We lost and it could do us good

[Matthew]

I actually think that this loss is good for us. Had we won today then we would have been in danger of becoming complacent about beating wire. They were smarting for losing the CC and clearly wanted it more.

The way the game played out, with myler and briers bitching and whining and all the niggle that went unpunished from the wire forwards (we got penalised for everything - they got away with murder - the non sin-binning for pig-faced morley being a prime example) I think that this game will serve us in the same way that the mcguire's pull on George in the eliminator served us last year. We now owe wire one. When we beat them in the CC, we looked like we wanted it more. They wanted it more today - we looked like we'd just got off the bus from Wembley. I don't think we could have played much worse - or them much better. Likewise Silverwood was far too influenced by the crowd - the amount of offsides, lying on, not square at marker, grapple tackles (especially on Sam) that went unpunished was a disgrace.

If we were going to lose a match before the end of the season, then I would prefer it was now. All of the players will be hurting after that one - there is clearly a lot of ill feeling from the Wigan team towards wire.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to pay them back with interest - provided they don't implode in the play offs like they usually do before we get a chance to meet them.

[Panchitta Marra]

The players need to get their heads back in to action, too much a distraction with winning the Challenge Cup today.
Wigan werent at the races and never looked capable of winning the game.
Too many examples of minds not on the task for 90% of the game today. Sams poor passing on the break, Pats poor attempted catch from a straight forward pass, Geoff Lima way out position on our own line with sam having to shove him into position, Finchy dropping an easy pass, H dropping the ball when taking his eye off the ball, twice, and Pat kicking the ball out on the full.
These basic mistakes arent normal in our standard of play, and lets just hope it is a one off blip or there wont be a second trip to Old trafford.

[jolleymike]

I agree with most of the comments in this post but for me the main reason we lost today was Morley, he is and remains one of the best prop forwards in the game, Dire missed him and pock faced briers in the CC quarter final and today Morley's go forward and strength in the tackle made a big difference.

In the two periods when he was off the park we gained yards up the pitch and scored.

For us to beat Dire we need to neutralise Morley, our pack needs to go forward to give the back line the room to move without the room todays performance will happen again.

Firstly Next season we need a class prop forward to replace Coley, this prop must be international standard otherwise next season we will be back to our bad old days.

Secondly Joel needs to revert back to second row and a new recognised centre needs brining in, joel is woeful at centre and each play that goes down that side exposes him for pace and skill in that position.

I still think that this team on their day can beat Dire if dire play their own style of play but as today showed our pack cant compete with Dires.

[pie eater and proud of it]

Secondly Joel needs to revert back to second row and a new recognised centre needs brining in, joel is woeful at centre and each play that goes down that side exposes him for pace and skill in that position.

Joel to 2nd row in place of Hoffman, Gareth Thomas into centre

[cpwigan]

I disagree. The best go forward Wire had was their back 3, in particular King and Monaghan had a field day. To be fair, if you spend 40 minutes coming off your own line, the opp will always look fantastic.

It is important people try not to get carried away. Wire are a quality team and spent a fortnight preparing a game specific plan to beat us. Fair play to them BUT lets keep it in proportion.

[Dobby]

I have said all season that the Warrington pack, on their day, can dominate any team in Super League. They have a very good set of forwards and have a lot of size. Despite this size they still have a lot of mobility and when they get a roll on they are very difficult to stop. Today was one of those days and Wigan were well off the pace after last week. Wigan can match them up front but need to perform a damn site better than today to do so and need to complete their sets much better. If you dont then a team like Warrington are always liable to do what they did today.

[Brad5926]

would it be worth giving the a few of the 20's ago next week and resting a few key players as alot looked exhausted and mentally tired

[Panchitta Marra]

would it be worth giving the a few of the 20's ago next week and resting a few key players as alot looked exhausted and mentally tired

I agree Brad.
If Madge sticks to his word by dropping underperforming players then there is a valid case to pick some of the U20's next week.

[josie andrews]

Lima was being sick on the pitch in the warm up & it looked like blood he was bringing up!

Or it have been a chicken tikka from last nite!!!

[exile in Tiger country]

I think this was always on the cards after the game last week and subsequent celebrations. The team looked very jaded and tired and generally each player was way off the pace.

I suspect that the problem was the team asking to go back into training the Monday after the win at Wembley.
They looked tired today, but the fact that the outcome of this game seemed to have been decided before a ball was played also didn't help.
We were pinged for forward passes that were at worst flat, while Wire were throwing quarterback passes.
Our ball handling was poor, again possibly due to tiredness, but we should have given a far better account of ourselves tha we did today. I suspect however that even f we had been the far better side, it would somehow have been contrived to get a Wire win.

Come on you 'ull as they say at the far end of the M62.