Even when he penalised them he apologised afterwards. 

Dufty is infuriating. Philbin is fantastic - legs like a hydraulic press. Holroyd tackled himself silly - brilliant engine for that. Thewlis great too, always finds a way to nick a few more metres.


The game was a lot of ifs buts and maybes. Dufty tackle attempt was worst thing I've seen in a long time, embarassing. But then he goes and does that few minutes later.


Overall decent performance and really dug in for each other but honestly Wigan were never out of second gear and had they been we'd have been 20 points further behind that scoreline.

Hang on though, why were they in second gear? I think it was because we kept French, Smith and Marshall almost entirely out of the game. 

Lots of positives in defeat today, plenty of effort, commitment to each other and yes Wigan might think that they were below par but there is an element of grit that meant that we were in the game and not quite the thrashing everyone thought we were going to get.

No questioning the attitude of this team and the forwards in particular were a match for theirs. Good to see Lindop back, Thewlis the younger did really well as did Leyland, no wonder he was grinning at the end.


Sets us up nicely for next week hopefully we can sort Leigh out and following that keep ourselves in touch in the league 

One thing to take from today is that we’re still in ALL of this. HKR and Wigan are better than us but both are very beatable.

Holroyd was excellent today too. Tough assignment on that right edge but he ripped in, showed no respect to Wigan and made a nuisance of himself. Just wish he'd pop an extra Weetabix in the bowl of a morning.

Holroyd should be one of the first names on the teamsheet. A proper RL player and MILES better than Crowther. Read last year how he came through the system with Nsemba and loves playing against him. Wonderful attitude and strange he’s not thought more highly of than Crowther by Burgess (seemingly). 

I praised him and I like what he does, but he made some very poor errors in defence in matches earlier in the season and lacks the size you need at the very top of the league (as does Crowther). 

Imagine how good he is if he played like he did today but was built like Fitzgibbon.

64,156 official attendance over the 2days. Never looked like that on tv, think they may have counted Newcastle Utd season ticket holders in that

I think many people just go for their own team's game and maybe catch a bit of the game before. Bit of a shame I think because I've always enjoyed watching the other games and getting involved.

Much to admire about today's effort, which was superb in the circumstances. However, you have to say, nobody does heroic defeat quite like Wire. Over the years, there have been so many games where we get ourselves into the position of storming back into a game and having five or ten minutes to get one more score. But we nearly always find a way to lose it rather than win it. Overall though, I feel as positive as you can do after a defeat.

Given how I thought this would go I was pleasantly suprised.
All the youngsters stood up well - and pleased to see Leyland did a decent job defensively. It'll have done his confidence a world of good.
If we have the same 17 next week - with the same desire, grit and togetherness - I won't complain, regardless of the result.


Wigan deserved to win imo, but after going down 12-0 I thought we did a decent job on Field and French.
Wigan dominated early on and we did seem to struggle for yards throughout, but still found a way to be snapping at their heels.


I'm sure Ratch will be disappointed with a number of his inputs, and I'm thinking of asking my 88 year old mother to show Dufty how to use the sideline and take down an attacker. She'd have to take her false teeth out first though.....


I thought Currie had an excellent match and am looking forward to seeing his stats - tackles in particular. I love the way he plays at 13. Probably my mom.
But great performances by Josh and Jake. Given the latter has so little first team experience I'd suggest he's an even better prospect than Josh at the same stage, however Joshs' kick through for Tai's try was pure class.
Holroyd had a good game (I'd need to watch again to see the mjstakes that have ben mentioned). He's not the biggest, but the heart of a lion.


A game with a lot of 'if onlys', but it is what it is.
On to Leigh.