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.
.

I don’t buy the Bateman, Isa and Farrell are too small line. I don’t get it at all when anybody says it. A giant making 100 metres a game is 100 metres and if a midget makes 200 metres, its 200 metres. They’re not dominated in defence, they make more ground than their opposite numbers in the vast majority of games and as a three they’ll comfortably be the best in the comp when they’re at 11, 12 and 13.

I don’t think we need to look for issues that aren’t there. There is one glaring issue and that is the lack of one bruising prop through the middle to use at the start of games. It’s encouraging IMO that what we need is so obvious. A better goal kicker wouldn’t go amiss but ultimately we have one hole in the team when everyone is fit and available. We can get better with the ball in attack but that was going to be naturally clunky to star with, when you’re minus French, Gildart, Manfredi, Marshall etc and are playing forwards in the back spots.

So the things we do well are down to the assistant and the things we do poorly are down to the coach. What are you basing this on?

Lam's none-existent attacking philosophy saw us score the second most points in the league last year. We're not playing free flowing stuff right now but I wouldn't expect us to in round 3 with so many backs missing. He has adapted his strategy to the circumstances to find a way to still win. I'll worry about style points in the summer when we have had time to shake off the rust and have some backs available.

I really don’t understand Wigan fans desire to make up new scenarios which we can only speculate about.

Very similar on social media.

If and so and so didn’t play so and so did then what would happen?!

It’s a nonsense of which we can only speculate and never get an answer.

What did happen we played with the team we did and we won comfortably without exerting too much energy and not fully firing in attack against a team that had Saints troubled at times last week.

I didn’t at any stage see us losing that game.

It was a solid if not spectacular performance and something to build on.

I’d say we have improved week on week in 2021 and I think there is plenty more to come, which is encouraging.

If that is true, not saying it is it isn’t, but if it is doesn’t Lam being the head coach deserve credit for delegating those duties to other coaches?

I’m basing it on it is their area of expertise. Before Peet came back our defence was pretty average so with no defensive coach I’d park that at Lam’s door.
The head honcho in any organisation worth it’s salt picks up the accolades when things go well and his or her P45 when things go wrong.

What is his philosophy? On Wigan tv for two and a bit years he’s been going on about how he tells the players what he wants and expects. I haven’t got a clue other than give it to Hastings as many times as we we can.

You can have as many backs available as you want but tagged with our pack then I feel we are short of being top dogs and will remain so until it is resolved which won’t I suspect be before 2022

Let’s see how we do over the next 3 weeks when we play a couple of decent teams

So where’s your scenario of not getting out of 3rd coming from? You are surely just speculating that without any evidence.

How about we were playing a team with no playmaker and their second game in six days and were incapable of playing better?

So you think that our performances against York and a depleted Leeds were better than our performance against Wakefield?

We’ve played 4 poor or weakened teams and in 320 minutes we’ve been on the back foot for the majority of the minutes.

I understand the injuries but what I think is that even at full strength we will fall short.
Peopare also assuming that Marshall and Manfredi will just slip back in with assured ease. Manfredi has hardly play for 4 years and maybe his best days unfortunately are behind him and Marshall may have lost that vital pace he had.

I’m basing it on the fact we never had to lift the intensity.

Do I think we played better last night than we did against Wakefield? Yes.

Don’t really count York as it’s a different competition.

Wakefield are a bottom 2 side. Leeds will be too 4 or 5.

3 from 3 and in the cup showing glimpses of pure quality but playing within ourselves as I see it.

I think we will have a more realistic view of where we are in the next month but so far I don’t see too much to moan about.

Icing on the cake would be a quality Prop becoming available however I think we may have to wait a little longer for that to happen.

Will have to disagree on Bateman Farrell and Isa. Yes the issue is at prop but that back three won’t improve the situation.

A lack of a decent kicker goes back to 2013 the lack of decent props predates that.

Teams will find us out. They will all play too our weakness which is in the middle. I don’t think we can defend at the current intensity throughout the full length of the season.
Hope I’m wrong but unless Bullock is holding back then apart from Harvard and maybe Byrne the rest of the front row options are far too weak.

You cannot ignore York just because it was the CC

Like you I was relaxed that we wouldn’t lose last night because they had zero options on the last in practically every set of six. More a case of their inadequacies than our capabilities

Agree with you 100% about the next month or so.

I’m not complaining just think that this will be another year under Lam where we will fall short when it really counts

Journeymen forwards? Most of them came through our own academy.