Wigan vs Wakey Reactions

[THE 18th Man]

i made a point before the match about when Stacey Jones left, Catalans improved because they learned to share the jobs but i was wrong.
we miss Barrett more than we realise and the problem is if we are gonna get a world class player it wont be til next year (Lockyer)so be prepared for a struggle of a season and Noble has had his time but trying to change style of play when we cant do basics. Wigan have got to do something better and fast

[Susi]

I agree with most of the posts on here.
We were truly awful yesterday.
Mathers is robbing a wage and should be dropped or sacked, there is no improvement, he does not run with the ball. It's a good job pat was in position a few times or wakey would have scored more.
Did we miss him when he was binned in my opinion NO.
Lockers is our captain and he bombs a simple try so does hock. But at least gaz was trying to make yards.
Now I love Fecks but he's not doing much, then again there are many around him the same.
As for Piggy what an apt name a big lazy pig.
Bring back mickey.
Noble keeps switching players about to accomadate crap ones, it is little wonder we get no cohesion.
Why not let the players come up with their own game plan and pick where and whom to play. Could not do much worse.
yes mr noble did say we would see more exciting rugby this season, but he did not say it would be from our team.
They all need to practice keeping hold of the ball, running on to it making yards and working together.
Someone mentioned set moves not seen any of them since Dobson went.
Come on Wigan we do our bit you get you fingers out and do yours.!!!!!
Angry you bet i am.
















:exc: :exc: :exc:

[thomo]

If we had just lost to a full strength saints or leeds team then that could be explained as beaten by a stronger side but we have just lost at home to half a wakefield side who are not even tipped to make the top eight.

As for people saying get rid of mathers, bailey etc - these lads are under contract and they are not going to accept been released unless they are paid off - if we pay them off they still count on the cap so no benefit to use.
Would love to know what sort of salaries some of these boys are on - anyone got any rumours?

As for next week - could Lockers not have a spell cover hooker - and think we should be looking at Hock and Feka off the bench to bring some impact

[Shaun1967]

Could go on for hours about what we saw yesterday, however here are a few points that immediately spring to mind.

If players are going onto the pitch with their own agendas, drop them!

Wakefield had a team on the pitch, many of whom were not guaranteed their places next week, thus they played with pride and a great deal more effort than a team who history shows will still be picked after performing ineptly.

Amos Roberts was disappointing, however he looked confident fielding kicks. Give him a run at full back and maybe some of this confidence will rub off across the field.

When watching the video of yesterday’s game, make sure the forwards pay particular attention to the performance of Eamonn O’Carroll. He showed more pride than most of the team put together.

We are boring. We play a very lazy brand of rugby, which is compounded by the fact that we are unable to do the basics well.

Our halfbacks cannot create. Every comment on here about Leuluai is with regard to the improvement he showed when he was moved away from scrum half (as in the world cup). Tim Smith is a good distributor, however he does not create things for the players around him and his kicks close to the line are telegraphed, and generally poor.
I have yet to see him add anything to our team.

IL will never sack Brian Noble unless there is a better option available to him. Peoples opinion on what constitutes a better option will vary, however at the stage we are now at I think we need a proven coach. Anything less than this will soon have fans baying that he is taking the cheap option.

[DaveO]

IL will never sack Brian Noble unless there is a better option available to him. Peoples opinion on what constitutes a better option will vary, however at the stage we are now at I think we need a proven coach. Anything less than this will soon have fans baying that he is taking the cheap option.

I would not be surprised if Noble isn't on a huge wage given we had to prise him away from Bradford while under contract.

So IL would have to pay him off this seasons wages and IMO despite the fact it would not count in the salary cap that is why IL will not do it. The cost.

As to who else lets not forget Noble was under contract so its not necessarily who is actually available but who can be persuaded to make themselves available. However that would also cost money I doubt IL is prepared to spend.

Dave

[warrior till i die]

ok, this is going to be hard but im going to go into each players performance.

Yesterday we went into the game with great optimism and hope, the players went into the game with great optimism and hope but they did not deliever, same as last year when we lost games against teams who we should be beating comfortably if we have any goals and aspirations to finish anywhere in the top 3

Richard Mathers- if negatives could be given to a player then he deserves a negative rating, he was abysmal, he did not look confident when players where running at him, he did not look confident with the ball and he does not deserve a place in the squad next week.

