There are many reasons Wigan won, one of which was a sensational performance by our captain, the best player in SL now that Sam has left.

Lockers was a long way off full fitness and didn't manage the full 80. While he was on the pitch though he did a phenomenal amount of work, with the most carries and second biggest metres gained of any player. In fact with 23 carries he was not far off the total of the Wire bench (26). Only 3 players made more tackles than Lockers.

It's not just big dramatic events that win matches, Lockers wasn't spectacular in the GF (though he did put the pass in for Richards' try) but it was a fantastically hard working performance from a great leader overcoming his lack of fitness. I'm sure many people failed to notice Lockers' performance (I'm a huge fan and thought he'd done really well considering his lack of fitness but I will admit I was surprised when I saw the stats). I'm sure the Wigan players noticed the effort Lockers was putting in though (and I imagine the Wire players did too). It must have been a massive lift to the morale of the team, especially our young players, to have Lockers out there. I'm not criticising Wire's leadership, just pointing out that Wigan have an exceptional leader in Sean O'Loughlin and that his superb effort, commitment and will to win was a factor in the game going our way.

Just tried to respond to this but I've just got to go and vomit. What a plonker!

Everything he has said is true though.

a true Orrell lad would hate Wigan as a Leigther would!

Both Myler and Monas in for operations.

Just when I thought the standard of debate on the Wire board had improved a bit...

At least you can debate..Not possible on your board as most none Wigan fans are banned..

like i say-troll on,your just here to wind ppl up-

as for an adult reply-two words,seconds one off

-great reply-

Your attitude stinks - You accuse the fellow of winding people up, yet just come back with argumentative nonsense yourself.

To be fair to most of the Wiganers on this thread, they have been quite objective in their views - Of course, they will slant towards their own side, similar to how we will slant towards ours, but at least they don't resort to childish abuse in the manner you just have.

To say he's the best player in super league after sam is gaga.

Why was it nothing like last year?

because the score line was different, there was some injuries and bigger score swings?

The fundementals is what i'm talking about. The same fundemental fails from last year occured this year. Wire get in front, then keep gifting the opposition field position until they take advantage. Then once in front, the opposition do what warrington should have done and don't give them a sniff of getting back into the game. No mistakes, completed sets, good kicks, no penalties...'thou shalt not have field position to score'.

I wish we had some form of alternate reality calculator. Because I honestly believe without the warrington injuries, wigan would have still won. I just think once warrington went 16-2 up they mentally switched off, and that is fatal in a game of that magnitude.

The injuries simply give warrington a convenient excuse.

But, unfortunately for your argument, the injuries are a valid excuse - Of course, we have to deal with it hypothetically, but I just cannot imagine that a Wire side, without the injuries, would have managed to perform so badly as they did in that second half.... Wigan may well have still come out on top, but I'm pretty sure that Wire would have put up more resistance and given more threat in attack, than what transpired on the night - With that in mind, you then have to assume that Wigan would not have performed as well as they did?

As most of us agree, there are too many ifs and buts to ever get a definitive answer to this argument, and unfortunately for us Wire fans, we have to accept it just wasn't our day and Wigan got their reward for their efforts - In years to come, the record books will just show the result and that is all that matters, but to suggest Wire somehow bottled it (as you seem keen to infer), is a little insulting to them, and to Wigan.

That's your opinion, offensively expressed, but you are entitled to it, even if wrong. Lockers was a long way from full fitness and still played a massive part in the game. I can understand that people may have their own favourites who they may mistakenly think are better than Lockers, but to say it's gaga to think Lockers is now the best in SL is ridiculous. Even the most rabid Wigan hater must admit that Lockers is one of only a very small number of world class players in SL.

I tend to agree, I thought, other than a 10 min gap where Warrington scored Wigan were dominant. In the second half Wigan were definitely ahead before injuries, yes the injuries helped tip the balance in Wigan's favour but then a halfback with one eye helped Warrington. Even at 16-2 I thought wigan were going to come back and win.

Didn't Lima and Finch both state that Lockers is the best player they have every played the game with? I'm pretty sure they have played with some good 'uns.

Of course you did.

And you're the guy who laughed at a hull fan predicting a 30-14 win for Wigan on Saturday



and also predicted a Wire win by 20+, you were confident it must hurt a lot

I like Sean O'Loughlin and think he's a very good player. It's your continuous sickening adulation on this board that I object to. It's the sort of adulation that little girls have for their favourite boy band. Don't you think you may have gone a bit over the top? Go somewhere else and tell the world of your great love for "Lockers". It's not really relevant here.

Whilst injuries may have been a contributory factor, the performance of your half-back pairing was a far greater factor.

Green, mom playing with one eye, & Smith were superb. Briers & Myler were anonymous.

It is relevant to the thread. According to the stats Lockers played a big part in the game - for example, despite being a long way from full fitness, [uhe made more yards than any Wire player[/u.

If I were a Wire fan I would be asking how Wire's highly rated team were outworked in the biggest game of the season by player who was nowhere near full fitness, rather than ranting about boybands.

The explanation that Lockers is an exceptional player actually helps spare your players' blushes, if he isn't that special then it makes the Wire performance look worse. Clearly you haven't thought this through...!



By the way, the stats are not made up by me, they collected by independent observers. As opposed to random outbursts about boybands...!! Speaking of which, presumably according to your logic Finch and Lima in the past and all the Wigan players who had been publicly expressing how important Lockers was to the team in the run up to the GF (Tomkins gave an interview in which he said Lockers was the best player at Wigan) are like 1D fan obsessives?

You even seem to object to the use of the nickname "Lockers". It's used by lots of people connected with the club, including our coach.

Oh dear...

Agreed, Smith played very well and if I'm allowed to say this without being accused of "sickening adulation" (

) Green's performance was fantastic. He thoroughly deserved the Harry Sunderland trophy.

To be fair to Briers and Myler though, they were playing behind a beaten pack and they just didn't get enough ball close to Wigan's line.

I wasn't that confident (!) but felt we had a chance - I was confident that the longer the game went on the stronger we would be, but a 14 point lead was a big margin!

From a Wire point of view, I'd say O'Loughlin is a very good player and probably the one type of player we actually lack at the club, who would make us a significantly better side - He reminds me of Mike Gregory, a player who did a lot of things very well, but, to the casual observer, wasn't particularly eye-catching because he never did the flair things like a Ellery Hanley could.... Importantly, both Gregory and O'Loughlin were/are great leaders, who are both greatly admired and appreciated by the most important people, and that's their team mates.

Personally, I'd take O'Loughlin in a heartbeat - He'd offer so much more than the present Wire set up of basically having an extra prop at loose forward, and would also take a lot of pressure of our half backs.

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