That seemed pretty terrible in my eyes. We are just drifting towards the end of the season, it's like watching a bad car crash in slow motion.

It was obvious Wigan were going to win from the first few minutes as they played the game at a different speed to us. Yes we scored two tries from kicks (one of them quite fortuitous), but the amount of times “moves” broke down was frustrating and we lacked any real go forward/penetration all afternoon.

I really, really hope we get and injection of fresh ideas and enthusiasm next season. We probably can't afford wholesale changes but to me we must make some. 7 home league wins in two seasons. It's hard not to be dispirited.

On the positive side the last two games have seen two of our biggest gates of the season.

To be honest, I was quite annoyed with our performance, our defense was woeful at times, decision making was horrible. They didn't know what they were doing.
The ref, was.. I'm not sure how to put it? I think he had a horrible game, for both sides, not just ours.
The fans around me were annoying come the last few tries, one called Ganson a 'dirty jew', which was.. shocking to say the least?
Attendence was good, glad to see so many people.
Team... Positions...
I'm not sure if I have to say this again, but..
Luke Dorn is not a SO.
He never will be a SO.
He is a FB.
He is quite a good FB.
He is better than BJB. - No matter how many people say BJB is better, and how many people seem to say that his defense is very good.. I've rarely ever seen him make a 1v1 tackle on the opposition. Yes, he's rusty, so give him so games in the reserves, Dorn was good at FB! Keep him at FB! You could see during the game Dorn was shouting at people to go to different positions, BJB never does this, he stands at the back, changing his own position, occasionally sticking up his hand to signal something, but rarely ever shouts. He isn't commanding enough, He's to young.
Dorn should be at FB.
On the plus sideeeees, as i mentioned earlier, attendence was good.
Thought J'OC had a good game to be honest, got a few penalties, made some metres, scored a try, even after getting moved to centre on the other side of the pitch.
I don't see any real effort from our team anymore, not in defense anyway, what has happened to Brians 'defense will win games' tactics, as our defense is crap, and our attack is just ... Clueless when put in different positions.

What has Gale actually done to BMc? He can control the game very well. As i said earlier, Dorn isn't a SO.
Another + i just thought of is our kicking game, I thought our kicking game has improved considerably, especially Dorn's. Some of his kick's were pin point, and Randall's 40-20.
I think that's all i need to say in this rant without getting to excited.

Woeful performance. Nice to see someone else realises Dorn's failings. Not sure I agree he is a "better" full back than BJB, they both offer different things, and I feel more comfortable with BJB at full back defensively.

Thought Ganson had a cracking game tbh, first time in ages I don't remember a single bad decision by the referee, got everything right.

I'd like to see us play Ellis at 6, Orr at 7, Randall at 9, Purdham at 13, Clubb at Skolars, Ward in the bar, Lamont captain.

We played ok considering the opposition. But im not impressed by Brian Mcs style of rugby. It doesnt build pressure or rely on good decision making, or reacting to what's in front of us. He thinks expansive rugby is lobbing it about as much as possible inside the oppositions twenty and pushing passes that aren't there. The way Wigan were defending today we had to put more high kicks into the corner, grubbers into the in goal, force errors and repeat setss or bash our way through. Lateral movement and forcing passes does not equal good rugby. No variation or plan B today, very disappointing as Wigan were not at their best (apart from that slippery little chav Tomnkins!).

Dorn at FB, BJB at centre, Clubb second row, Gale at SH and Purdo at LF, not difficult is it? I thought Ganson was OK, it was similar to the Leeds game, they just waited for us to give the ball away and turn the screw when we got fed up of throwing the ball away.
Brian has to go, it feels much like the final games of TR's reign. We were clueless with the ball and seem terrified to have the ball in front of the opponents post. At times it looked like pass the parcel with a hot potato. A good side would have pressured Wigan with a variety of kicks until they cracked.

Again, I find myself sticking up for McDermott. Luke Dorn will play stupid rugby league no matter who the coach is. So will Chad Randall.

Lister is your middle name contrary?

If I had to choose between Randall and McDermott it wouldn't be a hard choice.

The trouble with Quins is that they cannot complete consistent sets of six and seem to panic leading to basic errors which the opposition often exploit and score. I have watched the current squad train on a number of occasions and many of the mistakes made during a game are present in training. Mac is passionate about the game and try has he might to develop the team the problem is with the quality of the players and there is little he can do once they are on the pitch during a game. We are simply not a competitive SL team who over the season have been found out and our league position tells the story.
This season is over and I believe we are seeing the death of the current set up, Mac will end up at Bradford and a number of the squad will move on or retire.

It's hard to argue with most of this, but on the general point I agree with Mac that I'd rather see them losing trying to play rugby than the tedious losing arm wrestles we got at the end of last season and the beginning of this.

His sub-text is that we don't have the personnel to compete in every facet of the game so we either play a high-risk game (frustrating when the ball doesn't stick or the players are unable to follow through) or play Nobby-one-up-and-a-kick. I prefer the first.

The worry, as PTB points out, is if this is the limit of our ambitions for next season and beyond, ie to field a team that can't compete in every facet of the game.

Who got MOM? Can anyone have pipped Temata?

Nobody's mentioned the collectors' item - a 50 yard Ward break. That and an O' Callaghan try. Hasn't J 0' C gone up a notch the last few matches.

He won a Premiership in reserve grade with the Roosters playing there. He's played first grade for Manly there. He played a lot of his aussie career there. He was bought by London to play there.


I take it, he's not doing something right there at the mo then?

I'm disappointed also, but not because we were dire - but because we didn't go in at half time in the lead. I thought we dominated the first 40. We weren't even really outplayed in the second half, but with Howell off and Lamont versus Richards in a catching contest it was a matter of time before they scored enough points on that side to win the game.
Of course that could be the beer talking....

O'C got both MOM's

The issues I have are

We have the best hooker from last year playing 7
We have an ex int 7 playing 9
We have a GB 13 playing 12
We have an ex GB FB sat in the stand
We have a player we have signed for 4 years who is progressing as a good 6 sat in the stand
Our top scorer who has chimed into the line from FB stuck yesterday at 6
A prop forward in LMS who never wins the contact going forward and in defence
A cente that is forever running out the line and leaving gaps
A centre wing partnership in Clubb/O'C that has been thrashed in several games- Riley 5 tries, HKR Whelam 4 tries and multiple others-
Using 3 of the bench rather than 4

I despair with it.

The annoying thing is we have a reasonable team/squad-its the utilisation of the players and a firm playing structure that appears to be lacking.

Why when we get 10 metres from the line do we automatically go wide against a set defence- why not bang a couple in close to the middle sucking in the defence creating gaps out wide then go for broke- Saints bang Graham in, Wire Morley, Leeds leululi etc. We tap and put a 20 metre pass on whilst the defence just comes up and tackles as it is set

Does McDermott not think other coach study the opposition

They can read us like a book