A critical view of us tonight....we still don't know what to do when we get close to the opposition's line (maybe Widdop will sort us out there) and we need to learn to kick along the ground as well as in the air.

Ashton - looked good, fast, will score plenty just needs to sort his positioning
Charnley - needs to stop trapping players in when they tackle him, refs all it every time
Gelling - wasn't too impressed when we signed him but reckon he will go well for us
King - fantastic defensive stint, just practice that killer pass
Lineham -a better winger than Charnley in my opinion
Austin - looked good in parts but needs to vary his kicking game
Ratchford - a potent attacking threat with a surprising turn of speed
Hill - Ref had no choice really. Can't see him doing big minutes this season (Bring on Mr Latu)
Clark D - looked good and will always be a threat
Cooper - Mr Consistency for me, as long as Price rotates him properly
BMM - what a try! Anyone who can do that to Burgess is ok by me
Currie - Hurts to say it but I think we've seen his best days at the Wire
Clark J - played a belter, if he keeps this up I can see why Bunnies fans loved him
Philbin - quality player, always gives of his best
Akuola - short stints again, ran hard
Burrell - looks promising, think he will take Currie's starting place as season goes on
Walker - always looks a handful, happy for him to spell DC to keep it interesting

A special mention goes to the ref for a truly awful performance......charge down?? Sheesh

Before anyone rips in to what I've said here, this is my critical opinion of what I saw tonight. If we keep 13 on the field and play like that with the offloads and the running and general enthusiasm and fitness, it'll be a much more entertaining season than last year for sure. I'm going to really enjoy watching Ashton tear opposition defences a new one!

Now the Wire!

PS - Pies looked pants, O'Loughlin seems a liability

He made 2 outstanding defensive reads in the second half. But that isn't any reason to say someone is MOM! His attacking ability is non existent. Although having Currie playing down that side isn't helping.

Nothing to rip.

Widnes fan here. Thought you played well. Going down to 12 men always helps a team get up for a game. He really doesn’t impress me anymore. Lazy defending for French to go through and had to see red.

Kendall had a stinker. That knock on Wigan did near the posts was embarrassing, then they get a penalty for a ball strip. Austin looks lively but got himself too involved with needless niggly .
Pleased to see D Walker go well for you. Ashton looks quality and his pace may become indefensible once you click.
Currie - sad for the lad but seems a different player
T King was your best player imo.

Im not sure you can put too much down to the 12 men argument. Many a time 12 men come out on top including us at your place a few years ago when we didn’t have a prayer with 13! However to me you look a better side than Wigan in spite of the result and if I was you I’d be encouraged! Where did Jason Clark find his improvement? MOM for me. The ref did you no favours and although I agree with the sending off I think it was unfortunate. Widdop could be the X factor you’re missing in attack! Ratchford ain’t a half back and King is the worst offensive centre in the league! Ashton looks a mega signing and I’d love to see him get an extended run at FB and Ratchford replacing King in the centre. I think you’ll lose again next week but having seen that tonight I think you’ll be well in the mix this year!

Yeah this whole King was Man of the match and our best player.........i guess i watched a different game, bizzarre comments.
Great game for our opening game and very proud of all of them, there was no shame in that loss at all.
Completely agree with Mr.Snoodle especially that Lineham is a better winger than Charnley, if he cuts out his weird brain farts he has he's much better than Charnley. Be interesting to see what Leilani Latu can bring to our go forward and add Widdop in and injury free it's exciting times. Finally got to see what all the fuss the Souths fans have been ranting about for Jason Clark is, he was brilliant, Solid go forward and defensively awesome

No. Wigan were pointless while Wire were at 11 men.

I still think we dropped a bollox loaning Livett to KR...we should have kept him and allowed Currie to go instead.

Yes Warrington lost Cooper to the sin bin at 63 minute mark and Marshall scored less than 2 mins later.

Wrong,............AGAIN!!

Agree with Mr Snoodles ratings. J Clark, like a man possessed.
I don’t normally mention referees but that “charge down” decision was just totally baffling.

