been very impressed with wire at the moment. The question still lies is will they be able to do it when all top 8 teams are going full throttle at each other in the playoffs? At the minute you would have to think so and they are definately in with a shot for the title as are wigan saints and huddersfield. Hodgson has been brilliant for them at full back and their outside backs are reaping the rewards of good work by the pack. However, this is a long season. Injuries can mount up and other teams could and will get players back.

Personally I think Leeds are out of it. There coach is clueless. I seriously don't think I have ever seen a coach use the interchanges so poorly. Bringing Burrow on after 60 minutes when the game was over was a joke as was the poor rotation of the props. Last night was a chance for leeds to have sinfield burrow and mcguire all on the pitch as they where last year and they didn't take advantage of it. Think Leeds are going to go downhill from here aswell. They don't have the quality of youth as wigan wire and saints do and this is going to hamper them.

Warrington are currently far better than Wigan. Wigan blow hot and cold and at times look woeful (CC v Bradford). Warrington for me are clearly the best side, looks frightening spinning the ball out wide and very powerful down the middle.
Wigans pack is currently not a patch on wires and our backs out wide wouldn't be able to deal with them.

However the CC game is a while away, with Hock and possibly Fielden back we'll have more grunt and experience in the pack. Finch is improve game by game and Sam is simply awesome linking from FB.

Right now if I called it? Wire to win. Overpower Wigan down the middle annd spread it wide catching our 'unsettled' 3/4 out. Or bomb Sam and Josh. With potentially dogman and King on the wings they'll beat our back three in mid air challenges.

I'd agree that Wire are better than us at the moment, but we look like we are playing with plenty in reserve. We're just doing enough to grind out the wins and it's working at the moment. Just hope that Madge is prepping us to go full tilt at the run-in.

Agreed

Chase is quite a bit infront of briers and when as everyone took on what clarke says?

For us i think liam farrell is nailed on for young player of the year

Wire are on fire at the minute and if I were a fan I'd be very very pleased with how they are going. They are not only the best attacking side in the league by a mile but have now turned their defence around to become at the minute the best defensive side aswell.

It's going to take a huge effort from ourselves to stop them in the cup and then the league but if anyone's capable it's us. We've not been at our best by a long chalk but were hanging right in there and have plenty of gears to go through yet.

The Wigan vs Wire games later in the year are going to be very special.

This time last season we had only lost 2 games, same as this season, and Warrington had lost--guess what--4 games, the same as this season. Rather than Wire having "an amazing season" and being "far better than Wigan" we are both pretty much right where we were last season. If we had played all our games none of these discussions would even be happening. Wire better than Wigan, pah!

They're playing better then Wigan but are they better is the question and that won't be answered till after the Grand final. We can then weigh up who's won what and make a call and I'm confident enough to believe when all comes to all we'll be pretty happy with our seasons work again.

To play as ordinary as we have and still be in a great position is a fantastic sign for us.

Most accurate post on here.....As a Wire fan, my only worry at present is that we don't yet seemed to have mastered the valuable 'play badly, but still scrape a win' skill that all great teams have to have.

At the moment we either play fantastically and completely muller teams, or play poorly and come up with nothing....We need to do what Wigan do very well, and that is hang in there when things aren't running smoothly.

I think one thing is certain though, and I hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but when we are on our game (like last night or at your place earlier in the season), I don't believe any side in the competition will beat us.....Have to admit though, it will take a mighty effort to maintain such levels right through to the end of the season.

Said as much last night....For me I can see the season building up to the two games at Warrington - They're going to decide top of the league and who wins the cup IMO.

Just hope we pick up our form and get to playing as well as we can by the time the cup game comes round cos the way wire are going on you'd think they'd just beaten Austrailia in a test series at the minute and we could do with putting them back in their box!!



It would be unbearable if they do the unthinkable in the cup! Im sure by the time the cup comes around though we'll be more than a match for them!

Wire are playing very well indeed. The old question still remains though, can they back up?As has been said deserved winners against us but then go and lose the next two.That doesn't matter in the C Cup but is the end of a team in the play offs.
Wigan have not played well all season yet are still up there. The return of Hock and Fielden will add a lot of power, pace and skill into the pack. Hansen will be back soon which will probably mean Joel staying at centre.
Huddersfield are still around and Saints will be a good squad when their injured players are all back.
Four clubs still in it but I do think Wigan and Warrington are the noes most likely to win the GF.

Why do silly people persist in proving the point?

And Hansen. We are a stronger pack with him in it. IMO.

I would tend to agree that Wire are the form side at the moment. However, despite Wire playing at their peak and Wigan way below par you're no better off or, once the two games in hand are played, possibly 2 points worse off. Interesting, don't you think? As to the affirmation that no-one can beat you when you're playing at your best, I think that smacks of a little over confidence or even arrogance. It's easy to make that claim and use 2 games where you indeed played at your peak and won as examples. In both instances the teams you were playing were well below their best. Leeds have been a mid-table team all season and we were coming off the back of the WCC. Indeed, as I suggested above, we have been in 2nd gear most of the season so far. Let's not forget that you've been turned over 4 times already this season and been well beaten in the process. It's all well and good to say that you weren't at your best during those games, but at least have the perspective to apply the same criteria to your victories too. Let's see if you come out on top when BOTH teams are playing at their peak before making claims like the above.

