Someone in the know told me a few years ago that you make more money from not being in the playoffs than you do from winning them and I've no reason to doubt them.

Let's hope that 2012 will now mirror 2010 when Leeds also beat us in the Cup. We can now concentrate on SL and play-offs without any Wembley distractions.

Matty Smith as 7, with Finch back to SO and Lockers at 13 will be a big bonus until Tommy returns. I'd also put Thornley on the wing instead of Gelling to get some pace on the outside.

There should be 3 relatively comfortable games before Warrington on 12th August.

I hope Warrington get to the CC final but 2012 is different from 2010.....

I read all this and I agree with it all, but I still feel like I've had my insides ripped out. We've still got plenty to look forward to this season but today's defeat is very difficult to take. The double is extremely difficult to do and it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, but right now that's a very fine silver lining around a very big cloud.

It is true. The prize money isn't all you get from getting to a CC final.

I'm sure a few weeks ago IL said on Radio Manchester the money from the Challenge Cup was £50.000 the Grand Final reaps £250.000,

I hope with easier matches coming up wigan can sort out the balance of the team.The discipline in our structure has gone to pieces,nothing a few days on the training field cant sort out.

i think Waney will have the tackling pads out next week,

Defence will be the key v London and NIL pts against will be the aim.

When you add in merchandising, future sponsorhsip and season tickets etc, being "Champions" has to be worth a LOT more than the CC. Given the small crowds through most of the playoffs I'd be surprised if there were much to divide amongst 14 clubs once costs are taken out - I'd be stunned if half the playoff games didn't make a loss.

Wasn't just the poor defence though. Some of the unstructured attack yesterday reminded me of the Catalans semi-final under Noble. Finch was throwing passes as though he was in a 7's tournament.

Wane should be a tackling pad himself for a while. Another one that has seemingly escaped any criticism.

Ive mentioned in another thread that some of Finch's passes were crazy! This was mainly due to our attack being stood so flat though and he had no running options. This was also apparent in the amount of times he was tackled with the ball in hand because he couldnt find a runner. I dont care how much the players say they were desperate to win the CC again and how much they wanted to go back to Wembley the lack of enthusiasm shown says different.

28 points scored should have been enough. Offhand, I can only remember 3 times we've conceded more than that. It was primarily individual errors that cost us, rather than any overall structure.

Any coach of any team could say that about any points conceded. It is very rare indeed that points are scored where no individual can have an element of responsibility attached.

The teams which win reduce those individual errors to a minimum.

True, but many tries are scored through a poor defensive structure, rather than individual errors. That wasn't the case yesterday.

He said more or less the exact opposite last season.

I agree with you mate, Warrington didn't get enough rewards for being Champions last season, Leeds got more for winning that end of season mickey mouse that the top sides didn't take seriously and got knocked straight out of! It should have been us that got all the prize money.

Edited for increased accuracy/reduced bitterness

Nice cast Sal, got that one hook, line and sinker

Here you go:

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/18855004[/url

I seem to recall SOL saying that the players sat in the dressing room after that for a good while and spoke about how much they wanted to win the GF. Hopefully they did something similar on Saturday and will pull their tripe out for the next 11/12 games and salvage something from the season.

Unfortunately I don't think we will and we'll be left with a dinner plate to show for our efforts.

If our key players are fit for the play offs we will do very well - we've already proved that over the course of the season. Hopefully Tommy can return along with Pat and the others remain relatively injury free. A full strength Wigan team firing on all cylinders would have a very good chance against any other team in SL of winning the Grand Final.

The way I see it is it shows how far we've come over the last few years when we're viewing that as a potentially disappointing season.

Its easy to forget we could barely buy a trophy over the last decade or so prior to 2010.

Oh yeah, definitely.

According to Northampton Saint that's because rl was far better pre-2010 than it is now...when Saints are rubbish...



I would be disappointed with the league leaders shield. Its a micky mouse trophy that is meaningless really. check my sig.

Ooh, I have another obsessed stalker then do I? I do tend to accumulate them for some reason...