What a fantastic effort from the boys. Our forwards were immense and we were unlucky to lose that game.
However when you have so much pressure you have to get points on the back of it.
Saints goal line defence won that for them.
We have to find a way to get over the line from close range.

We were the better side last night and think we may have learned a valuable lesson especially attacking on their line. There were a few very disappointing sets starting on their line where we threw nothing at them. A bit more composure and we seal that game.

Everyone is talking about Bowen mistake and rightly so, but IIRC, was it Bateman with the stupid penalty on their line lifting up Swift trying to get a drop out? That was where the game turned, Saints were struggling to get out of their half then.

I'm with you. I thought we were the better team and, at last, all 4 props really turned up. That game wasn't the one that mattered whereas if we meet again it's winner takes all. Let them enjoy their victory (though McManus' gurning visage churns my stomach somewhat) because I'm pretty confident that we have the level of performance in us to overturn the losses to both Leeds and Saints.
As a separate issue I have to say that the Sky commentary team fell even further in my estimation, especially that turd Carney. "This is it! This is it!" when Wilkin broke clear was quite telling from him. I understand Phil Clarke leaning towards Wigan even if he shouldn't but I wonder what the club ever did to Carney to turn him into the bitter person he is now when it comes to Wigan?

If you can't beat Saints playing so poorly and with most of the quality possession what makes you think it'll be any different at your place?

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, you've had yours and I think you're wrong. Like most games each side had it's good and bad patches, but Wigan shaded it. Unlike Leeds! Like they always say you've got to play for the full 80. End of.

Not a bad home record for a start!

Well don't go getting one of your men sent off this time.

Ey?? No chance.

We should have won with amount of possession we had particularly in the first but to be fair to Saints their defence was excellent and if I was a Saints I would have ecstatic with the result last night.
Not sure how this defeat will affect us. Based on recent performances that is probably as good as our forwards are going to be. Moral would have been hit as to lose so late in the game must be as SW stated a ball breaker.
This is now a good measure of how good a manager SW really is or not. He has turn around the team in quick fashion and lift their moral to believe we can still get to the GF.
I personally saw several reasons to believe we could turn it around however, I have this nagging feeling that our inability to turn pressure into points could come back to haunt us again. I sincerely hope that SW has got that magic touch and finds the key to unlocking disciplined defences that Saints and Huddersfield seem to have. I have questioned the teams passion a few times this season last night demonstrated that there is plenty of it we just need a little more guile near the line to accompany it.
Hopefully Cas have won their GF by beating Leeds and take their foot off the gas to enable us to win without too many squeaky bum times.
Like many people I think that anyone of the top four can win the GF but the Huddersfield and Saints players will probably have a more confidence than their Leeds and Wigan counterparts.

If we win and Hudds win it will be Wigan v Leeds in the semi unless Saints somehow manage to lose against Wire.

And, y'know, for all the pessimism we hear, it's a good thing for the game that it's a genuine four-horse race.

That tackle on Gildart (who again had a decent game, and attacked and defended well) by Makinson did look crucial.

It was thrown behind the halfway line and caught in front of it.

Miles forward.

In which case 90% of passes are forwards.

Look up momentum, try jumping backwards off a moving car. I would put money on you not ending up behind were you started.

Physics 101.

I've taught in Wigan schools. Physics isn't their strong point.

You're allowed around children?

Urchins.

If the pass had occurred between lines it's play on, the ref was in a great position and saw the pass given before a line and caught past it, from his view it's a nailed on forward pass, I've a sneaky feeling if it had been a Wigan break and they'd got away with that same pass in the same position you'd have been screaming blue murder about how incompetent the ref was

The ref's positioning is kind of irrelevant given that many, many bad decisions (covering all aspects of the game) are made with the ref in position A1.

And let us not forget a whole bunch of terrible calls made recently by the video referee - who not only has the best position available - but is free to keep rewinding the tape as often as he likes.

Would I have been upset? It's a derby game so - d'uh! But once the blood had cooled enough to watch the game again I wouldn't have been too bothered. Compared to some of the ludicrous decisions made recently it was about as cut-and-dried as you'll find.

What constitutes a forward pass then? If a ball is thrown before a line and caught 2 m past it and that isn't a forward pass then what is? You might be right - Wigan schools might be rubbish at teaching physics because I've obviously been taught incorrectly

Seen them given, seen them not. It was a close thing, but the fact that it was on a line on the pitch probably helped with the decision. You'd be a bit cheesed off if that decision had cost the game.

When you get to this stage of the season the matches seem to be more intense, but how much of that is the refs not wanting to give loads of penalties? The 10m was short for both sides and virtually every other tackle in the last 5-10 minutes (from both teams) could have been penalised for messing about. A few more penalties early on would have opened things up

Did you know if a winger can run at 20 mph and slowly throws the ball backwards over his head the ball will have travelled 7 to 8 metres forward before it hits the ground.

You have to feel bad for the officials when so many fans don't understand basic rules

If the ball leaves the players hands travelling in a forward direction it's a forward pass. If it leaves his hand in a backwards direction it's fine.

Anything that happens after that is irrelevant- where it lands or is caught.

I think we got away with one with the 'forward pass' tbh, I think it was going back out of Swift's hands.

Having watched the game again, I'm pretty confident for the playoffs; we should have had that game won comfortably before the last 15. I've seen more than enough from that game that we'll make the GF IMO. Physically we dominated Saints on Friday and that's not happened a lot in the last 18 months. We're in a good place, we should be positive about Friday (however hard that may be!).

I'm the opposite tbh, and a bit worried about the last few games of the season based on what I saw on Friday.

Our drawbacks this season, particularly in big games, have been discipline issues (which have been much better during the 2nd half of the season), not being clinical enough in attack and at times showing poor game management. The latter two issues were particularly prominent on Friday. Our attack doesn't look sharp enough and far too often we'll let a soft try in after a sustained period of pressure up the other end. We rely heavily on scoring off kicks and the sweeping moves are nowhere near as effective as they previously have been. We're also guilty of consistently making wrong decisions in close games. In the last 10 minutes we kicked early in the tackle count when within 10m of Saints' line when it was clear all we had to do was see out our sets and try to force a drop out on the last.

I think we'll make the GF if we get a home PO game; but we'll need to be much more clinical if we are going to win it.