I think we have to be honest and face the reality that Warrington are definitely the team to beat.

Regardless of whether they're an ageing side, at present they are very strong indeed. There's no point in us trying to take comfort from the (admittedly correct) notion that Leeds are a fading force. Wire totally destroyed them last night, looking miles stronger and a hundred times more skillful. Leeds were battered in every aspect of the match. The sole try they scored was a complete fluke given the general flow of action.

It will take a very good team indeed to beat Wire to even one trophy this season, let alone two. Sad to say, but at present Wigan don't look the part.

Warrington fans have every right to be getting carried away, keep this form up and I can see them at OT come October. They are on fire and thats why I'm glad the game against them in the cup is about 7 weeks away! Anything could change in that time. Everyone is firing for them and even Solomona who seems to be carrying so much weight is deadly with ball in hand.

The cup game will be a huge battle of the forwards and hopefully with Fielden and Hock back we can give them a good game. The game at their place at the end of the season is a title decider for sure.

I cant wait and its going to be a cracking game!!

Would a Warrington season be deemed a success by the fans if they came away with no trophies but got to a Grand Final?

I seem to recall Wigan fans, justifiably, being very impressed and confident at this stage last year and under similar circumstances.

That must mean that exactly the same thing is going to happen to you guys then and your 100% guarranteed to win the league.

Similar except that we had lost half as many games as you have at this stage this year and, of course, we were [iactually[/i top of the league whereas you're just keeping it warm for us until we play our game in hand.



Other than that you're doing alright.

I'm not sure that even last year Wigan looked as overwhelmingly strong, week in week out, as Wire seem to be at present.

Wigan were consistently good, but only occasionally were absolutely superb.

At the moment - and I speak as a diehard, committed Wigan fan - I don't see anywhere where Wigan might have an edge on Wire. The only thing that works against you is your collective age, but all your older players coped easily last night. It's possible that between now and the quarter-final you could be hit by a rash of injuries, but that could just as easily happen to us.

It's two months off yet of course. Anything can happen.

Are you sure you're a die hard Wigan fan Cruncher, cos you love heaping praise on Wire! Suppose Wigan had played and beat Castleford back in round 3 when the game was originally scheduled; they'd have been sat at the top of the table ever since. Would you really be saying then that there isn't anywhere Wigan might have an edge on Wire? I can't wait to play Cas, take our rightful place at the top, and end this bloody collective fawning over Wire!

I have to say that I don't understand where all this fear of Warrington seems to be coming from.

Does (almost) everyone TRULY believe that they are better than us?

Let's look at just a couple of facts, shall we:
1. Wire have lost twice as many games as we have
2. When we play badly, we win narrowly or draw, when Wire play badly, they implode.
3. We currently have 2 games in hand
4. People have mentioned "we might get injuries". Can I just offer the following: Pat, Stu & HH injured (plus E O'C, but I'm only talking about the core 1st teamers), Hock out, Gleeson leaving, even Amos not really playing this season.
We've played with a whole bunch of kids in our back row at times, plus the likes of Tuson & Farrell who are still very much learning their game.

If Wire can maintain a challenge all season, good luck to them.
However, I have to say that I fear absolutely nothing from them.
The 2 teams (at full strength) are pretty much even IMO and by the time we play next, we will hopefully have all of our missing players back and not pick up too many more injuries in the meaintime.

If their fans want to make out that they're unbeatable, so be it. I remember the shock and the abuse that we got a few years back from a bunch of kids who hadn't seen Bradford beaten at home in about a year until we went there and kicked there backsides.

Confidence is a good thing, but don't let us start believing their hype.
In terms of straight wins, losses and points in the league - Wigan are currrently the best team.

It's no good hammering teams by 40+ almost every game, if another team only wins by 10 points per game but loses less than you do.
Goal-difference doesn't matter if you don't win enough games.

And can I just say thank you to ElectricGlidingWarrior, who seems to have had the same thoughts at much the same time.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't understand all the hand-wringing pleas for us to be as good as Warrington, when the simple fact is that whilst we're still nowhere near as good as last year (yet), we've still lost less than they have so goal-difference isn't an issue at this stage.

Finally someone (else) talking sense!



I'm convinced nobody would be fawning over Warrington if they weren't top, and the only reason they are is because our WCC game clashed with Round 3 v Cas (I'm sure the Cas fans will get fed up of me talking about this fixture like it's a formality, but, well, it is). And as if it's not bad enough hearing everyone else banging on about Warrington, we've got our own fans singing their praises right here! They might be top of the league [iat the moment[/i, but it's an illusion! Being top by points difference when the team below has a game in hand is nothing to praise, yet here we are.

Respecting the opposition does not equate to fawning over them.

In fact, underlining an opponent's strength and analyising it is the best way to work out a plan for beating him. In comparison, empty-headed bravado can lead to disaster if it means you convince yourself that the opponent is just lucky.

Wigan have the tools and the talent to beat Warrington, but they need to up their game. On current evidence, Warrington are the more tigerish outfit and are playing more clinical football. Pretending that isn't the case will help no-one.