Ah, that would explain it.

Irrelevant how we played at Salford last night as having just seen the Leeds match, according to Wiggy and Stevo, it's in the bag for Leeds, WCC, league leaders shield, GF, CC, Grand national, Miss World etc etc

And quite fascinating last night's coverage was, as well. Not to say ludicrous into the bargain.

Has someone been telling Wiggie to start 'talking the game up' rather than complaining about the ref all the time, or was it just because it was Leeds?

Apparently Leeds were awe-inspiring right from the kick-off. There just weren't enough adjectives to describe how good they were. Even though it was 6-6 at half-time, and John Wells described the first 40 as scrappy and a half that both teams would want to forget.

It's nothing new, of course. The only difference now is that Leeds are the immortals of the moment rather than Saints, and it's Kevin for pope rather than Kieron.

Thornley was a huge positive from last night. I think people know he'll make yards, be a try threat and hit hard in defence due to his sheer size but the worry was his ability to put his winger in space. That wasn't an issue last night and Richards got some fantastic ball to play with via Thornleys passes/offloads. They're a huge pairing and could build a pretty special partnership down that side.

Another positive was the performances of 2 more young lads in Faz and Hughes. Both played 80 minutes, got through stacks of defensive work and caused problems going the other way. They're both developing very nicely and can form the cornerstone of that backrow for years. They're both ginger n all so the heat of Australia will hopefully put them off the NRL.

We may not win anything this year and we will have some tough spells IMO but in the long term this team could be excellent. It's young, hungry and a way off reaching it's peak. Leeds, Wire and even Saints are probably more ready now but this Wigan team is set up beautifully for the long term. The big cloud is Tomkins leaving but one man doesn't make a team however good they may be. We'll have to invest his transfer fee wisely though.

Well, it's not like any of Salford's staff have history of betting scandals or anything.

The big plus for me was the effort, especially in defence. Nil a team, and you cant lose the game


All too often in the past when there's been underlying backroom trouble, that's been reflected on the field in both effort and attitude.
After last night, I'm of the opinion that the recent disruptions at the club have been put aside by the players, and that they are 100% behind the coach, and passionate about playing for their place in the team. Next week will be a different kettle of fish, I know, but if we show the commitment that the squad is capable of, then I'll be happy, irrespective of the result.

Last night saw the beginings of a kicking game. Smith was kicking distance and low so the receiving player had to wait for the bounce. Our chasers made a lot of yards on the back of it.

Green looked good and Thornley looks like he's the real deal given time. The pick up for his try was brilliant especially for a guy who's around 6'5". Good game from Faz, best man out there IMO. Our props looked good but Taylor look a bit off the pace. Dudson was excellent and his forcing of the mistake off Salford led to Josh's try.

Thought we missed Lima, Hock and H. Taylor needs to up his game although Faz was terrific. Hughes played solid but all the strapping on his thigh gave the impression he wasn't fully fit.

Nine of the seventeen came from our youth system Which is where the future now is for all clubs. We do appear better fixed than most in that regard.

As for next week, first thing is cut out the penalties. That number against us in the first half would mean the game over at half time v Wire. They've had a hit out and will need to improve for next week. Everyone knows that including the coaches and the squad.

That perhaps was Waney's best available 17. He needed to play them all together as next week is such a tough encounter.

agree with everything you say. i've been impressed with wane for 3 main reasons :

1 as you say, he hasnt let the background chaos leak onto the field of play
2 he has looked at the performances in the friendlies and picked a team accordingly (eg powell on the bench, thornley in the centres, burke in the squad)
3 80 minutes of discipline

I do have 1 bug bear remaining though. In all the pre-season games we were pinged heavily by refs, and that continued last night. against a poor team its not going to matter, but next week and in the play-offs, it will be crucial. for some reason, we are not able to understand how a ref if officiating and compensating. it was our biggest failing last year, and looks like its still an issue.

[iThe law changes in full are as follows:

Ball in touch or touch in-goal or dead in-goal (Section 9)

A player is deemed to be in touch if any part of his body touches the touchline or anything outside of the playing field. Similarly, a player is deemed to be touch in-goal or dead in-goal if any part of his body touches the touch in-goal or dead-ball line or anything outside the field of play in those areas. If a player who is in touch, touch in-goal or dead in-goal touches a moving ball then the team who kicked the ball or knocked on are responsible for the ball going out of play. However, if the ball is stationary in the field of play and is then touched by a player who is in touch, touch in-goal or dead in-goal then that player is responsible for the ball going dead .[/i



but as it was a 40-20 it made no difference , should have collected the ball imho

The team picked itself IMO. He had few other options open to him giving Lauaki and H's injuries. About the only thing he could have done different last night is play Burke but I don't blame for not doing as I am sure he wouldn't want to throw him an v Wire and will have wanted what will be next weeks team to play.

Had H been fit I reckon he would have played Hughes in the centres given he has the no 4 shirt despite the way things went in the friendlies



I agree so I given the penalty count I don't think you could say it was a disciplined performance even if the penalties were for technical stuff.

The discipline last night was a worry. Yes, a lot were technical, but we put two high shots in quick succession that led to the general warning being issued.

Dudson was then the one to pay the penalty. Luckily, at the time we had a handy lead on the board, and were good enough to increase it during the time we were down to 12.