The powers that be are well aware of whats required. We signed burgess last year with this in mind to fill that position but obviously it didn’t go exactly to plan. So that tells me they know the issue, resolving it though is certainly harder than us talking about it.

I personally don't mind the 1 on 1 ball steal it's when there's been multiple people in the tackle and they just drop off the tackle that's what really annoys me

How many times have we “clicked” during Lam’s tenure?

Quite often. Why?

More often that not we don’t “click”

I’d say 6 times max in 2 and bit seasons. That is pretty generous
Always an excuse from Lam for not performing 80 minutes
Too many poor and bang average forwards and a poor coach offset by great defence and fitness equals nearly men. That’s what we are

More often that not we don’t “click”

I’d say 6 times max in 2 and bit seasons. That is pretty generous
Always an excuse from Lam for not performing 80 minutes
Too many poor and bang average forwards and a poor coach offset by great defence and fitness equals nearly men. That’s what we are

You didn’t think we played well tonight?

Thought we played really well tonight and we played tough our defence was superb again..

We were excellent tonight, particularly in defence. I think some people seem to be ignoring the fact that we didn't have a single starting back playing in position and only 1 who would feature at all (albeit in a different position). Add to that at least 2 of our starting pack we're playing in the backs and talk of 'not clicking' becomes...well...a little ridiculous really.

I thought Smithies had by a mile his best game for us last night, he looked a lot more threatening wider out than when he fills in at LF.

Defensively yes.

2 touches of magic from Hastings and 1 from Hardaker the rest was average.
We’ve got a lot of average players and it’s reflected in our performances.

Nobody is going to give us a good hiding as we consistently compete really well

Tonight was a repeat of numerous previous performances

Culminating in two points as usual.

Decent result but not a great performance, another just enough performance again. With some issues though,

We really need to sort out the long kicking game - Hastings hoofed it up to the full back every time, only when Powell kicked a couple did we turn Leeds around more, against top teams that will just invite pressure and we cannot rely on defence all the time to win games. The first half especially every kick just went up in the air centrally, good full backs will love that as it gives them time to run back and gain easy yardage.

Too many silly penalties - we really need to tighten up around the ruck, one or two of our forwards just seem to be unable to resist daft plays.

I think Faz and Isa have done remarkably well out of position - lots of credit to them.

As has been said we are lacking go forward especially early in games - that can and will bite us in future.

Three wins out of three looks good on paper but more difficult tests await - that will show us more where we are.

Yes and considering the opposition last night an expected one.

A team with no halves, no kicking game and very little threat. Very similar to Leyth and Wakey in terms of capabilities

A team that gave the Champions a much tougher game than they gave us last night.

The win was literally never in doubt even when they pulled it back to 8-6.

Are we firing on all cylinders? Absolutely not.

Should we be in a comp that relies on peaking at the end of the season? Absolutely not.

We all know where the issues are but let’s not pretend also Leeds don’t have one of the better packs in the comp. We contained them admirably.

I do sometimes wonder what people expect from the team. Unless we are winning by 50 points we are not a good team it seems.

Seen so many posts from Wigan fans on social media saying “if Leeds had so and so back and if Leeds had done this then it would be a different result”

If my aunty had testicles she’d be my uncle. She doesn’t though so let’s not pretend any different.

Last night without getting out of third gear we beat a team who will be in the top 4 or 5 in the league.

They didn’t really look like scoring once and I include their try which came from a slip giving Briscoe the bit of space and a no look miracle pass to nothing on the 5th tackle. It was a cracking bit of play don’t get me wrong but it was a standard shot to nothing 5th tackle panic play that broke us.

We are clearly not anywhere near our best at the moment which with people missing and playing out of position is to be expected.

Was it a good performance? In my opinion yes,

Can we improve? Yes.

Are we 3 from 3 and still in the cup playing reasonable rugby with an outstanding defence and much to look forward to this year? Again in my opinion, yes.

We have conceded 12 points in 3 and a half games. Defence is definitely sorted.

We know we need to improve in attack and when we get 3/4s playing in the 3/4s i'm sure that will happen.

The people losing their minds over Hastings and French having a few extra weeks in Australia during a global pandemic look a little daft now.

Hastings hasn’t missed a beat. French back next week I’m sure will be the same.

4 wins from 4.

I thought Hastings was excellent again last night. I really do love him as a player and enjoy listening to him talk about the game on his podcast(s) We all know he will go the NRL first chance he gets (I have no issues with that) I just wish he would stay off social media. His commitment on the field can't be questioned though IMO.

Hastings is quality. Gives 100% every game in attack and defence and is as smart as they come (excl. getting tackled on the 4th tackle a lot).

If you're bothered by him being on social media just unfollow him? It clearly isn't affecting his game.

It's more the issues that his (and other peoples) comments creates. By posting his cryptic nonsense about where he will be next year it leads to questions from Jenna Brooks about whether this is his last game for Wigan etc etc. I'd rather he just said nothing and played rugby. There will always be press talk of course there will, but he then fuels the fire IMO when he should probably just keep his mouth shut. The first "poor" game he has then leads to him being abused and the crap we had on here of him not being interested etc etc

All that is true but whilst Leeds had plenty missing you had no centres and French missing who is a an absolute wow of a player . The thing is even when you are not at your best the defense is terrefic and no matter who plays everyone knows their job . Farrell is a nine out of 10 virtually every week and one of the most consistent ever super League forwards .

Aren't our poor forwards and poor coach quite important when it comes to our great defence and fitness?

I don't rate Lam as coach by any means but he's got us through the opening fixtures, he has to take credit for that.
He's also been missing French, Manfredi, Gildart, Marshall and Field. All of those are well above average and their absence makes a massive difference to the match squad. Opposition clubs know they only have Hardaker to worry about as a strike player plus Hastings as play maker. That's why they've all gone to match the Wigan pack and then over run the backs. None have succeeded.

When Lam gets his backs out there and the opposition see the quality of Gildart plus French, Marshall and Field then they will have to spread their defences to cope against that level of pace. Good luck to them with that!

Next game with French and Manfredi back I'd like to see a pack starting of Bullock, Powell, Singleton, Farrell, Bateman and Partington. With quality backs that pack will do us very well.

Matty Peet defence and fitness coach for fitness I suspect add far more in those areas than Lam.

Lam keeps telling everyone about his attacking philosophy but I haven’t got a clue what that is. I suspect he doesn’t either.

When we get our injured players back that means Bateman Isa and Farrell in the back row. Too lightweight which compounds the prop issue

Re last night let’s do another scenario aside your 3rd gear proposition.
Let’s assume Gildart Manfredi French and Marshall all play but Hastings out injured.
Leeds same as.
Would/could we have won in third gear against a team shy of a dozen players with zero playmakers on the pitch?

My view is I don’t think we can get much better with the current pack and coach. The squad is out of balance with too many journeymen forwards.
I would totally agree that we could up the intensity and give anyone a game. I think where we would disagree is that you probably think we are capable of winning trophies I think we will get found out over the season due to glaring deficiencies in the pack.

Glad we won last night (I had them on the handicap too) but a bit of a “shrug of the shoulders” type performance. The type of performance we give in most games.
.