Squad v Castleford

[M6 Warrior]

Does anyone know what the problem is with Keighran? Hoping it’s not a serious injury as he kicked superbly last night and looked more dynamic in carrying the ball. He’s solid at the moment and hopefully more to come

[Exiled Wiganer]

I think the cup game gave us fans a false impression. Once the game was gone there they had nothing to play for. They have been far more competitive in the league and even beat Salford in their previous game. A combination of them not being that bad and wholesale changes to the spine gave us what we saw last night. Still some really pleasing signs though.

[NICKYKISS]

I think the cup game gave us fans a false impression. Once the game was gone there they had nothing to play for. They have been far more competitive in the league and even beat Salford in their previous game. A combination of them not being that bad and wholesale changes to the spine gave us what we saw last night. Still some really pleasing signs though.

Spot on.

I do agree with Josie in that the defence has been a little lax at times but we know it’s there when needed, in the big games.

I can’t lie, I was glad it was a contest last night. I was bored to tears in the cup last week. No game against a team in your league should be that easy, especially in a knock out game.

[Southern Softy]

Agree with pretty much everything that has been said.
Leeming was curiously anonymous but demonstrated just how good and valuable Brad O'Neill is. Mrs SS remarked that Jai Field would have caught Senior for Cas's first try, not just because of his speed but Field tends to be be better positioned at FB. Hampshire wasn't bad but showed why he would not be the answer if we had a major injury in the halves.
No one had a bad game but Nsemba was a real handful, Dupree is more impressive each time he plays and I thought the best forward out there was Ellis, who had a terrific match.
Like to see game plans include Wardle more but overall, no complaints and that's got to be good and I'd rather see us winning matches regularly and confidently as opposed to smashing poor sides and struggling against better ones (and yes, Saints - that does mean you.)

Oh - and the conversions from both kickers were impressive.

[Charriots Offiah]

One thing seems to have been missed in all the analysis - though Josie touched on it by referring to changes in the spine:

At any point in the season, we could have enforced changes due to injury. If this means changes to the spine, then Hampshire is first in line to come in. Yet he's had very little chance to adapt to the first team, and get to know the players around d him in match conditions. What better game and what better time to give him a run out?

If we'd signed a star Aussie (recommended by Meds, no doubt!), we'd surely allow him a settl8 g in period of 4 or 5 games, say. I'm not Hampshire's biggest fan, but I can see that, under the cap, he's an astute signing to cover 1, 6 and 7. And I remember him doing some good stuff on the odd occasions I watched him at Wakey.

Surely we can make some allowances, and see the big picture?

I’m not sure why Hampshire is being singled out for blame. I think he went ok last evening, like most of the side. Like all halfbacks he requires quick, clean and accurate passing from the dummy half and that was not available last night. For me, and I have said it before, the jury is out on Leeming. Our performance drops when he replaces O’Neill, having said that he also needs, and deserves a bedding in period.

[Charriots Offiah]

I do agree with the number of points conceded being a bit too high at the moment but, 14 last night and 22 at London when the team was tweaked is quite a telling stat. I do think, once it gets serious and we have the strongest team out on the pitch, the defence will be much tighter. It’s a long season. Injuries and suspensions will impact all teams and we’ve got the strongest squad by far. As long as we don’t get decimated by injuries (and we we need a bit of luck with our backs staying fit) and they keep Vella away from reffing our games every other week, I’m sure we’ll be at Old Trafford again in October.

Defensively we didn’t learn from the previous week. I understand why we like to wrestle an attacking player in the upright position - it gives more time to get our defensive line organised, but it is only of value if you stopped the ball being offloaded which we didn’t. I am sure that Lockers will be working on it over the coming weeks though. Castleford had two weapons in the cup tie, the kick and offload and that proved to be the case again yesterday.

[Ipinwigan]

One thing seems to have been missed in all the analysis - though Josie touched on it by referring to changes in the spine:

At any point in the season, we could have enforced changes due to injury. If this means changes to the spine, then Hampshire is first in line to come in. Yet he's had very little chance to adapt to the first team, and get to know the players around d him in match conditions. What better game and what better time to give him a run out?

If we'd signed a star Aussie (recommended by Meds, no doubt!), we'd surely allow him a settl8 g in period of 4 or 5 games, say. I'm not Hampshire's biggest fan, but I can see that, under the cap, he's an astute signing to cover 1, 6 and 7. And I remember him doing some good stuff on the odd occasions I watched him at Wakey.

Surely we can make some allowances, and see the big picture?

I’m not sure why Hampshire is being singled out for blame. I think he went ok last evening, like most of the side. Like all halfbacks he requires quick, clean and accurate passing from the dummy half and that was not available last night. For me, and I have said it before, the jury is out on Leeming. Our performance drops when he replaces O’Neill, having said that he also needs, and deserves a bedding in period.

Nothing against him personally but he just isn't the quality player that Wigan deserves, very much like Thornley, never understood why we re-signed them both, must have better quality youngsters

[Karl Carpenter]

One for the referees on this forum; was Nsemba’s tackle on Charbel Tasipale a hip drop?

[Flash]

One thing seems to have been missed in all the analysis - though Josie touched on it by referring to changes in the spine:

At any point in the season, we could have enforced changes due to injury. If this means changes to the spine, then Hampshire is first in line to come in. Yet he's had very little chance to adapt to the first team, and get to know the players around d him in match conditions. What better game and what better time to give him a run out?

If we'd signed a star Aussie (recommended by Meds, no doubt!), we'd surely allow him a settl8 g in period of 4 or 5 games, say. I'm not Hampshire's biggest fan, but I can see that, under the cap, he's an astute signing to cover 1, 6 and 7. And I remember him doing some good stuff on the odd occasions I watched him at Wakey.

Surely we can make some allowances, and see the big picture?

I’m not sure why Hampshire is being singled out for blame. I think he went ok last evening, like most of the side. Like all halfbacks he requires quick, clean and accurate passing from the dummy half and that was not available last night. For me, and I have said it before, the jury is out on Leeming. Our performance drops when he replaces O’Neill, having said that he also needs, and deserves a bedding in period.

I agree Chariots. It's crazy for people to think he'll slot in seamlessly. It's only his second game of the season (his last was over a month ago), it was in rearranged team with 2 players making their debut and with a completely different spine! If that was French making a comeback and he'd played ok in those circumstances, scoring 2 tries in the process, the narrative would be totally different.

It's also worth remembering that he's our back up half (along with covering a couple other positions). If he was as good as French he'd be on Bevan's wages!

He went pretty well all things considered.

[DaveO]

I think the cup game gave us fans a false impression. Once the game was gone there they had nothing to play for. They have been far more competitive in the league and even beat Salford in their previous game. A combination of them not being that bad and wholesale changes to the spine gave us what we saw last night. Still some really pleasing signs though.

Spot on.

I do agree with Josie in that the defence has been a little lax at times but we know it’s there when needed, in the big games.

I can’t lie, I was glad it was a contest last night. I was bored to tears in the cup last week. No game against a team in your league should be that easy, especially in a knock out game.

A contest? Wigan would have had to have contrived to lose that game. It was just a case of are Wigan going to wake up and play with a bit more intensity which they did in the second half.

If we were going to see 40 minutes of clunky RL from Wigan I’d have been happier if the performances in the two halves were reversed i.e. scored four tries to put the game away by half time and then if the intensity had dropped off in the second that would have been understandable as that often happens in that situation but overall the lack of cohesion just made it a frustrating match to watch.