Very good point. The thing I really notice about Micky Mac is how well respected he seems to be by his fellow pros. He seems a very popular member of the squad when you read about on twitter and the like and the players followed him on Saturday like you should do for a good captain that you respect.

And when you consider the amount of negativity he generated when he first came into the squad, he has really cemented his place.... But then, some fans are very quick to be negative.

get back in your corner, happy clapper!

*chuckles* Better to be quiet and thought a fool, than open your mouth and prove it.....

haha i like that!

Brian McTigue was hard yes but his greatest attribute was his ball handling. He was the greatest ball handling forward I have ever seen in 70 years of watching the game.

Absolutely, and he had a quick burst of speed too.

But it was his 'hardness' that used to frighten the Ozzie forwards. They feared him, and would not mess with him. I think MM might also be an 'hardcase'.

Some forwards have that intimidation factor. Les Boyd did, but he spoiled his great skills by some disgraceful actions.

AFAIK Brian McTigue never got sent off in his entire career. But he left rather a lot of opposition forwards on the floor flat out after a scrum.

Mickey Mac can never be accused of taking a backward step. I am more worried about Dudson's regular rush of blood followed by a charge to the back. Every time he does it he lets the other team off the hook or makes things worse for us. I really thought he was going to the sin bin on Saturday, not because it was particularly bad but just because the ref was trying to keep a lid on things.

Not sure that is true.
Think most were quite happy with a bit of biff and actually praised Wigan for the way thy unsettled Leeds.
I felt the only dirty play was Dudson`s cowardly push in the back on McGuire after the ball had gone.
Wasn`t that the start of the handbags later?
Other than that no complaints from me or from the majority of Leeds fans.

That's a fair post and reflects most of what has been said by Leeds fans. I think that the original poster may have meant the Saints fans!!!

To be fair, MM is one dirty piece of sh*t but I actually enjoy watching him and wish Saints had someone of his ilk. Sadly, we do not. But if any of your forwards fancy a cup of tea next time you're in town, I'm sure LMS would be happy to oblige.

LMS really is awful isn't he. He's stealing a living at a big club. The total opposite of what Saints signed in Kyle Amor who is a huge loss at the moment.

Masoe ain't much better.

Just watched the game back for the first time. It makes the 20 odd page thread on the VT laughable. The agenda that some people have against Wigan is unbelievable.

There was clearly nothing in the MM high tackle on peacock. Impact was on the shoulder and slipped up. Given the circumstance of the handbags that had occurred I think it was handled well by the ref.

I do have a problem with Dudson. He had plenty of time to pull out of that, he deserves criticism for that. I also have a problem with Crosby. It wasn't a spear tackle as Hall didn't land on his head. It was however very dangerous. IMO she should have been binned and received a ban.

Watching it back it's clear that, to use the terminology of others, Leeds are every bit as 'dirty' as Wigan. Maguire in General is as bad if not worse than any Wigan player for so called underhand tactics, IMO he's far worse than Bailey. His elbow into the throat if Bowen just before the Leeds try was nasty. He was the first one into both sets of handbags. Bailey also lead with an elbow straight into the face of Sutton. Add to that Maguire's kick out and Peacock's chicken wing on Bateman and maybe the thread should be re-named.

The game as a whole was no where near as niggly as some are suggesting, it was tough with 34 athletes giving their all. I'd much rather watch that than a match such as St Helens asking Warrington if they could place them gently on the floor so the referee can call held.

Dudson really needs to stop these stupid off the ball incidents. He's been banned for it once this season and there easily could've been further reprocussions from doing it again Saturday. Tbh I've about given up with him now and would much rather he was replaced next season. He played alright against Leeds but he doesn't get through enough work in attack or defence, he always looks like he's got a brainfart error or penalty in him and his good performances seem to be few and far between. He's fairly young fair enough but there are much better props his age and younger in SL.

The Crosby incident has been handled correctly IMO, yes it is stupid to lift the legs like that but it was reasonably controlled and he landed on his back.

Dudson did it at Dewsbury and it was completely senseless. The game had been won and there was nothing left to play for. He ran out of the line and barged into the lad. He keeps doing it and needs to be told by SW that it could cost us. Thought he had his best game for us on Saturday and he needs to build on that because people were beginning to write him off

Wasn't his ban this season from the Bradford game when we 70 odd points up?

EDIT: Just checked, late hit on Danny Addy in 73rd minute when we were winning 78-6, brainfart of the highest order

I know our props tend to share the workload rather than having one workhorse making 150+ metres and 40 tackles, but Dudson had 7 carries for 76 metres and made 20 tackles, missing one. It's not bad but hardly staggerring considering it's the best game he's had for some time.

Averaging 11 metres in that game is quite a decent effort IMO. SW obviously sees something in him. I think he could improve and take confidence from Saturday. I'll be happy to see him playing tomorrow. It could be quite a battle with Hock and Hansen looking to turn us over.

I would say apart from his needless late hit he had a very good game, of the 4 props he made the second most tackles and carried the ball on average over 10m per carry....only burgess made more per carry.....

Cut out the silly penalties and he is not a liability

Dudson just seems like a generally big bloke and it does take a lot to stop him also he is a hard hitter, i think he and taylor floored peacock at some point in the game. He just has lapses and over the past season and a half its happened to much, also i think last season he lost to much weight and it affected him. Him and Clubb are a very naturally big pair of front rowers and would make an awesome pairing when they are fit and on their game, but other fans wouldn't rate them.

We need Saturdays Dudson every week now. Forget his stats for me. We rotate our props so they're not going to be Peacock like. To the naked eye that was as strong an effort as he's put in for months although that wouldn't be hard. He ran harder and tackled harder but still needs to rid himself of silly disciplinary issues.

The lad has talent no doubt but his application needs to be better.

Used incorrectly and coached poorly - either that or the NRL isn't that great. The Youtube video's of him in the NRL are immense. One thing I have noticed is that every time he gets the ball he's either stood still or he's taking the ball 5 yards out. In the NRL he was running a good 10-15 yards at full pace before hitting the line.

As for a bit of biff - never killed anybody - neither did a proper shoulder charge.

Your coach is your teams biggest issue

Two main points. You tube clips are misleading and could make virtually anyone look good while not showing the dross in between. Secondly everyone remembers the game against NZ in the World Cup, the two combined make expectations of him far too high.

Good points

I think Kirk Dixon may disagree with you. Mickey Mac is as hard as nails but that was a real cheats shot.