Wigan 16 Warrington 23

[MrDave]

In response to the people who are saying things like "but for Liam Farrell knocking on", "if Coley was playing", "how can Tuson and Mossop go against there pack" etc well that might all be true but the main fact is that Wigan lost.

Why not say if Wigan were better they should have took more advantage of being in Warrington's half for 20 minutes. Warrington defended well but Warrington made Wigan rush there plays when it was really Wigan who should have had the upper hand. It was only a short spell of Warrington pressure before they were able to score.

I must give credit to Wigan for coming out fighting in the second half players like Sean O'Loughlin, Tuson and Massop did really well. At the start of the first half it was a stalemate for a good few minutes but it was Wigan who came up with the mistake which lead to the Aktins try.

Wigan managed to get back into the game with a good Tuson try and at that time Wigan really had Warrington on the back foot with several break and half breaks but Wigan didn't finish them off. The Liam Farrell try would have been a certain try if not for a panic and a kick which we only had the inability of Richie Mathers to thank for getting close to the line.

Wigan failed to keep the pressure on Warrington and they got back their territorial advantage. A bit of luck and an excellent run from Richards gets Wigan level but then Wigan switch off again and a run of errors and poor defending lets Warrington back in.

Wigan had there chances to win the game but bottled it, Wigan can not control the big games even when the advantage is in Wigan's favor.

A just to remind people nearly scoring tries and nearly winning games doesn't win you anything.

[Mr Sergent]

With the weather it was always going to be a forwards game and our forwards are not as good as there's plain and simple. They bullied us and won the game through sheer physicality. Something that we vastly lack. I had a moan about Prescott and his ball handling earlier in the week and he was defended by some, well right on queue he popped up with another hatrick of knock ons as he so often does, Fieldens performance was a complete abortion, the worst player on the field which is an outstanding achievement when Mathers is playing.

Feka would not have made a difference to the game, nor would we have won with Coley. That said I don't think we were bad and I am certainly not going to criticise the coach etc... we are top of the league, well coached and playing some brilliant rugby, we just didn't have the goods to match Warrington up front. On a different night with different conditions we could have won as our backs are much better. They are the best team to have come to the JJB this season by some distance and there is very little between the two teams.

We just need some big horrible forwards to add some fire to the pack which we currently do not have. We have known all year that is where our weakness lies. So we address that in the closed season and we are in pretty good shape.

[Matthew]

I think that we are being a bit tough on ourselves here.

Firstly, I agree that our pack was not dominant enough; however the main thing that allowed wire to get on top was the fact that we kept dropping the ball. They did it for the first 20 minutes and we did it for the rest of the match (much like the fixture at the halliwell last year). Repeatedly dropping the ball made the players nervous of making mistakes and meant that we were too cautious.

Had Liam Farrell been able to score from Joel's kick (or if he had kept it in hands and they had scored) or had Pat been able to gather and score (or if Carmont hadn't clipped the touch line) then we might have been able to steal it. I'm more concerned about us beating wire in the play offs than at this stage of the season. They are at as full strength as they will be this season - we still have players coming back.

And lastly, Mr Brian Tigue - as A'n'L said, you sound strangely familiar...

[Mike]

I'm with the guys who think that Feka would not have helped tonight. What we needed is a better defensive forward pack to really put pressure on the Wires when they had the ball, but Feka does not bring that to the side at all. He does not put in the sorts of hits to make an impact in defence, and he lacks the consistency to make up for that. Coley on the other hand would have definitely made a positive impact, but his addition does not give us an equal pack to theirs either IMO. Recruitment in this area is vital to improve our squad next season. We were clearly getting beaten up in the 2nd half (and the 2nd 20 of the 1st half for that matter), and even when Pat scored his epic, I said to my mates I thought we would still lose by 10 unless Wires choked it. Unfortunately too much had been taken out of us and we were hanging on. The first 20 was key for us, we had to come out of that period 18 up to really get a good chance to win.

Amos has clear not recovered from his injury yet, and I was glad that MM brought him off as he was not contributing today.

I thought Sam, Pat, little Faz and Tuson were all good, especially Farrel, who made a couple of good line breaks (despite us having no forwards capable of breaking the line in DaveO's opinion).

Overall, I have my concerns that Wigan can't bring home the silverware this year. Our failure against big teams in big matches is starting to show that we are where we are in the league because we have been the most consistent team throughout the season, maybe not because we are the best team on any given day. However, we can take heart that we have 5 more matches to play ourselves back into the form we were in at the start of the year,and have a reall good crack at the playoffs.

