Big test of Matt Peet's coaching this week. His new-look team has had their first major test, away against tough opposition in hard conditions, and they were found to be very, very wanting.

Will it prove to be the same bump in the road that completely capsized Adrian Lam's last season at Wigan, or will the new guy be able to show that it was a blip on what otherwise remains an upward trajectory?

It's difficult to be optimistic after what happened last year, when somehow, a Grand Finalist team appeared to have forgotten everything we thought it had learned the previous season. Even the most experienced Wigan watchers were dumbfounded at the difference between the Wigan teams of 2020 and 2021.

But at least, Adrian Lam can always point to that first season when he got us to the Grand Final, and we were only denied victory by the bounce of a ball. Matt Peet has no such track record to fall back on.

On the upside, for all the dross that so-called Wigan team offered us last night, at least they weren't defeated by Catalan quite as embarrassingly as their 2021 namesakes were.

I'm not taking a great deal of optimism from that, though, because for me, last night's match should have been the perfect opportunity for Matt Peet's team to draw a clear line between this year and last and, in laying that ghost, prove to the Wigan fans that a new era has arrived. But instead, we saw a team that looked uninspired and underprepp'd.

Jonh called it a 'lazy performance', which was accurate as well as succinct. But it was also very worrying. Because if you can't use a fixture like that one to motivate you, whether you're the players or the coach, what can you use? If you miss an opportunity like that one to heal an old hurt wound quickly, has anything really changed?

I don't want to overreact to last night, but deep down inside I'm worried that it was a signal defeat. We've all had recent experience of a new era arriving dramatically, when Madge's team charged to Old Trafford during its first season having failed to get anywhere near it in the previous decade. Last night certainly proved that we're not in that territory. Not yet anyway

Am I worrying unduly? I wait in hope that others can persuade me I am.

All depends on your expectations IMO. If people expect trophies, I’d be prepared for disappointment tbh but if you expect a better quality of rugby, a 3rd/4th place finish and some tough losses thrown in (mainly against sides with better packs that us) then last night wouldn’t have been a huge surprise. Let’s not get away from the fact here that teams have better (and looking at teams on paper) and more expensive squads than ours, so if this is a year of consolidation, finding things out and working towards filling what still is a couple of gaping holes for next year, then I personally can live with that.

As for the short term, I do think we’ll bounce back on Thursday. They’re not playing well and I do think we’re in a better place mentally this year. I think we’d have seen a different game in better conditions last night and whilst we may not of won, that weather, mixed with it being a big Catalans side we were playing, with a couple of cool heads to control it in Tomkins and Pearce was an absolute recipe for disaster.

The result last night wasn’t a surprise to me but the manner of our capitulation was. And the fact that Kaide Ellis ran into that fight suggests that either he isn’t aware of the consequences of that action or that he is “thick”! Which all suggests that the team culture is not what it should be yet. I have Matty Peet down as a clever bloke and a thinker who can probably analyse an opposition and work out their weaknesses as good as any coach. But, for now, he is probably lacking in motivational skills and being able to transfer the game plan to his players - telling them to be expansive and to go for opportunities as they present themselves is fine if it is also accompanied by a strong game plan that will create those opportunities. I have seen enough so far this season to suggest that he can do the pre-game stuff both in the players’ heads and on the training field. I have also seen enough to suggest that they can overcome adversity as they did last week. So I am hoping that the biggest learning from this game will be a deeper knowledge of his players’ attitude when they are playing a bigger team in atrocious conditions. So to answer the question “what now” I would say a tweak is required but nothing wholesale. Clearly, as NickyKiss suggests, there are some gaping holes but we aren’t going to resolve those until later this year when Matty Peet has had a chance to decide who to keep and what positions to strengthen.

It looks to me like team confidence has taken a big hit during the last two games. Players look nervous and basic unforced errors are putting us on the back foot. We gave Catalan field position through one of these errors at the start of the first half and didn't recover from it all half. Catalan just played simple tactics and pinned us in our own half meaning we coughed up more ball and increased the pressure. It's only a matter of time until a top side scores. It's great to see expansive rugby and a miracle pass to send someone in for a score but yesterday wasn't the conditions for that and Peet needs to use a different game plan to be more patient in those games against top teams. I think we'll bounce back on Thursday at home but we need to learn from our mistakes quickly. Another poor performance on Thursday and we could be in trouble.

