Tonight's Game - Team for Thursday

[moto748]

Watching in the pub, so always a bit unsure until I've watched it back, but it looked a much improved performance to me; more solid in defence and more threatening in attack. Bevan just superb, and Field will obviously be a massive loss. pleased to see Miski get a solid game under his belt. King must be SL's slowest winger, but he did well tonight. Wardle was a bloody idiot with that late shot; what was he thinking?

[widdenoldboy]

Massive uptick in effort from everyone tonite, got to be pleased with the commitment. Still room for some more flowing moves but a step or two forward.

Smith MotM for me, relished the extra responsibility - just needs to kick a few conversions .

Havard, absolutely immense both sides of the ball.

O'Neil had a very good game, he was a split second faster than Powell at dummy half and it helped our go forward, add to that he his spotting gaps and proving a threat to their defence.

[PJC]

Enjoyed the game, the atmosphere. Wigan showed a big improvement on last week. Some excellent individual performances Field, Miski, Havard.
Spoiled , but not completely, by some idiot or idiots throwing beer when Wigan scored. Why ?

[NICKYKISS]

I mentioned early in the week wanting to just see a bit more aggression and intent in Havards work and he was absolutely superb with that tonight. It isn’t a case of wanting him to get in to dust ups, it’s just wanting him to make sure he’s really pushing himself hard. That lad can be anything he wants to be if he does that.

Really happy with loads of them tonight. Obviously French and Field get loads of praise and rightfully so but guys like Miski, King, Isa, O’Neill etc were fantastic. I was really pleased for Harry Smith as well. He got some undue stick last week IMO and he showed tonight what he can bring as the organiser, playing alongside the strike weapons of Field and French. The only worries from the night are Fields injury and a potential soft ban or two.

[EagleEyePie]

I thought our middles make a huge difference tonight and that allowed our backs a lot of time and space to cause Leigh problems. We know Havard has been solid all year (all career so far) but he was at his best tonight. Liam Byrne had his best game of the season so far and was a monster in defence. I also thought Ellis had his best game of the season too and went about his work quietly and effectively.

I mentioned in the thread about Shorrocks that playing him down the middle meant losing our 5 prop interchange that Peet seemed to favour but losing Singleton or Cooper's input shouldn't be a big issue at present and it proved to be so. We got more minutes out of the middles that were performing well and I'm glad Smithies was re-introduced at prop as he plays like one anyway. I don't think Cooper had a second spell but why should he if he's not as impactful as our other options.
What Shorrocks does off the ball is as important as what he does when he gets the ball and that's part of the game that can go unnoticed. Similar to what Ben Flower used to give us he probably makes more dummy runs than carries but attacking play relies on those runs.

French at fullback was what most of us have wanted to see all year and it was a joy to watch. Field in the halves was much more of a threat than Cust though he did make quite a few bad decisions too. Maybe a lack of familiarity in the role with those players is to blame but I think that's just something you have to accept with Field in more of a playmaking role. He's going to be a big loss and Matt Peet has his work cut out to find the right solution in the halves.

Smith, outstanding and directed the team so well. His kicking game is superb and he's been playing consistently well this year with last week being the only real off day. I was so surprised to read criticism of his performances because I think he's been one of our best so far.

The changes to our backline concerned me when I saw the team sheet but all of them performed really well. King put in bags of effort, Pearce-Paul had his best game of the year with some really impressive defence. Wardle was solid and made some good reads in defence and credit to Miski - he always looks solid when called upon even though he's probably lacking a little match fitness.

Leigh have been flying recently so this is a good win. The next couple of games may provide a reality check or they may see us start to hit our stride but I'm pleased at how many players raised their game tonight. We didn't even have to rely on Farrell being outstanding as he had something of an off day (which probably still means 100m in carries and 30+ tackles).

[fozzieskem]

Spoiled , but not completely, by some idiot or idiots throwing beer when Wigan scored. Why ?

Given the price of ale I never get why people do that

[josie andrews]

Watching in the pub, so always a bit unsure until I've watched it back, but it looked a much improved performance to me; more solid in defence and more threatening in attack. Bevan just superb, and Field will obviously be a massive loss. pleased to see Miski get a solid game under his belt. King must be SL's slowest winger, but he did well tonight. Wardle was a bloody idiot with that late shot; what was he thinking?

But he isn’t a winger is he?

I thought he played well out of position & is improving every game.

He loves it here btw

[archiekeith]

Spoiled , but not completely, by some idiot or idiots throwing beer when Wigan scored. Why ?

Given the price of ale I never get why people do that

you. Would if you drink some of the ale down here, cider urg! Stick to Guiness not an ale a Stout oh nearly forgot great result for the lads Cheers

[Suzieb]

Give young Ashley a go at 6 he’s a good lad

[morley pie eater]

Re tonight's team selection. Here's what I posted on "Joe Shorrocks...." thread:

Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:48 am

My view re Pearce-Paul, fwiw.

I don't see him lacking commitment - he'll want to improve before he goes to Aus. But at his stage of development, he needs to be playing with older heads and a settled set-up around him.

Instead of that he finds himself alongside King, who's just settling in himself, Cust, French and Field - the right edge that has been exposed in defence, but also looked a bit clunky on attack.

. . . . . .

That right edge, and KPP in particular, need a strong experienced voice, an old head, to steady them and for them to learn from. The problem is that Isa seems the obvious choice, but he would most likely replace Kai, unless one of them goes to centre?

For our armchair coaches, that would possibly lead to King at 2, French 1 and Field 6, with Cust dropping down the order?

Pardon me quoting myself, but it's nice to be right (for once)

It doesn't happen often

Exactly!