what went wrong in the first half? and what changed for the comeback? i was surprised that sky showed a reply of the last try. any really poor performers or standouts?

I went out to the pub tonight for my usual 3 pints of mild at 7-00pm, at first I was watching the Tennis and then they had the Rugby League on the other screen, when I got home about 8-20 the first thing I saw and heard (Wiggy) was that Wigan where losing 16-4.

By then being under the influence the first thing I said to myself was PLAYER POWER AND SHADES OF DORHEY, I would not even put the radio on and carried on watching the Wire/Leeds match.

Sky kept giving updates and when at the end Wiggy said Wigan had won 26-20 I could not believe it, I thought Wiggy said that Warrington would not like this (but he may have meant that he did not like it)

The try that Tuson scored was not a second row falling over the line, it was a real individual effort. I am glad to be a happy clapper.



Another player leaving.

The team really seemed to lack enthusiasm tonight, god knows why. Best players for me were Dudson, Tuson and Hansen

I think a big problem is the uncertainty about Waney and Sam's futures . Why don't they come out and tell everybody the truth about what is going on.It's ok keeping the fans in the dark but what is going throgh the players minds when the coach is telling them to play for the shirt when they don't even know if he is going to be here next year.

I just think Wigan don't really play enough sensible rugby. We made a very good early start to the game but it fell apart quite quickly.

In an attacking sense it seems the team is constantly looking to put on some expansive moves to stretch the defence and get Tomkins on the overlap, or create space using him as a runner. When he's not there the defences aren't getting pushed out of position and the space just isn't there.

At times I think the team over complicates things when taking the ball down the middle and dominating in the forwards would make better use of the ball. There are attacking moves that can be put on down the middle to really tire the defence without taking many risks. There's plenty of danger to be caused from well timed and well executed offloads but too often strong drives result in the halfbacks stood pointing and organising for a set play rather than supporting the run.

I think more damage was caused when the players did start going down the middle a little more in a desperate attempt to gain crucial metres.

Other than that I think another poor performance from Green didn't help in attack and there are a few players who just seem to lack energy. Players like Crosby, Hansen and Farrell were enthusiastic but didn't necessarily maintain that throughout the game.

I had the exact same thoughts when we was 16-4 down, The last season i can remember where there was no speculation of personnel or players leaving was Madges first year at wigan and we won the grand final. Cant help but feel that Tomkins leaving might hurt in the short term but benefit us in the long term and if Wane isn't leaving he should of just put an ended to the speculation the first time he was asked about it.

Where is the uncertainty ?
I think there's only you in the dark.
We KNOW they are both going ....................... no ......................... good as gone.

They're both as good as gone. Tomkins to NZ and Wane to NZ as assistant coach. No wonder the wheels are coming off!... God knows how we'll be next year!

you hear about players all the time not really know whats going on behind closed doors etc Tomkins with Powell.

Sign of a champion team playing badly and winning, hanging in there until the end, playing for 80 minutes, etc.

It's a sad state of affairs when the Head Coach of Wigan Warriors leaves to be an Assistant Coach elsewhere.

Unlike last week, I always thought we would in tonight, Bradford seemed to be working too hard to keep up with us and it told in the end.
On the negative side It looks like the start o the season again and we need to get our partnerships up and running again, lots of uncertainty and missed plays.
Hopefully it will come right in the next few weeks.

After the first half there was no plan B.

Oh hang on hmmmmm.

You must be one hell of an optimist then, because mid way through the second half we were clueless. Green was constantly passing behind runners, he & Smith were passing passing to players stood still, and at the point where Smith chose to put in a grubber when we had what looked like 5 on 3, ten yards from the line, I didn't think we'd score again, never mind win.

It picked up once we started doing the basics properly, and to be fair, showed a hell of a lot of spirit in pulling it out of the fire. But for 70 minutes we were second best.

Oh, and the booing at half time? Get a grip.

I have it on good authority that both will be here next year. But that's not to say we can stop the wild speculation!

I will try and answer objectively. We played for about 20 mins. The first 5 and the last 15. In between we were awful. Bradford ran out of steam and I think that let us back in but collectively we didn't look like a team for much of the game.

Many errors with passes going to ground and behind the man. I felt our half backs were awful. Took the wrong option time and again. What summed up their night for me was toward the and we were pressing the Bradford line and I think it might have been Micky Mac who had the ball and had taken into the Bradford line about 2m out. The tackle was not complete but Green starts waving at the the players to his right. MM offloads but Green is too busy waving at the other players so the ball goes to ground.

