What a flattering score 25 to 10 was for Wigan.

We just need to maintain pressure when we are in the opposition's 25.

Made far too many mistakes there and defended poorly at times on our line.

Despite going down to 12 men twice and losing the penalty count 12 to 4 I still feel frustrated that we lost this game.

Grid had a nightmare tonight so I assume Jowitt will be full back next game.

Young Crowther impressed as did TJ.

Its only fair that max gets the fullbacks shirt back after his performance tonight!

would of helped to go in 2 points down than 3 then give a penalty away to 5, shows how even Wigan thought the two points was right at the time

You being ironic after your post on the other thread?

No its called being honest! I'm not one for calling a player just because i dont like him like alot on here, if at the end of the game he's not played well thats fair enough! Not after 40 minutes.

Just seemed you were quick on the draw to criticise a poster who wondered why Grix and not Jowitt was playing.
Maybe leave it until after the game?

Its allways the best way! We just have to look at our 1st half performance against the giants! And we all know the outcome.

As creditable as last night's performance was if I was Chester I would make two changes to that 17 for next week (injuries aside).

Fair play to Wigan, I thought on balance they were the better side on the night. Wane needs a reality check as his post match comments were pathetic.

I'm not blaming Thaler and I think like I have all season that we need to work on our discipline since those penalties cost us heavily in a tight game. As for balls coming loose in the tackle, well it doesn't matter which ref you get, it is a lottery as to whether it is a loose carry or a penalty; Wigan just always seem very good at it both ways (attacking and defending).

I thought a couple of decisions went Wigans way last night. One for me was when Johnstone made that massive break toying with Wigan defenders, I did not think his offload was knocked on or forward at all. Was a very entertaining game and I think this thread title is perfect to sum up what cost you the game. Hats off again to Bill Tupou the guys a beast

Although the rule is that for a knock-on is that it has to go forward, the refs increasingly seem to interpret it as any fumble that doesn't definitively go directly backwards.

Thought Wigan got the benefit of a couple of dodgy decisions, and in fact scored twice from them, but we had so much ball in their twenty we should have scored more. Best team won on the night. We were just that little bit not quite as good as them all night.

Why? Do we drop a player every time they have what you call a poor game? Grix was exceptional last week and as ever showed why he is first choice and from what I saw last night he should remain so.

People can chirp on all they like but Grix is still better than Max who was dreadful against Saints.

I fully believe Jowitt will make it but it will be in stages - he’s no billy Slater in fact he’s more Scott Grix and it took years for him to truly establish himself - I really don’t get this insane rush to fill a team full of 22 year olds, let them develop and mature - Jowitt and Crowther and all the rest will make it if they are good enough.

This idea that there is this pool of players in Wakefield that were never given a chance is a total myth. The team from 2010 was it? the one Anakin came from - none of them made it - not because they didn’t get a chance at Wakefield and I accept some perhaps didn’t - but because they simply wernt good enough as there exploits at there new teams proved.

Danny Brough proved beyond all doubt that no matter how many times you’re shot in the foot or you shoot yourself in the foot true talent combined with real continents will prevail.

Agree with this. Grix was great last week and generally, his RL brain is far better than Max's atm, as it should be with his experience. The way he knows when to and when not to joins the attacking line, his support play and his numbering up & marshalling others in defence when they're out of position, or when we are low in numbers on one side or the other are better than Max's. Yes, he can have the odd poor game but so can the best.

Obviously, Grix is going to retire soon and someone's going to take over, so Max wants to make sure he's doing the right things in training and when he gets his chances, he'll move into FB. He's just got to keep improving because we've also got Hooley as well, who'll be looking for that place in the next year or so and make sure he is the next in line.

Apart from the Grix thing I agree with ricardo07's post, we do lack a bit of composure at key moments in the game and have done in a fair number of close ones this season. It was a game we maybe could/should have won, just by cutting the pens and the sins bins out and was closer than the scoreline suggests. Because when we got it right we looked good but just quite enough of it. Ateotd though even putting the one-sided penalty count that got them into scoring position a few times, those sin binning's killed us. Playing the likes of Wigan with 12 men for 60 mins of a game will tire us out big time and that's when we get penalised and want to slow the game down, even though TJ did score when we were down a man. Saying that it's a testament to the players and the team spirit that we were still right in there after all that.

