Overall very happy with the way the team played, there is a lot that can be taken from that game.
I will start with Chris Hill, personally I think he is a liability but a worthy liability when he is playing properly. He needs to work on his tackling because he has given quite a few penalties away over the last few years with high shots, and last night whilst it was clumsy and the red card was the right choice, and yes the guy was going down to score a try but I mean come on he could have broke the guys neck but I do not believe in the slightest that he intended to injure or hurt the guy.
Hill was probably one of the top 3 last year for high shots, and whilst going forward attacking with the ball he is good, he just needs to take abit more care when tackling and I know it's a fast pace game with split second decisions but when you are going in to tackle someone, you should know to "Avoid the head".
After the red the team played really well and deserved to get something from the match, but it wasn't to be and it can be blamed on a number of reasons but for me it comes down to:
1: Poor kicking, the attacking kicks were just aweful and could easily be predicted, it would be nice if they could kick not just high to the wings but where are the kicks across the ground, where are the kicks to the sticks? The only kick that I thought was a decent attacking kick was the one to set Ashton away running other than that there was nothing.
2: Playing against 14 men, maybe playing against 15 men, I mean how can reaching to the side and behind you be classed as a charge down? then the knock on after being classed as a strip? neither Kendall or the linesman spotted it, multiple high tackles and cheap shots in tackles not picked up on from frankly both teams, strips by both not being spotted but when Warrington did it, it was nearly always spotted, the whole tackle and then get back on to drag them around to stop the play of the ball not penalised, I know it was the first game of the season but come on the officials need to be better than that.
3: Unimaginary attacking, where was the off loading or dummies, quick passes, dummy runners and many other things that could have been done when attacking? Why is it that they didn't really try anything until they were close to the line or the last 10 minutes?
4: Discipline, I know again it's the first game of the season and Kendall was penalising stuff that didn't happen but the players need to be better disciplined otherwise they will just give the game away especially in games where the officials are all to happy to blow the whistle.
Coopers sin bin, I am 70/30 on I think it could have gone either way but I think it went the right way because you just cannot stop someone from running through like that. Honestly let him get through and if he scores you still have 12 men on the pitch so you stand a better chance, but by stopping him you get binned and they score anyway and put the whole team under extra pressure that wasn't needed. Again first game and all so it's not a major disaster and is no where near the season ender that I have heard some people say on facebook and other forums I go on I mean
talk right there but play abit smarter.
Other than those issues I think the team played well and could be up there this year if that is how they play the whole season, it is a marked difference from last season and hopefully when Widdop is fit and the team get back in to the groove of playing it should be a good year.
Wigan to me looked like they just didn't know what to do until we lost Hill and Cooper but even then they looked like they were struggling to think of how to attack and I think Warrington were lucky to not have had more points put past them, because I think if Wigan had, had a clue on how to attack then they would have shipped in more points.
Either way I am looking forward to the Saints game and to see how Warrington play, but please for the love of the game think about the attacking side of the game!
