Very very pleased with tonights efforts thought fitness wise we look very good working for each other roberts,gleeson,lockers were fantastic tonight thought sam had a good game too but he needs to start to release the ball when he gets into a scoring position on a few times tonight he tried to hard to do it on his own but I am sure madge will get that out of him as for deacon could he be one of the signing of the season the kick for phelps try outstanding overall very very happy wiganer tonight

Did you leave early to miss the traffic?

Next week will be a better test as to how we shape up.this is the 1st season that my eldest as shown a real interest in the sport and the team so just for him I hope it is like 1985 was for me.bring on the next 10 years.

Was tonight the start of Gleesons & Amos Roberts true Wigan careers?

Lets hope the good times return eh on tonights efforts the future looks very bright the new regime is working well so far so good

A very convincing performance. Numerous of 'little things' in our games that has had made a huge difference. Our linespeed in defence was fantastic and our discipline has improved as well.

Joel Tomkins was outstanding.

Deacon looked very good tonight - his kicking game was very good & he had our lads running some good angles around him.

Thomas Leuluai also had a fantastic match. Adapted to both the hooker and scrum half role very well. He was a threat all night and put in some good hits in defence.

My MOTM though was Sean O'loughlin. Outstanding I thought he was. MaGuire took him off at the end for a rest - much deserved. He is the best player at the club.

Good attendance and a good start. I realise it was only the Crusaders, but you can only play what is in front of you and we battered them. They were never in it. Early signs are very positive.

Keep it up!

Amos Roberts was a different player tonight. Our backline had a good game.

I'll give some praise to Cameron Phelps tonight. He setup the first try with a kick for Roberts and then another for Richards in the corner. Took that kick from Deacon superbly in the air. Had a good game in defence when called upon, but in fairness he didn't have that much to do.

Agreed, his kick for Phelps try was superb. That is why we brought him in.

The speed of our play the ball was what impressed me most tonight.

Correct. That and our line speed in defence.

Cracking start - keep it up.

Is Deacon the organizer that we needed to bring balance to S. Tomkins individual brilliance?

Yes, but Sam needs to pass on occasion as well.

Roberts and Gleeson tore them apart tonight, good allround match and just what we needed to get started!

Fielden looked good too.

It has always seemed to me that Aussie's utilise their Fullbacks a lot more than we do. Will Phelps be bursting through the attacking line a lot more this year like Slater and Gibley do?

He did. Although he wasnt always successful in his execution, his desire & commitment was much improved.

Great performance tonight , it augers well for the season , thought we looked strong fast and confident...must say Crusaders were very poor , can't remember when i saw such a poor SL team (well maybe us under Millward)...only criticism is i thought we kicked too much , but i suppose you can experiment in games like this

Here's one question, I keeped asking myself. Would we have struggled in this game if it was last year???

No i think even our team under Millward would've beaten this lot tonight , they were very poor

Last year we seemed to feel the pressure & freeze @ home, tonight we looked like we where feeding off the crowds passion & enthusiasm. I hope we can make the DW a bit of a fortress. I suppose next week will be a big step up.

We've got to be happy with that start but things can get better. Our attack was edgy at times and needed to show more patience but overall we got the job done very well.

There were some really encouraging signs especially in terms of a team defence. It looked on fire at Warrington and again tonight and didn't give them an inch to move in. Their attack was very poor again like last week but still it was a good effort.

Individual wise- Whats happened to Amos Roberts? At Wire and again tonight that can't be the same man! He just looks explosive and totally commited in everything he does.

Fielden caused a defence more problems then he's done for a very long time

Joel Tomkins was outstanding I thought and they just couldn't get to grips with him at times

I thought Phelps looked classy chiming in the line again from fullback

Lockers was Lockers and had a very good game as per usual

I thought Coley looked like a man that wanted a starting spot back

Deacon showed some nice touches

Man of the match must surely be Joel Tomkins. Ran with intensity, always forced the defence backwards and used his weight properly. Also showed some great handling too and put Roberts through for a try with some good attacking play.
In defence he was getting around and made a decent number of tackles which was nice to see.
I'm pretty sure he played the full 80 and he didn't let up at all during the game.

Fielden was also much improved, all of our props played well and did what was asked of them. Feka may not be quite as effective at the moment but the fact that he is making more drives when he's on the pitch and plays the ball quicker more than makes up for it.
Hansen was actually making yards in attack which is something he struggled with in the past, whilst Mossop put in a typically Mossop like perfomance, no nonsense in attack and defence and making an impact.

The flair in attack and willingness to do something unexpected was great to see and made it quite enjoyable. I doubt Noble would have liked the side doing half the stuff that was tried tonight. The aggression and instensity in defence was outstanding at times.

I thought both second rowers went really well and fair play to Maguire for sticking to his word from the fans forum and keeping players who are playing well on the field.

Mossop struggled to get on because J Tomkins and Hansen were playing very well. He did however make a huge impact when he came on. He's a dimond of a player.

Great first performance, I thought Fielden and J Tomkins were the stars of the show, can't wait for next week. Well done to the whole team.

Over all I thought it was a good enough performance tonight and blew a few more cobwebs away. A bit more steadiness in attack and we could have scored more points.

Our defence looks to have improved, which I'm pleased about. Good signs for the rest of the season.

I think a lot of little things combined to make that performance better than any we put in against struggling sides last season. Speed at the PTB was a big factor but several players have stepped up a gear from last season it seems. Roberts is the obvious one who looked in reverse at times in 2009. The pace and effort he put in for his try was better than most of his 2009 season combined. It was great.

Fielden looked really up for it but as someone said his execution wasn't always there. I was most impressed with J Tomkins. They couldn't hold him and in the first half in particular he made a lot of yards.

Feka's speed off the mark is much better than last season and Gleeson looks up for it so I hope the obvious knock the ankle he took isn't serious.

There were a few things that needed sorting out mostly handling and a bit of decision making. Just before he scored his try from Deacon's kick Phelps should have passed the ball but went for glory (got his head taken off for his trouble) and Sam held on to the ball bit too long at times but when he did pass at the right time he was very dangerous. Minor issues the coach will I am sure rectify.

Overall we beat was was in front of us convincingly and with some flair and inventiveness we never seemed to have last year. Would we have seen the kind of kick Deacon put up for Phelps try last time?

Next week will be much harder so we can't get carried away but I already think we will be a far less predictable side than last season and I think all the players in that 17 will still have to play for their places so I don't think we will get complacent.

Dave

I dont think it would have been as easy but we wouldnt have struggled. I think at the beginning when crusaders had alot of ball in our half,a year ago they would have probably gone in for a first try but we stuck out and our defence was superb. Thats gonna be the big difference this year.