I reckon this season many teams will play "fire against fire" when they play Wigoon. It could be a hard season for them and if they show lack of controlled agression and irritation in there discipline they will lose control of the game.
They have quite a few players who 'could lose it", so its up to the clubs to exploit it because it might be difficult for Wane to change the agression mindset.

I thought it was incredibly harsh at the time. Having slept on it and seen it again a few times, I'm tending to agree. The closed fist is what condemns it. I'd only grade it careless/ reckless though.

Sending off was a 50/50 and will see them go different ways over the course of a season. I still think it was a bit harsh - more of a sin bin than red under the new rules - but can also see why Child did send him off.

The bigger worry for me is the precedent set that if you mistime a tackle it can be a straight red, but you can get away with a yellow for kicking an opponent. Frustration or not, kicking somebody is unacceptable and should be a straight red card in any situation (with a 5-6 match ban on top) for me

The wasnt any intent but he hits him on the jaw with a swinging arm. Deliberate or not it's still a red.

I think a red card was a little harsh, but I can understand James Child's decision. Like you say, there was clear contact, and he has to call it as he sees it. What's disappointing is that mistiming a challenge seems to have been deemed a worse offence than openly kicking an opponent for no apparent reason.

I'm more concerned about the late hits on the kickers. Happened all night.

Effectively though Smith was sent off for the remainder of the game and It'll get looked at by the review panel.

I don't like having a go at referees but Childs was hopeless last night.

I can go either way with the sending off, I don't THINK it was deliberate but he did hit Charnley around the head with I think a clenched fist. As I always say let the review committee decide. But the real poor decisions were Gelling tackling the Widnes player in the air no penalty given. The penalty given for pushing the Widnes player over the touchline when a) he's already in touch and b) Joel Tomkins is committed to the tackle, there was no second effort. Then O'Carroll runs 20 yards to attack a Wigan player and the referee doesn't caution him but speaks to Joe Mellor and gives Wigan the penalty. There are probably others I'll notice when I watch the game again but those three were from memory at the game.

It's a sad day for the game I think when players are being sent off for carelessness. Yes it was high and it looked bad but there's no way Ah Van deliberately hit Charnley like that. A sin binning would have been fine. In a tough contact sport, accidents will happen.

Wigan in contrast. Joel Tomkins deliberately launching himself into a bloke when play has stopped. Smith kicking a bloke in petulance. Flower punching a bloke prone on the floor. These are vastly different cases to a careless high shot. I didn't have any issue with anything Wigan did last night except the Tomkins and Smith incidents. I think Childs was too lenient on them holding on and hitting the kicker but they were hardly big deals.

Does joel Tomkins think he's some sort of enforcer ? He was running in when plsyers was having a little push. That sort of thing causes all out brawls.

Somebody will soon put that tomkins on his bum and get sent off.

Absolutely stupid from Tomkins, he keeps doing it and it's going to cost us big time soon. Not sure about the lengthy holiday bit though. Is it for pinning someone to the ground, or because there was just a bit of shoving to provoke it?

We played right into Widnes hands, I bet Denis couldn't believe it when we stopped doing what we had for the first 20 minutes or so. Complete lack of composure and discipline. SW has asked Farrell to be more aggressive, I don't think he's asked him to give away cheap penalties and do high shots. If I read it correctly he told him to be more agressive when he carries and in the wrestle.

Smith incident was pure frustation, doesn't matter what Hanbury has done, very poor, if he gets a one game ban not a problem for me.

Acted like a maniac last night. Chasing Hansbury before turning and jumping at Phelps. What for ? Neither Widnes player threw a punch or acted aggressively. He just decided it.

Smith's was out of character and petulant, in disappointment really. I can forgive that.

Happening all too often with Wigan though now. They appear to have no respect for anybody. Reflecting very badly on the game and Wigan themselves.

I wouldn't go that far. Probably just got a bit miffed at the constant late tackles on Mellor after the kick!

I don't think I've said this before, but I agree with you. One late hit by Farrell in the 1st half should have been a penalty, possibly a yellow. Nothing in any of the other incidents that Stevo was wetting himself about. A home crowd will always shout for late hits, laying on and forward passes, even more so if they feel an injustice has been done. Smith and Tomkins at the end was embarrassing, like the surrender of our lead.
My view on Ah Van is that it was accidental, but going in with a closed fist and contacting with the head, with these new head injury regulations, is likely to be a red card. Does the tackler not have a duty of care to the other player, I'm sure I read this when SOL caught a player on the head who had slipped last Good Friday?

I don't know what you're on about about Joel Tomkins, but most of the time he probably thinks he's diffusing the situation. If you look when he goes in he doesn't throw punches, he literally picks the main cause of the trouble and pins him to the ground. He has always done this, even in his last spell for us. Last night was obviously a mistake, as Phelps wasn't doping anything and there wasn't going to be any trouble until Tomkins came in. But in general, he obviously thinks he's diffusing the situation by pinning them to the ground, not punching etc.

Agreed. Lot of red cards will be thrown about this season if that's how those situations will be handled

There was a time in the game that thought Farrell had actually fallen asleep on top of the Widnes player he was lying on for so long. How the hell he got away that I don't know, then Widnes was penalised for not clearing the ruck when Tompkins was attached to his ankle like a limpet.

Cheating around the ruck is coached at the pie dome, all part of the mags regime. It also looks like the aggression medicine has been increased. A lot of road rage last night.

Looks like cheating in all aspects is coached in St Helens.

We win tho when we cheat

Haha!

Does Percival have speed issues - can't think of any other reason why he would be nearer the Catalans line than the ball everytime Catalans had a PTB in the Saints 20. He was so far offside it was embarrassing to see.

Burns was the same.

I think Percival has over eager to impress issues. It's his first season where he's seen as a serious contender as a regular and wanted to earn it more than normal. I'm sure he'll settle down as he gets used to it

He did some good tackles last night.

2 very heated first games to start the season off. It's certainly going to be interesting to see how the refs go after these first two games.