Hopefully will learn from this.

He needed to step up today. He didn't.


He is young and hopefully will get better, but for all of us who thought he was the answer to our #6 berth, we have been given a stark lesson.


Nobby was right to question his readiness.

Maybe with a fit Tim Smith, we could have unlocked Stains. Sadly Sam offered zip.

And Riddell offered even less not only in this game but has done so more often than Sam over the season. Was Noble right to pick Riddell automatically all season?

Perhaps he had no choice but to pick either player given the state of the squad but of the two, the player Noble would have dropped had he been able has been the better player for Wigan over the course of the season than the player Noble would never consider dropping.

Dave

Picking Riddell for 90 minutes was the major mistake by Nobby/Lenegan for tonights match.

We could would have won if 'Micky mac' had been on the subs bench.

I would get shut of 'Piggy' tomorrow for me.

Good call!

Cheers mate, it's just how I saw the game and feel.

Bit harsh if Mcilorum failed a fitness test - not much Noble could do. I thought Tomkins had a pretty gppd game. If anything, Lulu needed to step up. Tomkins took the line on a fair bit. Needed a bit more direction on the pitch from a Trent-like player...

Riddell & Sam arnt the problem.... Our forwards where second best all match... We arnt going to win anything with a pack like that...

This is a very good point, if McIlorum had been able to play, we wouldnt have had to make more positional changes than Long has hot baths. Didnt think Tomkins played poorly, the commitment and passion was definitely there, the execution just didn't always happen.

Sam didn't play well but it can't all be left to a twenty year old, he needs help.

Tommy isn't good enough at 7 and Riddell was disapointing yesterday. McIllorum failing a fitness test upset our interchange, but I thought we managed okay.

It all comes back to buying Riddell and not a 7 with Tommy moving to 9, but we have him for another 2 years, so we might as well get used to it.

I've seen your posts on a range of topics after last night's game, but by far, this is the most idiotic (and that's against some tough competition).

A lot of what Tomkins did last night didn't come off but to say he offered us zip is nonsense.

No, he doesn't have Smith's cut-out passes and yes that's what we needed last night. But what he also doesn't have is Smith's powder-puff defence that would have seen Saints score another 4 tries down that right-hand side.

Its strange saying Sam had a poor game, although he wasnt at his majestic best, he wan't playing ST Peters 1st Year. He had a hand in a couple of decent things. The Kick for the 1st try, he didnt let us down in defence once and he was targeted all game, left out to dry several times due to poor support play, a couple of good positional kicks. He will learn from his first full season lets not expect to much too soon.

Hey don't get me wrong. I rate ST very very highly. For the fate of our club to be essentially left in the hands of a 20 year old "rookie" says a lot about our recruitment imo.

I also agree that TL is a 9, I have said this for months (Wigans best 9 too imo).

Calm down

He didn't.

I think even Rogues will agree that Eastmond won the battle when it mattered last night. Hopefully the fstart of a great battle between the two of them, but if the rumours are true we may not see these two young gifted individuals go up against each other many more times, which will be sad.

Thought the other Tomkins was your best player last night.

Did eastmond play ? or was it just me who thought that?

Thought Eastmond had a good first quarter but after that I never noticed him. Hes a class act but does tend to go missing. For all his faults tonight Tomkins did not go missing he tried his all it just did not come off for him. With experience he will learn alot from tonights game, they both will.

I'd agree with that. As a saints fan I was always a little worried when tomkins had ball in hand.

It was lulu that should have stood up.

Why should he calm down?

For a guy who presumably remembers the Brett Kenny era, in which 16-year-old Shaun Edwards was played regularly in the first team and thus came to fulfill all of his massive potential, you made a fairly ludicrous statement.

Calling for Sam Tomkins to be replaced by Tim Smith, on the strength of one disappointing result, is the sort of kneejerk reaction that this club has been all too guilty of in the recent past.

Tommy on 2 legs isn't creative in these arm wrestles, he was carrying an injury it appeared last night, so that, would reduce what already is someone not very effective.

It is, but when McIllorum pulled out, I did ponder for a second whether if Smith was available, would he have been an option in the last twenty off the bench, he might have been able to unlock the Saints defence, but had he been fit, he clearly wouldnt have been selected in front of Sam anyway.

I thought lulu was good signing when he came from quins but I don't think he's lived up to his billing.

Tommy plays with heart and always leaves it all on the field, but he isn't creative enough to win a tight game.

It annoys me that just because he's said something that is considerably negative about Sam Tomkins you get on at him... He's right...