??? Just watching the replay on Sky now and I didnt see that? He goes over the top of him.

Leeds have been Great with the capital G over the last decade or so. It’s the lot of great teams to be resented in their own time, and of some of their fans to bear it with defensive ill humour. As with Liverpool in the 70s and 80s and Manchester United in the 90s and 2000s, the admiration is delayed and they become more widely treasured later. Wane’s Wigan might be Revie’s Leeds in this analogy. If it’s any consolation, if the Rhinos continue on their current trajectory their GF winning teams might start to be more fondly regarded by fans of other teams quite soon!

As for why the same two teams win so consistently, the biggest single reason is resource. You might get a Castleford or a Leicester City doing a spectacular job of swimming against the tide for a while, but ultimately money tells. Which isn’t to say that the Leeds and Wigan clubs don’t work hard or efficiently or have a positive culture or whatever, but the key building block of their success is their size and wealth, which is natural. Back when we were winning major trophies in the early- to mid-80s, we were doing stuff like breaking the transfer record. There is no great mystery to it.

I never expected the win. They are better than us and the big thing was they had a lot more creativity about them than we did.

Better season than last year, losing in finals isn’t what you want but it’s a damn site better than fighting off relegation!

Losing in finals is actually just becoming like losing normal games now. When we lost the semi to Leeds in 2011 I was absolutely gutted, that [iwas[/i our year that one! Losing the finals in 2012 and ‘13 were bad but since then the CC finals and GF defeats I don’t think we’ve been the best side in any of them and can see why we’ve lost and accept it fairly well.

We need to put more thought into the structure of our squad.

We overachieved in 2016 and 2018. No way were we a particularly top side in either year but we reached four finals and finished 1st and 4th in the league. What does that say about the rest of the league?

Nah you don’t go on your knees by accident there. The only reason is to go on the legs of Charnley, which he does.

Wigan were very lucky to still have Tomkins on the pitch and you could say his knees into Charnley would constitute an 8 point try.

Having said that Wigan were extraordinary in that game I thought. Warrington never looked like getting through. Some will say that’s Warrington playing poorly however I think it has far more to do with Wigan strangling the life out of them.

Good game I thought.

No he doesn't I've just seen the replay

In theory, it seems that a play-off series and GF should open things up, but it’s become clear that the top teams have an extra gear and raise their intensity for the big games.

Phil Clarke’s stuff about other teams narrowing the gap between their best and worst performances, and aiming to be more consistent ignores that the top teams performances are often very uneven, but even on a bad day they can usually get away with turning it on for 15 or 20 minutes. They’re just better.

If a Wigan fan had posted that I’d take it, but a Saints fan... and YOU!



The masters of choking in semi finals and disrespecting the rest of the league and making the sport look stupid by not celebrating winning the LLS, the only club in world sport who don’t celebrate winning a league yet still keep losing in semi finals?

and from a poster who goes missing for days when his stupid know-nowt predictions and comments materialise as wildly inaccurate and a liar of a man to boot - “I’ll leave this site for good if Wakey make the top 8”...?

You’ve made my morning a little easier after last night knowing I’m not you!

A game that went very much to script.
Tight, aggressive, few scoring chances and a Wigan win, which they deserved.
Hill was immense for Wire and is unlucky to be on the losing side and the game was won with the bit of extra quality that Wigan had in the halves (plus Tomkins & O'loughlin).
Warringtons halves were very, very poor and they looked a little clueless in Wigan's 20.

The best team won.

have some top class players.

...and the last years of the Stones Bitter Championship from 1987 to 1996 reads Wigan 8 & Widnes 2, has the game regressed?

Unless Tomkins suddenly develops the ability to levitate, yes he does.

There’s no reason for him to go down on to his knees. That he does shows his intentions.

Charnley dove in the corner and Williams did a soft leap over him and slid down the shallow embankment, Tomkins slides parallel to Charnley but doesn't touch him or go anywhere near him, they go to ground because the embankments are shallow at OT. I suggest you watch it again, but this time watch it without your anti Wigan glasses