vs Castleford

[acwrlfc]

Thank God we have Field!!!!

A big rap to our "young forwards" who carried the more established Pack members.

The backline still looks disjointed but i suppose we have Bubby and French to return.

Main concerns for me are Powell, Smith and a totally unfit Mago. What has happened to him in the last 4 weeks?

[EagleEyePie]

In attack that was a better performance. Not brilliant and a little bit too reliant on Field to produce some magic but considering we were back to relying on the youngsters like Byrne, Smithies and Partington down the middle I thought we did quite well. Smithies and Partington in particular played really well.

Defensively though we were much worse than last week. Cas found it way too easy to find gaps down the middle and there were some more bad reads. Isa had a shocker (his best moment was getting whacked in the face) as did Pearce-Paul, who once again also struggled to have much of an impact in attack.

Cust had a better game and Leuluai played well and it was noticeable when he left the field. Smith was the same as usual. Some players blow hot and cold over a few weeks but Smith is hot and cold in the space of a few minutes. Some good kicks at times but always, without fail, there's a terrible pass or two.

Very disappointed with Mago tonight. With players missing we really should have seen a bit more from him and yet he was upstaged by the younger middles. He only got on after half time but he was on the field for 18 minutes and didn't really run with much conviction.

It wasn't great but all we can hope for is that the team continue to improve over the course of the season. An immediate upturn in form was always likely to be short lived (as is often seen when new coaches take charge) but lasting change takes longer. Realistically it's about continuing to improve at this stage.

[Graham1]

2 poor teams. Our attack was only better than last week because Cas gave Field room to attack. If Field had played for Cas and the sin bin had not occurred we would have lost . Mago was he playing injured or is he not capable of playing big minutes.?
Our play the ball and line speed is just too slow and unless this improves our chances of winning anything are slim. We started well against Wire and Hkr but we are going backwards again and we are starting to look like last years team.

[Exiled Wiganer]

I was happy enough with that. We have a plan of attack now, and Field is worth the admission fee on his own. We know that they can put right the defence and the handling because we have seen these same players for years now. Great to see Havard back, and looking something like in his first game. Am not a Partington fan, because I can’t see him ever denting the line, but he was handy tonight. I also think Byrne is showing he is well worth a new contract. It’ll be bumpy but I can see us getting there.

[DaveO]

Game of 3 parts

Wigan of last week for 20
Wigan we want to see for 30
Wigan of Lam era for 30.

If Field was not playing we would have lost to Castleford.

So nice rugby but some very and I mean very basic errors in defence are letting teams get a fair amount of points against us.

I’d agree with that. Some of the dummy’s they fell for were ridiculous and the defence was all over the place at times. Apart from the purple patch in the middle I thought we were rubbish. When Tommy went off we looked rudderless and Smith is just poor.

[Wigan_ITK]

Main concerns for me are Powell, Smith and a totally unfit Mago. What has happened to him in the last 4 weeks?

So based on tonight’s performance you think those 3 are more of a concern than the complete lack of defending at times? That 20min spell in the 2nd half came right through our left edge which had more holes than my pre Christmas boxers.

Yes Powell was as static as ever, which I do see as a genuine concern. Was surprised to see Tommy go off and not rotate with him to offer a bit more at 9 but I’ve heard after the game it was due to injury.

Smith had a solid 25mins in my opinion. Yes he threw one bad pass with his first touch and he needs to cut those out and fast but besides that he put in a couple of good kick chases which he was unlucky not to score from was it not for the first one just going dead or the clear obstruction from the Cas defence on the 2nd - regardless we still managed to force a drop goal to relieve some pressure as well as a good last kick from him on the 5th to force the offside and again take some pressure away.

Mago looks like he’s struggling with confidence rather than fitness but it’ll take time for him to adapt to a new league, new country and the different styles of play which are expected of him.

My main concern is that if we continue to defend the way we are we’re going to be in serious trouble against Hull and Sts

[josie andrews]

Can we play with just Field & French on both wings & forget about the middle stuff

Their speed alone is just the best part about the game at the moment

[Charriots Offiah]

Halsall apparently had a shaky start according to Baz.

Has he?

No, Marshall has looked shaky on that wing.
We look steady if a bit clunky. Not sure why Kendall penalised Smithies - perverse, then a harsh yellow for Fonhua.

Marshall was very poor tonight.

[Charriots Offiah]

Main concerns for me are Powell, Smith and a totally unfit Mago. What has happened to him in the last 4 weeks?

So based on tonight’s performance you think those 3 are more of a concern than the complete lack of defending at times? That 20min spell in the 2nd half came right through our left edge which had more holes than my pre Christmas boxers.

Yes Powell was as static as ever, which I do see as a genuine concern. Was surprised to see Tommy go off and not rotate with him to offer a bit more at 9 but I’ve heard after the game it was due to injury.

Smith had a solid 25mins in my opinion. Yes he threw one bad pass with his first touch and he needs to cut those out and fast but besides that he put in a couple of good kick chases which he was unlucky not to score from was it not for the first one just going dead or the clear obstruction from the Cas defence on the 2nd - regardless we still managed to force a drop goal to relieve some pressure as well as a good last kick from him on the 5th to force the offside and again take some pressure away.

Mago looks like he’s struggling with confidence rather than fitness but it’ll take time for him to adapt to a new league, new country and the different styles of play which are expected of him.

My main concern is that if we continue to defend the way we are we’re going to be in serious trouble against Hull and Sts

Tommy was goosed. Mago cannot be fit, he was flagging after 10 minutes. Havard hasn’t played for 9 months, he did a long spell and was fantastic.

[Charriots Offiah]

The pluses for me were Field, Tommy, Havard, Partington and Smithies. The negatives: Mago - offered little and played only 15 minutes, Hardaker - too slow for a winger; Marshall - poor under a high ball; Cust - where has is form gone? He needs to take the line on more; Smith - gone backwards; Isa - we can’t have a back row forward being spelled and we need someone who can dent the defensive line; Powell - needs to dictate the game from dummy half or let O’Neill have a go. The rest were ok.