Derby Day!

[thegimble]

We are where I expected. If your going to win the GF no point going all out and burn as we did in 2012.

Last season early June when Catalan battered us home you told me we would win the shield, Grand Final and WCC I would have laughed at you.

Saints beat us with us only in 2nd gear with 12 players for 30 minutes. But I do agree re the unused sub that is just daft.

[moto748]

I just assumed Nsemba would replace Isa in the second half, but it didn't happen. Can't see why.

[Ipinwigan]

The soft Red card decisions this season in games are ruining the game

But to be fair Bilko thought Dupree was a red even under the old rules so knowing Kendal he was probably correcting his earlier error.

Tackles like Byrne's will always end up as sending off under the current, shite, rules, even when a player stumbles or ducks into a tackle

[Ipinwigan]

Just surprised that the hunchback, Welsby, doesn't get more tackles on him with the tackler being sent of, with that stoop he has

[ddtftf]

To be honest I am not too upset its hard to play Stains with 12 men for a quarter of the game and a man sent off away. We also have 2 forwards soon to come back from injury so its ok . When the dry tracks come back we will go up a gear. My Prodiction Wigan / Caralans / Stains / Warrington / leeds / HKR / Leigh / Huddersfield Hull / Cas / London .

[Richymac]

Never looked like scoring in fairness, apart from some French magic. Think the first 20 minutes defending out line and silly mistakes cost us.
Having seen the red card decision others have said it is red under the rules we have now. I agree.
What is Byrne to do though, puts him in a tough place to make a split second decision. If he doesn’t wrap his arms he’s getting sent off. If he drops down to Percival’s height he gets sent off. Should he just stand off and let Percival run over him?

Field needs resting, the attack needs sorting but what a defensive effort.

The league isn’t won in March. A very long way to go, so I am confident in our squad being able to turn it around. As mentioned by another poster, after the Cats game last season I had no confidence we would get anywhere near a GF, LLS.

[jobo]

Scruffy match where, I'm assuming, neither side wanted to lose and it was a bit of a stalemate.
Field saved us a try and cost us a try - French created a try out of nothing but let Walsmsley make his crucial run.
I didn't think the game was reffed that badly - both sides were to blame for the mess at the PTB and I'm not sure any other ref could have sorted it.
Dupree's was a yellow and not a red because it started on the chest and went up but he was a bit lucky and I imagine the Disciplinary Panel will have something to say about it. Under the rules this season Byrne's was a red card all day. Direct initial contact with the head is a red and those are the instructions that refs are given.
I wasn't impressed by a lot of play acting from Saints players, feigning injury after fair tackles and they did whinge an awful lot. Field was lucky not be binned for demanding a sin bin from what looked like not a trip but a probably illegal hip throw.
All in all, it wasn't great watching and I hope there's no hangover at Leigh on Thursday.
O'Neill's defence was unbelievable and I think he only got spelled because there was a danger that he was beginning to lose his head. Thought him and Thompson were outstanding.
We need to sort our tackle technique out. Too many pens and we couldn't blame an idiot ref this time.

Good summation I'd say.

I'd also add that their forwards were a step above ours, which made the difference in the end.

[Ipinwigan]

Scruffy match where, I'm assuming, neither side wanted to lose and it was a bit of a stalemate.
Field saved us a try and cost us a try - French created a try out of nothing but let Walsmsley make his crucial run.
I didn't think the game was reffed that badly - both sides were to blame for the mess at the PTB and I'm not sure any other ref could have sorted it.
Dupree's was a yellow and not a red because it started on the chest and went up but he was a bit lucky and I imagine the Disciplinary Panel will have something to say about it. Under the rules this season Byrne's was a red card all day. Direct initial contact with the head is a red and those are the instructions that refs are given.
I wasn't impressed by a lot of play acting from Saints players, feigning injury after fair tackles and they did whinge an awful lot. Field was lucky not be binned for demanding a sin bin from what looked like not a trip but a probably illegal hip throw.
All in all, it wasn't great watching and I hope there's no hangover at Leigh on Thursday.
O'Neill's defence was unbelievable and I think he only got spelled because there was a danger that he was beginning to lose his head. Thought him and Thompson were outstanding.
We need to sort our tackle technique out. Too many pens and we couldn't blame an idiot ref this time.

Good summation I'd say.

I'd also add that their forwards were a step above ours, which made the difference in the end.

We need our big second row forwards, to step up, Nsemba and Walters when he's fit, Isa and Farrell don't take too much stopping, in a tight defensive game

[moto748]

Agreed.

[DaveO]

Can’t blame the ref when you lose if the opposition only scores 12 points.

I am not surprised we have lost today given the performances since the WCC which have have been lacklustre. We have been scraping through games and that was the reckoning as Dai put it.

On paper we have what looks like the best squad in the league but they still need coaching and the fact we have had another poor performance is for Peet to fix. There is more to being a successful RL side than signing the best players and sending them on the pitch. That is what Leeds used to do in the 80’s and 90’s. The fact we won the WCC is no excuse for the form since.

The attack is looking very blunt, other than French magic moments

Yes and I hope Peet doesn’t put it down to the sending off that we lost. It was another scrappy performance before that. Relying on French to pull something out of the hat isn’t a plan.