We've got the 'extra' as you put it, but it just didn't show last night. Tomkins and leuluai were both relatively quiet last night as were lockers and gleeson. The previous 2 games this year, although against worse opposition than yourselves, have shown how good these lads can be. Also the loss of Phelps, who has been outstanding with ball in hand, Has hit us.

We'll go well this year as will you and it should be another close game later on in the season at our place. What is looking good about this year is there appears to be a shift in power from saints and leeds.

We've got plenty more to give imo especially when Phelps and Riddell come back in.

If either side looked like having more to come last night i'd say it was Wigan. I thought Warrington throw the kitchen sink at Wigan last night and dominated for long periods yet still lost the game. They played exceptionally well but i'm not sure they can go many levels higher then that tbh.

That level of preformence will still win them alot more games then they lose mind and give them a chance of a trophy because it was a fantastic match.

i agree...can wigan keep that tempo up..may end a baron spell if they do..2 good teams out there last night..top 4 bounds for both...twas a great game

The tempo Wigan have played at in the first 3 games has been like nothing i've seen from a Wigan side for quite a while and to keep that up for 27 rounds will be tough.

The encouraging things in all 3 games though has been Wigan have looked the fitter side going into the final 20 minutes and the work they've done in pre season if obviously paying off.

If we compare both sides i'd say Warrington are the side that on their day will rattle up 50's and 60's on teams because some of the attacking weapons like Solomona, Myler, Monaghan etc are a huge threat but maybe Wigan will end up grinding out more victories because our game seems to be based around fitness, hard work and defence.

One thing was for sure last night and that is that both sides will be there or thereabouts when it comes to winning silverware this year if they keep those levels up.

Both will improve am very confident Wire will go up 2 or 3 gears as the season goes on, we outplayed you in the first half on another day I think we would of scored more in the opening 40 mins.

If Gleeson had not been where he was, could King have attempted to either stop Roberts or get under the ball? IMO yes he could.
Did Gleeson, either deliberately or accidentally, prevent King from attempting to stop Roberts from scoring the try? Of course he did - it was clear for all (except Bentham) to see.

As far as I am concerned it was the most blatent case of an obstruction that anyone will ever see and I am sure there will be many trys disallowed this season for far less. But having said that, who knows what might have happened had the try been disallowed, nobody can say for certain that Wire would have held on and won the game. Chip paper now anyways - roll on next week.

I think Wire need credit for keeping Tompkins & Leuluai quiet.

true they were quiet..but (hate to admit this)a great bit of skill by tompkins for the try that put wigan in front..eventually proved the difference

At the end of the day it shows how close both teams are was a cracking game if briers didn't get injured we would have closed it out in my opinion. Credit 2 wigan for coming back the way they did. There tomkins try was excellant. However I as many do think Roberts second try shouldn't of stood after watchin it on sky after the match king begins to go down to attempt to stop Roberts and gleeson nicks him out the way. On purpose or not on purpose he still prevented king stopping him so should not have been given but that's the way just like solomonas no try on another day it would be grounded and we would all be happy.

Before both sets of fans end up with big red marks from all the backslapping, Leeds, despite their iffy start will still be the team to beat.

Of course.

An interesting question would be....if either had played a Leeds side at it's best last night who'd have won the game?

IMO Leeds would have beaten both at their best but it'd have been close. I actually think Wire would have pushed them the closer because any team would have struggled to contain Wire in the first half with all the offloads and Monaghan and Myler buzzing around. When Leeds are on top form though their defence and ball retention are first class.

As for us we gave too many pens away in the first 50mins or so and i'm not sure we'd have still been within 12points against a firing Leeds side.

What on earth makes you say that? Wishful thinking? We were without two of our pivotal players having lost our 1st choice fullback and starting hooker immediately prior to this game! In addition this is round 3!!! do you seriously believe that this Wigan team will not improve in the next 30 games or so!?! What's more, Wigan only played well in the 2nd half. We didn't even put it together for the full 80 in this game! There is more to come form BOTH teams. You don't need to belittle 1 team to talk up your own!