Can not understand people saying Grix had a good game against Hudersfield ok he scored 2 try's but all the work had been done for him .iIs link up play was shocking in fact at least 3 times he passed when the player receiving the ball was stood on the touch line with Hudersfield players ready to push him into touch.He was so slow tying to join the line that when he got the ball we lost 15 yards. Thursday is play was poor at the best .

well, it depends if you have an agenda that prevents you from being objective.....or not

I thought at times Trinity tried to do a Wigan and fight fire with fire by messing about at the play the ball and really trying to slow it down.

Wigan have done this for years, we all know it, and are ultimately now very very good at getting away with it. Trinity however looked a bit naive at times when doing it and I think that cost a few penalties.

I personally thought it was quite a poor game. Both teams coming off the back of big performances last week looked a little low on energy and it took guys like Johnstone and Hamlin to lift the game when they got the ball as they seemed to have more energy than their respective teammates.

I think Wigan are probably favourites at the moment to pick up the title and realistically there wasn’t much between the 2 teams. A couple of good signings over the offseason and Trinity I feel have a really good chance of becoming a top 4 team.

The problem is that the reason given by Chester to drop Jowitt was due to errors he made in the Saints. This therefore sets a precedent and the same standard should apply to Grix. We all agree he made mistakes in the Wigan game therefore should he not be held to the same conditions and be replaced by Jowitt.

And then we'll get people moaning that he changes the team too much.
And equally we don't know who is ripping it up most in training.
It's not like Chester is trying to lose a game to play his mate. He's picking the best side considering he conditions and opposition.

Grix has been hot and cold throughout his career. He was very fortunate to be rescued from that losing Championship Widnes team, by Wakefield, all those years back.
He does seem to have a bit of a teflon coating these days, especially under his boots.

It just doesn't make any sense to suggest Chezzy has some daft agenda.
Coaches live and die by results on the field, why the hell would he pick players less likely to help win a game based on favoritism.
If a player gets dropped from the team its a cast iron certainty there is more to it than anything a bunch of dingbats like us can point out from a few game snippets.
If Grix gets dropped, there'll be a good reason for it, if Jowitt gets dropped there'll be a good reason for it.
With that in mind, we're all entitled to an opinion but I often find myself wondering why people post overly biased obviously agenda driven comments.
I mean Chezzy aint God or anything, he'll make mistakes like everyone else but he's in a far better position to make the right calls than us.
Nothing is ever as black and white as "Jowitt made errors" but we're not gonna spend 8 hours analyzing player performance, stats, attitude and miscellaneous in a 15 minute press interview, that's a job for the playing staff and support.

Our number one problem seems to be our inability to back up a good performance.
We have not won in consecutive weeks since the first 4 rounds.
We have only won consecutive rounds once since then (rounds 16 Widnes A and 17 Wigan H), but then we had a week off in between for the cup .

Why is this?
Mental? Skill? physical? fitness? coaching?

We just need to have that killer instinct to finish off games. The games against Sts & Wigan are examples of games we need to be winning if we want to challenge for the top 4. We were the better side in large portions of those matches. Our defence and attack are as good as anything in SL. It's just those lapses in concentration, errors and silly penalties that have prevented us achieving to our potential.
We play high quality, entertaining rugby.
We have the most stable squad that i can remember. Injuries have been relatively light. When was the last time we didn't make mid-season signings?
I think, despite eventual finishing position, we are a better team than last year. If we can be more consistent next year, the sky's the limit.

Jowitt has recently been given a long contract so the club must see a place for him long term. In the meantime I have no problems with Grix at FB although I have to say if Jowitt had given the stupid penalty away like the one Grix did when he upended the Wigan player, then he would probably have been dropped!

The last two seasons have seen us lose games by the narrowest of margins, anything between 1 and 6 points. Sometimes due to a rush of blood, sometimes a drop goal attempt which missed by inches, sometimes by taking the wrong last tackle option, sometimes by rushing the play of the ball.

At the moment, and the same applied last season, the team need to lift about 10% to be really challenging for the top 4. The big question is... What would give us this lift? A new head coach? A new fitness coach? A world class half back? A specialist skills coach? A new ground?

Best ever 3 year period in Super League and people still questioning the coach?? the mind boggles

A motivationalist, belief in what you can do and not dwell in the past poor results, you get the best out of people when you motivate them than constant barrage of abuse

how good would it be that it could start on the terrace first than on the pitch or talks of a new coach

Personally, I don't think a new coach is the answer. Chester has done a phenomenal job since he took over.

Some teams just know how to win, or give themselves every chance of winning the very tight games, whoever the coach or whoever is playing. Saints have been one of those teams throughout their Super League tenure, despite their changing coach and player roster. Their winning mentality goes way deeper than just the coach and players. What do they have which has us perpetually saying "never write off the Saints"?