i am obv not the only one to ask the question .if we can see how poor he is. then why cant nobby ... sure our academy full back would do better job.

why not bring in an aussie....

mathers was bloody crap AGAIN......and should never wear the jersey again .
coward doesnt begin to cover it........seemed scared of the ball half the time.
he seriously needs some time out of the game and on a sports shrinks couch.

who said roberts for full back?????
on that showing , he can tackle, but hasnt a clue what to do with ball in hand.

Right, I have been one of those who has said he needs to be given a chance - to get his confidence back and regain form.

After the friendlies and today, I'm seriously beginning to think he is beyond hope. I really want to see him turn it around and prove the doubters wrong but it just isn't looking like it's going to happen.

He shows all the signs of a player who's had every ounce of confidence knocked out of him. I feel sorry for the lad, coming back from serious injuries isn't easy.

It isn't good for the rest of the team to have a dodgy FB behind them, so I agree that he should be dropped to the reserves or if possible loaned out.

No need for the jeers when he caught the ball, that is no help to anyone

He's just sh[ii[/it.

Confidence doesn't come in to it - GASH IS GASH.

Said it all last year, said it again this year. He is gutless, always has been. Too many excuses have been made for the fact he's a poor player. People need to get their heads out of the sand, he's shat, plain and simple.

Supporting him is one thing, blind optimism is another. I never rated him at Leeds, his defence was crap then. He was a good support player in a good team going forward, nothing more.

He won't get dropped for next week



He will get Banned

richie mathers is brilliant at high tackles and being out of position,i hope he keeps this form up through the rest of the season.

Sadly it looks that I will be proven right.

I said it was a bad signing and it looks to be that way.

Nice guy but not a good player.

Noble thinks he is a good player, he keeps on picking him

Shame you couldnt get Mcgoldrick, Cant catch and cant tackle but is better than this waster,

Indeed and as I say I disagree with many of Nobby's decisions.

Lets petition the RFL to make it a 26 league game ban.

It happened down the line as I viewed from the SS - a straight red should have been what the ref produced.

However, without sounding like the ref was to blame for the result, he was poor.

Both teams were not square 80% of the time and looked offside for a good 50%+ too.

If the Demetriou attempt at decapitating Feka is deemed as "acceptable" and not worthy of any card then we shouldnt see another player sent from the field in any game again this season. Sadly we will and look back to this incident and wonder why.

Maybe its because I have low expectations of Mathers but for me he wasn't our worst player. That "honour" would have to go to one of the Phelps/Roberts partnership (shockingly poor in attack and in the first half produced the worst 40 mins defensively of any Wigan centre/wing pairing for at least 20 years) or the dreadful Coley, closely followed by Smith, whose kicking was poor and who virtually ground to a halt in the second half.

Mathers offered nothing in attack but he didn't make all that many mistakes compared with a number of other Wigan players. I can't remember seeing a Wigan FB as exposed by his teammates, the number of times Mathers was the last line of defence due to missed tackles and kicks through where e.g. the winger had failed to drop back on the last tackle were astonishing. The guy isn't Radders, we can't expect him to pull off miracle tackles under that kind of pressure.

I'm not defending his actions in the incident that led to the sinbinning but yet again he was exposed - that incident took place on the right touchline.... where was Roberts?

Exactly, each player sent off this season should use that tackle in their appeal.

correct, halley had got past him, the ball had gone, it was a deliberate attempt to bring a player down. it was a disgrace, but it was typically mathers



if [uboth teams [/uwere not square 80% of the time and if [uboth teams [/ulooked offside a good 50% + of the time as well, surely thats still a level playing field? i sense you are suggesting that [uboth teams[/u cheated, if so, cheats never prosper - so something had to give ay?

the standards of refereeing will always be a talking point in every game and it is an easy way out to say " the ref was biased against us today "



demetrious tackle was high yes, but if you have any idea about the game you would have noticed that JD was comitted to the tackle, feka put a bit of nifty footwork together and JD caught him high - it was a grab more than a swinging arm, it wasnt mallicious and it wasnt off the ball in a last ditch attampt to stop a player scoring a try.

take the blinkers off for a second and admit you were second best today - some of us do it on a regular basis and can take it on the chin when we come out 2nd best.

I don't think a single Wigan fan has suggested anything but this

So now it is Feka's fault that Demetriou made the tackle illegally?

Probably. Given how we normally get shafted by the RFL



What was the penalty count today, not in any way an excuse, but a wondering I had after the game.

i wouldnt say fault, id say it was fekas actions that lead to JDs high tackle... and credit to him (feka that is), players put footwork on for a reason you know....to try and gain any advantage they can....and in this case, it caused JD to get his tackling technique wrong and it won wigan a penalty - carnt argue with that.

I have loads of respect for JD, he always does well for us, and his actions re Adam Watene are too decent for words. But, he should have gone for that tackle.

Well as a Wigan fan my view is as follows:-

1. The ref didn't have a great game.

2. Point 1 is relatively irrelevant because we were so poor that we were lucky not to lose by 20+ points, even if the ref had had a better game there were numerous occasions where Wakey were a bit unlucky not to capitalise on opportunities.

Full marks to an understrength Wakefield, a quality performance.

The word of caution I would have is that we were so bad that I wouldn't get too carried away