after match thoughts

[mickh]

I thought the team played well saying the first twenty minutes were unusual in the amount of penalties that were given against us, must be a record.
Plus points:- Mr Carmont gets better and better, Stu Feilden's much needed return, played well, Palaesina who made some smashing runs, Richards as reliable as ever, that catch was awesome (I've not seen it on the telly yet), Hock, playing like we new he could, plays well above his weight, I thought he was the MOM, last but not least Tommy Leuleia, he was everywhere.
Minuses:- Not O'Loughlins finest match but everyone is allowed to have an off day, I thought the referee upset his captancy role by making Wigan run out of sync early on, Coley did make a few good runs but the amount of ball that he lost or wasted, was ridiculous, last but not least Mr Mather, opposing teams are targeting him already as the weak spot in the team, he is not playing with confidence in defence mode (that time when he trapped the ball with 4 Bradford players decending on him, that should have been booted into row Z in the East), he may look pretty sidestepping in an attack but not convincing to me as yet, he also could do with a bit more weight at least to look a bit more frightening.

[turf]

I am now about to put another two names in the hat who impressed me tonight.

Goulding and Colbon.

[DaveO]

Good team effort. Our pack dominated throughout, and it's not often anyone does that to the Bulls. Apart from that first 20 mins when Silverwood caned us, we always looked the better side.

We did.

Coley, Hock & O'Loughlin outstanding, and McIlorum his usual busy self.

Coley is proving my scepticism about his signing wrong which is great. Hock was easily MoM. Lockers gave away a couple of penalties to spoil an otherwise good performance and while he was busy McIllorum needs to work on his passing. He passed too low several times and once in the second half resulted in a knock on in our own half after we had got the ball back when he passed to the shins of Goulding I think. When passes are dropped it isn't always the fault of the player trying to catch the ball.

Fielden had a good game, too, seeing as it was his first game back. Mathers is getting better defensively each week, and ran the ball up well, too. Goulding & Colbon had the better of Hape & Tadulala, both in attack and defence, which is no mean feat.

Very positive performance!

Fielden put in a good long stint which was great to see. No half hearted runs, very few if any errors and a solid way to make his comeback. Goulding is looking good but should have passed but other than that had a good game.

Dave

[warrior till i die]

we handled the conditions better than them. Our pack was strong but coley seems to be trying to be to fancy with the ball in hand. We are too much like Jekyll and Hyde at the minute, performing well and bad in stages of games. we need to put more of these good 20 minute spells together. Good performances from richards, carmont, goulding, leuluai ( all though i thought hock was MOM), fielden, mcillorum, hock, hansen. Need to improve:- coley and our sliding defence. we seem to be getting caught on the overlap alot recently and if the conditions where different I feel bradford would of took better advantage of the numourous chances they had to score.

[cpwigan]

Having watched the game again on SKY, many, 90% of the penalties were clear cut. It was just unusual I guess to see all the penalties in such a short space of time but in a sense the first led to Bradford monopolising possession and the other penalties just followed.

As we gained control the penalty count turned in our favour.

Fielden (On our line prior to Feather) and O'Loughlin (POTB) seemed our most dubious penalties. However, in the cold light of day, Silverwood had a decent game.

[LooseHead]

Looks like we may now have a pack that can compete with the top 3. Gutted for Prescott though, hope the injury isnt too bad. Hock played like he last did over a year ago - if the rest of the team back up his runs more then tries will follow. Tomkins did well too, and Coley's power in the tackle makes opposition players worry a bit too. Overall, in my opinion the best performance by a wigan pack for a long time. Cant wait to meet the stains pack on G.Friday -without Fozzard they're going to have a tough time.

[CherryandWhiteandProud]

Yeah, things are looking up. Little scrappy, but best performance this season, just shows we can carry on with the play-off form at the backend of last year.

Fielden had a great first game back. Leuluai was good but wasn't my MotM. Barrett was as good as he always is. And I thought Goulding and Colbon looked as if they'd been playing at super league level for at least five years! So a lot of positives there.

One thing. That whole tap penalty incident when they scored, what was going on with the ref? I didn't really know what was going on there so if anyone can give me a good explaination...

[phibes]

Agree with most of what's been said - particularly the praise heaped on Hock who showed just what he can do when he's on song.

Very impressed with the aggression and enthusiasm of our defence, particularly in the second-half. Bradford's failure to make yards effectively killed off their attack on a wet night.

My only concern is the lack of composure and awareness in our attack at times. It's still early in the season so it's something to work on. Having said that, Richards' try in the corner was a brilliantly executed piece of play given the conditions.

[jolleymike]

a good all round performance considering the weather and pitch conditions, feka was like a steam train and made some telling hits up, for me the pack player of the match was coley, he made a couple of mistakes early on but more than made up for these with his tackling.

Still to see the best from barrett but i think he will shine on a dryer pitch. Tommy and Barrett still need to gel more but overall ill take the two points at this stage in the season.

[jinkin jimmy]

To much going on about Leeds before the match, was a bit pee'd off with that, 15 minutes and no mention of Wigan or Bradford. Thought Fielden was looking good, put himself about a bit in both attack and defence, he should be going great guns in a few matches time, very impressed with Carmont, he seemed to be tackling his heart out, scored the first try (points for me ), definately the best buy the club has made in a long time, all the kids look to be coming on leaps and bounds, we should have plenty of homegrown talent on show in the future. Lockers on the other hand, although he tackled his heart out, he is piss poor in attack, he couldn't break the skin of a rice pudding let alone a tackle, several knock on's a couple of penaltys, why do people rate him so much?, all in all it turned out to be a good old fashioned physical game with plenty of heavy hit ups, just what you want for a Saturday night, Bring on the Wire :eusa2:

Because, like Noble, they actually know a bit about rugby, whereas you....