Agree with you about O'loughlin. If Mr Childs was refereeing he would have been in to double figures penatlies conceded.

For all those fans who missed Mr S Tompkins esquire during yesterdays game, he was the one doing the Tommy Makinson impression, and the one who...........errrrrr......actually i think that was the only stand-out thing he did.

I enjoyed the bit where Mr Ganson told Morley and McIllorum(?) to "...stop kissing you two, and get up!" That's why I love our game, when the referee sees a bit of handbagging, he just rips the urine out of the offenders who get up looking sheepish, and play continues.

As for the game itself, Wire did what they did to us, and just choked Wigan at every opportunity. 75% possession at one point, and Wigan completing at 50%? Never gonna win a game like that. The only worrying thing from Warrington's perspective is that they didn't score more points.

There were 2 tries disallowed that looked fine, Joel's where Ganson had blew the whistle and Waterhouse where it got called forward. With Hodgson kicking those would probably have turned into 12 points.

I'll take 30 points against the best defence in the league though.

Im a Wire fan, but I freely admit Sam is a genius. I love to see him play against everyone except us.

The Waterhouse effort was probably called back to make up for the howler in the first half.

I'd be more worried about Warrington only having to play in 3rd gear after a short turn around against a supposed top side away from home...more to come.

there was also Joel's actual try, which shouldn't have stood because it was half a mile forward.

There was hardly any opportunity for him to inject himself into the game. Wigan struggled to get the ball wide throughout the game because the forwards had an absolute mare. The Wire pack was just completely dominant down the middle.
Shaun Wane did make a massive mistake in selecting Prescott who couldn't possibly be match fit (and showed that he definitely wasn't) and also playing Hansen who wasn't fit enough. If he thought Wigan could afford to carry two unfit players in the pack against the strongest pack in the league then he's very naive. Wire were always more likely to win the forward battle but Wane made it basically a certainty with his team selection.

Tomkins has little chance of getting involved when the team just can't get the ball wide and put together attacking moves. Hock was also starved of the ball because Finch was completely misfiring and the team just couldn't dominate enough to put any moves together. Both Tomkins and Hock had little opportunity to get involved because the team was trying to keep its shape but completely failing to do what was necessary to put any sort of move together.
He could have run from dummy half more but why would he? He would have hit a brick wall. Only strong runs would have made any difference.

One criticism certainly is fair though, and that's criticising his unwillingness to return kicks. The fact that he catches and then passes to Charnley just does exactly what defences want him to do. It completes removes any sort of threat that Wigan might have from returning kicks and it's about time Tomkins took the line on himself.

Some good sense here and shows that even Sam Tomkins has his shortcomings. He is still far and away the most dangerous broken-field runner in the game, though, the sort of bloke who might go 75 minutes doing sod-all and then score two tries in the last five. That's why he commanded such attention from the Wire defense.

Nice to know you're the spokesman for all Pies from now on. Might as well shut down the Wigan board as what the rest of them say is manifestly irrelevant, I take it, honey?

He's like any fullback really in that his effectiveness it seriously diminished behind a beaten pack. A good defence will also make it harder for him to stand out because when playing at fullback he has to rely an awful lot on other players to play well and combine before he's brought into play. It has always been the drawback of playing our most dangerous attacking threat at fullback.

Playing an unfit Brett Finch made things so much more difficult. While Shaun Wane said he didn't have any option but to play him (with Powell injured) clearly there was the option of playing Tomkins at stand off and Jack Murphy at fullback. Nothing would have been lost from not having Finch because he could barely put a pass in the right place and while some attacking threat goes with Murphy at fullback he actually also provides a safer pair of hands.

That is why I dont think Tomkins is MoS, he doesnt yet take responsibility for a game.

Finch has been outstanding for Wigan this season imo, he controls the game very very well, and when Lueluai is playing Finch has a bit more time to create space which Tomkins is the best player in SL at taking advantage of. I dont think it is just coincidence that Tomkins has looked poor in games where Finch hasnt fired, which is in games where Lueluai hasnt played.

They work very well as a three, but when O'loughlin, and now Smith has come in to replace Lueluai teams have focused on shutting down Finch which has allowed packs to get on top of them, with less space for Tomkins who is outstanding in broken field and when running wide against stretched defenses.

I think it's always much harder for a fullback to take responsibility for a game. Even the best fullbacks are largely dependent on the ability of other players around them. Of course all of the best fullbacks are in the NRL where even the worst teams have enough talented players to allow their fullbacks to get into the game. If Wigan had Billy Slater in the side it still wouldn't have made any difference in that game. The entire team failed, except for the two wingers, who showed more bottle than all of the forwards put together, especially Thornley who coped well with the aerial threat of Monaghan.

I agree though that Tomkins shouldn't be man of steel. He's had quite a few games where he's just appeared to sit back and also just doesn't stand out enough in big games.
The possible candidates from Wigan should be Finch, Hock and O'Loughlin. O'Loughlin would be ruled out because he's missed games with injury and had a fairly unsuccessful stint in the halves, but when fully fit and at loose forward he's been outstanding yet again. Hock wouldn't win anyway as it would be too controversial.

For me it should be Finch as the current favourite.