We should have smashed then but looked out of sorts. It was also a game of contradictions Fielden was massive after the Mason incident but got affected by him at crucial times. Pat came up with a very bad decision in defence. Marsh bags of potential but a few poor plays at big times. Coley again intimidating but a few errors.

Pryce work rate poor but did everything asked of him.

Most concerning for me is the fact again we could not defend a lead and shut down. I really think it is becoming an issue with our current game plan and needs addressing. It's one weakness I think we have.

My biggest concern is that we didn't have as big a lead as we should have done. We carved Huddersfield wide open four or five times in the first half and only went in 10-0 up when it could and should have been more like 30-0 had we taken our chances. Had the same problem against Wire and Saints at home. Dominated early on but didn't put the points on the board and it came back to haunt us

You could argue that we never had a lead large enough to be able to shut down and defend. We may have made mistakes but continuing to play to try and increase the lead was correct.

I thought our long kicking game was shocking at times, nothing really new there though.

to be fair,even with 11 men our defence was pretty stubborn even i was surprised we held out for only 10-0 at HT i would say both defences were on top and only the odd piece of brilliance, tomkins and brough, broke the defences.

We had more odd pieces of brilliance than you though



We bombed at least four clear opportunites to score before half time

irrelevent,you lost,we had more bottle than you did

tonight showed a few things. For me Tommy was superb. the best game ive seen from him when he switched to hooker. sam was awsome again as was paaat. big stu seemed to have the passion and got the upper hand but made some silly handling errors. the big thing for me was a lack of composure. we have alot of young players and some mistakes were made. everyone does but the dropped balls from some of the youngsters came at crucial times when the game was a real pressure cooker which for me is why we will not win superleague this year. over a season they have been superb, but in knockout football it has/will cost us. the silver lining to this is that it sets us in good stead for the coming seasons, but as it stands now, i dont fancy our chances. marsh, tuson, farrell made some crucial msitakes tonight at crucial times, but that is just inexperience, not a lack of talent, majority of the time these players are superb, but the pressure shows at times. i hope im wrong and we win super league, but we have now lost at home to saints, wire and hudds in the last 4 home games, only beating salford. not good form.

Pryce has the turning circle of a super-tanker. He's just not agile enough and he offers no threat from anywhere but the last 10m of the pitch and makes less yards than just about any other winger we have when running the ball out. He took his try well but I am sure Madge will have asked far more from him than he delivered tonight.



You can't sit back and defend such a slender lead and there last try came directly from field position gained by a penalty. Now you can take a view of whether or not it was a penalty but there is always a chance any side will score if given a set of six 20m out.

Dave

You can't just blame the young players for mistakes. Lockers had his worst game ion a Wigan shirt for a while with at least three handling errors and I am not sure but it may have been him who gave away one of the penalties Hudds scored from immediately after.

Dave

How's that irrelevant?

I dont want to be a 'Pryce-Basher', but i would agree with your comments, Dave.
We definitely missed Dazza G on the wing.
KP is possibly the most frustrating player in the history of SL.
I really dont know what to make of him.

Richards came up with worse plays than Pryce tonight, so why pryce is getting slated I do not know.

Pryce handled everything thrown at him defended very well. Marsh was the weak link on that side.

Baffles me too - did some good work in defence (after being caught out of position) on a number of occasions which needed some hard running to shut down the break, and then in attack goes forward with less pace than Wellens - frustrating.

Did take his try well though and tossed that Hudds player (Dodgy Hodgy I think ?) about like a rag doll on the touchline

We didn't have enough of a lead. That's what happens when teams tackle men without the ball when they're odds on to score and when the ref doesn't punish it with a yellow card so they do it again. People are looking into this game way too much. Hudds tactics were to do anything to stop us scoring early on knowing we were weak on the bench and would struggle later in the game, the injury to Carmont meant our forwards had to play longer than normal due to Joel's move to centre meaning we struggled in the backs and the forwards more than we would have done anyway. Losing to Huddersfield tonight has no relevance to the playoffs whatsoever there were players we could have played if it was totally necessary but it wasn't. They needed to win more than we did and I'm sure if they'd have concentrated on playing rugby in the first half they'd have won by more. The more doubters we have will spur us on.

