Tomkins was the difference between the 2 sides & was instrumental in Wigan winning. Without him they were very mediocre . His dodgy play is nasty & certainly not needed on a rugby field.

Top and big game player.
We don't have one.
Someone who like Briers could get a grip of a game and do the management.

I wish we had a Rat Boy like player in our side.

The best players get away things like that. He is a champion and mentally a winner. Probably what we just lacked to get us through a grand final where we played well enough in defence to be worthy champions. We just lacked a leader and a general in the halves.

With Austin in the halves last night and a cool head alongside him, we almost certainly would have won. We didn't though and must continue to improve. I trust Steve Price to get us over this loss, and avoid a repeat of 2017.

We have no idea how Austin will be for us yet. We had high hopes for Roberts.

Yes, you're quite right - I'm meaning that if Austin provided a running threat (as we [iexpect[/i) with a classic half alongside him, it would have been the difference between win and a loss.

The trip is 10 minutes, all day long. Having been warned for that he then leads with his knees (like he does all season) and gets away with that too, so what's the point in giving him a warning?

That said, the worst decision for me was the penalty that piggy-backed them to their first try, that was not a late hit on Leuluai, at all. Later hits than that get let go in every single round

...and earlier on in the match on roberts.

Is the refereeing poor & should the video ref be intervening in these decisions which are no less critical than seeing if a try has or has not been scored? It is instances like we saw tonight that continue to convince me that playing the ref is the most important tactic for winning big games.

Yes he got flattened a few times in the first 20 minutes with hits so late they were posthumous.

This is the trouble with blaming the ref. You have overlooked that it was actually a Wire knock on early in the count AFTER we had defended the attack following the penalty award. All we needed to do was play out 5 tackles and boot it. But lack of composure and poor carry cost us.

100% correct IMO particularly the 'late' hit although watching it live and on TV may give a different perspective and before the likes of Brick with Eyes comes back I'm not sure that we'd have had enough guile to make the most of them being down to 12 and the best team won.

It's not an excuse for us not winning but in a standard game there's a good chance there'd be different calls and that can't be right can it?