As a neutral I thought it was a pretty good opening game.
Warrington for me the better side and Hill`s sending off tipped it in Wigans favour.
Charnley trapping the player in the tackle in order to win a penalty is an old Wigan trait he has brought with him.
Powell, Farrell, Gildart and Williams were experts at it.
SOL I think made almost two tackles round the legs as third man in with the rest his usual above the shoulder.
For me MoM was either King or Jason Clark.
Didn`t know Hastings was playing in the first half and Austin was controlling the game until Wigan ruffed him up and he lost concentration.
With regards Currie he is a bit like Stevie Ward for us.
Both had tremendous potential but injuries have ruined their development.
If Ward stays fit he is superb but I do worry for both of them.

Bum kisser.

"Charging Down is blocking the path of the ball with hands, arm or body as it rises from an opponent's kick."

And the penalty was a fair one, it was a ball steal

The major cock up after Hill's sending off was the French try. Our whole left side fell for a team dummy which gave French the chance to pick up a lame pass & ghost through a gap that Moses would have been proud off. A bit of hesitation by Luther too & he could have had a try in the second half.
All in all though , the team played on gamefully & considering we were down to 12 men for an hour we can't grumble at the result.

Overall very happy with the way the team played, there is a lot that can be taken from that game.

I will start with Chris Hill, personally I think he is a liability but a worthy liability when he is playing properly. He needs to work on his tackling because he has given quite a few penalties away over the last few years with high shots, and last night whilst it was clumsy and the red card was the right choice, and yes the guy was going down to score a try but I mean come on he could have broke the guys neck but I do not believe in the slightest that he intended to injure or hurt the guy.

Hill was probably one of the top 3 last year for high shots, and whilst going forward attacking with the ball he is good, he just needs to take abit more care when tackling and I know it's a fast pace game with split second decisions but when you are going in to tackle someone, you should know to "Avoid the head".

After the red the team played really well and deserved to get something from the match, but it wasn't to be and it can be blamed on a number of reasons but for me it comes down to:

1: Poor kicking, the attacking kicks were just aweful and could easily be predicted, it would be nice if they could kick not just high to the wings but where are the kicks across the ground, where are the kicks to the sticks? The only kick that I thought was a decent attacking kick was the one to set Ashton away running other than that there was nothing.

2: Playing against 14 men, maybe playing against 15 men, I mean how can reaching to the side and behind you be classed as a charge down? then the knock on after being classed as a strip? neither Kendall or the linesman spotted it, multiple high tackles and cheap shots in tackles not picked up on from frankly both teams, strips by both not being spotted but when Warrington did it, it was nearly always spotted, the whole tackle and then get back on to drag them around to stop the play of the ball not penalised, I know it was the first game of the season but come on the officials need to be better than that.

3: Unimaginary attacking, where was the off loading or dummies, quick passes, dummy runners and many other things that could have been done when attacking? Why is it that they didn't really try anything until they were close to the line or the last 10 minutes?

4: Discipline, I know again it's the first game of the season and Kendall was penalising stuff that didn't happen but the players need to be better disciplined otherwise they will just give the game away especially in games where the officials are all to happy to blow the whistle.

Coopers sin bin, I am 70/30 on I think it could have gone either way but I think it went the right way because you just cannot stop someone from running through like that. Honestly let him get through and if he scores you still have 12 men on the pitch so you stand a better chance, but by stopping him you get binned and they score anyway and put the whole team under extra pressure that wasn't needed. Again first game and all so it's not a major disaster and is no where near the season ender that I have heard some people say on facebook and other forums I go on I mean

talk right there but play abit smarter.

Other than those issues I think the team played well and could be up there this year if that is how they play the whole season, it is a marked difference from last season and hopefully when Widdop is fit and the team get back in to the groove of playing it should be a good year.

Wigan to me looked like they just didn't know what to do until we lost Hill and Cooper but even then they looked like they were struggling to think of how to attack and I think Warrington were lucky to not have had more points put past them, because I think if Wigan had, had a clue on how to attack then they would have shipped in more points.

Either way I am looking forward to the Saints game and to see how Warrington play, but please for the love of the game think about the attacking side of the game!

The ball was going sideways past the player. You either don’t understand the law or are being deliberately obtuse. I presume the latter. The ball steal was the correct call, but because of the charge down/knock on they shouldn’t have had the ball in the first place.
Don’t thank me, always a pleasure to assist.

Yes....I don't actually know why I said that when I came out the ground saying they hadn't scored while we were down to 12.

A senior moment.

I think if you review it, you'll find that Chris Hill playing 'statues' was why Bevan French scored.
(Still on the pitch at that point).