Amos Roberts- for his first game he showed some promising signs, he needs more ball so we can see the best of him! next week he should be at full back

cameron phelps- his defensive liabilities where shown in the first half, he looked poor and did not look confident with the ball in hand.

george carmont- had a quiet game did george, we never see a lack of effort from him but if our half backs are performing like that all season, he will not see much ball.

pat richards- when he got the ball he looked dangerous, again did not see much of the ball. wigan need to play to their strengths and if pat does not get the ball we are not playing to our strengths

tim smith- what went wrong? he was reliant on kicking early in the tackle count, and the majority of the kicks where easily read, he did not look to be on the same wavelength with his backs, and that needs to be heavily discussed.

thomas leuluai- definately a better hooker, he looked dangerous going from dummy half and was our most attacking minded player when he was at 9! not 7.

stuart fielden- when he was on the pitch he was good, but he is still not match fit after his op in pre season

mark riddell- was he on the pitch? his attack was non existant, although he did put some good defensive tackles in

iafeta palea'asenia- he was nackered after 5 minutes, created the gap for their first try with his poor fitness leaving places in the defensive line. his fitness is worse than last year and that is poor.

gareth hock- still needs to learn to control the ball! he is our most dangerous player when he runs the ball in direct, he needs to concentrate on that.

phil bailey- again was very poor, didnt really do much.

sean o'loughlin- another who was a penalty machine and an error machine, shown his class setting up JT's try


Eamon O'Carroll- stand out player by a mile for me, direct running, breaking tackles

Joel Tomkins- looked good did joel, good try and good in defense, id start him next week.

Andy Coley- 2nd worst player on that pitch- only mathers was worse, what was he doing taking that quick tap and knocking on on the first tackle? the idiot!

harrison hansen- had a quiet game didnt see him do nothing wrong.

for next week we need to get mathers and coley out of that team, and bring ST onto the bench. my line up next week would be,

1. Amos Roberts
2. Cameron Phelps
3. Darrel Goulding
4. George Carmont
5. Pat Richards
6. Sam Tomkins
7. Tim Smith
8. Stuart Fielden
9. Mark Riddell
10. Paul Prescott
11. Joel Tomkins
12. Phil Bailey
13. Sean O'Loughlin

14. Iafeta Paleaasenia
15. Eamon OCarroll
16. Thomas Leuluai
17. Gareth Hock

[DaveO]

It's very sad that after one game there is so much frustration and anger on this website. All of it sadly justified by an inept and unprofessional performance. However, don't take anything away from Wakefield who played well, with clear purpose and plan, and nullified anything Wigan threw at them (which wasn't much). They deserved their win and if we are honest were unlucky not to score a couple of times more.

Both points you make above are spot on. All of the criticisms are justified and Wakey did exactly as you say.

I can't remember if it was on here or on rlfans but before the game a posted a comment that said last season it seemed at times all teams had to do was play as a team and adopt a basic game plan to beat us and that I hoped we might instead be the ones to do that.

I also said the selection policy would mean disruption when Riddell went off.

I am now only regretting I didn't post the lottery numbers because Wakefield did exactly that and played as a team and won the game and we looked clueless and had to change the formation every time Riddell went off or came back on.

I think the frustration of the fans is largely because what happened was entirely predictable given the way the team went last season and with the players we have.

Calderwood and Higham must be the smuggest two players in RL at the moment and the concern is if things don't change our younger players will be forming a queue to leave.

Noble said on radio Mancs that he felt some players had their own agendas which speaks volumes about the lack of cohesion on the field.

It speaks volumes about the relationship between the coach and the players. This was the first game for crying out loud. How come we are already considering things like this?

Dave

[Susi]

Mr Nobles tactics do not work here. He had a very big squad at bradford and a cohesive pair of half backs with a working hooker, we are not afforded this luxury, and if piggy is taken off and the players moved about to accomadate this then we'll not get any where.
We need half backs playing as a unit, hooker to run and distribute the ball. Props who run hard on to the ball and make yards, also ones that are strong in defence.
We also need a good full back be that pat, mathers or a young player.
Mcclorum is a good sub hooker so why was he not named and used yesterday.
You really have sit backand ask yourself what are we doing and why do we keep dishing up the same drivel, no apparent game plan. If that means dropping some big names and playing the younger ones so be it.
We need a set of players who are interested in playing and a coach with a plan for the players he has now , not what he had before or would like to have.

[Susi]

the sad thing is your prob right.
depressing thought . to how we could be.

[DaveO]

the most depressing thing about yesterday is we all know noble will pick the same team next week!

No he won't. He will drop O'Carroll and replace him with Prescott.

Dave