Whilst I am disappointed by the result I was delighted by the faith Wigan are now showing in the younger players. This is something the club have not been doing well enough in previous years and we should applaud it. Liam Farrell was superb again and I was pleased to see Johny Walker making his debut who also played well. When I first saw him in the reserves I was really impressed by his work ethic. He is going to be a Wigan regular of the future without doubt. I liked Kris Radlinski's speech in the South Stand bar last night when he called Johny the silent assasin! Kris siad that there were 11 Wiganers in the 18 last night and that the club are well on the way to where they want to be in that regard. Also he said that there are plenty more good players coming through. Last night's result will hopefully register as a blip when we look back at the end of the season but when we look back in a few years time it could well have a much wider significance in terms of player and club development.

Finally hats off the marketing team who managed to pull in the biggest crowd of the season and for the entertainment provided.

Great shout, the main positive for me was Liam Farrell, thought he looked a class act and nearly had a hat trick!!
Johnny Walker needs to bulk up but he certainly seemed ready to run himself into the ground which is at least somewhere to start
Keep them coming!

Did Rads mention whether we'll have anyone returning next week?

I've been itching to see Farrell get a shot for a good while now and he's not letting that excitment down. He is a fine young player and looks to have cemented himself a spot in the first 17 in these past few weeks for at least the next couple of games.

As for Walker when i've seen him he looks a fully committed lad. He isn't the biggest but he'll tackle anything that moves and he did ok last night I thought.

As much as it was dissapointing to lose last night there are a few positives and these lads getting a shot will only serve to increase our squad size for later on in the year when we will more then likely need it.

Farrell was the only positive last night, that & Phelps seemed to be regaining some fitness.

No but but he did say the team were battered and bruised and that they will have to assess the situation over the next few days indicating the situation could be even worse next week.

He said that Madge was very emotional in the changing room afterwards and had some strong words to say to a few players who had moved away from what they should be doing. He said the team motto is 'Team Me' which he said means that the Team comes first. He said several players had put Me first but he said Madge had spoken to them about this in plain English! Its encouraging that he picks up on the things that matter and tries to put them right straight away.

Im glad Madge is calling players out on there "Ill go myself" attitude, Sam is the main culprit for me. Currently he is spoiling as many attacks as he is creating with his go back the other way step.

As much as Sam is taking on the line too much at times with that step back on the inside i'd love to see him have a few more runners and options. It seems very rare to me that he has options on either side of him and if he had those he'd put more doubt in the minds of the opposition defence.

His bomb near the end which was easily dealt with ingoal by their fullback had me pulling out my hair though!! Why the hell did he do that when he had numerous players on his right hand side.

I disagree, re the runners, we have plenty when we go to the side that has been called and Phelps/Roberts will join the line and the killer pass will be thrown. Sam goes back against that and goes back into traffic, thats why he doesnt have the option, because we are set up to go the other way.

As for that bomb

Sam's jink can be very effective but he's pulling it a little too often so they expect it.

He's trying too hard thats for sure but he's missed Roberts chiming into the line and Phelps hasn't done that as much as he previously was before his injury.

I'd like to see us give him an option on his inside though. He steps back into the traffic but they're just about managing to deal with him because they don't have any runners there to deal with.

Being pedantic - Johnny 'Blocker' Walker isnt from Wigan.
He's a Lostock Hall boy.

Mossop's from Cumbria + McIlorum's from Leeds. They've all come through the ranks though which is good to see

He also has the lowest body fat percentage at the club.

One of the highlights for me was O'Loughlin's handoff on Melling, heard it from my seat near the top of the east stand. Melling didnt know which planet he was on for the next few minutes!

Liam Farrell was the main positive from last, he is the player from the Reserves I was most looking forward to seeing this year, and he really isn't letting me down.

Also the pre-match with the Army lads was nothing short of superb. Even if some people spoiled the Minutes silence after the Bugle. I mean, how hard is it to listen to instructions? It was clearly stated there would be a minutes silence.

Farrell showed what an outstanding prospect he is and what a good player he's already become last night. It's difficult to play well in a poor side but Farrell did just that. He was good attacking and strong in defence and his footwork is the best from a forward I've seen for a while.

Also good to see Walker get a game. I think he's probably our 8th best back row at the club which shows we have some strength in depth. He was very enthusiastic and he has tremondous pace off the mark which really helped him make some metres going into the collision. His defence wasn't too great but he's not the biggest and positioning is hard to get right. I'm sure Maguire will make sure he works on that defensive aspect.

Against Huddersfield I think that side won't stand a chance, so we really need bodies back. If we don't see anyone return to fitness for next week I'd rather have Tuson in than Walker (not through fault of Walker). He's more solid and was MOTM for Cas when they played Huddersfield.

Good to see two former Leyland Warriors players in there - all credit to the set up down at Moss Side

It's always nice to be reminded.

[size=50Although that particular side always trained and played at Bamber Bridge!

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True. I must declare an interest, however - I coached the side a year or two below

Just echoing everyone else's comments really, I thought Farrel was fantastic both with and without the ball and has cemented himself a starting spot next week. On a positive we did manage to get ourselves into a winning position but sadly let that slip, whether that's down to injury's suffered in the second half, or just complacency I wouldn't like to say.

I'm going to enjoy watching Dixon and Ashurst play for Saints tonight, certain saints fan's keep talking them up, when frankly there nothing more than baggage in already ordinary Saints backrow. Their certainly not a patch on Farrel even though they've had greater game time and experience over him in the last few years.

Our average is just short of 15,000 with expected full houses versus Wire & Saints to come!

I also thought Feka played well last night.

He made some very big plays and came up with some great off loads as well.

Lets hope he can keep improving cause he'll be a major asset to the side once we’ve got Hansen and Coley back and Lockers back at 13.

Very interesting. Mike McIlorum was guilty of this last night. Although he got over the line, he lost the ball and we had a huge overlap on the right hand side. He passes the ball we score and perhaps kills the game off.