Wigan squad for Warrington

[DaveO]

Field being sharp, and KPP and Mago having offload games are real game changers for us.
Even last year, we dug deep and defended, what we painfully lacked were multiple points of attack.
If some combination of Field/Cust/KPP/Mago gives defences much more to think about, then we don’t need that much more before we can compensate for a possible lack of creative threat elsewhere.

The offload only works if you have someone to offload to of course. Last season there was rarely anyone supporting the player with the ball. Field has already been there to receive the ball when players offload and with his pace caused problems. Let’s hope this carries on into the season itself.

[Barney841]

Looking forward to seeing these new props we’ve signed. Field also as it feels like a new signing after the bad injury he never seem to recover from last season, never saw the best of him

[Mike]

Great first half with something like the first choices in there, pretty terrible second half in terms of penalites when the kids from last year came on. I don't think Wire had a single set where we didn't give them a penalty or restart in the seconds half, and I don't think we reached the end of one of our sets (apart from the infamous kick out on the full) in the last 20 minutes. A lot of that was down to plenty of chopping and changing I guess, but the Shorrocks, Byrne, Partington, Smithies combinations gave away so many errors and pen - its a concern. It does look like they'll be bench players this year, rather than starters - I hope they can be trained out of the bad habits that have crept in over the last 2 seasons.

First half was great, KPP and Mago are going to cause some problems for sure. KPP will make some howlers I imagine being young and learning a new position, but I really hope that works out because the threat down that side with his offload and evasion is so much better than before and really gives us another dimension oppositions will have to account for. Imagine the contrast if Thornley or Isa were in that slot. They need to be put through a gap by others - KPP doesn't.

[God2]

Thought Thornley was a threat throughout and linked up well with the back line, was never going to stop him from that distance that close to the line.

He’s clearly not a winger but out of yardage he was hard to put down and got us on the front foot for our forwards to do the damage.

Field buzzing around second man out from the ruck is very hard to defend against and he got his reward.

Offloading caused them problems and tired them out.

Wire fans are already discontent with how the squad faced up to us as we bullied them in the forwards and backs without being overly aggressive which was a concern from them.

Overall there’s clear room for improvement but that’s what pre season is for.