I don't think it was a good thing, as it does mean we have to go to Saints away if we win next week.

Wigan will not pick us in clubcall because they know we would probably beat them although it will be funny if they pick Leeds and Leeds turn them over.

I think we probably will win next week but it means the semi final will be very difficult and we will probably be slight underdogs.

Still it's not exactly beyond the realms of possibility that we will win and if we did I expect the confidence would return for the Grand Final. Early in the season we lost to Saints and Leeds and came back strongly, we got smashed by London one week and won the Challenge Cup the next.

I don't think it was a good thing, as it does mean we have to go to Saints away if we win next week.

Wigan will not pick us in clubcall because they know we would probably beat them although it will be funny if they pick Leeds and Leeds turn them over.

I think we probably will win next week but it means the semi final will be very difficult and we will probably be slight underdogs.

Still it's not exactly beyond the realms of possibility that we will win and if we did I expect the confidence would return for the Grand Final. Early in the season we lost to Saints and Leeds and came back strongly, we got smashed by London one week and won the Challenge Cup the next.

Clubcall is a strange one this year, Wigan have Saints number and had they won probably have beat Saints on the Friday.

Thing is though IF they are given the choice of us and Leeds if we both win they are picking clubs that have their number.

Hoping Catalan do beat them though, if it is another Leeds v Saints final then i'm giving rugby a rest for a season.

Saints have only played one good game this season and yesterday wasn't that good game. Defensively we were OK our attack is only around 70% working at the moment, maybe there is a big performance around the corner, maybe that will be in the semi final, the grand final being another matter and is not worth thinking about at the moment.
The wire problem will be a mental one, it's difficult mentally to raise your game and hit top form consistently after winning a challenge cup. The double has only been done once in the short time spans of the finals , Wire will need a total dominant display next week, but the trouble is its play off football where the opposition are in the players faces, it's going to get tougher from now on.

JEEEEEZ!!!! So from having the best team with the best players, AND, a messianic coach, who has rotated your team wisely all season, you have become a team of no hopers.... Some of you need to give your heads a shake.

Defo has a 2010 feel to it

Only hope is they can somehow turn it round like after Salford and London.

It's the kind of reaction you would get on most forums after a defeat like last night, in a few days spirits will be lifted and optimism will return, IMO, Wire are still the team to beat this year.

So do I.

Well saints are one home game away and with their record of getting to old trafford, you would back them.

Leeds have to win away at catalans which isn't an easy task, but if they do, wigan will pick them in club call and you wouldn't bet against leeds defying the odds again to make the final.

It's not over, clearly. Warrington just have to realise the Play Offs aren't just another round of Super League. The tactics have to change, the stupid offloads in your own half have to stop, you have to respect the ball. You still have a pack capable of winning SL, but last night you were coughing up the ball in your own half on a third of your sets I'll bet. There were very few instances of Warrington completing a set with good metres made and then putting a good positional kick in.

Play offs are all about putting the hard work in first, building the momentum and then taking your chances (Of which you had plenty courtesy of Josh Perry and Francis Meli). Warrington last night, as in previous play off campaigns, were panicking and trying to take shortcuts around the hard work. Your last tackle composure was just shot, too many times you ended up throwing the ball around and moving rapidly back towards your own posts.

In the last two weeks of the regular season we scored over 100 points. We also made more errors than any team in the league in both weeks. This came to a head yesterday as we played a team who can actually defend. Our errors actually mattered.

It was almost an identical game to the one back in March.

We needed a kick up the , and we got it yesterday. For me, that is nothing but a good thing. Nowt's changed in terms of needing to win three games to lift the trophy. Apart from thise three games being to beat Saints twice and Wigan once. Now it's beat Hull/Hudds once, Saints once and Wigan once which is an easier prospect.

So, let's go and do it...

We didn't need a kick up the backside..all the reports out of camp said we were perfectly prepared and ready not to fail.

It's only going to be a good thing if we learn from it. I agree that it could be a good thing - we would never have lifted the trophy if we had won yesterday playing like that - but we have to learn. If Hull/Huddersfield have any sense they will have watched that game, and they will be up in our faces at 100mph too, so we need to have a solid plan of how to cope with that.

True.

This season i've seen our games at Wigan away, Wigan at home, Saints away, Huddersfield semi-final and Leeds final and all showed we can play with composure and under pressure.

Many other games showed we can play like we did yesterday so let's hope we lead from it and put things right.


3 wins to lift the trophy.

More errors than any team in both of the last two weeks of the season tells me we did need a kick up the backside.

You lost the forward battle. It is as simplke as that. If your pack lose the forward battle your backs are ineffective.

The loss of carvell and no westwood or harrison meant you were un done in the pack. It pretty easy after that. You were a sorry second best because you lost the forward battle.

What's that got to do with it being a good thing?

"Reflections of today's game" is another thread.

I think it is very naïve to suggest that the coaches and players were not aware what needed to be done.

They are not a U8s junior team!

Yes, I agree ....The eventual champions got dicked in week 1 and then proceeded to dick the opposition in the next 3 weeks and lift the trophy....



A team losing in week 1 as no less chance of winning the trophy than a team finishing 5th in the league.

It's Wigan's to lose for mine, they have been the dominant team all season and they still look like the favourites to me. The league table does not lie.

They had the best attack and defense by nearly 200 points, that's a lot of difference for the rest of the teams to catch up in 3 weeks of playoffs. They are used to playing at playoff intensity all season. It's not something you can turn on and off like a tap.

Yes sure, get our regular pack back fit and play as normal, we'll then be able to get the backs running off the pack with a tad more time and less pressure, then we'll win, just like most of this year. Quite easy really.
Oh and a bit of luck, Saints used theirs all up last night, we still have a big bagfull left, we didn't use any of it last night.

If we beat Hull/Hudds next week at home(and if we don't then we don't deserve to be anywhere near old trafford) then we are in the semi finals. If we had won last night we would be in the semi finals. At least this year we have made use of our 'extra life' you get for finishing in the top 4. Last year we lost one game(the wrong one out of the 2) and were eliminated. If we have to go to saints then i expect the pressure will be off us a little bit after last night. If we get our injured troops back then we'll be ok.

The way people are going on is ridiculous! We lost against a good side and can still reach the GF. We've had a good season with silverware so far and had fun. It's a game at the end of the day, some people who moan, gripe and troll need to grow up a bit.

We've had a few years of success and now Warrington are expected to win everything. What about the days when we turned up to the match expecting to loose, and we sung and backed the lads to no end. we celebrated when we lost, and went ballistic when we won. Watching the stadium empty with 15 minutes to go last night made me sick, It was embarrassing. Never thought I'd witness wire doing a Wigan walk...

Keep the faith, turn up, have fun.

Just watched it back through and it reinforces my view. We will win next week but have no answer the week after to St Helens' absolutely brutal and committed defence.

Apart from the basic errors from some of our more senior players we weren't actually that bad. The one hope I have is that Skints can't reproduce that effort again and that the week off will work against them.

Have you been sniffing glue ?