I think the Wigan management suffer from the illusion that in days of old when many of their players were miners & worked hard & played hard that the present day crop of players ,groomed by Fadge then Wane, must also be "dead 'ard" & do unspeakable things to opponents. It would be much more pleasing for spectators of rugby league to see a skilful Wigan team than one that tries to intimidate.

I'm sorry but that's absolute b0llocks. You should try concentrating on your own team of angels like Benny Westwood, Ryan Bailey and Ashton Sims before making stupid claims about a player you watch a handful of times a year.

What did sims, Westwood or Bailey do last night that was bad? Sims lined a few up a coupon of times (and missed) but nothing wrong with looking for a big hit.

RL is a tough game, played by tough men and all spectators see genuine acts of mental and physical toughness on a weekly basis, that very few of us could contemplate attempting let alone enduring.

However, let's nip this in the bud. What Farrell did was not "tough", or "hard". It wasn't the act of an enforcer or an attempt to rough up a key opposition player in an attempt at gamesmanship, or to push the rules to attempt to provoke a reaction.

It was a pre-meditated attempt to injure a player who had already scored when he entered into the tackle, knees first. It was cowardly and petulant, and the sole motivation was, having failed to stop a try, to make damn sure the scoring player wasn't going to be around to repeat the dose. What was almost as unpalatable was his captain vociferously protesting his innocence with that snarling, wide-eyed, puritanical look so beloved of his put-upon team.

Case for the prosecution rests. Over to you RFL.

I actually agree with part of this, I think Bailey has been absolutely disgraceful every time he's pulled a Warrington shirt on, he's a disgrace to the badge and shouldn't be allowed to make another appearance after each and every despicable and sordid and cruel act that he's done in his brief time as a Warrington player.



/idiot

You can pack that in [iright now[/i. Ben Currie is headed for the very top, Farrell is passing him rapidly in the opposite direction.

When did I say anything about what Bailey has done in a Warrington shirt?

/moron

When did Farrell knee anyone in the head last night, or grapple or come in third man and lie on, or stand on the hands of a Wire player?

My reply was to point out the absolute bulle that the previous poster laid on.

Farrell overstepped the mark. He should have been sin binned. Don't exactly see how he's suddenly the devil incarnate and the dirtiest player to play the game now but that's a usual fan reaction. He doesn't give away many penalties for foul play, especially considering he's a back row forward and makes plenty of tackles. He can be petulant and put in a cheap shot when he loses his cool but that's not exactly a rarity for a rugby player.

After all, we saw Ashton Simms punch George Williams in a tackle last year. Surely that was also a pre-meditated attempt to injure a player, cowardly and petulant with the sole motivation of ensuring the player didn't remain on the field. Shall we mention Ben Westwood? Come on, all teams have players who do things like Farrell did last night.

Also, in response to another poster about Farrell and 'spoiling tactics'. Every team has players who employ spoiling tactics too. It's fairly ironic that a player can be criticised for spoiling tactics when every single team has players who do it. Usually they are the most experienced forwards too and often one of the best players in a team. Gareth Ellis is one of the best back row forwards, but he does it. Chris Hill is the best prop in Super League, but he does it to the same extent as Farrell or anyone else (or maybe no Wire fan noticed?). Experienced players do it all the time.

You told us to concentrate on our own team and then bafflingly went on to justify your point by spouting some BS about another team

Farrell doesn't need to do it though, he's the best Wigan have. The pack from yesterday (before anyone bangs on, I know about injuries. Everyone has them, that's why you build a squad) were full of average joes. Farrell was the only forward to break 60 meters carrying the ball.

I admire his competitive spirit and aggression, which I think McGuire built in players, but the lines seem to have blurred on what's aggressive/competitive and what's foul play. That last night was the latter.

...and we haven't even got to Ben Flower yet.

Watch him closely, he should be penalised at every single PTB, every single one.

Westwood's taken a couple of heads off, Bailey is Bailey, and Sims slapped Williams in the mush last season...all true...but I'm not talking about big incidents once or twice a season or even in a career nor "thug" stuff, I'm talking about niggly slowing tactics in every single tackle he ever makes, every one!

I agree. He's the best we have and he lets himself down when he does things like that. He's a player who does silly things when he loses his temper though. I remember a match when he spent the entire game arguing with the ref (I don't think I'd seen him even speak to a ref until that game) and ended up sin binned. He was our only good player in that game too but lost his cool through frustration.

I do think the pack is better than what you make out though. Joel Tomkins is still a good player on his day, but he's been out for a while and still needs to build up match fitness. Isa also started the season very well but you could see he was pretty much a passenger throughout that game. He didn't look fit at all. The props are hit and miss. None of our props make more than 60m in most games and that's tactical, as they generally make fewer carries compared to other teams, but we have no one of the quality of Hill. Too often our props go through the motions and so they can't really effect change.

Just like Chris Hill then. It's part of the game. All teams have players who do it regularly. Often the best and most experienced players do it. If players didn't think to do it themselves they'd be instructed to do it by their coaches. It's nothing new, he's one of dozens who try to slow the play the ball down as often as possible. Every single team has players who do it every chance they get.