This is based on assumption. If anything the Australians have done better at racking up cricket scores over here - especially against St Helens.

However we all know what Wigan did in this same final in Brisbane 1994!

Which was pre-SL era.

No surprises there.

wigan impressed me tbh

our play was pretty much our nrl play

if wigan played every week in the nrl they would quickly adapt to it and would make at least the top 6 or better

magurie is a fantastic coach and i hope we get him to replace bennett

They wanted to play in the Charity Shield, a big earner for them.

Its a Charity Shield, its not a big earner, proceeds go to charity...

It was a great game for Rugby League in general. Wigan played well, we all know St George is a better side and you could see that on the pitch but Wigan put in a solid display. Pat Richards was a huge miss last night!

St George defence is awesome. They stopped the opponents scoring in the 2nd half again! Wayne Bennett has really done a fantastic job with them.

I would like to see the game played in Oz or the WCC expanded to the top 4 teams but this can only happen if we know that the fans and media down under will be interested. If not then the game has to stay in the UK!

I was very impressed with The Dragons, although not surprised. The match did illustrate the gulf in quality between the two competitions, especially if you compare it to the Crusaders match the previous day.

From watching the reaction of the St George players after Wigans early try when they were screaming, shouting and finger pointing in each others faces, i'd say they cared a lot.

It was a great advert for Rugby League, St George's defence was unbelievable second half. I think that's four games withour conceding in the second half now? So it's not just the pies that struggle against them.

St George attacked Wigans right flank, it was obvious that Gleeson was injured and i'm sorry but Goulding looked out of his depth.

we certainly are good at shutting down teams in the 2nd half

still wigan are a very good side. they had some chances to take it to golden point

I think Fielden was probably an even bigger loss because when Coley and Prescott tired they had no other specialist prop to keep the side going forward.

The funny thing was the crowd for that fixture didn't even break 20,000.

Thats a game between the premiers and one of the biggest names in Australian Rugby League.


Very poor effort.

IMO the game was a great advert for the game, both teams and the match official should be congratulated on thier performance last night.
As for the crowd 24 000+ does any one think that they would get as many if the game was played in Aus ??? i doubt it
the atmosphere was electric not as much as when we played Manly now that was a night !!
but i think that the modern all seater stadiums don't create as good an atmosphere as standing grounds , but that is my opinion. I am sure that people will disagree..

I think we definately missed Lima + Fielden, I just don't rate Prescott and we let them get too many metres from their forwards.

Mainly though, I think we miss Finch. We lost a fair amount of creativity with Piggy leaving, and although I think McIllorum is a good player he won't ever create a huge amount. Our kicking was woeful just like it was most of last year.

Was anyone missing for St George btw? I'd love to have seen us with Fielden/Lima/Finch/Richards, especially playing in Aus (maybe next year!).

I do have a question about how you play in the NRL. Is it normal to have a trainer stood behind the attacking line for much of the time coaching the players on the run?