Quote: pk "i work with a wire fan who went (I didn't) his take on it was that Wigan were very solid in defence if unspectacular going forward. He thought we still look light up front. Eamonn and HH got a good seeing to on a number of hit ups apparently. Feka still heavy and only effective for 8/10 mins, Fielden scared of mixing it with big boys. Sam constant threat all night.
I trust this bloke, he isn't your usual wire bullpooper.
i like the strong defence thing though. back to the rip and tear of mike greg wouldnt hurt at all.'"
We were more spectacular then Wire going forward in terms of skill but they made more metres up the middle. I wouldn't say O'Carroll and Hansen got hammered but especially O'Carroll made very little ground.
Feka is still heavy but what did your mate expect! he surely didn't think he'd come along and see Feka standing there weighing about 6stone. He's lost about the right amoung of weight for me to play more minutes, be more mobile in defence and attack yet not lost too much impact.
Fielden was a constant target for the Wire defence but kept taking it in and Wire players rushing out of the line at him only leaves holes elsewhere imo.
Tomkins got better as the night went on and looked head and shoulders the best halfback on the park. He linked up very well with Deacon which was encouraging.
The defence was very good and they really got stuck in.
Quote: clifford "Regardless of peoples negative opinion of our pack - we still won last night and last year beat teams such as Leeds, Wire and Saints who on paper all have a better pack than ours. Our packs potential and ability always come into question on here . I hear many people blaming the pack when Wigan lose however you could argue that the likes of Carvell and Morley consistently punch holes in defence but it does not produce wins all the time. Fielden has lost his shine, Coley (who takes a lot of stick on here) is nothing outstanding but is solid and gets through a lot of work, Feka is an impact prop etc however as a unit they work pretty well for Wigan. Now all of them are fighting for places with O'Carroll and other youngsters hot on their heels, not to mention all of them are in the shop window for either Wigan or other teams next year so we should see an overall improvement in all of their games.'"
Cracking post mate and something i've been feeling for a long time. There are a few other team's packs might have 1 (2 at a stretch) individuals that I feel would be an improvement over what we have, but as a unit of players I think our pack matches any in the league when it's not dropping the ball Lost track of the amount of times i've rewatched highlights of our losses now, and i've still not found one that was due to the pack not providing enough go forward. I'll say it again, bulk of our games lost were due to giving away too many penalties and errors either defusing our own attack or putting us under repeat pressure in defence, combined with a poor medium to long range kicking game not delivering what we needed to relieve the pressure.
Cracking post mate and something i've been feeling for a long time. There are a few other team's packs might have 1 (2 at a stretch) individuals that I feel would be an improvement over what we have, but as a unit of players I think our pack matches any in the league when it's not dropping the ball
I totally agree about the ball retention and penalties issue. In the 2 friendlies Lockers, Coley, Mossop, Prescott , Fielden and O'Carroll (I think O'Carroll anyway!) have all either lost the ball or been penalised and this is what costs us. Sometimes its just bloody hard luck, other times its stupid errors but either way they need to reduce them.
I once very bravely asked one of our props (who tops the list for dropped balls and probably penalties ) what was up with his hands . He admitted that it was about finding the right balance of running in as hard as possible but keeping hold of the ball and as first receiver the last thing you need is to drop it on the first play. He also defended himself and his fellow props by saying people want more aggression from our pack but most of them are already topping the penalty chart and he felt that again it was a hard balance to strike.
That said an improvement in this area is a must.
Our pack makes too many handling errors but besides that it's pretty solid.
I always worry about the pack in these early months because I don't really think the heavy pitches suit us. We've got a mobile pack that suits playing on dry pitches and thats why I don't think it's a conincidence when our form picks up after a couple of months.
It's alot of expectation to put on one young player but I think Mossop will help us bigtime early doors. He's a big lad and does the job of a 5th prop in that second row just getting through stacks of work. He really could just help us nick a couple of extra yards here and there which could prove to be very important.
Overall though if we can keep the errors down early on this season we'll go ok.
quite surprised at some of the comments about the Wigan packs' performance the other night, personally thought they went ok and got better as it went on , some superb organisation defensively , very smart work
Wigan will give teams plenty to think about up front and around the ruck
Agree about us getting better upfront as the game went on. We struggled for yards early doors but that improved as the game wore on and we seemed to be able to limit Wire's yards more aswell.
Bar the handling errors it was an impressive display from Wigan the other night.
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Lost track of the amount of times i've rewatched highlights of our losses now, and i've still not found one that was due to the pack not providing enough go forward. I'll say it again, bulk of our games lost were due to giving away too many penalties and errors either defusing our own attack or putting us under repeat pressure in defence, combined with a poor medium to long range kicking game not delivering what we needed to relieve the pressure.
. He admitted that it was about finding the right balance of running in as hard as possible but keeping hold of the ball and as first receiver the last thing you need is to drop it on the first play. He also defended himself and his fellow props by saying people want more aggression from our pack but most of them are already topping the penalty chart and he felt that again it was a hard balance to strike.
