Jon Wilkin shocked as he says St Helens should have had a vital penalty

[josie andrews]

Jon Wilkin was not impressed by a crucial decision at the end of today’s derby between Wigan Warriors and St Helens.

After Jack Welsby broke from a Tommy Makinson offload, Bevan French clawed Welsby down and a tackle later Lewis Dodd was dragged down to stop Saints’ last chance at completing a comeback.

However, it looked like French had a second go at Welsby, and Terry O’Connor said

It could have been a set restart for the second effort on Jack Welsby, it was a brilliant offload and Bevan French comes up with a brilliant tackle but he has a second go at him there. Could have been a penalty.”

Jon Wilkin simply said:

“Should have been a penalty. Should have been a penalty.

Stuart Pyke’s statement after this was:

“Should have been a penalty maybe, 50/50 calls.”

Wilkin hit back with the comment:


“It is not a 50/50. It should have been a penalty. He has picked him up and dropped him on his back again. It should have been a penalty.”

This came after Wilkin said the Warriors had been pushing the letter of the law:

“Take note of how slow every single ruck was there

Wigan are happy just to push the letter of the law right to the end and slow rucks down.

“They would rather concede a penalty, like any team in Super League would, they would rather concede a penalty than give a quick ruck away.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/jon-wilk ... lty-72600/

[josie andrews]

Jon Wilkin says Wigan’s defence pushed the “letter of the law”

Ruck speed and six agains have been a huge talking point in recent weeks.

Phil Clarke took things to a new peak when he said of St Helens:

“Maybe when they’re prepared to defend on their own try line, maybe one of the reasons why Huddersfield and other teams can’t score against St Helens is that they’d rather slow down the opposition and concede six more tackles in the belief that, ‘we’ll defend, as long as it’s not quick, we can defend our try line for two minutes’.

“Maybe that’s something that the game’s administrators needs to look at.”

He then further went on to state that St Helens secured victory over Salford in 2022 via similar methods, going as far to label it as “cheating”.

“They played a game last year against Salford at the end where they effectively cheated at the end to win the match in the league match

“I do think that the game needs to be stricter at penalising sides that are purposefully holding down players or concede penalties or six agains near to their own try line.

“We need to see more yellow cards for that type of behaviour.”

Curiously, Clarke’s former team were accused of something similar today as they defeated the Saints.

Speaking on Sky Sports, form St Helens star Jon Wilkin said of the Warriors’ goal line defence against the Championship: “Take note of how slow every single ruck was there.

“Wigan are happy just to push the letter of the law right to the end and slow rucks down.

“They would rather concede a penalty, like any team in Super League would, they would rather concede a penalty than give a quick ruck away.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/jon-wilk ... law-72599/

[josie andrews]

I either must be watching a different to Jon Wilkin or else he is just watching what he wants. Bitter ex player just like Terry O’Connor IMO

[medlocke]

Shouting it more like

[josie andrews]

According to him Saints never get a quick play the ball!!

Did he not see how his beloved players stopped us getting a QPB?

[fozzieskem]

What a right royal ocean going blow.hard Mr W has turned into he really shouldn't be allowed to commentate on saints games as he really can't keep his views in check and has perhaps far worse he's become boring with it

[widdenoldboy]

Had to call BS on that call and Wilkin etc harping on about it - shortly after Welsby knocked on a high kick (not given) and it was brushed over.

Saints got away with a number of tip tackles (to the letter of the law) apart from one - nothing said.

[Lazy J]

Phil Clarke is biased towards Wigan, but Wilkin takes it to a whole new level, he’s that bad I think he was the poster on redvee who gave the ref man if the match (he wasn’t but that was how toe curling bias he has)

every slow slow ruck Wigan forced on saints was just legal, but saints never slowed the ruck, the guys a weapon of the highest order

[Mike]

It's odd. He did mention that saints have the slowest PTB in SL this year - before they played us. So when that slow PTB continued, somehow it's our fault and not just a continuation of what came before. It's definitely wigan pushing the boundaries of what's legal and not just saints being crap.

BTW, it is interesting that saints have the slowest PTB and we have the second slowest and yet were two of the top sides in the comp. Is PTB speed actually that crucial over a whole game? Maybe it's more about a run of quick PTBs in one set where youve got a roll on, rather than consistent quickness for the whole match? Do we get carried away with the importance of this?

[fozzieskem]

Just watched it back the best part of the comentary was Stuart pike put the ever increasingly hysterical Wilkin down with “but it wasn’t (a penalty)”,sometimes with a bore like Wilkin the best way to nullify his nonsense is just to state facts..shame because when Wilkin first appeared I thought him articulate and thoughtful,he’s now like a school boy on the playground