First of all, if anyone else, now that they've sobered up, says than we didn't try, showed no fight, players were uninterested etc. then they are clueless.

Defence excellent, commitment excellent, execution very poor.

What this game showed above all else was that a couple of players aside, we are a very young and inexperienced team. Even guys like Lynch have never played in a proper big game before, and it showed. Wigan knew how to deal with the situation, whereas as soon as we went behind we panicked and went away from what we should have done. The weather was the worst thing that could have happened to us really.

Shaul, Crookes, Crooks, Miller, Houghton, Westerman, Pitts. All young kids with no finals experience at all. They will all be better for getting there, all will have learned important lessons.

It is frustrating that we didn't give a good account of ourselves, but the way I see it, it's a long road to get to where we want to be, we still need to improve alot, and I reckon it will be another couple of years before we are genuine contenders to be competing on both fronts. This is another rung on the ladder. We need to keep the young nucleus of this team together like Leeds did 10 years ago. We will come back stronger.

Good day out, disappointing result. Roll on the playoffs, I wouldn't rule out us having a good run. Another playoff win or two would make this a season a success imo.

Agree with most of that. This year's recruitment will be interesting. We are losing some quality - Paea is a good start - but a further influx of young unproven replacements may well not be enough to move us on. Until we know names it remains a big concern.

Alternatively, finishing 8th and losing in the first round of the play-offs would make this a hugely disappointing season imo.

What was it AP said at the start of his tenure?

He said alot of things. Most of it bluster to sell season passes. It's your problem if you were daft enough to listen and expected trophies after 2 years. We won't properly reap the rewards of the money Pearson has put in for at least 2 or 3 years.

I'm glad AP's informed you of the real hidden agenda.
I'll look forward to 2 or 3 years time with a lot more confidence now you've clearly spelt things out for me.

Well is quite obvious to anyone with half a brain. He's not like Koucash, coming in and throwing silly money at any big name he can think of to get quick success. Pearson has invested much more in the youth and facilities aspect. We won't reap the rewards of this for a while yet.

All I ask is for year on year improvement and a good attitude. Imo we have had both this year.

Koucash is a disaster, its a good job for your sake AP isn't like him!

What has AP invested in then off the pitch? Have facilities improved etc?

I'm not disagreeing about your AP/Koucash comparisons.

An 8th place finish for me will be disappointing as I expect it would have been for 99% of fellow posters.
Dress it up anyhow you want.
We have been very poor in far too many games this season.

I don't think we will finish 8th tbh. I think we'll win the next 2 now.

Personally I value a cup final appearance above for example a 4th place league finish, but thats just me, some will agree, some wont. Yes we've been disappointing at times but we aren't far off. With our defence we have the foundations for a top team. Now we have to add a cutting edge in attack.

lack of attacking options is killing us
defence will never win a match unless we back up by being able to score tries
cannot see this changing next year with the squad so far

the thing that I did not think was good was that when the Wigan player was down injured and we were on their 25 yards line in attack our players and never got together they just stood around looking like spare parts and as I predicted as soon as the match re started we lost possession within the first 2 plays - we did not look like a TEAM

I think Wigan treated it as another game, stayed relaxed. Think we played the occasion and as a result we panicked - but that comes with experience. I don't know whether a dry day would have meant more points for Wigan, or could have actually helped us.

One admires your optimism.
I hope you are proven correct.

I think we'll finish 8th.

Historically it's harder to back up from a win than a loss in a final. I would be disappointed if we lose to Wigan, then Saints is a flip a coin match imo.

Wigan and Saints are better than us.
I think we'll finish 8th.

I haven't seen the new training facilities etc for myself, but by all accounts it is streets ahead of what we used to have. It's not just the money though, there is a different attitude towards player development these days.

Crikey,these accounts are in a mess?

What's interesting is Gentle after the match saying the team simply didn't follow the game plan even after he spoke to them at half time. We have player site Ellis, O'meley, lynch, whiting, Holdsworth. These are seasoned professionals, do they not have the mental capacity between then to talk to each other and the rest of the team on the pitch to say we're doing this wrong, stick to the plan and take it from there. Gentle can only do so much once they get on the pitch, but if they don't follow plan even have a half time team talk what can he do?

I tend to agree. Didn't see any sort of leadership out there yesterday, just a bunch of disparate individuals doing their own thing (mostly badly).

Ellis appeared to go off injured early on, that can't have helped.

The conditions ruined it for me - ok, wigan handled it better than we did, but we had the same problems in France with that wretched rhino ball.

Surely, the ball should be designed to stick to the hands like glue, not be as slippery as a wet bar of soap.

When Ellis went off we lost any chance of re-grouping. There doesn't appear to be anyone else capable of leading the side. In the semi final he was the talisman - although he did come back on in the final he wasn't right and had no impact.

I don't think the lack of attacking quality is just about the individuals on the pitch, it's about structure and we have none. It's what should be sorted on the training pitch but doesn't seem to be being done

I think you're probably right. 7th at best

It was damaged ribs, apparently, and he went off after only 14 minutes and was off the field for nearly half the match.

Most of us a still pretty shocked and gutted, I have not watched the recording yet and maybe I won't for days.

No one said it was easy being an FC supporter, it hurts like hell at times but when its good the feeling lasts a lifetime. I saw many of our supporters wandering around in a daze yesterday all feeling pain and hurt, I also saw a number of Wigan supporters showing no passion at all. If we had won we would have been bouncing all the way home, there buses seemed very quiet. Its not that Wigan supporters are less pasionate then us or anyone else its just they have been there so many times it means no so much as it does to us.

The rollercoaster will be ready to run again come Friday and who is it again ?

COYH