Will be very interested in the forward stats for this week, i thought they all had excellent games and will all show up well.

Bateman in particular for me was back to his old best, by far his best performance since returning from the NRL. Was my mom yesterday.

I don’t think we’ll get them with it being the cup as people pull them from the Superleague site but they would be interesting. I’d imagine they’d be really impressive for Bateman, Farrell and Havard. I thought Shorrocks was superb as well and has really put a case forward to stay in the 17 when guys like Ellis and Isa are back.

Shorrocks ran with real purpose when he came on, very impressive.

Liam only came on late 2nd half, put in some aggressive carries but didn't have much game time. May have been saving Hine for a starting spot on GF ?

The game showed why we signed Mago, gives us something different to open a defence and will be needed against well drilled defences like Saints.

Spot on with Mago. He’s going well for me, yes you always want more and we’ll get more but he’s settling in nicely. The main thing I’m pleased with is the commitment he’s clearly putting in to getting fitter. He’s lost plenty of weight from the pictures I saw of him last year and I noticed in an interview on Wigan TV with Peet a while after the game that he was out on the field doing some fitness work. I always worry overseas players could see a stint here as a holiday but fair play to the guy, he’s clearly committed to improving and we can’t ask more than that.

Unusual prop rotations from Peet every week.

Byrne whose been starting and playing big minutes every didn’t come on until 58 minutes. Mago, Shorrocks and Havard on before him, Singleton even returned for a second stint before LB came on.

Partington who seems to be on the outer at the start of the year got a start.

Wonder which two he’ll pick to start against Saints.

Think Singleton will and should be one of the starting props. People have give him some flack recently but I think he sets a good platform. He doesn’t do the flashy stuff but to settle in to a game that’s what you need. I’d probably say smithies for the other position. His work rate is brilliant.

Amazed that there are still some people with eyes in their head that don’t rate Liam Farrell.

What a player he has been for you lot.

The majority of the ones who don't rate him are from the South side of Billinge Hill!!
He's been a fabulous player , very much in the mold of your James Roby in that he has such a superb engine and work rate, just natural athletes who don't appear to tire.

I just had a look at the ages of a lot of that Wigan pack.
Smithies 21
Partington 23
Havard 21
Byrne 22
Shorrocks 22

Then there's
Pearce-Paul 21

and
Brad O'Neill 19
Matty Nicholson 18
who will be pushing for 1st team places in the next couple of years.

Faz is a 7/8 out of 10 minimum every week.

Would walk into any SL side.

I thought Singo is getting back to where he needs to be and I slowly think Bateman is also getting back to form.

Mago was a game breaker on Sunday. Used to perfection. Came on changed the game and then others brought on to bring it home.

Smithies moving to play the grafting prop role has also worked very well. I was starting to wonder what the plan was for him but I think he is developing nicely under Peet.

Much to be positive about. The acid test though comes on Friday as we all know against the best pack in the league.

Just a shame the Saints pack is decimated with injury and suspension currently. Hopefully we will still give a good account of ourselves. Bookies will have Wigan as favourites no doubt.

Huge test and a test we need. We’re going to have to raise a couple of levels to get close to them. The end result of Friday could be wildly different from a mental perspective. Do well and everyone gains loads of confidence and are excited for the season ahead but lose badly and it could really knock us back. It’s a massive opportunity to really lay down a marker. The best attribute this Saints side possess IMO is an ability to always look far more desperate to win a game than their opposition, well we can’t let that happen. We need this far more. To them it’s just another Derby and win or lose they’ll be in any shake up at the end of the season but for us it’s an opportunity to rid some demons, grow our confidence and show them we can be a threat.

Here we go



Seriously though, it’s just Matautia out isn’t it?

We’ll get about 8 points with the bookies and they’re not daft.

Haha. Matautia and Sironen missing mate, only Matautia injured. Then Grace in the backs. Assume you will have KPP, Ellis and Thornley missing?

Someone asked me about the handicap this morning actually I guess at 6-8.

I think it’ll be just that (6-icon_cool.gif. It probably would’ve been 8-10 prior to the result yesterday and Sironens ban.

Hard to say on us really. Don’t know much about the Thornley injury and Marshall and Isa both missed out yesterday with problems. We’ll definitely be missing KPP and Ellis though. It’s not a massive issue for us if all 5 are out. Outside of losing Field, Leuluai, Farrell or Bateman, I think we can cover pretty much anyone else without much of a drop off.

Historically the verb decimated meant one in ten. So i could assume, if I use the historical meaning and you have 4 forwards on the bench, that you will have one forward missing.

Not sure of the meaning in today’s context but decimated to me would be a substantial number perhaps even the majority. So you have 4 or 5 missing starting forwards?

Either that or it was a sarcastic comment.

Or someone’s filling their duds? lol.

Long time since I heard any sarcasm from a Saints fan. You got me there YG.

Young Wingfield will be a perfect forward replacement for you guys.

Your pack is obviously the benchmark but hopefully we will have a good pop on Friday

Yeah I assume it'll be Wingfield or Bell to come in, most likely Wingfield. I think the rest of the 17 will be unchanged from the weekend.

I am confident our pack can and will get on top, we are fairly ruthless in that department at the moment. Our vulnerability at the minute is our right edge defence with Hurrell in particular uncomfortable as soon as anyone does anything but run straight at him. I imagine you men will be trying to get Field or French in some space around him as much as possible.

We've looked much better with no Isa IMO. He's a grafter no doubt, but asks no questions of defences whatsoever bar his 1-out 1-up carries. His work off the ball is nowhere near our other back rowers, and he creates not even an inkling of doubt in defences. The Field try off Faz at the weekend is a prime example of giving the halfback the option to pick the right pass - as it turns out it worked the other way here with the defenders following Field, leaving the short ball the best option. Field wrapping around Isa in that situation (albeit it would be on the right-hand edge) rarely would have the same outcome.

That's a shame.

Re. Shorrocks, i think i have mentioned this here before but i rate him highly. I genuinely see him as our future for the loose forward position. I feel he has alot of the attributes to make a good go at it, especially if he gets a run of games there at some point to bed in.

Only if the second row is bulked in size significantly beyond what we have now.

Fair comment and a good point, although i don't think he has much issue in the defensive department wasn't he top tackler in the whole league last year? He also made good yardage yesterday, granted one example and he isn't the biggest currently. I do think he has put abit of size on this season and still is only 22.

If he can work out there, i see him as our best current option for a ball playing loose.

I will say, failing that or short term, i really like smithies there for his workload and determination. Ellis has also played some NRL games there aswell but that would very much be a 3 "middles" type NRL situation which i am not a fan of and i don't think really suits the style of open play we seem to be aiming for.

Fully agree. This season was one season too long at wigan for me. To be fair i said the same about tommy last season and during pre season, he has fully proved me wrong so far so would love isa to do the same! Just don't see how.