Unfortunately that decision epitomises everything that is wrong with the game and the referees at the moment. All season the refs have been happy for entire defensive lines to encroach 2,3 sometimes 4 yards in front of the 10 metres, and hen we have a scenario where McGuire is caught half a yard shy getting back and is then penalised after the ball has been shipped through 4 pairs of hands 20 yards down field. It's just another ridiculous case of referees Being selective (cheating) as regards enforcing the laws of the game.

That decision went to the video ref so I am not sure you could blame Silverwood for that

Yeah I thought Silverwood wasn't too bad. A couple of calls that could've gone the other way but they weren't glaring errors. One thing that plenty near were playing hell about at the time was the incident when Farrell got sin-binned and obviously Watkins managed to fling the ball over his head to Sutcliffe to stroll in but Silverwood had already blown the whistle......again I was fine with, yes it was a shame we couldn't have the try but he'd clearly blown his whistle and it wasn't exactly obvious to play advantage as Watkins just produces a speculator over his head that comes off.

Tbh whilst his form is good enough to say he should start, I'd keep him on the bench for the time being because he's offering us impact off there around the 20/25 minute mark which we've lacked for many years. Add to that Burrow coming on in the 2nd half and Delaney will always give you a solid if unspectacular gig at 2nd row then we have a much better subs bench than we've had for a long time. Still picking Singelton on the bench shouldn't be seen as a bad thing, it's about time we started using the bench as the weapon it can be by introducing certain players at certain times to change momentum instead of it just being a tool to rest the starters for 5 minutes.

I've never understood the cliche "the scoreline flattered us/them". The scoreline is always a true reflection of the game. If you get your self in good positions but make a poor decision or a mistake then you weren't good enough to score. If a team creates 10 chances to score but only scores twice, and bombs the rest, and the other team has 3 chances to score and scores 3 times then the other team deserves to win, and the scoreline is a fair reflection of how the game was.

I must admit I feared the worst when he brought Peacock back on after only 5 or 10 minutes for his 2nd spell instead of bringing Yates on but I thought Yates did OK when he came on, he does a bit small for a prop though, hopefully FT training will have it desired effect and packs on some timber.

I'd agree with you regarding the bench, although I think Achurch is a better option than Delaney off the bench, we miss an offload when Cuthbertson is off so being able to bring Achurch on counterbalances what we lose when Cuthbertson is off the field.

Stats from the game... superleague.co.uk/report/11071

Stats from the game... superleague.co.uk/report/11071

But you understand how $hite it is when Silverwood doesn't play advantage for the sin bin of Farrell. When it's obvious a try is to be scored? Then he waves his whistle around like it's the last thing he could anticipate? What a bell end he is. Really really shocking call.

Do you seriously believe that referees cheat?
That decision was absolutely correct.
If players encroach then so be it provided that both sides are treated the same.
At the game I was annoyed at Silverwood's performance in the first half but I thought he did well in the second half. He started to get a grip with Wigans high shots & messing around at the PTB, as a result they never really threatened in the second half.

I disagree - the game is a complex animal and usually the dominant team will win - the margin of victory is often not representative of the dominance. Take the GF in 2007 Leeds were not as dominant as the score line suggested. What is interesting is the flow of the game and how once a team gets the momentum how difficult it is for the opposition to reverse it.

Indeed the game is complex, but how do you measure dominance? If you dominate field position and territory and fail to post points then that is a measure of the weaknesses in your performance as much as it a measure of the oppositions weakness to gain field position.

in this regard RL refs are miles behind their union and football counterparts. they try to let the game flow and bring play back if no advantage. for years league refs just blow

TBF football refs aren't all that cracking.....sounds like another ref has sent off the wrong guy in today's Man City vs West Brom match after it only happened a few weeks ago too with Wes Brown.



Well I had heard about James Child's sexual preference.

If you use field position then there will games where similar field position dominance doesn't lead to the same score line i.e. the score line flatters one side or the other. One thing is pretty certain if you dominate field position it is going to difficult to get beat.

One thing that has a big influence on the result is the referee - that is difficult to factor into any calculation - a 7-1 penalty count against Leeds last week is not representative of the play. Also where the referee gives the penalties can have a big impact on the result

In this case the scoreline was 5 tries to 2, a ratio (30-12, 40-16 etc) that was just about fair considering the play. Goalkicks took the ratio down to under 2-1, which was flattering to Wigan.

Which is what I said - Leeds were better than the score suggested - to be only 2 points up at the break didn't reflect the run of play

Quote ="Charlie Sheen"Stats from the game... superleague.co.uk/report/11071'" Massive effort from Ward and JJB and 7 offloads from Cuthbertson, wow.

Quote ="Charlie Sheen"Stats from the game... superleague.co.uk/report/11071'" Massive effort from Ward and JJB and 7 offloads from Cuthbertson, wow.

They were all quality off loads from Cuthbertson too and lead to something positive.He threw a few last week at Wire that were never on but i suppose you have to take that sometimes with a player of his nature and it seems BM has given him free reign to just play his natural game and he is flourishing.

Teams will start to wise up and smother him but that should hopefully lead to more space for others to exploit.

Any news on how long Briscoe will be out for?

For me Hardaker solid in defence and brought the ball out well.
McGuire best game for a while and certainly plays better when controlling as opposed to having Sinfield there.
Sutcliffe when taking on the line and his short kicking game is good and needs to play more.
Aiton did well as did Singleton and JJB.
Delaney steady in his second game.
Cuthbertson MoM by a country mile
Ward tackling machine and ran some good lines.
Ablett poor with only Hall worse than him
Maybe when Achurch is fit he could replace Ablett?
Wigan a bit like Leeds at times with no idea what to do at half back.
Leeds forwards bossed theirs which says something.
And lastly how poor is Bowen?

4-6 weeks I heard

a display which went from sublime to the ridiculous. some great hands, some poor hands, some great defence some awful defence.

Sutcliffe was very good. sinfield wasn't missed which isn't a dig at him more a plus for Sutcliffe.
Hardaker was class and good to have him back.
the biggest disappoints were the inability to be ruthless and kill the game and not seeing the game out at the end. there were enough senior players, McGuire and burrow especially, to kick for position in the last 5 instead of playing stupid globetrotters style and trying to score from every play. very poor game management

we were talking about the use of playing advantage. nothing else

Wigan's forward aren't great to begin with but when Flanders doesn't play they're a VERY average team, their win percentage without him is something like 20%.

Having watched the game back today again impressed with ward and cuthbertson and Aiton. Another great desplay by JJB. Having a good year thus far. Does the dirty unglamerous work which every team needs