If they want it on a Bank Holiday i say put it on the BH in June. Ideal weekend for most people.

Also start the season with a round of Challenge Cup games instead of the MM weekend have that on the May Bank holiday. AAAAAA bugger it let me run the RFL.

Its in the RFL's interest to stop teams winning both competitions, they wont want to change it as it makes the competition seem more even.

i agree with that, it is alot to do, look at wires league position in 09 and failure in play offs last year. so you saying that your coach should of done a better job of maintaining the fitness level of his 17 rather than playing them each week knowing they have the wccc and he would of been quite sure of a long cup run? but even if he done this then it still would be a hard job to maintain the same level of intensity on the pitch.

this is why the league should be smaller so we have a lot higher intensity matches throughout the season.

Was about to post that in that post but i thought i would seem to be paranoid to some fans.

totally agree. also nice to have a warrington fan on here who wants to have an adult conversation about RL.

we have won the cup anything else is a bonus,don't throw the dummy out of the pram yet.its not all over till the fat lady sings.

Saints wanted it more today end of.

IF we beat Catalan next week I will be more confident going away to play Saints at Widnes than I would be if they were coming here had we won.

Happy with this, if we end up playing Wire at OT though I think we will get hammered.

Thats basically my thoughts also

There didn't even seem to be a game plan. No structure in attack. I wonder if Maguire has the balls to drop Deacon for next week?

We're knackered IMO end of. Yes we've played a few extra games than everyone else. But for me the mistake was Madge constantly playing his strongest team week in week out. The squad should have been rotated far more than it was. That for me is the reason why most of the squad look jaded at present.

What if Wire choose us for the semi though?

I wouldn't write wigan off yet but i think whichever way you look at it, warrington will most liekly run out winners at old trafford.

Well beaten today. However we played terrible and lost by 8 points to a team that played superb. Plenty of room for improvement and the players to do so.

Panic staions? I think not...

No complaints from me today, looked well beaten (although never out of it until three minutes to go).
Will have to be on our guard next week against Catalans, big team who throw the ball about.

I don't seeing us having enough in the tank to get to Old Trafford and win unfortunately (although would love to be proven wrong obviously).

I don't understand the criticism of Farrell, he was our best player by a long, long way. Yes, he missed a tackle but he was working his socks off all game. He also wasn't getting dominated in defence as some suggest, he dominated in most of the tackles he made because he forced the players onto their backs and prevented quick play the ball.

The team as a whole look absolutely exhausted though. I know criticising a Maguire decision won't get much support but I think constantly playing our strongest side game after game and only resting one or two despite having to play more games than most is a dreadful idea. The players were bound to tire and with one or two players getting injured along the way it takes an awful lot out of the side. The players needed more rest.

I also think the club should have given up on the league leaders shield and just rested players after the cup final. It's a worthless hubcap and putting so much effort into trying to win it will only have made things worse in terms of fatigue. First or second makes no difference and the emphasis should have been on resting as many players as possible.

As for the game today, Deacon was absolutely dreadful. His passing was awful and he made the usual defensive errors. I can't believe he was left out on the field until the last 6 minutes because he really was awful.

then we'll get hammered in the semi instead

Yeah the structure was just not there today. Decon constantly made the wrong decision when he had the ball in hand.

Farrell was the best Wigan player on the pitch. They scored plenty of other points due to poor tackling. We missed Hoffman going off injured in the pack and Mossop was out injured but what cost us that game was a poor attitude.

I simply do not buy this "we are tired" talk. We have some of the best physios and conditioners in the game, had an easy game last week and a longer turn around until Sunday. Any CC hangover should be long gone but IMO I reckon some players have decided that is enough for this year. As I said it is poor attitude and we have had it (not tiredness) since the CC.

Can I add, the reason why I felt Farrel played so well is because he's fresh. He's not played in every game this season and as a result still has plenty of energy left. If only others players had received a rest throughout the season. I do realize that Farrel was dropped for poor form. But it shows what an effect missing a few games can have on a players energy levels.

I feel it may be more complicated than that but its difficult to ignore that a number of players have looked jaded after the 20/25 minute mark in the last 3 games.

Maguire spoke last season about how he had got things wrong in terms of the intensity of training leading into some games - he mentioned the Harlequins defeat at home when we looked out on our feet throughout the game.

I think we may be seeing a repeat of that again and what is more alarming than the defeat is that St.Helens did not play out of their skin today - they didnt really need too.

Depends how much next week takes out of you, won't mean nothing if you're out of steam for the Saints re-match.

Catalans have the wood on Wigan this season, would be a massive shock if they did put you out though, you should have enough.

I am one of those who thinks Farrell was poor today when it mattered. Yes he worked hard and made some good runs but once again he missed some crucial tackles which proved decisive. The one just after we had scored at the start of the second half could well have proved the difference and was a big turning point in the game. There had been a 12 point turn around either side of half time and we had Saints trapped in their own half, Farrell misses a fairly straightforward tackle and they go down the field and score. If he hadnt have missed the tackles he did then yes I would have said that he had played well but at the end of the day this is the play offs and in these crucial matches missed tackles like these cost you the game, you cant just ignore them. He has been dropped for this this season I wouldnt be surprised to see him dropped next week too.

Joel once again showed he is never a centre, chance after chance gets blown on that side simply because he cannot pass and because has none of the core skills that a centre needs. In fact I would say that all the backs were poor today and Sam looked like he was carrying an injury to me.

Though Farrell had a good game today. Deacon for me should call it a day now.
Coley looked shot at today age telling, Carmont did not looked is best.

Next week play Sam and Finch in the halves and lets have a look at Roberts fullback.

St Helens deserved there win today.

He may be a good attacking form but defence wins games and he lacked that today and his mistakes were crucial. We were in the game at only 2 points behind. Any game hinges on mistakes like that. He should have been rested. Was impressed with Cross and his fitness so he will be in next week, his bulk will be needed. So if it is a choice between Mossop and Farrell give me Mossop anyday.

Saints were very good today, we on the other hand were very poor again. Too many players looked devoid of ideas and energy today and have done for the last three and a half games. The back end of this season has reminded me of the when we came up short in the play offs under Noble which always seemed a step too far. The difference is we seem to have come up short far earlier.
I'm absolutely chuffed to have been back to Wembley and won the Challenge Cup again after all these years, but as far as Play offs go, that's it for this season. If we do manage to get past Catalans I could see Warrington picking us in the club call. We're the only team not showing any form or confidence and Wire wil be spurred on by the sound beating they gave us a couple of weeks ago.