The more I see Mago, the more I’m reminded we are missing a dominant front row to get the best out of him, he just isn’t a pack leader or game changer in that regard. Occasional flashes are there to make you think ‘if only.’

Absolutely.

The whole spectacle has been that bad I'm struggling to care about the result tonight.

I wonder if that's overthinking it a bit. Anyone can catch the ball, run as fast as he can and pump the legs after contact.

Hamlin was the last one for us and got bolloxed for it.

Grim first half tonight and it's bloody cold here, need some tries our way warm us up.

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If he ran with the gusto Ollie P then he’d absolutely kill it IMO with his size. Too much of what he does is late-career Fieldenesque…standing still wanting to wrestle and handoff without actually going anywhere. He’s been like that in a number of games. When he runs proper he often gets an arm through and at worst ends up on his front.

One positive, Isa is totally playing himself into the last days of his career at the club. It’s blindingly obvious he’s behind Farrell, Bateman, Smithies.

Can we please stop kicking the ball on tackle 1 or 2

I wish Sky would cut the video ref mic too.

Hats off to Miski. He’s been very good bringing the ball out, his desire is unquestionable, and it’s just made that try for us.

Havard & Ellis have made a huge difference too.

Bloody annoyed because this game was there for the taking.

What a bizarre game Halsall has had. Got absolutely battered in defence.

We've snatched a few games from the jaws of defeat, it was about time one didn't go our way

We were poor at times and didn’t deserve to win tonight but we showed good character again to fight back. I’m confident we would have won had we not rested players. As others have said Miski played well and he really goes through hard yards from our own line.

He's not been very good in that dept tonight

But he's got another year left. I called it at the time, but this was a repeat of what they did with Clubb.

I actually like Isa and massively respect him. If anyone should be coaching our academy lads, it's him. Top pro, played in the forwards and backs and played under Bellamy. If players can't learn from him what it means to be a success, they'll never learn.

Doesn't mean he should have had a 2 year deal tho.

hes been dreadful there

Poor perfromance so dis-jointed, thought French killed a lot of our attack - we needed him to act more like an additional half back but instead every time he got the ball he just danced around and killed any forward momentum which meant the next tackle we started from a static position. Isa couldn't burst out of a paper bag - he works hard but never looks like breaking a tackle.

Smith did ok again with limited room, Bibby and Miski had reasonable games , Nicholson looked a decent prospect as well. Mago is nowwhere near what we need - too static, too slow and not enough forward drive seems to always start from a standing start.O'Neil was a bit up and down but the half-break and off-load for the try was good. Shorrocks was decent but is not a hooker.

One to forget about and move on. It was always going to be tough with them playing the majority of their spine and us resting most of ours. It’ll have little impact on the game in two weeks.

Rogues wasn’t wrong about young Astley being kick happy! A tough night for the lad overall but he’ll be better for the experience. Matty Nicholson showed why he’s so highly rated. His footwork is exceptional when coming in to contact.

Do you mean you are confident of beating our half rested side with your full side?

Certainly called that one right. Astley far too kick happy. Kicking twice in good field position on 1st and 2nd tackles. Only young so wont comment too much.
Really impressed with Nicholson, good carries, footwork and a decent offload in there too but nobody was on the end of it which kind of summed the night up. He put in a better shift than Isa and Partington combined. I expected a loss tonight with the team that was out, but we did well to come back into it. Onto the next one.

I’m glad you said it. I was amazed on SKY that all the talk was of Wigan resting players. It was made out like it was a full Huddersfield side v Wigan academy.

I counted at least 7 missing from Huddersfield who would most likely start in a full strength 17.

NK mentions they had their spine but were still missing Pryce and Cogger and had Levi on the bench. Plus Hill, McQueen, Jones, Ikahifo and Yates from the pack. Plus McGilvary on the wing.

Agree with this, as a Hudds fan i felt the main difference was the control Fages/Russell and Lolohea provided, but Watson has been real smart with recruitment we have no less than 8 prop forwards 6 of which can do a great job , which really allows us to rotate the Big boys with a settled spine and that paid dividends tonight

They’ve a good squad (more cover than us in the pivots and certainly more than you guys) but if everyone is available the same 1,6 and 7 start and they had 2 experienced hookers in there, albeit with their usual starting hooker on the bench. It’s not excuses, it’s a fact and it was always likely that it would decide the game. We didn’t have a first choice player at 1,6,7,9 or 13.

Not to worry, they deserved the win and it should’ve been by more. We’ll lose very little in real terms.

Your squad is superb, as is Watson himself. I’ve debated our depth on here in key positions and it’s pretty good but Huddersfield’s is better than ours.

The game in 2 weeks will be a cracker I reckon. I think it’s an absolute 50/50 affair and that’s a good thing for the sport.

Yeah agree with all that. It means nothing in the grand scheme, was just strange how all the talk was of who wigan had missing. Even read a few comments about it being a decent result for Wigan all things considered, which is a strange take in my eyes.
Virtually their full starting pack missing tonight and yet they had all the field position, certainly in the first half. Expected more from Singleton, Ellis, Partington.

Nicholson looks handy though, good debut from him.