Agreed - both are equally important, which is the counter-argument to both Gotcha and Double A

This
Well put.
But on reflection I was disappointed with Shaun Wane’s post match comments regarding the penalty count, inferring that it was due to the “Headingley effect” He was lucky it was only 5-1;it could well have been 10-1.(Mr Bentham had a liberal interpretation of policing the ruck in order to let the game flow, I suppose).
I'm sorry Mr Wane you'll have to look closer to home and your game plan, for the real excuse. It was obvious Wigan just came to niggle ,bully ,and get into the Leeds faces (literally),and it didn't work. I'm sure the Wigan fans will be pleased to see that the cannonball tackle, late tackle and professional fouls are still very much part of the Wigan armory. I'm pretty certain that if they had come to play a more expansive game then the score line would have a different look to it.
All that Wigan really offered were a couple of barge over tries (one of which was a 2nd effort and not convincingly grounded IMO) and poor kick returns.
As for Leeds among the many positives we had the bonus of not having anyone suffer a broken jaw.
Look forward to two weeks time when you have your 'enforcers' back.
Cas will give us more defensive problems next week than this shower.

No way are the stats as important as watching the actual game. They're a useful tool I agree but can be very misleading in certain circumstances.

Speaking of Stats Ian Kirke made 2 carries one of which was a knock on. His first stint was a decent amount of time but he didn't get back on. I assume he was injured though he didn't look it whilst warming down/up. If he wasn't injured people should revise their "great contribution 1-17" statements. If he was injured just shows that the stats can be misleading.

I'm not sure how much attention the coaches do pay the stats, otherwise why do certain players get selected every week?

Anyway, thoughts on Friday. Hardaker and Hall were immense. Achurch just keeps getting better and was a real threat early on. Clarkson made a decent fist of 9 and put some nice heavy shots in as well. I though Bailey played well. Delany was, as usual, a workhorse but he was blowing before his first substitution and should have been rested earlier. I'm still not convinced our improving coach uses his interchanges properly and I suspect some of Delaney's poorer defensive efforts that have been spotted by Gotcha were down to this.

Like Sal says the last two games have been the kind of games I want to see. Good hard contests, not the dullard training sessions against Wakey and Bradford.

All in all we're looking very good at the moment, but I remind myself it's only May.

According to the Coach G IK is carrying a knee twinge and although he knocked on I stand by my "1-17" post!!

As long as O'loughlin is available for the games that matter wigan will be difficult to topple for trophies. They have a better spread of quality and freshness in the pack, leeds rely mainly on peacock on leuluai. That may not be apparent now but will be come october.

I also think the 16 point margin was a fair reflection. It's the claims we never threatened your line (How were we held up over it 3 times and score twice if we weren't threatening it?) or that the margin should have been wider (you never got over the line apart from your tries so your bombed chances merely cancel out ours) that I have issues with. As for the 'held ups' never going to be tries; how can you say that? Tackles like that are split second and are never sure things. On another day the ball isn't clamped or the reaction is a fraction of a second late and it's a try. If you're saying they were never going to be tries 'on the day' then I'd tend to agree, but that's a different discussion.

Again, I agree with your last paragraph. JP, in particular was outstanding and I've said many times you have the best 1-5 in the comp. Check out the Jordan Turner thread over on the Saints board for confirmation. If they're allowed to shine then it's never going to be a good day at the office for the opposition! With the pack we had out we were never going to be able to nullify your threat and I predicted a loss elsewhere when I saw O'Loughlin was out. Leeds deserved the win without a doubt. Like I say though, more than 3 converted tries better? I don't think so.

As an aside, I had a discussion re: Johnny Lomax on the Saints board and the consensus over there was that he was a better option than Zak Hardaker for the England squad. I disagreed (although Lomax is an excellent player too). Having seen the performance on Friday I'm more convinced than ever that the Fullback berth will be contested between Tomkins and Hardaker for the foreseeable (provided he hasn't blotted his copybook too badly during the world cup, of course!). You guys have seen a lot more of him than me this season. Was Friday a particularly good game for him or is that the general standard he's set this year?

The usual. He's playing like he has a massive point to prove, shame leeds have burnt their bridges and he'll be gone when his contract is up.

Agree about O'Loughlin, if he's fit it's a major boost to their chances.

As for the pack, funnily people were saying we relied too heavily on Peacock, now it's Leuluai and Peacock. Regarding freshness we've shown we'll rest at times this year too. Are the interchange props from Wigan really that much ahead of Singleton, Bailey and Kirke (despite the detractors of the latter two they like the rest of team have shown up well in playoff time.) Also we have Delaney at loose playing a third forward role quite well.

Also the second row, we have IMO the best 2nd rower out of the two teams in Ablett and others in Achurch and Ward who are coming along nicely and the likes of JJB to return and Clarkson on occasions can do a job there along with Sutcliffe if need be.

Phuzzy-Re-Hardaker that's becoming his normal level of performance and whilst I rate Lomax ,Hardaker imo is a better all round FB but can see Lomax as a HB for England he is much better than Myler and Sinfield isn't getting any younger.

If they were Pettybourne, Flower and/or Clubb I would say yes.

wrt to the post by DD and the penalties. Do you honestly believe Leeds only committed one offence all night. I don't and I don't believe Wigan committed only five either. Bentham let quite a bit go and the game was probably better for it.
However if any amatuer refs on here reviewed that match I would guarantee that they would find at least twenty penalties, but I don't think the ratio would be 5:1.

The better team won on Friday, no doubt and I've said elsewhere I can see us meeting again in the "Business games" later in the season.

The point is Wigan were more indisciplined on the night - something that they could control. I seem to remember last year after the Catalan Dragons away match Brain Mc was asked a loaded question from the Sky commentary team re the teams discipline which he answered. He was subsequently fined by the RFL, somehow I don’t think Shaun Wane will suffer the same fate for his bellyaching, do you?

Crosby isn't normally like that at all. We commented at the game that something must have gone on, you can bet McGuire was involved. Now there is in horrible excuse for a man. I don't mind the genuine hard aggressive players but he is a niggly hit, run and hide one.
If you saw the first scrum something had gone on between Peacock, Bateman and McIlorum. Words were spoken but they just laughed at each other.

Do you honestly believe Leeds only deserved to concede one penalty in that game?

If you honestly regard McGuire as a horrible excuse for a man then i would love to know your honest and unbiased views of Micky Mac

Biggest cheap shot artist in the league IMO