He doesn't need telling. If you haven't noticed, in our close matches it is our own execution that has been the problem: dropped ball giving them field position; a missed tackle here and there (like on the line at the DW in the final minute when two defenders clocked off); a decision borne from inexperience or panic. Those little things have yet to come off for us. But we had the game plan sussed by the time we got to the DW. Just that last five minutes of panic/errors let us down.

Goes without saying we need to match eithr Warrington or Wigan up the middle if we want to win. We could have the aussie backline playing in the V but if our forwards got rolled we'd probably still lose.

then we forgot it again. Beating Wigan isnt rocket science,

1.compete in the forwards - dont be bullied
2.close down Sam Tomkins or starve him of the ball
3.get your kicking game right
4.hope you get a good ref who stops them niggling and slowing the play the ball down.

Wigan don't do anything special they just do the basics very well and they mess about and slow you down so you cant get momentum. When they get the ball they have good dummy runners and attack with structure, when that doesnt work they rely on Ratboy's X Factor and of course the wide kick to Pat who seems about 9ft tall at times.

Pat Richards looks very sluggish since he returned from his injury. He's not the player he was and even Brian agrees on that!

I've not seen enough of him really but he hasn't shrunk and thats were he's most dangerous.

If we can get the quick PTB then roby is the man who could cut Wigan to shreds. No better player in world rugby at running from dummy half.

Yes, TS said it about the wire tactics in respect of having experienced deadwood's inept reffing before when playing the pies. It was quite a statement he made about the ref.
Wire's gains down the middle using quick play the ball and refusing to be "turtled" caused the goons all sorts of problems. Wire metres gained was around 1650 vs approx 1050 for the goons.

If you muller a team down the middle like that you are almost certainly going to be on the end of a very positive scoreline. Trick for us will be managing to do it with what we have available.

In the games against Wigan and recent games against Salford and hull KR we've had unreal field position but not put the points on the board. That needs rectifying for the play offs as rye team that takes there chances will win.

We didn't forget it again. We couldn't convert our pressure into points at the CC semi, as at Cardiff, and that was due to misfiring halfbacks again - this time, Leon doing sod all, as per his white shirt. The only time we 'forgot it' was at the Stobart when our forwards collectively decided to have a day off.

Get our forwards hitting the ground to win us a quick PTB and give us two functioning halfbacks and we're in.

And it was Wheeler who was taking Wigan apart at the DW, not Robes, if memory serves. Stick Wheeler on. He'll sort em! Wheeler and Gaskell with Lomax as interchange to confuse the buggers.

Glad to see we agree that we need our halves playing at their best. To many games this year we've camped out on the oppositions line and not put points on the board.

I totally agree.

Back on topic.

Hock has got
1 match for punching and 4 matches for gouging plus a £300 fine.

4 matches was the minimum for the offence catagory.

He's a very lucky boy!

He's been very lucky considering his awful record. Quite how he's managed to escape so leniently is baffling. He'll certainly miss the rest of this season and possibly the first and maybe second game of next season. Am I correct in thinking that one pre-season friendly can count towards a ban?