I don't think last nights performance was in the same category as last seasons hammering. When you look at the tries we conceded it isn't like we were getting ripped apart in open play. The first try was a poor individual error from Farrell.
The second was a bit of a fluke. Smithies deflects the kick but can't regather as Goudemand bumps into him unaware of where the ball is, then just has to pick it up.
The third is a horrific individual mistake from Cust.
The fourth yet another kick where their man was just ahead of ours.

That's similar to the Toulouse game, where we were conceding tries from kicks that we didn't deal with and individual mistakes. To me the last couple of games come across more like poor concentration and focus rather than being a poor team. Perhaps staying in France wasn't the best idea and it's disrupted the normal preparations a little.

With a bit of analysis and intervention from the coaches looking at how we deal with kicks it shouldn't be too hard to fix the issues we've had defensively.

In attack we've done well in the first few games. There might be a bit of an issue with our starting middles. Singleton, Ellis and Isa looked a bit weak against Leeds and we were under a lot of pressure but Leeds were toothless in attack. Catalans showed what a more clinical team can do. We'll have to change things as Ellis will be missing for several weeks, so perhaps some forced changes will bring a bit more balance to the team.

No need to panic right now. Hopefully Ellis' ban will be offset by the return of Havard in the coming weeks. We just need to stop switching off and making silly errors defensively and be a bit more honest in attack.

I still think we haven't found our best backline but I don't think Matt Peet is too keen on tweaking things. I really haven't seen anything impressive from Hardaker this year on the wing. If he does have something to offer it doesn't seem to be in that position. Bibby is very hit and miss. He's a threat with strong carries close to the line but doesn't work hard enough in our own half and he seems completely incapable of passing the ball. Maybe a few tweaks here and there will see us become more threatening over time.

Get K P-P into the back row sharpish, Singleton needs to play like he did against Hudds week in week out not once every six weeks, hope Havard comes back like he was in 2020, ditto French, don't go back into their shells, only way we're going to be competitive is by playing rugby, we won't beat anyone half decent in a forward slug fest.
Pick two of Thornley Bibby Hardaker to play centre and stick with them, if they can't hack it give Halsall a go there, realise no.9 is a vital position and our current one is miles off what's needed.
Practice practice practice defending kicks

Limited squad, limited coaching team. The whole ethos this year is to be cheap and see what we can get away with. We’ve started from such a low base after the last year that we should see improvement but a lot of the old habits won’t die with key positions filled by players who are a bit stale or significantly past their best (Hardaker, Leuluai, Powell for example). If we lose in the week, we know the mentality of the squad could fold pretty quickly. I’m just not enthused by the last week’s jolly.

The GF was Lam's second season. In his first we limped out the playoffs pretty much the same as we did in 2021.

I will wait and see how the team responds against Cas, it was a very poor performce with a lot of basic individual errors but those are things that can be improved on. Cut down the errors and silly penalties and suddenly things will improve - keeping possesion and building pressure are key we need to go back to basics a bit to rebuild confidence rather than to keep trying micracle plays.

For me the message needs to be sent out that everyone is playing for their place in them team and if it takes one or two being dropped out of the squad (big names not withstanding) then that is what will be needed. One or two certainly need a bit of a kick up the backside.

Watching though I think teams have worked out a lot of Wigan's threats - the Farrell drop off play is so easy for teams to read now and the shift plays are also pretty easy to spot - Cats had them down to a tee every time. They also closed down Field very quickly which nullified his threat. That is where we need to go back to the basic of building pressure so we get the opposition on the back foot but that will not happen unless we get rid of the silly errors which are happening far too often for professional players.

Just got to win all these games between now and good Friday.

Nobody will take us seriously (rightly so) until good Friday where we need to at least compete with Saints and make a statement.

Last night was a statement game and couldn’t have gone much worse.

Integrate Havard and Bevan into the side, work out the back line and loose forward position and go from there.