As for Karl Pryce his positional play is dire and he left Marsh exposed a few times eg where was he when they scored their second try? His defence is too slow so he forces people out of position to help out leaving us open to offloading.

Pryce tonight confirmed one very simple fact IMO - he isn't good enough. Whether Richards on the night came up with some errors won't change that. Can you honestly disagree with anything that Leyland Warrior quoted from my previous post?

His doppelgänger on the Hudds side looked 10 times more dangerous.

Dave

because wigan created more chances but still lost the game?

i see your point dave, but it was crucial errors at crucial times that smacked of inexperience. lockers had a mare, and despite stu having a good game, he too made some mistakes with ball in hand. my point is, the youngsters were comfortable when the game was going our way, but in the last twenty they struggled with composure and made mistakes. they have all the talent in the world, but need experience. this wigan team will dominate. im not just blaming the younsters, we should have put the game to bed in the first half hour. but when it came down to the the grit and grind of tight game, like when we lost against saints at home, like wire at home, and like hudds tonight we lacked the composure mainly through inexperience which is again why i think we will not win super league. for me i think wire will do the double. it will be short lived but this season they have the right balance in the squad.

I'd say that's pretty relevant to my original point

dave he defended very well never got caught out once. Because he is big it does not mean he can charge over everyone it is unrealistic. He did all that was asked of him. Took down the leagues best open play try scorer when he showed him the outside, tracked back to defend and scored a well taken try. My only citicism is the workrate some of the other stuff leveled at him off today's performance is wide of the mark. The idea that you can slate a player for only scoring where all teams aim to score from in the game plan is an odd one to say the least.

I think i'd rather top myself than listen to them bleat about that one

Ok and I can see where you are coming from. There were several things that happened that you could have put down to inexperience.



I can't disagree with that. I think we stand a chance if we have the first team out and fit. McIllorum has been a key loss for us in recent weeks given the state of Riddell's knees.

That said it is always true you need your first team fit for the play offs. Other sides would struggle just as much as us to win a GF without their senior players fit. Bradford won it from third when they had the like of Hape return to the side at the same time Leeds and Saints got major injury crisis. I thought Bradford were odds on favourites when you looked at the squads going into the play offs that year.

Dave

Kev Browns kick in the first few mins. if Hodgson had caught that then he would have been off as Pryce was off his wing and was slow to turn and get back for me. he tries hard but i just dont think we need him in the team at the moment.

What worried me tonight was the way the youngsters froze out their, doesnt look good for the play offs if we can't pick it up again. Also we have started to drop the ball again and the leadership issue looks like it has risen its ugly head yet again. Lockers need

F shooting for his performance tonight 5 dropped balls is just not good enough from our club captain. Wane needs to get the big stick out and start laying the law down.

He was out of position for their 2nd try and he was out of position more than just for that. It's not about charging over players but he made less impact than his clone on the Hudds side. That player beat men and carried men with him. Pryce didn't. Pryce offers no threat in our own half in terms of making a break. Yes he took his try well and made a couple of good tackles but that is not enough IMO. He's just lacks too much in his game certainly to play on the wing and I doubt he could transfer to the forwards even though he ahs the size. He runs it in quite feebly for a man so big.

Dave

I think the real question here is - Do you see him being an integral part of a GF winning side?
For me personally, the answer is a resounding NO.
I cant exactly pinpoint why, but i feel far more confident, both in defence and attack, when Dazza G is out on the wing.
KP is a fairly decent squad player, but i'll be very surprised if he isnt somewhere like Salford come the start of next season.
I think your earlier comment about Stefan Marsh being the weak-link was also somewhat inaccurate.
He put in a fairly good shift IMO.