Seems to run through the club.

Surprised it been talked about more, but how good was it to see Briers hitting the drum in the changing room with such intent! Cullen's face after it was priceless too.

Shame our social media guys didn't post it.

I think that highlighted the influence Briers is having on the good feel around the place. The players clearly think the world of him.

The players all seem to speak highly of him and his influence. More importantly, I think we can all see it on the field. Well done to Briersy. It must have been strange to leave his beloved Warrington and commit so fully to the cause at Wigan. Pertinent to the points being raised regarding Hastings on the other thread. Full commitment is easy to spot but hard to fake and the results are equally easy to recognise. Great to see.

From the recent interview he states that after two decades things were going a bit stale, with Powell coming in and bringing his own coaching staff Briers found himself surplus to requirements.

His move to us has breathed new life into him as well as us.

Was in work Friday and I've only seen the brief highlights but the ball movement for the first try was brilliant, especially the money ball from Cust, long may it continue.
I reckon the vast majority of Wigan fans just wanted some entertainment this year above everything else and we're getting it in bucketloads so far, well done to the coaching team on turning it around so quickly

Top points scorers in the league now, so we can’t be anything but pleased with the way things are going. We really need to tighten up defensively but I always think it’s easier to do that as and when you need to, rather than attacking badly and then expecting to turn that around in a big game.

Personally, I can't get my head around our defence not being our strongest point. The team itself isn't too far removed from the one that was known, under Wane, for it's defence. Was Peet not the defence coach too?

How did the forwards go on Saturday?

Other than knowing they won, we won’t get stats for a cup game. It’s a shame as I’d be interested to look at one or two players stats. Not much has been said about how quiet Walmsley was and Matty Lees was borderline invisible (not sure I’ve seen a more overrated prop in my days tbh).

Matty Lees is only good when Walmsley is going well. Mind you, I'd look good on the back of an on form Walmsley! He showed his level on Saturday for mine. Unable to make an impression on a supposedly weak Wigan pack. Poundland Partington to use their preferred vernacular

Shame that, I thought Singleton was immense in his second stint. Couple of big runs to get us out of trouble in our own 20 late on. And Smithies was absolutely phenomenal.

I just don’t get the fuss. As you know I’ve understood the recent billing of Knowles but this lad is a prop and a prop has to go forward and he just doesn’t. Saints fans say he works extremely hard, so fair enough if that’s his strength but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary defensively. He was an aggressive so and so in academy rugby but I don’t see much of that either.

He was poor on Saturday but he's never been a metre maker. He does a particular job for the team and usually does it well. If you look at the kick pressure he places on the opposition, he works extremely hard in this area. Look at the analysis from Jon Wells after the Good Friday match where he highlights the speed of Lees in putting pressure on last tackle options.

Ive said it on another thread but Havard is the pick of the English props at the moment bar a firing Walmsley. For his age and potential that lad has the world at his feet. His footwork is superb and I say again he is the nearest English prop I've seen to an on form Thompson

That’s all well and good on Lees but if that’s the highlight of his game, I don’t think he warrants some of the billing he gets. The reported NRL links interest me. Being good at applying kick pressure won’t be enough in that league if he’s not making ground forward with the ball and as a prop it’s your bread and butter.

As for Havard, he’s a top young player. There are areas of his game that concern me a little in terms of him going to the absolute top but he is improving. It’s just areas around intensity and aggression but he’s getting better in that regard. Saturday was much better than Good Friday from him in terms of him keeping our tempo up when he came on but there’s still work to do. If he gets there though, we could be talking about him as one of the best props on either side of the world (a long way to go yet though).

I agree that Lees doesn't make the yards that you'd expect a prop to make. However to be fair to him he has had a couple of really bad injuries which has set him back massively. His ruptured bowel in 2019 was a horrific injury, the Consultant who performed the op said that you normally only see such injuries in very serious road accidents. It nearly finished his career and he lost a lot of weight.

The following year he then did his ankle/achilles and was out for 3 months, just as he was finding some form.

He definitely needs some more size on him, it remains to be seen if he can do this.

Sounds like Tony Clubb

Thats a shame, I had a quick look online and, sure enough, there stats gallore for the Bet Fred Super League but nothing for the CC.

I'd guess that the club would have recorded its own stats but are they available?

Not that I’m aware of, the only place I ever find them is on the superleague site.

We’ll just have to take the main stat from this game. Winners=Wigan

It's a shame that the RFL CBA to publish stats. What with the money they make from the Challenge Cup and all.

Didn't they say a million people watched it? Some of them might have been interested.

Mike Cooper 11 carries for 105m 19 tackles.

No other wire forward got near 100m

Cas away

Singleton 8 for 70m 19 tackles

Ellis 8 for 61m 30 tackles

Byrne 7 for 82m 19 tackles

Mago 10 for 91m 9 tackles

Havard 19 for 123m 21 tackles

Partington 16 for 120m 23 tackles


Surely Partington best numbers in his senior career. Shows how the bench changed the game.

Not many prop forward groups I’d swap for our guys in the league this season. Probably top 3/4 group (Saints, Catalan, Hull probably up there).

Was probably bottom 2/3 last year.

I’d be sad to see Ollie P leave. The lad is Wigan through and through but you can’t keep them all I suppose. You add Cooper in to the mix next season and it’s as good a prop rotation as I can remember us having for a long while. They’ll be fighting each other and you can already see that. It was a statement performance from Partington and on that form why couldn’t he got for Mago’s place, Byrne’s place etc. He spoke so well after the game as well, saying how by him playing well, it can hopefully force others to do so and if he still doesn’t get picked then so be it and he’ll still be doing a job.

And that in itself is quite a thing, considering where we were last season.

Great numbers again from the front row. Havard we've come to expect (which in itself is ridiculous for a 21 year old prop!) but Partington at 100+ too is a great effort. Byrne and Mago having a big impact with 11 and 9 metres per carry.

Our pack seems to be getting better week on week.