It's not an [uautomatic[/u send off, depends on the severity. Plus bans are often dished out to players who were only penalised/binned/put on report at the time anyway.

Hair pulling is a worse offence IMO.

How the hell they haven't charged Carney for that is ridiculous.

Deemed to have not been deliberate - Bollocks !!!!!

Tripping in the 80th min? What on Earth is he thinking?

And tripping can be the cause of a bad injury. I'm not a fan of it being downgraded as it has been.

Absolutely embarrassing that he's done it twice in one game. The worst of his many brain farts this year.

Red is a bit OTT, but a trip should be yellow every time. And so should hair-pulling, and other nasty unsportsmanlike behaviour. Remember Ashton Sims stamping on someone's hand? George Williams, was it? Should have been a yellow too.

EGP for first offence, fine no ban.
Guilty plea second offence, 1 match ban.

Fair enough.

Lee Mossop has been offered to Salford for 2017

Posting it twice doesn't make it any more true Neil

Bateman probably staying then?

He's pictured at a team lunch in the Royal Oak yesterday on Wigan's Twitter page so he's certainly back around the squad.

Encouraging to see that.

And him being back as nothing to do with whether Mossop stays or goes whatever the agenda driven rumour mongers would like to portray.

Indeed. If Mossop was to leave I'm 100% confident it's because the club will have deemed his form not good enough to warrent a first team place and possibly to warrent the salary he's being paid.

FWIW I think Mossop has gone pretty well this year in the main. If we had a fully fit squad though I'm not convinced I'd pick him in a first choice 17.

Mossop was in great form when the rest of the pack was out injured. I thought he really showed his metal when the chips were down. His form dipped when we played Warrington away but he wasn't on his own there.
If Flower, Clubb, Crosby, FPN, Sutton were all fit I'm not sure Mossop would get a game but it's not often we will have everybody fit. I'd like us to keep hold of him. RL in SL is now about the squad strength and as a squad player Mossop is very good cover.

Back to the tripping incidents the first is very clear but I can't see the 2nd one?

Apparently it was in the 80th minute on Stewart and was a nothing incident but I've not seen it yet

Was it Gus Gould who said he liked to have 6 props, 2 on the field, 2 on the bench and 2 suspended

I agree that he's a decent squad player and he can be a very good player when he's on form. I suppose you just need to make sure that you're 4th/5th choice prop is on 4th/5th choice prop money and some people would have you believe he's on a good wedge.

The one thing that is going to happen at Wigan is our props will need to be busting a gut to get a game when all of them are fit. To have a group to choose from including Crosby, Flower, Mossop, Clubb, Sutton, Tautai, Nuuausala and Bretherton is an extremely strong position to be in!!

We do look very strong in that position and have plenty of strength in depth. Same could be said of hooker for next year with MM, Tommy and Powell all capable hookers. It's the three quarters where I'd like us to improve. I'm ok with Gelling and Gildart as our starting centres but when they are injured we lack depth for cover. Bateman is far better in 2nd row and Tomkins / Isa just don't do it for me playing centre. I'd still love us to get a big athletic, proven centre in to allow Gildart another year or 2 to develop.

I personally think Gildart is ready now to play on a regular basis but we could do with back up to him, Gelling and the two wingers. In an ideal world we could do with a utility back to cover centre/wing. If that had to come at the expense of a prop then so be it.

Back to Ratchford, then? But then, realistically how high quality a player are you going to get if you tell them they'll be sat on the bench most of the time (at best)?

It's a challenge for sure. We need another Sarginson style project for me. I know the guy who posts dubious rumours on here (who used to write for the MEN) mentioned Mason Caton-Brown as an option and he's probably a decent fit.

It's back up for centre that's the most pressing concern tbh. Looking at Tierney recently our wing back up is absolutely fine. He was superb tonight to follow up a fantastic showing at HKR a few weeks back.

I listened to the game and just watched the tries on Wigan TV. Some nice stuff from Williams (the second assist was pretty soft, though), and it looks like Tierney did well as you say. If we're going for a project I'd like to see us get a young centre from the NRL. There are plenty of talented young lads at the Warriors and Sharks (and others besides) who aren't getting a regular first team slot who might benefit from a season or two in SL. Even looking at someone like Jacob Miller; I remember him at Wests and thought he just wasn't good enough. Didn't think he'd be good enough for SL either, but he's gone pretty well.

So, does that just point to the lamentable standard of SL compared to the NRL, or has Miller substantially improved his game?
You be the judge!



Personally, in this particular case, I think Miller has improved his game no end.

To be honest I think Tierney will be our "utility" back, unless he decides to move on to be a first team regular elsewhere. He can cover wing and full back and I think Budgie could be pushed into the centres if Gidart or Gelling get injured. Plus we know Bateman is more than competent at centre (if he's still here). I don't really think there's room in the squad for another "project" signing and I'd be pretty happy if what's been announced so far for next season is what we go with.

I'd go along with that, *if* Bateman stays.

If he goes, we'd definitely be short of cover in the backs.