Wigan versus Warrington

[butt monkey]

Read through the thread and it is fair to see that we are all together in wishing and hoping things can improve

I commend TBW for his faith in the side, he is correct and it must be accepted that Wigan are not at full strength
and haven't been all season. Signing players with injuries to start with did not help though

Considering that we are third at this stage of the season after some of the utter rubbish served, proves that at times their is plenty of spirit if little real quality in this team (and I also accept the standard of the competition is also dreadful at the moment). We are all currently clutching our straws that things will improve on the injury front and this in turn will see an improvement in form. If it does not then it indicates a serious problem

If we continue to stutter from one result to another without ever looking convincing then Wane MUST answer to the consequence of this. Failure by IL, will have long and deep consequences for the Warriors financially

Out of all the mess we are in at the moment, the main thing that puzzles me is how the hell are we at the max cap with this squad??

Some extremely average players are being paid way over the odds or Wigan are not being truthful about where and how much they spend on the salary cap. Either way, still does not sit well with me that this once mighty club is reduced to playing so many youngsters at this level at the same time with excuses being the only offering from the owner and coach for the current predicament

[josie andrews]

This post from Bilko on Twitter. He isn't making excuses BTW, he was just making a point

Wire equivalents our absences last night - Gidley, Russell, Hill, Clark, Sims, Hughes, Currie, Westwood. They'd struggle without them also!

[thegimble]

Why does everyone think it is solely down to Shaun Wane as to wanting a team made up of Wigan Academy players?

Ian Lenegan & Kris Radlinski are as much, if not more, to blame than Wane IMO! They hold the purse strings & both are as guilty in wanting to keep the drawstrings pulled very tight!

Or in other words would Da Vinci's Mona Lisa look so good if it was done in bic Biro.

You can only work with the tools you get.

And if you choose to try and paint the Mona Lisa with a bic biro its your own fault when it looks crap and you would deserve all the criticism you get.

Maybe but what if the tools you buy you have no choice on. Sorry is Smith ot Wane to blame. Thought our players are not good enough. Dam

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Read through the thread and it is fair to see that we are all together in wishing and hoping things can improve

I commend TBW for his faith in the side, he is correct and it must be accepted that Wigan are not at full strength
and haven't been all season. Signing players with injuries to start with did not help though

Considering that we are third at this stage of the season after some of the utter rubbish served, proves that at times their is plenty of spirit if little real quality in this team (and I also accept the standard of the competition is also dreadful at the moment). We are all currently clutching our straws that things will improve on the injury front and this in turn will see an improvement in form. If it does not then it indicates a serious problem

If we continue to stutter from one result to another without ever looking convincing then Wane MUST answer to the consequence of this. Failure by IL, will have long and deep consequences for the Warriors financially

Out of all the mess we are in at the moment, the main thing that puzzles me is how the hell are we at the max cap with this squad??

Some extremely average players are being paid way over the odds or Wigan are not being truthful about where and how much they spend on the salary cap. Either way, still does not sit well with me that this once mighty club is reduced to playing so many youngsters at this level at the same time with excuses being the only offering from the owner and coach for the current predicament

Cheers BM!!

I think we have enough quality players missing to pretty much say without doubt we will improve this season, the 2 big questions are, how much and will it be enough!!

[OJ]

We were all disappointed, of course we were but a reality check is needed too. Bilko's report on RLFans is balanced and realistic and very down to earth -

Arguably the Wigan side that met Warrington this time was weaker than the one that played them earlier in the month. On that occasion we had Dom Manfredi, Sean O'Loughlin, Liam Farrell and Joel Tomkins out on the park.

So was it realistic to expect anything much different that what we saw? Fair enough, Warrington have lost Chris Sandow since then but he is the only one of their first 14 squad numbers absent whilst Wigan played this game without numbers 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 in comparison, whilst Number 6 George Williams was just returning off the bench after almost two months absence.

I mean if the Warrington equivalents in numbers - Kurt Gidley, Matty Russell, Chris Hill, Daryl Clark, Ashton Sims, Ben Currie, Jack Hughes and Ben Westwood - were all absent for this game playing a full strength, bar one player, Wigan you'd more than likely get a similar result the opposite way.

You just have to accept that Warrington are a damn good side and when almost fully fit like they are, it's going to be hard for a full strength Wigan to beat them, let alone one missing so many.

That though is in no way can excuse for Wigan's continuation of poor attack. I mean we had a spell of attack second half that eventually led to a try but I have to be honest, I was doing some groaning on the radio because the passes were so erratic and it is frustrating because it's been a problem since day 1 of the season and shows little sign of improving.

The absence of Wigan's entire starting pack, by squad number anyway, practically decided this game for me. First twenty minutes was a good battle. We were well in the game, took a good lead, and I thought Tony Clubb was immense during this period.

