Am I right in thinking that Wire have only won 50% of Super League games without Monaghan since 2010 (which is when I think he moved to hooker permanently)?

From an outsider looking in I'd say he's as important to Wire as Roby is to Saints and I don't think Micky Higham is anywhere near good enough as a replacement. I know he got man of the match against Bradford and he does made some good runs and can still read a game well but he just doesn't seem to step out of dummy half and make himself a threat and he just can't control a game like Monaghan. He also isn't a livewire attacking player like Burrow, who can be dangerous without being a natural hooker.

When Higham left Wigan the difference was noticeable with Riddell. He wasn't anything special as far as Aussie hookers go but he could control a game and be a real influence from dummy half. It looks like Higham is a bit of a weak link.

'Champions'

I thought that Warrington didn't help themselves with their handling and deserved to lose.
There wasn't much in it however.

There are players that muck up in a serial way and there were a couple playing for the Wire tonight.

They are great in the clear, but panicky when it's tight.

Myler needs an invitation at times to go forward when he receives the ball when he's fairly static.
He dithers.

He didn't play well and neither did Atkins.

The rest of what you say is right about Monaghan but the stats on our form without Monaghan are wrong. Since Monaghan joined in 2008 he has only missed 9 games of which our record without him is won 7, lost 2. The only other game apart from today we lost without him was at Hull KR a couple of years back.

As we're on Monaghan stats check this out:

At Warrington he has started 50 games at halfback, won 24 lost 26 (48% win rate)
He has started 58 games at hooker, won 42, lost 15 drawn 1. (72.4% win rate)

In the NRL he started 54 games at halfback, won 25 lost 29 (46.3% win rate)
He started 44 games at hooker, won 28 lost 16 (63.6% win rate)

At the beginning of the season I told a Leeds supporter friend of mine that I thought we'd be unbeaten until we went to headingly and we would probably get stuffed as Leeds went all out to show who are "the champions". This week I actually said to the same friend, that I thought Leeds would still edge it but only by single figures. Am I disappointed...YES, Am I surprised...NO. AM I PANICING.....NOT A CHANCE IN HELL.

Will be great to have Monas back but i thought Mickey Higham played really well tonight. Early days. Our completion
rate was terrible, especially in the first half, on another day we would have won- even with that completion rate.

Usually I'd be dismayed with a performance like that. But I feel fine. We were very poor against a Leeds side who didn't even play well themselves. But it makes no difference whatsoever because until the season has finished and the extra bit starts in September very little of what anyone does from February to August matters.

We lost it, Leeds didn't win it.
Leeds lost 10 games last season including two spankings by us.
This game is irrelevant, which from a RFL point of view should be worrying.

You sound like one of those bitter Saints fans. They've been saying that last 5-6 years but choke every year!

We did lose that game in the first twenty minutes. Over-expansive offloads, not respecting posession, no field position, no pressure. Leeds are a good side and you can't just keep inviting them to attack you by handing them the ball. Both these teams will get better as the season progresses. I do agree about Trent Waterhouse, however - I think he's been under par so far this year. A few good things, but he suffers by comparison to Louis Anderson to date.

Your two victories against us last year were irrelevant as it turned out!

Leeds have a long and consistent record of winning the Championship so it will take many years for Warrington to try and match this record. But it is good for the game to have some new competition and it is also good that both teams try to win with an attractive attacking style. We should be applauding both teams.

The conditions conspired to prevent a classic last night and were a cause for some of the mistakes. It will be interesting if on their next meeting the ground is dry and firm.

Last season when you beat us in the league we had quite a few injuries to key players, yet when it mattered and we had them back we beat you. This is a different season to last, don't know how you can just assume you are better than us already.

Genuine question...how many of your key pivot players played in those games?...Sinfield, Mcguire, Burrow, Buderus, Webb?

I don't think a team can be anywhere near its best if a few of these players are missing.

For us the key pivots are Briers, Monaghan, Hodgson...and to a slightly lesser extent Grix, Myler and Bridge.

Precisely.....You lot won the end of season Cup competition that decides the champions, we won the 6 month tournament that decides the best team over the course of a season.

Considering we were missing Michael Monaghan, Brett Hodgson and Chris Bridge i was happy that we could get within 8pts of Leeds on their own ground, also we lost Ratchford during the game and Carvell didn't know what day it was for 10-20 mins.

The thing thats dissapointing of late is the number of unforced errors in the last 2 games, yeh the conditions havn't been ideal but quite a few of those errors were just simple dropped ball, also a few fumbles in defence near our own line. You can't keep turning over posession like that to any side.

Its going to be wet in the play-offs at the end of the year so we need to learn how to adapt better .