We seemed to make a shed load of errors for 65 mins.

Now granted Roby was very poor and Bradford were a mile offside umpteen times but he wasn't chucking rubbish passes.

We certainly upped the tempo in the last 15 mins and it was a very exciting finish but Bradford will feel hard done by. When Tiscon went over everybody was going mental



The positives for me were Flower who looked very sprightly considering he'd been out for so long. Although Hampshire dropped a high kick under pressure the led to a try he didn't let it get to him and as the game wore on he seemed to grow in confidence. Gave Charnley a lovely pass for a try. I think Bradford missed a trick in not pressuring him more. They put a few kicks his way but after the one he dropped I can't remember them having players near enough to challenge him. Hansen ran himself into the ground and was captain for the night and Tuscon certainly gave 110%.

Overall though we just didn't look like a team for much of the game and lacked organisation.

I just read the BBC report and I have to say while Francis Cummings is understandably gutted I think he is way off to suggest we were favoured by the ref. He was awful so maybe Cummings spotted stuff that went against Bradford but we had plenty daft stuff the other way e.g. their player grounding the ball in goal which he totally missed. They also got a 40-20 that most people thought never was. Be interested what others think about that one.

a la huddersfield

DaveO
I think your summary is about right.
But I think the half back problem was again due to the pack being dominated.

You have to North / South before you go East / West.

I think BOTH half backs are still not 100%, and neither is Dudson or Mickey Mac. Hopefully with a 10 day rest and get them back to something like, along with Taylor, O'Loughlin, Sam etc we should be much better.

Ryan Hampshire did well tonight apart from the dropped ball. Thornley should have put Charnley in for a try in the first half from his superb flick.

Cummings also said in the press conf that they had to look at some of the things that went wrong. Uncluding their inability to close games down. He mentioned that Gale was beating himself up for the kick that went out on the full.
All this was in answer to a question from a Bradford journo who asked FC if he thought the crowd were clever in the way they tried to influence decisions. FC agreed then carried on as above. Opponents think our efforts do matter, so they must.
I thought it was a mistake when Foster went for the goal to make it 20-14. Never thought it would be enough and it wasn't. They should have gone for touch and run it. Bradford looked out on their feet for the last 15 mins and that's when Wigan's extra fitness told.
Hansen was my MOM, Tuson played well with Flower and Dudson putting a shift in.
Our problem was at half back, namely Green. Everything seemed to break down with him. Also teams have now sussed his routine pass to Faz and are waiting for it. They also see Charnley as their main threat hence Thornley had three men tackling him everytime he got the ball. We now need plans B & C. Josh got two passes tonight and scored two tries.
A get out of jail win for me.

I was always optimistic tonight, the teams body language looked better, even when things weren't going right, I thought they looked determined but lacking direction as opposed to lost like last week.
Bradford looked to be working too hard to control us for the full 80, it told in the end
As for the booing, that's down to the individual.

I'm glad, he was being an most of the game.

At times I thought we must have picked up injuries in the game given the subs. MM went off quite early IIRC and I did wonder about his fitness as a result.



I am still wondering if Thornley's pass for the 1st try was a masterstroke of timing or just fortunate he didn't hold onto it too long but regardless it was the half backs who need to look at what they did in that game more than he does. I have only watched Hampshire via Wigan TV and even with that you can tell he's "got it" like you could with a young Sam, Hansen, Joel T or Lockers. It was good to see him do well tonight despite the dropped ball.

I bet the next great debate if Sam does leave will be is Hampshire the next Wigan No. 1 ! And to lay my cards on the table before it start's, he's a 6!

Definitely got out of jail there! A lot of the lads look tired to me, perhaps mentally as much as physically - if I were Waney I'd give them 4 or 5 days holiday, and only resume training midweek.

Thought Hampshire did pretty well, but I still think he's a better half back than fullback. We weren't too bad defensively, but bombed way too many excellent chances in attack (again!), either through bad decision-making or just poor execution. Nothing that can't be fixed, but I do think a rest would do them more good than more training.

Replacements, players just coming back from injury and not up to game speed, maybe even too much training based around Sam, as an outsider. Who knows? All you see is what looks like a drop in enthusiasm in some games, a lack of cohesion, and a shed full of dropped ball and errors. As to why, I think we’re all just guessing the reasons, SW knows more about the behind the scenes stuff that could be in the mix, and he’s not telling. So let’s just keep on analysing and guessing.