Because our decision-making was all over the place. Which was surely because we had no half backs. I think we did about as well as we could have done under the circumstances today. If there's one area where we could have done better it was in our discipline when we had Wigan coming out of their own 30.

Halfback or no halfbacks I'm pretty sure Turner, lance or robes could have put the ball up in the air. Turner can't half kick a ball and he could have put snow on it but we still put those poor little kicks in.

Can't knock saints today tho wirh the injuries and losing two players during the game. It's not just injuries but it's to the key players.

Walsh shouid be back next week so let's hope he hits the ground running

Saints Fan does have a point though we do have an excessive amount of injuries especially in the key pivot positions and we are most probably the most handicapped team because of it.

We look tougher and better conditioned this season but again we seem to have an unfair share of bad luck especially when we lose 2 or 3 players per game.

But it's not just about the ability to kick a ball. It's about the ability to weigh up the situation quickly and make the right decision under great pressure. Turner might be good at the former but he isn't at the latter - because he isn't a halfback. But I think generally we're in agreement - I don't see too much to worry about, and once Walsh is back in I think we'll be fine. But I'd be inclined to give Hewitt a run in the meantime.

We had no chance of that, wigan players was always in front of Bentham at the play the ball to improve there line speed, it also greatly effected our deep kicking game. Wigan played the right tactics today by holding our pack and giving less time for our halves.

It's simple, on last tackle you give yourself more room. Jesus, I was doing that at 10yrs old! Surley fulltime experienced pros can stand 2m further back.

why do they persist in barging up the middle instead of getting the ball out wide..a few times today we had a 2 to 1 overlap but no up they went just barging!

I was dissapointed Hewitt didn't get to play in both friendlies at the start of the year tbh.

He's very frustrated at the moment at not getting a run and I don't blame him. We lose walsh and can't get a kick, we lose walsh and burns and can't get a kick and now we have burns, walsh and Wilkin out and still no game time.

It suggests to me that KC doesn't rate him or thinks he's not ready yet.

I would think that was quite a confidence builder. It was one of the most intensive games of SL this year and we held up well, with 5 strike players out.
Plus 2 lost during the game.

If you can run them close in a game like that, then there should not be an issue. Put one halfback on the field and you get Turner back at Centre and we have an attacking threat in the middle and out wide.

No issues with anyone today. We should have tried a younger half with Lance but you can see why we did not want to throw them in at the deep end

Logical answer. Following on from that. Haw many times this season have our kicks been charged down with resultant 6 pointers ?

I said same thing today. We must have had most charge downs on us in super league this year.

But weren't you a natural half??

Would explain the difference.

Yes but it's no rocket science and Turner has played 6 many times. I think he played at 6 for England Knights.

If your getting charged down on the kicks, you take a extra 2m back. Even 13 year old kids can work that out.

If Tuner stays at 6, he needs to run the ball more. He's not blessed with the best of rugby brains and his passes at times should come with a health warning so he needs to be more of a running 6.

t's not the offsides which cost us this game. It's james green's foul on travis burns. Stick a real halfback on the field for us today, and we win. We can't carry on with this "stick anyone with legs in the halves". We need a halfback who can actually move the ball effectively.'"

Question, do you guys not consider Hohaia a half back? There's been a lot said about the fact you didn't have any on the field, but that seems to do a disservice to the guy who had the #6 jersey last season.

FWIW I think Wigan should have won by a lot more than they did and is a sign that they lack potency in attack and that St Helens, for all their injuries are a top team and will be shoe-ins for both trophies when they get back to full strength.

I'd say at best he can fill in alongside another more creative halfback. For me he's a hooker.

He's no definite position, which has probably worked against him playing time wise these last few seasons. Forwards did alright today, but we had nothing on the end of it, which is understandable with the players we're missing. Today proved that Wigan aren't up to much to me, if we had a full team it would have been very different as they were only missing O'Loughlin who would have contributed to a better Wigan side.

Last year Saints lost Walsh halfway through the season and also played without a recognised #6. Shouldn't the question be raised as to why the likes of Charnock and Hewitt weren't given some game time. If you compare that to Wigan they would have used Powell, Williams and Hampshire.

Surely that's about the quality of squad depth? I'm not saying you would have won or otherwise but you can't discount Charnley's absence because Manfredi had a decent game or discount Powell because Logan Tomkins did ok. Bowen hasn't played well so far this season but it doesn't mean he would have been poor today and Flower is arguably Wigans best prop.

I'd say all of the above are capable of contributing to a better Wigan side as well as O'Loughlin and although he's had 12 months out, Thornley was one of the in-form centres before his injuries!

I'd say that Saints have much more to offer but I'd also argue that so have Wigan. Roll on the next meeting eh chaps?

And if you assess the performances of the above that played today you'll perhaps understand why Saints have a different approach. Your 3 messiahs look decidedly average this year when I have seen them.

Really? So you don't think that our best and most consistent prop (Flower) would have added to that side? You must really rate Patrick in that case! Or what about regular England International and top try scorer for 2 of the last 3 seasons, Charnley? Obviously I accept he isn't as good as any of your own backs who can muster a grand total of 0 caps between them but even so! Surely he'd add something? No? Fair enough...you must be right.

Williams was MoM mate.

Might be bias when watching the game but I don't think he stood out at all other than the kick for Burgess' try.

I thought it was LMS personally. Even though Wigan won I didn't think anyone really stood out, and it seemed they just picked Williams' name from a hat.

Definitely. I loved the 'analysis' they did on his performance after the game. They suggested he controlled things and came up with several key plays, then showed the one kick. Good kick mind, but plenty ahead of him for MOM, even just for Wigan.