Just watched it back again. The dark arts at play would have embarrassed Voldemort and Grindelwald combined, it did not help that Moore allowed them to get away with it the ruck speed was horrible. Welsby should have gone in the bin for 2nd grab on Dufty when he made that break and when Williams put King in for his 2nd try he got cut in half by Lomax and could not make out the other player. Williams stayed down after that hit and looked sore when he got up and walked away. It was the atmosphere that made that game a great spectacle for TV. I know I’ve already mentioned this one once but still confused why Moore who had the perfect spot to watch the drop goal then decided to look at his linesmen before blowing his whistle.

Karetaker. You are absolutely right. Yep the intensity of that game will stand us in good stead but we were taught a valuable lesson on Sat night. The lesson that Saints taught us is what you can get away with in a play off game. The reason so few teams have won the grand final is that yes they are very good teams but they learn those tricks. They know they can stay on in a tackle for another half a second and not suffer a set restart. They know they can get off their line that little bit quicker without conceding a penalty. From memory we had two incorrect play the balls on Sat and against Leigh a few weeks ago we had the same thing 3 or 4 times because we were trying to speed up the PTB after the officials have started to officiate the game in play off mode.
We won the game whilst being given a lesson. We just need to make sure we take that information and use it to be a bit smarter

It is a lot easier watching the game second time round.
My thoughts are that we were probably better than I had thought. To come back from 12 points behind is some achievement & that we may not have another gear ... which some on here keep suggesting. Saints hit us hard in the first half but we recovered.
2. Williams was on fire and it's a good job he was. He might not be as effective vs. Hull KR & we need to have more attacking options.
3. Concerned about how much pressure is put on our full back with high kicks whereas their back three had it pretty easy. Didn't like to see Dufty clutching his knee.
4. I'd take a take an early score every match.

It would be interesting to hear big Sam's thoughts after he's watched the game a few times.

see my notes elsewhere on this

Hmm, can't quite make out if the comments to my post are all being sarcastic or not but in a nut shell if that's how you want to put it then yes!

However that is not what I was getting at, and before I go on, I was actually rooting for you in the game as I think you deserved to be in the mix much more than Saints, so I am not having a pop at you as a team.

Mistakes happen in every game, players pass behind players, players drop the ball etc. it will happen in every game no matter how good a team you are, I was merely pointing out that two of the Saints tries and especially their last try came from nothing plays, there were not elusive dummy runners dragging players in field and holding up defenders (or from what I remember) the minute they played the ball on the right edge you could see them going in at the left corner with the way the defenders did not make a conscious effort to slide across, it just looked all far too easy, I am just saying it is those little effort areas that coaches go on about that turn good teams into silverwear winning teams.

He has to check with the linesman that no defending player was 'blocked' from getting to Williams to charge the drop goal down, there was never a doubt that it went through the sticks, it was more if the play was clean leading up to the final kick and that the kick was taken cleanly

One thing you can't throw at this team sir is lack of effort - we also finished with a better points for and against than your beloved side. Have a word with Peet as teams have obviously been scoring with more ease against Wigan than Wire this season.

Fair point and maybe I’m being a bit picky just in other games where a drop goal won the game unless I’m mistaken the ref blew up straight away. Maybe it’s also that thing in me that Saints must always be given more chances and it felt like he was looking around just a bit to long looking for a reason to disallow it.

I agree, it did take an age for him to blow the whistle and did feel as though they could be checking for the slightest thing to disallow it, but I guess give the circumstances of the game they had to be sure.

I am not necessarily doubting the lack of effort as such but more the lapse of concentration when it is needed the most, especially when that lapse could have cost you a spot in the semi final.

Note to self, when I see Matty next, tell him that next season it is far better to finish with a superior points difference than to win more games than the rest of the league.

Just trying to have a constructive discussion on the weekends game, which by the way was a thrilling game, not trying to bash the Wire or down play the win, more that it should have been an easier win if not for those lapses of concentration

Just coming on as another Wigan fan to say congratulations on a fine victory. What a great game that was to watch. When Williams put Ashton in for your second try that was absolute class. What a player Williams is! The mental strength shown by both sides was impressive. I thought in the first few minutes you were going to have Saints on toast but they dug in and put the early score out of their heads. Then, at 16-4, it looked like the game was going away from Warrington but, again, they dug in and pulled themselves back in. Absolute cracker to watch as a neutral. I get some people are saying Warrington made too many errors and won't get away with that against Rovers but that doesn't necessarily allow for how well Saints played. Errors on both sides were mostly forced by intensity in defence, and that will continue in the semis.

Looking ahead to this week, I think we should have a couple of belters again. With home advantage and the week off we and Rovers will deservedly start as favourites but neither result is nailed on. Obviously, as a Wigan fan I am desperate for us to go on and complete the grand slam but, if we do go out, I would love to see any of Leigh, Rovers or Warrington champions at the end of the season. All three are wonderful teams to watch, with some genuine star players, and, looking past my club bias for a moment, it really would be good to see a new name on the trophy at long last. That said, I will still curse a blue streak if we lose this week or next! Best of luck to all teams this weekend. Hoping the results are determined by the players and everyone avoids injuries.

Cheers - great to see such a classy post from a rival fan.

A agree with some of this and Burgess commented on "soft edge defence". We also failed to play the ball correctly on 2 occasions due to composure and some unforced knock ons from bread basket passes. Not lack of effort, maybe concentration. We were not clinical by any means but we did win.

Thank you, maybe I didn't phrase my first post correctly but what I was trying to say is, if you fixed up a couple of those areas, then there is no reason with the team you have at the moment you couldn't go on to win some trophies and do it consistently, and that is what generally separates the teams that do and those that don't.

Yes it was not a GF winning performance, and I don't think we will win the GF this season, but it's a massive step forward over recent seasons.