The problem is we have players who don't do the basics. Thornley should have passed when he broke in the first half and he should have gone from dummy half in the second after the kick to Paddy. Leeds were all offside and all over the place. If he runs there he scores imo.

I agree with this also, I think the squad is lacking a good "rugby brain" tbh. We don't have a Sinfield or a brough who can take a game by the scruff of the neck and know when to do the right thing at the right time. Atm our games are littered with brainfarts. The flower offload on the first tackle on the Leeds line when we hadnt been down there at all hardly in the 2nd half is another example.

I think we are missing that little bit of xfactor at the minute, I was praying for us to try something different last night but in the end we just got the same basic systems which are becoming readable.
I'd seriously look at bringing Hampshire onto the bench in place of Logan for the play off games. Bring him on for McIlorum, move smith to 9 and but Rocky in the halves with Green.
Bring McIlroum back on in the 2nd half at lose so you still have your 4 pivots.
We need to try something different as the norm isn't working at the minute.

Ok here goes...

I believe we aren't playing well for a greater reason, all about being in the right position on the ladder to provide the best possible opportunity to progress, we're playing the system.

However I am concerned about our coach, while I believe the CC win and league positioning heading into the playoffs is excellent I do worry about the way we play, even when we play well.

All in all the 3 crucial positions of 6, 7 and 1 have been easily nullified by any opposition. 6 and 7, or half back left and half back right as I like to call them are far too structured, the play too central all of the time and aren't allowed to inject any creative flair or innovation due to the structure. Wigan is not the club if you're a Rangi Chase, Benji Marshall or JT, your game would be castrated as you stick to the structures.

What about the FB? Links out wide after the pre-scripted amount of dummy runners, same old, very predictable easy to read.

So all in all well done Mr Wane, you've nulled 3 of our most crucial positions and made it easier for defences to stop us.

I could honestly write a 20 page essay on attacking structures, where Wigan are going wrong in attack and how to fix them. If I can, why can't Mr Wane?

In one word green,drop him and we have a chance.

We may as well try something different against Hudds. I'd go:

1. Sam
6. Hampshire
7. Smith
9. Logan
13. McIlorum

with either Green or Sam Powell on the bench.

I see Green seems to be the one getting flak at the moment but he seems to be the only one with the rugby brain to react against the rush defence out wide that everyone now seems to be doing to stop "our play".

He had some good moments last night, setting up Richards' try, the Thornley break and the cross-field kick to Richards, but on the whole I think his general decision making is terrible. Also his kicking game last night consistently gifted field position to Leeds.

Didn't think Green was all that bad last night, good 40/20, cracking cross field kick for Pat, good break for Pat's try and cracking little set play for Thornley, which a decent centre would have put Hansen under the sticks from!

Green had one of his better games last night.......still below what is expected though imo.

As you say, the three times we opened them up Green was involved - I also agree his kicking game leaves a lot to be desired at times which is why Smith should be responsible whenever possible for that aspect of the game.

Without Green I don't see how we will open up the defence we can expect in the play-offs. What I would do though in the play-offs is have Hampshire on the bench instead of L Tomkins so we have an "X-factor" to call on. Smith can move to dummy half for the 20-25 minutes either side of half time when McIlorum needs a rest.

The link in the chain that is broken is what's wrong with our attack. Without O'Loughlin we need to find a different way to play but we still need three ball handlers as we don't have an offload game.
We need to introduce an x factor and that means something different from the halves with maybe Hampshire going in there or even moving Tomkins into loose forward and giving him licence to attack the line from anywhere.

We look too conservative IMO. In both finals under Maguire we scored tries from within our own half, we would have a forward trundling it up the middle at that point under Wane. We have three very good attacking players sat in the stands in Gelling, Hampshire and S.Powell, I'd be making use of 2 of them in place of Thornley and L.Tomkins

A couple of 10m, 20m length kicks along the floor out wide against the rush defence would make them think twice about rushing up. Just a little variation.

Do you all honestly think we were playing to our best ability last night? No.
Judge us after Huddersfield.

No, but then again I'm not convinced we've ever played to our best ability under Wane when it's mattered, so I'm not sure why the play offs will be any different.

One Word: LOCKERS - Thats whats wrong with our attack he creates the link and unfortunatley i can't understand why Waney has decided to spell Tuson at 13 again and again he's far better as a second row he does't have the handling skills to fill that position and neither does Ben Flower he's much better at prop, i can't believe for a minute that only i can see this surely others can see that when we have to replace Lockers we seem to handicap ourselves by playing our 13 as another prop, weve done this in about 7 or 8 games this year and the outcome has been the same everytime, is this Waney playing it safe and trying to limit mistakes valuing experience over skill because for all my money it seems to have increased our error count thorough the roof and handicapped our attack, too much reliance on Sam is also not helping when we shift the ball out wide, he's class but he's not Clarke Kent, We have a proper number 13 sitting in the stands in Burke, what on earth are we playing at, throw him in and give him the freedom to play, someone needs to fill lockers boots one day the young lads have stood up all season when called upon and some have played better than the so called regulars.
Green seems to have gone down hill, Leeds are now on the charge again and if we don't change something they are the Winners of this competion again imo HANDS DOWN!

That's been my philosophy recently but more so towards the whole playoffs.

If we wimp out then one half of the board were correct. We're sh*t.
If we win the final then the other half were correct and it was all about being focussed.

Should make for an interesting few weeks anyway.



Obviously I hope it's option B. Had we been playing badly with a full side I'd be worried but other than last night we've been playing with numerous changes which is why I haven't been concerned. We're back into do or die territory now so now is the time to judge us.

React like when he threw it to Jones-Bishop?

And react like:

- When he made the break for Pat's try

- When Thornley was put through and we should have scored

- When he put the kick in for Pat

Yes react like the three times we actually broke their line last night.

Three factors.

1. SOL being out. He formed the link to either getting Sam or the winger into space or playing a short ball. Without him we are not playing the same structure we were doing at the start of the season. We just don't have a like for like replacement.

2. Off the ball movement. Start of the season we had bodies in motion on almost every play. 2 or 3 options for the defender to have to pick. Recently we have been static and easy to spot with almost zero off the ball movement.

3. Opposition defence. Made easier by point 2. The defence on the decent fit well drilled teams are moving very quickly out wide, shutting off any link to Sam or the winger. This is made easier to do be the loss of SoL and our recent lack of movement.

If we can't replace Sol then we have to look at changing our attacking plays, as they are stopping at the point where he would have received the ball.

IMO this cries out for a half back who takes on the line, backed up in theide by Sam, together with the occasional kick behind the on rushing fringe defence.

That will make it harder for the defenders to rush on the fringe as they will be in two minds.

The kick was clever. The two breaks were nothing special. He didn't carve them out of a tough situation or fool Leeds in any way. The opportunities presented themselves and fair enough he took them but these aren't any indicators that Green is playing well enough for long enough in a game because he just isn't.

Considering he was the only one who seemed to creative anything I'd suggest those with a Green agenda look elsewhere for a new scapegoat after last night. While there are plenty of attacking issues to be addressed dropping Green loses the only one in the team at the moment with the rugby brain to break down a top 4 defence.

No point praising someone for a play that gets you one try and costs you another. The same way his 40/20 was cancelled out by three pathetic kicks straight into Hardaker.

You really think he's up to scratch?

Likewise no point bagging someone if you're not prepared to acknowledge making up for the a mistake.

As I've just said he was the only one capable of creating something last night. Without Locky our attacking structures fall apart, that's the main problem that needs addressing.