OTT

Exactly. We are a poorly coached team. Those tactics are clearly from the coach not the players. And why we are continuing to try and get used to without Sinfield I don't know. It is clearly an instruction for him not to take the last plays, big mistake. No short kicks.

And why the hell do we persist with that wasted substitution of Butrow. He offers nothing anymore, absolutely nothing. We are just wasting a player.

Wigan for me were not any good, we had plenty of opportunities, and failed with them.

Hardaker wax by an absolute mile easily our best player, and only one who played with any will to win. Watkins was appalling for me, and whilst I accept Handley looked poor I don't think his centre partner helped at all. He needs a kick up the backside, to start playing with some determination with his skill.

Time to put the bottles down fellas.

And your a ing .

And your a ing .

Don't forget. Pointing out that this is another in a run of pretty ordinary performances since Saints away (the Huddersfield Cup game apart) ist verboten. As is pointing out that if these performances continue, there isn't a cat in hell's chance of finishing top.

Yours

The Printer

Not the end of the world, our decision making has been poor. Handly bombed 2 trys, and cost at least one other. Our pivots - Aiton apart, were very poor, and our tactics were bizarre and surprisingly conservative.
On a positive note, Hardaker was the best player on the park IMO, and Aiton were superb I thought.

Think there are a lot of OTT reactions here. It's a concern our form, but it's only a game 2 points lost. Time to get off the beer and sober up for some!

No complaints tonight. Out enthused by a desperate team and if a few bounces of the ball had gone our way we could've won it.

On another, totally unrelated note, when's Briscoe back?

Wigan had better tactics than we did executed their plays better than we did and were on top in the forwards. I hope we are not going to follow last years trajectory, where CC aside our season fell away from Magic Weekend onward. But at the moment it's just one game. Wigan were well beaten last weekend and bounced back,we need to find a way to do the same.

For an experienced player to tackled standing at acting-half 30 metres from our line on the last tackle is unforgivable.

Handley had a terrible, terrible game but he's been very good for us otherwise this season and you've a short memory if don't remember how bad Keinhorst was when he played on the wing, though he is a solid centre.

Positives? Hardaker excellent. Moon good when he got the ball, Cuthbertson good before he got knackered after 30 minutes when he really should have been subbed. Aiton OK. That's all.

I'm pretty sure burrow was running at a marker that he thought/knew wasn't square in an attempt to win a penalty at a point when we were going nowhere fast but either Bentham didn't see it/didn't want to give it or Burrow was mistaken.

I couldn't understand why Cuthbertson was brought back on after only being off the field a few minutes.

I'd also add to that that I thought Ablett (the daft pens aside) had a great game. In fact it's been lost among the furor of defeat, but that was a superb game of RL.

Hadn't Cuthbertson already had a spell off at that point? Wasn't it him that JJB came on for after about 15 minutes?

I think the major difference between the 2 sides was the kicking game. There's was pretty good, ours was terrible. I can't remember us putting one good kick in. If we'd just matched their kicking game I think we'd have won that game as I think our offloads would have taken their toll.

I think we were a tad unlucky with a couple of calls early on from Bentham and with the Bowen try.

I also think we need more spark in the backrow. Unfortunately Delaney and Ablett look too slow to me.

We were making good ground around the ruck with Aiton doing some good stuff there but our halves didn't take advantage of that and then get the ball out to the centres.

I think Handley has been a bit harshly criticised by some. He's not the first that McIlorum has forced a knock on from. The Burgess try wasn't entirely his fault as he had 2 men to mark. He could've passed to Burrow after his break but it's incredibly difficult to pull off a pass that quickly when you don't know where he is. If he'd put a not 100% perfect pass in at that speed the likelihood is the ball is knocked on and he's being blamed for not taking the tackle.
He did cockup on his other break when he bizarrely kicked.

For me a lack of direction and the kicking game were the main reasons for our loss. Along with some excellent Wigan defence.