It’s a shame Ellis has got himself banned because it sounds like Havard could be back this week or next and you then have the option of moving Ellis to 13 and letting him play longer minutes. He looks capable of that and it’s something I’d look at longer term.

In the short term Smithies should certainly be starting ahead of Isa based on this seasons showings. I don’t know if Isa has gone too far in reigning himself in due to last season’s disciplinary issues but it’s been such a meek start for him at loose forward and that is surprising. I really expected him to revel in the opportunity and to lead a charge for us but it’s been anything but.

I’d go with Farrell Smithies and KPP as the backrow when Thornley is back. It won’t happen but more power than the current chosen 3 for the backrow.
Our front row is still suspect and a lightweight of a backrow of 3 guys at 14 stone doesn’t cut it.
Hopefully Harvard is back on Thursday otherwise Partington will be in the 17.

French looks grossly overweight so can’t see him in the 17 for a good few weeks. Happy to wait for the lad as he is a quality player and when drier conditions come along he will be ready and waiting for us to kick on.

A good chance for some character and a bit stoicism on Thursday. Let’s hope we have the lads with those characteristics to bounce back from a bottom 4 performance in the last 2 weeks.

Off field things appear to have improved significantly unfortunately on field lack of management over the previous 3 years means we have a few diamonds but multiple lack of quality across the majority of the starting 13.

I never expected any trophies this season or even for a year or two but I want commitment and a bit of “dog” in the ensuing years. Hopefully the Cas game we will see a turnaround from 2 weeks of poor delivery and a significant step up in our defence which has been poor in the extreme so far this season.

The general tempo has got to improve. We are slow, slow slow, slow. This seems to be deliberate but until this changes every game will be a struggle and potentially a defeat. Not panicking but a touch of realism now suggests we are nowhere near a really competitive team and somewhere between 4th and 8 th is a realistic outlook for this season.

A hard slog won’t do us any harm and will sort out which lads are here for the long haul.

It was an odd game - Wigan just didn't give themselves a prayer with all the errors in really difficult conditions.

I'm not sure it tells us all that much about either team to be honest gven the nature of the tries gifted, other than Catalans have a better pack than Wigan but that shouldn't be news to anyone.

I think it's as simple as a dry weather team playing wet weather rugby especially badly. We're clearly a side that relies on pace and offloads and that rarely, if ever, goes well in poor conditions. Put Havard (for more grunt upfront) and, particularly, French into the team and add in the drier weather and we'll be fine.

Of greater concern is the lack of discipline. Last year it was the younger players who were at fault and that, to some extent, was forgivable given the circumstances. This year, including in the wins, it's been senior players who have been the main offenders. That's simply not good enough. We won't win tight games against better teams with poor discipline. It needs sorting and pronto.

We'll finish in the top 4 but that won't be any great achievement with the level of quality and consistency in SL atm. Agreed on French and our slow tempo - the biggest contributor to that is our forwards hardly ever winning the ruck. I remember one rare occasion in the 2nd half when one of our forwards won the collision, Powell went on a dummy half scoot and we finally had some momentum. The problem is that happens for us once in a blue moon whereas for Saints and Catalans it happens every other ruck.

I’m not overly surprised with our last 2 or even 3 performances but what has disappointed me has been how slow defensively we are plus we are too slow at ptb. I think the lack of tempo puts us on the back foot which in turn leads to errors which then leads to indiscipline.

Not sure if a short turnaround will be good or bad for us this week. I just hope our heads don’t drop because we are very much improved on last season and I think most fans want improvement in standards and attack,which I think although the last 2 games we have been poor, is being delivered.

As you say we will be a lot better come spring and summer when we can play to our strengths. We’ve got some tough games coming up against teams with better packs and I can feel it in my water that we will get a tough draw in the CC so the coaching staff need to get back to some basics over the next few training sessions.
I’ve got a feeling we will draw Leyth away or even worse Saints.

I'm really not sure our pack is a big problem. It's not great but it seems a lot better than the last few years. Off the top of my head Mago, Byrne and Ellis all had good carries where we got on the front foot.

For me it was all about the errors and Catalans playing the conditions better. They took advantage of position we gifted them and we built no pressure.