But once the interchanges came in though, Wigan withered away pretty quickly. Taulima Tautai's impact was pretty poor with two conceded high tackle penalties and a forward pass being punished by three Warrington tries. You cannot give control of a game away that cheaply. Wigan also began to be dominated in the ruck and if that happens then tries being scored is inevitable.

Warrington were just too good on the night and we have to accept that. It helps when they can get down field so easily but every single last tackle play that they produced put pressure on Wigan defenders and then backed it up with strong defence. A spell around the 20-30 minute mark saw them three times trap Wigan inside their own twenty on sets that had begun with good kicks by them. That spell turned the game.

Overall I think, given the lengthy absences we've endured, to reach the cup break inside the Top 4 is a great achievement. However, our attack has to be improve significantly. Fans are not enjoying watching that stuff one bit.

I've said before - the worst attack to win a Super League Title was Leeds in 2007 who averaged 27.7 points per match in the regular season. Wigan 2016 average just 19 points. That highlights how far off the mark we are. Hopefully we can get some bodies back on the field when league action returns with another top 4 clash against Hull in a fortnight.


http://wigan.rlfans.com/news.php?readmore=4932

[Wigan_forever1985]

I dont think its just the result though OJ, i think many of us would accept the loss i think its the things highlighted within the result that have upset people, for me its the following;

1) Why are we in such a state with injuries - yes there is an element of luck but massively poor recruitment (id go as far to say the worst in the league) have meant we have signed no players to offer us strength in depth in positions that we KNEW we would be weaker in - for example why do we not have a single back up hooker in the club SL Ready

2) Why during a prolonged injury crisis are we playing a brand new youngster in a completely foreign position (stand off) when we have another youngster desperate to prove himself in that position playing for another club? if the deal does not allow him to come back why was the deal done that way knowing the lack of depth?

3) Why doesnt the coach change the plan to suit the players that actually are on the pitch rather than trying to play pretty much the same game plan as a fully fit squad. We should be spoiling, slowing the game, niggling but instead like a boxer with no chin we are throwing haymakers hoping we dont get caught.

4) Why have we not recruited someone on a year deal to cover what we knew would be half a year at least without tomkins

5) Why when the only halfback we have on the pitch is still our starting half back is he not everywhere on the pitch ala brough last night - ive seen more forwards kick the ball since williams has been out than i have all season

We can all accept losses but there are some serious, serious issues around the club that need sorting. Its all well and good for people to say "when people are back we will be better"- but what if we dont get everyone back? what if tomkins comes back and has gone backwards like mossop?

weve based far too much of our year on "if's", IF Everyone is fit, IF tomkins can regain his form, IF IF IF

[widdenoldboy]

OJ - that's a good summary and well balanced. Time will tell if coaching is keeping us near the top with a weakened team - once first choice players are back we should improve quickly, otherwise we are back to questioning the whole upstairs team.

[SJ]

It's a fair point you continue to make TrueBlue Warrior. But I think you are missing the point. We had a full strength team at the beginning of the season but we were still sh**e Our attack has been aweful all season just look at our points for. Wane is ruining our great club and must go soon!!

Our tactics remind me of the dour Yorrkshire teams pre SL. Our main move is a drop off pass to a forward turning back in side! Our most experienced half-back who for some reason cannot be dropped no matter how bad he performs has no vision, no pace, no skill, no kicking game, he cannot beat a man and his tackling is abysmal.

but apart from that we are ok. Aren't we ? ( purely rhetorical)

[Southern Softy]

It does look as if Wigan are well in with the rest of SL in that they are playing at a standard well down on last season. The only sides that seem to have improved are Warrington, who finally spent some cash and their coach started to take an interest in the game again and Catalans, who may have discovered a cure for their travel sickness.

What worries me about Wigan is that the only hope we seem to be clinging onto is that it will all get better when injured players are back. I'd rather see a coach doing something about changing the way we play to take account of the injuries, so that we can keep supporters onside and give the opposition new problems. On Thursday our defence looked terrible and that was the only thing that won us matches at the start of the season. We can't spend all our time blaming injuries - it's why we have a squad.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

It does look as if Wigan are well in with the rest of SL in that they are playing at a standard well down on last season. The only sides that seem to have improved are Warrington, who finally spent some cash and their coach started to take an interest in the game again and Catalans, who may have discovered a cure for their travel sickness.

What worries me about Wigan is that the only hope we seem to be clinging onto is that it will all get better when injured players are back. I'd rather see a coach doing something about changing the way we play to take account of the injuries, so that we can keep supporters onside and give the opposition new problems. On Thursday our defence looked terrible and that was the only thing that won us matches at the start of the season. We can't spend all our time blaming injuries - it's why we have a squad.

I challenge any SL coach to have done as well as Wane has with the injuries we have had and considering we had a full pack missing on Thursday the result wasn't a surprise at all, however whether we are good enough when players return and Wanes coaching is good enough to improve us enough to win things this year is the million dollar question!!