That's got to be a joke hasn't it?

Saints had plenty of the possession! but you have to turn it into points, it is no use saying if such a player has played well they didn't, Wigan's defence under that pressure in the first half looked so firm, though I would Fine Sam's Brother for not putting the ball down over the line, why force a pass that was not needed!

Why? You've signed an international forward and a SOO forward since he left.

It's about time after all those years of thrashings by saints and slightly above average league finishings.

But it won't last forever. Uber coach mcguire is leaving, other teams will come to the fore, players will be injured/leave.

In the current climate, the top teams seem to go through 2-5 year hot streaks when they in and around the trophies, grand finals, and top 2 finishings before slipping back into the pack.

Wigan will be a force, but only for the next 2-4 years before another team takes the reigns and the cycle is complete.

I don't think any of you have actually read any of what I've posted. Where have I said we lost today because of injuries for example?

Exactly, no point in having 95% completion rate and a whopping amount of ball if you don't do anything with it.

Only time will tell. But like I said, we are once again the dominate force. Roll on the double.

If Wigan had that same 95% completion rate then they would have won 20+ points, and in truth had Joel decided to put the ball over the line instead of passing it could well have been that anyway.

I haven't seen the Sam no try yet on video (my Sky + didn't record) but it looked a very harsh decision whilst on the ground.

I don't find much wrong with what Saddened! said, to be honest. We have had a fair whack of luck with injuries at this stage of the season, whereas the start of the season was a struggle thanks to certain injuries, in particular Pat Richards.

Our first half defence was incredible, but you have to admit there were many shocking decisions that went against us, especially your chargedown that didn't reset the tackle count. That was the joke of the year.

Full credit to all of Saints, with the exception of Pryce. I'm not going to praise that thug, he went out determined to take heads off, and didn't get pulled up for it once. After he put a lot of effort in trying to break our line in the first half, he was anonymous in the second. Everyone else did you very proud, though, especially Foster and Lomax.

Classic obstruction. Dummy runner runs straight into the line into a defender who wasn't watching him but moving towards the ball.

I think we were good but by no means near perfect. I don't know where Saddened! has got the 95% completion figure from, but the BBC had us at around 70% at half time, and it got worse in the second half.

As St Pete and others have said, we matched them up front but weren't clinical enough. Ian Millward had it spot on when he said that we were too lateral. We made good inroads when we worked the short balls round the ruck, but overall we focussed too heavily on shipping it out to the left before we'd laid a proper platform.

Credit to Wigan, though. They clearly enjoy defending, and that's something that really works for them in the big matches. They also work flat out for 80 minutes. They didn't get everything their own way today but they hung in there and took their chances when they came. We, on the other hand, had a soft ten minutes, much like we did at the DW on Good Friday, and it ultimately cost us the game. Compared to recent performances against Wigan and Wire, however, there were some encouraging signs.

Time will tell? lol.

It's inevitable. This isn't the 1980's.

You'll have 4/5 hot years, then slip back into the pack abit. If you want to dream of total domination for the next decade that's fine, it just means you'll end up humbled.

Slight error in the stat reading there. Was tackle completion at 95% not set completion

Saddened, read your 2nd and 3rd posts again.

You say a full strength Wire would trouble us, we have incredible lock with injuries, we never seem to be missing key players but the opposition always lose a couple of players before big games. You mention Morley, Briers, Pryce and Eastmond missing and how you struggled with Graham being finished (your words) and we wouldn't cope without Lockers and Sam against you and Wire.

If thats not whinging about injuries I don't know what is.

Afew years ago Wigan had a similar season to yours injury wise but all we heard from opposition fans was all teams have injuries, it's a squad game and you can't use injuries as an excuse. Now the boot is on the other foot you don't like it.