People criticised the starting front row against Leeds but that was a similar story. Knock ons and forward passes in our own half put them on the front foot, I don't think it was like last year when we couldn't make yards no matter what we did.

We've started this year with a much more entertaining attacking style but it seems like it's come with the downside of being more risky and prone to errors.

Hopefully they can iron this out. I don't think we need to overreact with big changes but it does seem like we have a long way to go to be a threat to Saints.

If we can put in more performances like the Leeds one, with errors but great tries, I'll take that for now.

I don't think discipline in the main has been a problem until Saturday, certainly not in terms of penalty counts, sin binning's, bans etc but there were signs on Saturday that the frustrations shown last year by somebody like Isa could rear up again when we're put in a poor spot. It's something to keep an eye on for sure but my bigger worry is the absolute basic and lazy errors we're making. There have been far too many cold drops of the ball, lazy play the balls, forward passes and poor attempts at defending kicks. I don't know if we lack skill as a team or concentration but whichever one it is, there needs to be a lot of work put in to improve. A team that wants to move the ball and play open rugby needs to be able to do the basics to a really high level. I can live with the odd offload going wrong, the odd lost ball in contact here and there but I can't live with the amount of errors being made under no pressure or people not concentrating playing the ball.

Saints are obviously the standout team followed by Catalan with rest very much in their wake.
Wire and Leeds are like us. A few decent players but not enough quality.
Not sure on the depth of the Huddersfield squad but won’t surprise me if they make the top 3 or 4.
Hull could be anything and KR will keep plugging away.

Our front row isn’t fixed and a lightweight backrow just compound’s the issue for me. Will be interesting to see what the 17 are on Thursday. Hopefully a few dry days will help preparation and on match day.

Sorry NK, I probably didn't make myself clear there. By discipline I meant both with and without the ball. Not just penalties but, as you say, cold drops and errors, particularly early in the tackle count. We've been awful, even in victory, in relieving pressure on the opposition. It's actually testament to our improved attack that it hasn't hurt us more.

It came to a head over in France where most of our problems in Toulouse were caused by our inability to retain possession and build pressure and the same faults were punished by Catalans as they probably should have been by Toulouse too. The senior team leaders need to step up here and start to lead by example.

I'm not one for throwing the baby out with the bathwater. We are significantly improved on last year and this will only improve (injuries notwithstanding) as the weather improves and we can play to our strengths. I don't think many will live with our pace on the firmer grounds providing we can get on the front foot. High completion rate and low error/penalty counts are an absolute prerequisite for this.

Absolutely correct. We really need to up our concentration levels. I look at Catalans nowadays as a great sense of hope of where you can get to over time with a good coach and by bringing in the right characters who drive standards. As bad as we were on Saturday, the way they held the ball and played so professionally was a credit to them and totally against everything you used to think of a Catalans team.

I think some people were shocked with our display, as though a new coach comes in and can just rid a side of all its previous faults but that takes time and Saturday highlights that. You get the odd coach, like a Maguire or Holbrook who come in and turn things almost instantly but in the main there will be bumps in the road and it will take time. It’s taken time and investment for McNamara to get Catalans in this position and it will take the same here if Matt Peet is to bring back success. I think Saturday can help us in many ways as long as the players don’t let their heads drop.

That last sentence is the crux of the matter. Thursday will tell us far more about were we are than Saturday did. It's a shame we'll be missing Ellis as he's been very solid in the early games. However, the squad as a whole have to respond, particularly the leaders and senior players. Put in a good performance on Thursday and I'll still feel we're on the right track and will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. A bad one and it'll suggest we still have some of the same mental frailties that plagued us last season.

Thursday is a potential banana skin. Cas are now desperate and Radford won’t be giving the game plan talk to his players this week - it will be all about pride, the badge, honour and doing the basics right. He won’t confuse them with tactical stuff. I expect them to come out with his message ringing in their ears. We will need to be steady, patient, fault free and disciplined. We cannot allow them to build momentum.

What I've seen of Cas this season, they've been pretty ordinary, but Jake Truman is a bloody good player. As Wigan have found out in the past.

Hope it's not raining.