Acted like a maniac last night. Chasing Hansbury before turning and jumping at Phelps. What for ? Neither Widnes player threw a punch or acted aggressively. He just decided it.

Smith's was out of character and petulant, in disappointment really. I can forgive that.

Happening all too often with Wigan though now. They appear to have no respect for anybody. Reflecting very badly on the game and Wigan themselves.

I wouldn't go that far. Probably just got a bit miffed at the constant late tackles on Mellor after the kick!

I don't think I've said this before, but I agree with you. One late hit by Farrell in the 1st half should have been a penalty, possibly a yellow. Nothing in any of the other incidents that Stevo was wetting himself about. A home crowd will always shout for late hits, laying on and forward passes, even more so if they feel an injustice has been done. Smith and Tomkins at the end was embarrassing, like the surrender of our lead.
My view on Ah Van is that it was accidental, but going in with a closed fist and contacting with the head, with these new head injury regulations, is likely to be a red card. Does the tackler not have a duty of care to the other player, I'm sure I read this when SOL caught a player on the head who had slipped last Good Friday?

I don't know what you're on about about Joel Tomkins, but most of the time he probably thinks he's diffusing the situation. If you look when he goes in he doesn't throw punches, he literally picks the main cause of the trouble and pins him to the ground. He has always done this, even in his last spell for us. Last night was obviously a mistake, as Phelps wasn't doping anything and there wasn't going to be any trouble until Tomkins came in. But in general, he obviously thinks he's diffusing the situation by pinning them to the ground, not punching etc.

Agreed. Lot of red cards will be thrown about this season if that's how those situations will be handled

There was a time in the game that thought Farrell had actually fallen asleep on top of the Widnes player he was lying on for so long. How the hell he got away that I don't know, then Widnes was penalised for not clearing the ruck when Tompkins was attached to his ankle like a limpet.

Cheating around the ruck is coached at the pie dome, all part of the mags regime. It also looks like the aggression medicine has been increased. A lot of road rage last night.

Looks like cheating in all aspects is coached in St Helens.

We win tho when we cheat

Haha!

Does Percival have speed issues - can't think of any other reason why he would be nearer the Catalans line than the ball everytime Catalans had a PTB in the Saints 20. He was so far offside it was embarrassing to see.

Burns was the same.

I think Percival has over eager to impress issues. It's his first season where he's seen as a serious contender as a regular and wanted to earn it more than normal. I'm sure he'll settle down as he gets used to it

He did some good tackles last night.

2 very heated first games to start the season off. It's certainly going to be interesting to see how the refs go after these first two games.