O'Loughlin and Pat were fantastic too, Tommy coming just behind that group for me.

McIlorum's dismissal has been brewing for quite a while now.....he went for a couple of big hits before he was sent off that were mistimed, and fortunate not to connect.

I did think that, although foolish, the red card was harsh....a word in Child's ear from off the field I wonder?

How can you say this? You obviously were at a numerical disadvantage, but you were pretty average (we were average too, but less average than yourselves....)

I'm also slightly concerned that passes aren't sticking, runs are being mistimed and we're lacking a little cohesion. Also our tackling technique seems to have gone out of the window. Too many players going high and getting bounced off. Wire would have put 40 on us tonight, if not more...

Idiotic post.

Disappointing result, but playing 12 against Stains (+ 2 refs & WTF are the touchies for) & only loosing by 8 in the end isn't that bad.
I thought we looked well knackered at the end though (and there weren't that many ear-to-ear grins lifting the hub-cap) & Sam had an indifferent game - where was his head tonight?

We mustn't turn off against the French & then a week to recharge could actually work out ok.

Do we get the ClubCall nonsense thingy or does it still depend on additional results? I still can't get my head round who goes where - it was bad enough with 6 - with 8 to figure out I start bleeding from the ears.

If we win against Catalans or Leeds next week, we get the club call.

If not, winner of Wire/St Helens does

I was surprised by Fielden, Thought he did very very well considering it was his first proper game in a long time. Looked hungry and in his second spell when he had a bit more ball made some good forward runs. If he can keep playing like that he would be well worth another contract. Dudson also looked good too.

Before this match I wasn't too hopeful for the playoffs, but even though we lost tonight It looked like a big improvement over what we have seen in the last couple of months and hopefully another week to work on things can put a lot right and get us through the next 2 games.

I am a bit disappointed because even with a man down we still came very close to beating an "average" saint's team, who seemed to score most of their tries off the back of penalty's or silly errors which was frustrating.

Good to see Pat converting well and Tommy looking fit. Thought Sam had another shocker though. Wasn't confident with him under the high ball at all. And due to saint's having the numbers he wasn't really as effective going forward.

I don't think I've ever been so unenthusiastic about a win over you lot to be honest - we were pretty poor throughout and but for your #9 you'dve won without breaking too much sweat again. Not looking forward to the playoffs one little bit...

I'm afraid you're deluding yourselves, that wasn't a good performance and neither was Saints struggling to beat 12 men. I dont think you will cope with Leeds on your current form.

Macca deserved his sending off, he has gone completely off the boil in the 2nd half of the season and in a strange way I am quite glad Matty Smith/Tommy Leuluai are likely to share the hooking duties for the next few weeks!

Blessing in disguise for Wigan the sending off, Tommy at 9, Smith 7 Finch 6. Far more creativity in attack. We are ridiculously predictable in attack, 2 dummy runners, Sam loops round the back. If that doesn't work we turn it back inside to Lima/Mossop. Poor, poor coaching. This isn't a kneejerk reaction to a loss, iv said it all season, weve finished top of what id say is the worst Super League ever.

On another note, Darrell Goulding, hang your head in shame, absoulutely ruined by Josh Jones for 80 minutes, it was cringeworthy to watch from a so called "international"

Warrington will win the Grand Final simply because they have the best coach, Wane is vastly overrated and has merely inherited a good side that Maguire did all the groundwork for.

Wigan had nothing to play for tonight and had 12 men for 65 mins. We had two players coming back from injury. Stains would have been very fired up as they DID have something to play for. I was heartened by a spririted performance, and the attack was looking more fluid, although of course we were a man short when attacking.

So sorry if i look for the positives.

Excellent post. Good to see that someone can see what is actually happening. Totally predictable in attack, called it exactly right and yes I agree, our lack of options in our set moves in attack is the coaches fault.
Spot on again with Goulding, I couldn't believe the uproar when he wasn't picked for England, he was no strike! Yes he can tackle (well usually) but never causes the defensive line any trouble, not a patch on Carmont, I'd go as far to say Hughes has more strike.

Agreed about Wire, TS has our number, can read our game like a book. If we get them in the final there's only 1 winner.
Sadly, looking at the new halfback pairing (despite the fact that I do like Smith) is on the decline, that with Wane in charge IMO will see a slow decline in the Wigan team. Sooner have Trent Robinson.

On the plus side I do rate Blake Green as a 6 and am hoping he changes our one dimensional attack next season. Finch seems far more robotic under Wane than he did under Maguire. I thought having Harris and Deacon would have made us more fluent, but it hasn't, we are predictable and good sides can defend against us with ease, well, I say good sides, there's only Warrington and Leeds on a good day, as the rest of SL is pretty much diabolical these days.

Back onto Goulding, he's good on a Sunday afternoon when your winning at London with 40 points, he's never had a good game in a big game, not this season anyway. The semi he was awful, and he was abismal last night, by no means am I using him as a scapegoat, iv said it for quite some time about him, he's a static defender, anyone with good feet goes round him with ease (i.e Josh jones last night) Hughes as an all round rugby player offers far more IMO, both in defence and in attack.

Also thought Richards was poor last night, never ever beats the first man from a kick return, and its frustrating to watch, for a bloke his size and with his pace he should offer far more in attack than he actually does.

Nothing will change though in attack, Wane doesn't know how to change it. We'll just keep "knocking teams about" and "getting stuck in" until we meet Wire, and once again, he'll get outcoached from Smith.

I totally agree with all your points. Good to know someone can see it for what it is. If you were picking your Wigan team for next year, what would it be?

Another plus for MM getting banned is that Matty Smith will take on some of the last tackle kicking which was poor last night. I reckon if we had turned Saints round more on the 5th tackle kick and found the floor instead of the slug we would have won in a canter ( even with a man down).

I felt we did miss Smith's kicking game. Be interesting to see how we line up v Cats.

In response to Last son of Wigan's question about what my team would be next year

1. Tomkins
2. Charnley
3. Hughes
4. Thornley/Goulding but preferably a signing if anyone decent is available.
5. Richards
6. Green
7. Smith
8. Mossop
9. McIlorum
10. Prescott
11. Hock
12. Hansen
13. Lockers

Hardly the world 13, but blame the Communist Cap for that, it has and will continue to drag our sport down until we reach the point where we are all playing at the level that London are at now.

Well done on the league leaders shield. Nice touch having it custom made





FWIW, from a neutrals point of view, MMc's sending off was a correct decision. He should be bollocked within an inch of his life for jeopardising your play off chances1

Best of luck!

Murphy
Charnley Hughes Carmont (1 more yr) Richards
Tomkins Smith
Dudson McLlorum Mossop
Hock Hansen
Lockers
---------------------
Flower Fielden Faz another.

goulding gave space, but always recovered to make the tackle which is the important part in the . him and charnley also rarely gave the winger space last night which is impressive when a man down. and also, how often do shine when a team is a man down. generally a needs at least a 2 on 2 to make space/draw a man. when a man down its far more unlikely goulding was ever going to crack the defences last night. goulding has shown he can make space for his winger and also has cracking hands. he may not have the speed but i feel he covers his cracks.

He's an average player who shines against the poor teams, give me an example of his doing something outstanding in a big game this season?

Totally agree.

With by far the best attack, which has scored well over 200 tries this season. In all our losses, including the CC semi, it's been our defence that was to blame, conceding 30+ points in most of them.

And regarding Goulding, if a winger scores 37 tries (so far) in a season, it's a fair bet that he has a good centre inside him.