I'm sorry but Lauaki is to blame

[DaveO]

Ian. Your post is catnip to DaveO and I'm sure he will comment on all your points!

No need to comment on all the points but if the basic premise is that we lost because of a combination of factors and so the idea we lost because of Lauaki's indiscipline is wrong, then I disagree.

All that went on in the game before Lauaki chose to do what he did was just your typical RL game. Wrong options taken on occasion, bad refs decisions etc but all that still left us in the lead. Until the red mist descended over Lauaki eyes.

If we had the likes of a Pongia, Craig Smith or Morley playing for us, all of whom are or were the hard rough house type of forward Lauaki pretends to be, we would not have lost that game. They would not be as stupid as he was.

The thing is his tendency to do this is not news. He was like this at Hull.

[Kiwiseddon]

It is an excellent post Ian.

And I still maintain that taking the two was the right thing to do.

However, at the hooter, your response of "You can write your apology on a £50 note" did make me chuckle on the way home.

[cpwigan]

I would disagree with you Dave. Yes Lauaki made some awful mistakes BUT whether those mistakes are in the 1st or 80th minute it does not matter. If others before him had made good decisions he could have lost his head and it would not have mattered other than he is a ticking time bomb and it will matter.

Interestingly, I was reading a Wane interview from the start of the season where he was stating Preccy and Mossop would be his main starting props and how Lauaki and Flower would be great too. Not a mention of Lima. So Wane obviously had pre conceived ideas / selection NOT based on form.

Lima IMO is the cornerstone of a forward pack. A modern day Brian Case.

[DaveO]

I would disagree with you Dave. Yes Lauaki made some awful mistakes BUT whether those mistakes are in the 1st or 80th minute it does not matter. If others before him had made good decisions he could have lost his head and it would not have mattered other than he is a ticking time bomb and it will matter.

Yeah but they didn't make good decisions and the game went the way it did therefore Lauaki had a duty not to compound any previous errors - but he did.

As he is not an inexperienced player he should have done better at that stage in the game but as I said the way he reacted is not out of character.

Do you not agree a Craig Smith or a Pongia would not have chosen that stage in the game to decide to get rough?

Interestingly, I was reading a Wane interview from the start of the season where he was stating Preccy and Mossop would be his main starting props and how Lauaki and Flower would be great too. Not a mention of Lima. So Wane obviously had pre conceived ideas / selection NOT based on form.

Lima IMO is the cornerstone of a forward pack. A modern day Brian Case.

Brian Case was one of may favourite players. I was gutted when Wigan let him go early IIRC when he was about 30 and was after a new deal. The club didn't give him one much to his surprise and I don't think he was asking for the earth or anything.

Getting back to the present its pretty clear to me our best props are Mossop, Lima and Preccy by some distance from the rest. Though I have seen little of him Spencer looks good.

If you add Hock, Hansen, Farrell and of curse Lockers then we have a pretty darn good pack. Why Lauaki is considered good enough to join this lot on the pitch I am not sure especially when the likes of Flower and Tuson seem to have a far better attitude toward the game.

[Kittwazzer]

Seems to me if the OP is correct, then the enforced absence of Lauaki for the next few weeks will prove the point.

Depending upon our performances during that absence, it will be interesting what happens when he is next available for selection. This will tell us a lot about our coach!

[ancientnloyal]

Lauaki is getting a lot of blame and while I don't think he's to blame for losing the game, he's to blame for giving away the points that won the game (along with Wane).

so he lost us the game then?

[ian.birchall]

It is an excellent post Ian.

And I still maintain that taking the two was the right thing to do.

However, at the hooter, your response of "You can write your apology on a £50 note" did make me chuckle on the way home.

Watching the review of all the games on Boots n'All or whatever the rebranding is called I did notice that Terry o'Connor was even more onside as he complained about our kicking the very first penalty just before the Wire scored through Atkins instead of going for 6 points when we were dominant.

I did like the Salford 'Greens' try that went through about 37 pairs of hands though. I have to say that we really got out of jail as far as sliding down the table was concerned with 3 of our main rivals fouling up yesterday. After the Widnes result yesterday Toby texted me to ask if I now felt better about our Widnes result after they won again yesterday, my reply remains unprintable

The Regarder une fille en bikini line is a quote from Garrison Keillor (of Lake Wobegone fame) but I liked it so much I had to translate it for you, the really clever bit of course was getting all the devilish little accents in it but when I go to a French internet cafe or use my French phone the switch to a Azerti keyboard as opposed to a Qwerty keyboard causes me to stop and think.

[ian.birchall]

Ian. Your post is catnip to DaveO and I'm sure he will comment on all your points!

[Wigan_forever1985]

Sorry but i disagree with the fact EL himself lost us the game, the points difference was 2 points, Lima (seems can do no wrong) was responsible for giving them exactly 2 points (the winning margin) with by far the MOST stupid penalty of the whole game as it was literally with less than 10 seconds to go in the half where we could of gone in, in the lead! in a position Wire would never have scored from and was sheer laziness.

Yes Lima played a lot better than EL but to say EL alone with penalties lost us the game is tripe.

[Sutty]

Was in the South Stand, right hand corner, and the general consensus was that for a big guy, he runs like a girl. I can handle the penalties if he's actually providing go-forward with the ball (a-la Hock), but if not, he's just a liability. Waste of space.

I agree, the rest of our pack were excellent on Friday, with Hock, Farrell, Prescott and Lima making really good yards with almost every carry. I thought Lauaki was almost totally ineffective.
McIllorum was awesome in defence.