Some people at the game last night need get their heads tested I think. Nearly every single touch that Finch made there were cries of "he's terrible" or "what the effin hell is that finch". Considering that 1) He hasn't played for 18 months before last week and 2) In his first 2 games for us, he has played against 2 of the top 4 last season. The criticism is unbelievable and is out of order. For mine, last night Finch was pretty good. His defence was good, putting in some big hits across the park. And a couple of kicks were the right ones they just bounced a little too hard out over the dead ball line. His pass in the last play was awesome and gave sam the space to break away leading to the penalty which have us the draw. That moment shut people up. I have seen enough of him to know that he is going to be a grea signing once he fully beds in. Lets not forget, Trent wasn't amazing straight away, he took a few games to settle in. Hes a quality player Finch, who wasn't bad last night but people were completely out of order giving him so much stick.

100 percent agree mate! So much crap was aimed at finch last night. You can see his class coming to the fore slowly. He likes to play the flat game with second rowers, this is how melborne play. You could see last week his partnership with hoffman. Get hoffman and farrell running lines off him and let finch work the magic!

the pass for sams break was sublime. I seen enough in that last 15 minutes which shown that sam and finch is the HB partnership we have to go with IMO

Defence top notch. Signs of a great kicking and passing game. Just a little of the pace. But for heavens sake that's to be expected. One tough SOB IMO.

Make me laugh some ppl slagging him off it's his 2 nd game for f@ck sakea026.gif He will come good

I am just watching the game again now and his pass to Sam when he put Joel down the wing was honestly one of the best passes I have seen! It was amazing!

He showed some really good touches and all of those kicks that went dead gave us the field position to dominate towards the end of the game.

Exactly, you guys seem to have a more realistic view. But honestly, at the game i could count about 10 people at least who were using him as a scapegoat for our poor performance. Ridiculous. People who I'm pretty sure post on here regularly too.

I honestly think some Wiganers want to see the Aussies we sign fail just so they can have a team full of Wiganers, its just never going to happen.

You're not wrong. Remember that Pat Richards came in for quite a lot of stick when he first arrived.

That's well worthy of consideration, if only it were true.

The pass to sam was out of the Barrett play book..it was brill

I can understand people being frustrated when things don't come off for him but realistically it's always going to be difficult for him. He's going to make mistakes, errors of judgement and slip up from time to time. It's inevitable from someone who isn't up to speed and has only been at the club for a few months.
Madge has a choice, play Finch and accept his mistakes and also run the risk of lacking cohesion in games and wait for him to get up to speed, or stick him in the reserves, get him up to match fitness and then throw him into the first team where he is likely to have the same problems adjusting to the teams style of play but will have effectively wasted half a season playing at a lower level.

He said he hadn't in Graham Emmerson's interview on the podcast, maybe he said 8 months?

It was better than any pass barrett has thrown

Remember what I posted months ago.
Finch is like Tim Smith except he can tackle. He is a very good passer and short kicker (that kick for Roberts almost brought a try, but for a great Rob Burrow read of the play)

Finch is NOT going to run 50 or 60 [imetres[/i(just for you Bernard) beating man after man.

I knew he would cop this sort of criticism from some of our "fans"

Watched him closely last night ( at the game ), he is going to be a great signing, he is obviously getting up to match fitness, this will take time, but he is a winner and a leader on the pitch just what we need, think Finch, Sam and Tommy will become a dangerous triangle.

He looks an exciting prospect. I think some of his stuff is slightly risky at times but you know if its comes off it will lead to some good tries, he just needs some time to bed in and understand some of the players a bit better in a competitive environment and not just on the training ground.

Add to the fact he has had to play (and try and lead and create) against the best side in the land atm and the former champions in their own backyard its a bit cynical to be critical just yet.

I don't agree with you on that bit. One of the problems with Tim Smith was that he seemed as if he HAD to get rid of the ball as soon as he got it. It didn't always matter if it was a good or bad pass at times, he just had to get rid. Admittedly some of his handiwork was very good but defences knew that he was never going to straighten up with it and so could just stand off him. Although Finch is never going to go full length he will "go" now and again and make defences think about it.

I think Finch will eventually come good for us. I just hope it comes sooner rather than later. He made a couple of poor decisions last night which cost us certain tries, giving the short ball when the passs needed was to miss the short man out and go round the back. That has nothing to do with match fitness, its just playing with your head up, your eyes open and seeing the field in front of you. I'm expecting him to play a bigger, more influencial role against Catalans this coming Friday. With it being a lower profile game, away from TV cameras and probably with a lower crowd the pressure will be off to a degree

It's far too early to judge Finch. He seems committed to the cause so he should get the support of Wigan fans for the moment. Let's judge him after we'd seen him play for a couple of months, at least.

Anyway, I'm sure he'd play better with Sam at 6, but that's a whole other thread....

That left to right pass was awsome to watch. Is he a left hander? or can he throw them left like that?". That is a nice thing to have in your armory.

Barrett wasn't amazing at all.

i thought he was better v leeds
as everyone said that pass to sam was immense must of been half the pitch
for me only thing hes doing wrong is try the short ball to hoff to often but i suppose he knows him more than anyone else and with time it will come when everyone is on same wave length
Catalan game will be good for him with it being against lesser opposition he should get more ball and more time and that may help things click

Did you use watch him with beer goggles on ???

No I just didn't watch him with Trent Barrett is God goggles on. He played well in a handful of games and was missing in the others. The back end of 2008 when it was obvious he wanted to go home (he even said so) was a joke.

a half back needs runners and barrett wasnt exactly playing in a great team at times