He was. Ben Westwood should have been sin binned!



Can we get off this line of thought. Check the game and count the seconds for each tackle at the ptb. It was similar for both teams with Westwood being far and away the worst offender. As I've posted elsewhere, the [uonly[/u difference between the teams was that Wigan got penalised for it, which tends to happen when the home crowd are baying for decisions. The reffing wasn't perfect, they're only human after all, but it was in no way one sided or had any affect on the result. Try not to be one-eyed. If you're complaining about the lying on then at least acknowledge that both teams got latitude.

Then you need to read the rulebook before posting. You can't obstruct a player coming from behind you. It's that simple.

The bit I don't understand is that Gleeson was in front of Roberts when he collided with King, and (from memory) I am pretty sure Gleeson collided 'head on' with King so I don't understand the obstruction from behind bit.

As I have said though, chip paper now and who's to say whether the try being given or not would have affect the end result. I do stand by my statement though that we will see trys disallowed by video referees for far less interference this season.

Had Roberts not got the ball down then it would have been a penalty to Wigan as King tackled the man without the ball.

Calling it how i see it. Not trying to belittle Wigan, i don't believe they are very special. They are a hard working team and will go alright this season. Talking to Wigan fans i feel they were very pleased with Wigan that they played very well. Whereas talking to warrington fans, they/we feel that there is so much more to come as the new players settle in. Warrington bar a 20 minute period had control of the play in the game, over the coming weeks and the sharpness in attack develops, warrington should be able to turn that ammount of possesion we had against Wigan into more points.

I agree with the above point.
Lets not forget much was made of Wigans "meanest defence in the League".....only conceding 2 tries in 2 games.
We scored 4 tries and had a further 2 close calls ruled out.....

In my opinion they are very much like Huddersfield after Nathan Brown took over - defend well, lie on as long as possible and then a bit more and niggle if you can. Wigan are a bit more potent in attack than Huddersfield and they got a wembley final and 3rd out of those tactics.
I expect Wigan to do well this year......i just dont expect to like it much.

that said it was still a great game and i'll have another game like that any day of the week (except against Saints who surely deserve a spanking this year)

Edit:

Didn't read the post correctly.

The thing I take great hope out of is that we won that game on Saturday even though we were on the back foot for 60mins of it. Give us a fair share of possession(we could have that if only we stopped making silly errors) and territory and theres plenty of improvment in this Wigan side.

They say the sign of a good team is when they win whilst not being at their best. We did that on Saturday night against a side that was on fire for 50 minutes. All good signs for me from our point of view.

As for Wire keep playing like that and you'll be there or thereabouts. On another day and against most other sides you'd have won that game by 40-50 points.

This is where we disagree, i thought Wigan were playing near the top of their game.

We were flat in attack and failed to move up in defence on numerous occasions allowing Warrington easy yards. We can play better and I've seen Wigan play better under Noble!

Knocking on every 2 minutes, giving pens away, missing our starting hooker and fullback.....................I really hope not!

We won whilst not at our best.

Wire lost a game they controlled for large parts.

Out of the 2 sides on show i'd say Wigan quite easily looked the side with the most improvement in them. I'm not actually sure Wire can play much better then that but that doesn't mean you won't finish above Wigan or even win something. On another day the you may get the bounce of the ball or the opposition may fall apart.

The thing I am not getting about citing Phelps as a loss, is in my opinion he wouldn't have scored the tries Roberts did as he doesn't have the pace.

He may not have scored the same trys but he's been so creative this season. There was an example in the 2nd half of how much we missed him when Roberts had an overlap in the corner and tried to throw a pass to Goulding............he hit somebodies head in the middle of the north stand! Phelps would have made that play with ease imo and would have probably created other chances in the 80 mins.

Roberts was immense on Saturday night but I still can't wait for us to have Phelps back. He looks like he could develope into something pretty special in the fullback position imo. You can tell he's a former Australian schoolboys stand off with the way he chimes into the line and creates opportunities for others.