Just wanted a special mention to his defence last night - Not too long ago, Watkins was seen as a bit of a defensive liability, but I thought he was fantastic last night in defence. He gets all the credit for his attacking play, but his defence has improved beyond site.

Sure, he didn't look 100% fit and probably missed a few tackles last night, but he seemed to get through an absolute mountain of defensive work, particularly in the middle of the park (I'm looking forward to seeing the stats from last night). I noticed it a few times last night, particularly when we were struggling in that 2nd half - he was in the middle of the pitch putting his body on the line and defending like a prop, no doubt to give our knackered forwards a rest. I've not watched the game back on Sky yet, but that was definitely my impression at the game.

Did he ever get through a lot of work. Stats are here... www.superleague.co.uk/report/11372

Did he ever get through a lot of work. Stats are here... www.superleague.co.uk/report/11372

Not too sure those stats are to be trusted. It has Tony Clubb down for an Attacking Kick.

It was an attacking kick.

For leeds.

Fair play.

Have said elsewhere that was an excellent comedy gold moment... S.O.L was right next to him too so not sure why he actually did that.

as for Watkins...the lad has everything inc now great tackling stats. His attitude and humble manner epitomises what makes a great team. He has obviously been tasked recently to defend further in owing to numbers down in the forwards and rather than acting like a prima donna he has knuckled down to the job asked of him.

and he still had enough in the tank to scorch down the right wing from a perfectly timed Briscoe pass to set up McGuire's second sublime try. Lovely stuff.

mention of Briscoe too ...his little cheeky offloads caused a few problems for Wigan last night...even if they always seem to catch Burrow by surprise

Glad Ablett finally gets a rest lol. Few missed tackles there

I won't take anything away from McGuire winning MOM but in my opinion Watkins must have run him close....I thought he was amazing....then again they were all amazing.

We seemed to have him defending further in than normal. Possibly to use his speed and agility to close down Farrell and the Wigan left side. Bar the mis numbering in the 5th minute the Wigan left was kept under control. Watkins numbers were very reminiscent of big Keith. He also carted the ball up into traffic again and again. Our forwards only lasted because Watkins, Hall and Briscoe are so strong they carry like forwards.
Hard to put down. Briscoe got some great offloads away to give some big return gains.
Watkins still had gas all the way to the end of the match. Phenomenal effort from him.

When Burrow's on the field Watkins defends 4 in, with Sinfield, Burrow and Briscoe outside of him. Barring Wigan's first try it worked well. Williams was constant trying to poke his nose through but Watkins and Sinfield just about had it covered every time.

Also how good was Singleton in defence?! Some cracking hits!

Have to agree - particularly as I had £20 on Watkins to get it... Doh...



Completely agree - he's a fantastic player for us - vastly underrated... But he's looked absolutely gassed for the last couple of matches, particularly last night.... His energy levels looked empty in contact in defence... But - he kept at it, still looked dangerous ball in hand and still got through plenty of work.

Yep agreed. Still though, he's the only guy who played every single game in a treble winning season, that's a fantastic effort to drag himself out there every single week even if you could see the toil it has taken.

Defending further in suits Watkins. Fewer decisions to make, more about being physical which suits his defensive abilities.

Incidentally, I watched the Wigan try on skysports website this mmornin. Stevo has become such a joke, he goes on and on about sinfield making a bad read/missing a tackle but fails to notice Wigan completely caught us out on numbers - I think they had 5 on 3 so of course Sinny had nothing to lose byvtrying to fly up out of the line

I think what irritates me most is the sky clowns always emphasis the negative rather than good attacking play by SO'L. Other sports commentators don't do that (soccer, union)

In fairness to Stevo he called the game almost perfectly pre match. Was absolutely spot on. Maybe it was a car of monkeys and typewriters but can't deny he was Bob on.

Watkins a guest on Question of Sport on Wednesday 10:30pm for anybody who wants to watch.

Yep agree with this. Just as an example one of Eddie's first comments immediately after Hall's try at Huddersfield was "ohhh what a way to lose a game". Why not "what a way to win a game and the league leadership".

Unfortunately the game has moved well beyond Eddie and Stevo. Neither have enough knowledge of the game to add any insight and both just react like fans. Then you add in Clarke's bias for certain clubs and Barrie & Terry's generally appalling presentation and it just leads to a poor production that often frustrates rather than entertains or informs.
Carney & Wells being the exception.