I didn't want either side to win but after 3 mins I wanted Saints.
Flower should be having nightmares about what he did.
He lost Wigan that match.

Real shame we weren't there.

Pies played their dirty cheap tactics again of trying to take out Saints only hb.
Got their just deserves for me.

They did it against us last year and last week too. They got away with it then but not tonight.

Shaun Wane: "Knock people out! Be reckless! That's what's gonna get us the win!"

Didn't work this time, did it Fathead.......

Flower should be banned sine die - that was nothing short of common assault.

totally agree....hpoe flower gets a whopper of a ban and hope wane gets hauled up there as regards his thuggish tactics

I'm no fan of Saints at all but I'm glad they won. And to be fair I'm pleased for Roby and Wellens after all those GF defeats in a row. Wane's dirty culture at Wigan came back to bite him on the .

Even though I'm happier Saints won, I feel flat after we've lost there in the previous two years. Hopefully we can go back there and make up for those next year!

"SNAP THE POLE!"

I said on another thread that if RL is to be played the Wigan way - albeit superb in defence - with an intent to physically hurt the opposition rather than play league I'd walk away from the sport.
So pleased that Wane's got his come-uppence.
Shame he's signed a 3 year contract.

Well it looks like there might be bans on the Wigan web site. !
Someone has dared to utter some disparaging remarks about the way Wigan play on the 'gloat' thread.

We watch and wait

just had a look on there web site something i rarely do cos i couldnt give 2 hoots about what wigan fans say..but one pratttttt is trying to make a pathetic excuse for flower...and yes for the record i got banned about 5 years ago...and its not been missed

Wane is like Al Capone, one of the untouchables.
We know it's his call to to order ABH upon key players but it would be hard to prove.
Walsh O'hohia Bridge Ratchford and many more. Coincidence?....No!
Would questions ever be asked?,.,,, There's two hopes, and one of them them is Bob!

you may have a point rd...throw in laithwaite being carried off at there end in the league game.and it appears that the thuggish approach is best,,well not tonight

Harrison the other week (kept gettin his right leg on the open side and the third man kept targeting it, didn't play the last quarter of the game, going for an operation this Winter), Laithwaite the game before, the cannonball on Waterhouse... Kirk Dixon, broken jaw.

I think games need to be more ferocious in SL, like they are the Aus. However there's a difference between ferocity and targetting.

Absolute nonsense - Flower had a brainfart, simple as..... He was assaulted in the first instance by Hohaia and quite rightly punched him back. His huge gaffe was jumping on the concussed body and continuing his attack. Without the second punch it should have been a simple sin-binning for BOTH players.

Flower's main problem was punching a 11 stone wet fish with a glass jaw.

The second punch was indeed a brain fart, but not the first that sparked him clean out!... I stand by my remark!

so flower was assaulted by a 11 stone wet fish so he thought he,d smash his face in...what a load of cobblers..hope this scumbag gets a ban that fits his thuggish act...and you make a visit to spec savers

Not their year, never mind, always next year. It might shut them up about Benny last year too.

You made out Flower's attack was a deliberate ploy to take out Saints' only half back. That was rubbish, because there are easier ways to take out a player - Witness Ratchford in last year's GF.

Flower's assault on Hohaia was simply a complete brainfart... Even Wane wouldn't be so stupid as to tell a player to immobilise an opposition player by punching him in the jaw, in open sight of all and sundry!!

Actually having seen it further on, flower smacked lance IN the head for no reason chasing the kick through which started it all off.
I hate to say it but it does look like he was targeted from the off.

No mate...I still disagree. It was a professional foul IMO and he took it too far. We all know that sparked out punch did the desired business. The percentages are that Flower would get it put on report as most decisions go or ten mins at the most. The brain fart was the last punch.
Wane is firmly behind the big hit first punch. If you listen to Wane he only refers to one punch! The one on the floor...his call was behind the punch that sparked him out.

Dirty Cheating Pie

Am quite sure that when the "Lilly-Livered, Spineless" disciplinary panel look at this incident, they will find that Lance Hohaia "Ducked on to the Fist"!!!

I just can't see it being so cynical though - I just see it as players being VERY worked up and a little too much adrenaline on display.... Look at Masoe in the opening minutes. He was a headless chicken and if just one of his cheap shots had hit, then he would have probably been seeing red too.

I don't condone Flower, but I'd have been very disappointed if he hadn't lamped Hohaia in that situation... However, Hohaia going to ground sealed his fate. If he stays upright then both get 10 minutes and we have a different final.

Agreed DSM, and who would be worst off for a double sin bin? Saints with their only hb or Pies with their prop?
Sorry that's too easy of a question. Professional foul without question for me.

I agree Wigan will have targeted Hohaia, similar to how we targeted Green last year, and similar to how ALL teams will target any opposing player who will be seen as being a major threat.

However, there is no way the plan will have been to punch him spark out in open view of everybody present - Flower's assault was a total off-the-cuff reaction, which probably even he will never be able to quite explain.... Let's be honest, most props are notoriously known for their short fuses - Flower's was particularly short tonight...

It wasn't an act of thuggery - it was an act of cowardice. No mitigating circumstances, no excuses, no leeway, Punching an opponent when he is prone on the floor and apparently unable to defend himself was a new low in the considerable lows of Wigan thuggery masquerading a tactics.

You could see the way Wigan came out that something was brewing and that petri-dish product of a coach has to take a large amount of blame, due to the way he has been fanning the flames all week. His comments about his hatred of Saints go beyond sledging, publicity and sporting banter and into incitement to violence, Can you imagine TS coming out with some of the incendiary comments he did?

The RFL should dish out a serious ban to Flowers and follow it up with one for Wane for bringing the game into disrepute,