be in motion when he gets the ball and doesn't contribute a lot in defence. It's a big call but given that a Cup Final requires effort and passion, I'd play McDonnell ahead of him in the Final 17. I really liked his tackling and non-stop work last night.
And I think anno domini has finally caught up with Isa.