One last thing, lets remember where we were at the start of the year. Not winning the GF this season does not disguise how much progress we've made on the field this year. Our aim (across much of this board) was to improve and look to win silverware next season. With the rumoured recruitment, it loooks like we are very much on track for that goal. So I'm still very positive here.

[Kiwiseddon]

[quote="ancientnloyal"]I wonder who could have reason for a gripe at DaveO? surely not a 'new' member [/qu

Oh I'm sure that there's plenty of people who have a gripe with DaveO.

I am still gutted. I consider myself fairly level headed if a bit passionate sometimes. When Briers took the IMO cowardly step of running away from the defence in the last seconds, I very nearly got off my seat and smashed him myself. I can't abide him.

Let's be honest, when we won at the HJ we had an abundance of luck. On another day Monaghan or Solomona would have scored. Yesterday, Carmont or Richards didn't score, nor did Farrell but on another day they might have. It was our turn to run out of luck. Put that alongside dropped balls and some questionable refereeing, there's some very straight forward reasons why we lost with no massive intricate debate needed.
I don't think either team played that well, largely due to the conditions. On balance, the better team on the night won......Just!

I've said it a many times this season, that if you'd offered any of us this league position after this many rounds at the start of the season, none of us would turn it down. We ARE a very good Rugby League Team. We DO have a very good coach. We WILL get better over the next few seasons.

What p***es me off is the attitude of some of the people posting on here.

I'm very happy and relieved to think that some of the posters don't get close enough to Wigan RL to have a truly detrimental effect on them.

I consider myself a fan and while I may criticise the odd individual in an isolated case, I would never have a go at the team that I love, particularly when they are playing as well as they are. I would never criticise the coach's selection or try and suggest that our team weren't up to it.
However, there are posters (MrDave) who are almost pleased to say "I told you so" today. Well......That's constructive isn't it!!!!! Why not be a fan instead of a critic who's beaten before a ball is kicked.
And DaveO, I accept your knowledge and understand that you have far more experience within the game than I do. But, your constant, unremitting critique of the game, the club and everyone elses posts is waring very thin.

Tell me honestly, do you prefer watching Wigan win or being able to make your declarations to us mere minions, when we don't?

I'm going to sit back now and watch you pick my post to pieces, quote by quote. And on that your Honour, I rest my case. :conf:

[Kittwazzer]

We were beaten up after the first 20 mins by a better pack,

That line sums up the match. With the territory and possession we had in the first quarter, the game should have been put to bed. It wasn't, Wire got their act together and as you so correctly stated "beat us up"!

I have no doubt we will regroup and return. Still 2 points clear, 3 if you count points difference!

[gpartin]

Some of the most entertaining posts I've read in ages, just what the site needs imo.

[jolleymike]

the biggest turning point in the game for me was when fielden was hammered again by morley, Smiths tactical game was to bully wigan off the ball and his tactic won.

I know a few people have mentioned that we missed coley and for me this was the biggest difference between the two sides. Wires pack set a real good platform for briers to play his kicking game, and we just weren't quick enough off the line in defence to brake him down. The pack sets the platform for the backs to run the gaps and tonight we lost the battle.

With coley macca and a fully fit lockers we will win the league title but will we win or get to the grand final???
I not sure we have enough steel or fire power yet but next season who knows

[KOOCH]

Just as I thought the night leading up to the match.We would get beaten by the wire.But was reluctant to voice my doubts in case it came true.And yes it was a long lonely drive back to the Midlands!Unfortunately the wire pack out muscled our forwards.Fielden did try to make some impact but was driven back far to easily. Sadly Prescott simply does not make the hard yardage.Coley was greatly missed on the night.And yes the doubters as to coley's ability have been quite vocal on this site.But i doubt many can say that he was not missed last night.Our main priority as got to be two props that can drive up the field and withstand the hits.To many times last night our forwards spilled the ball.I am not knocking the team as I feel they will learn a valuable lesson from the game and propel forwards.Just hope that we are not going to get into the lets knock Madge mode.As this guy as brought out the best in what can only be described as a team carrying a few players that are of a mediocre standard.If we do not win the Grand Final this year it will not be for lack of trying.I'm sure Madge will have a team around him that he as bought in and not a team inherited from Noble.A big plus to Mark Ridell for backing himself for that try.

[BriH]

My comments, as a 'casual' observer are;

We had an inexperienced set of forwards competing against a very experienced set of forwards. Our pack was basically 'beaten up'.

Leaving Paul Deacon on the bench was a big mistake - he should have started alongside Tommy L with Sam at fullback. Amos Roberts doesn't look as if he is fully fit.

No game plan to nullify Lee Briers who kicked us to death.

I am optimistic that when we get some of our more experienced forwards back we will do better.
We are still at No1!!!!!