Does Ratchford have ankles on his thighs?
Didn't Ashton Sims get suspended last season for punching a tackled player whilst he was prone on the ground, oh it was halfback, seems pretty common for your big lads doesn't it?

The thing i dont get is the fact that Wigan, with all its rich history........with being a rugby mad town.... With the largest volume of young players to choose from, ergo the best young talent.... is that they choose to play this particular brand of rugby.

Surely they should be the trailblazers... leading the way with a new and glorious expansive game... Teaching their endless stream of quality young players the right way to play the game and helping RL to grow as a sport... Instead we get "go out there and knock them out"... "ROADKILL ACHEIVED".. Lying on in the tackle, attacking the legs... all sorts of stuff.

Maybe its why their best young talent always seems to be hell bent on getting out of there fairly sharpish.

You can't blame any player or coach for attempting to take or create any advantage they can within or on the edge of the laws of the game. It is up to the RFL and referees to notice and then consistently apply the relevant law, or a common sense interpretation of the law.

Unfortunately consistency and common sense are all too lacking within the RFL and their referees.

How hard is it to police a correct ptb, even if it means sacrificing one game to the entertainment inspector. Play it with feet, don't move a metre forward.

Fantastic KT - brilliant !
Best laugh for a long time.

A lot to respond to in this thread. Firstly I'm really looking forward to tonight's game. I think Warrington have the edge and should be favourites but it could go either way.

1. Hanson on Ratchford. Firstly it was not a cannonball, not even close, Hansen made contact with the him. What caused the injury was Ratchford going over on his ankle whilst being pulled down by Richards. It would likely of happened whether Hansen had come in or not. I can understand the argument that Hansen shouldn't have entered the tackle so late however the ref had not called held therefore he has every right to do so. I believe the refs should be calling held a lot sooner than they did then and do now.

2. Cannonballs in general. I hate them, the potential for injury his huge. What some of you need to understand is the so called 'third man in' is not the issue it is how they enter the tackle that is the problem. I also understand that when Maguire came over a few Wigan players regularly entered tackles in a manner that they should not have done. I regularly critised my own team for it. I honestly don't believe it was a premeditated attempt to injure but a tactic designed to put a player to the floor to slow the play the ball down, it did however not take any consideration to the high potential for injury. It has correctly been banned and the punishment level upped which I believe is right too. If you look at the disciplinary for this season not a single Wigan player has been charged or banned for anything, never mind a cannonball which demonstrates that whatever indiscretions players have had in the past is no longer an issue. Having said that players from all teams will do things from time to time whether intentional or not, I hope I haven't jinxed tonight and someone does something stupid.

3. Slow play the balls. To be fair we are pretty good at it. If you watch Wigan don't lie on more than any other team, what we do is try and slow down the time it take from contact to the tackle being completed. Naturally if you put a lot of bodies into a tackle, once the ref has called held it takes longer for them all to get up. You may not like it but it is effective. Since day 1 all teams have sought ways to slow the play the ball down without getting penalised.

4. Moving off the mark. Players will get away with it when the defender leaves their hands on the attacker as benefit of the doubt is given to an attacker if he 'looses balance' whilst getting up and moves forward. Simple solution, if your defenders keep their hands out the attacker won't get the opportunity.

5. To whoever put up the lovely quote from Wane: Why do you never say the last 4 words? "but do it legal"