The problem I have with Bowen is his inability to play well under pressure. How many times did we see him dropping balls like he did last night in big games? I could possibly excuse it if he was a young player starting out, but this lad has played over a decade in the NRL I just can't comprehend how he made those errors last night, it's mind boggling.

Hampshire may have also dropped that high bomb, but at least Hampshire offers a bit of spark in attack, Bowen offered absolutely zero last night.

I'd agree with the points made about Josh, don't know what's happened to him but he didn't look interested last night.

Yes, agreed, jonh. One of the good things this season has been the development of Williams, after a shaky start, into a talented half. But in a big game like last night, he was entitled to more help and support from Lockers and Smith.

As for Bowen, he has shown occasional moments of class, but overall just hasn't been good enough in defence and doesn't offer enough in attack. Frankly hope he doesn't play again. Rocky or Sarge has to be a better option. Or Stefan Ratchford, of course!

Take the anti Bowen blinkers off. He had a bad bounce to deal with then dropped the easy bomb just like Hampshire has done all season. I admit to getting angry when players lose their footing as he did twice (wear proper studs FFS) but he made a couple of excellent tackles and displayed beautiful hands for one of our tries. Was he good enough on the night? No, like many others. However, to say he "offered absolutely zero" is incorrect. Another poster mentioned that SW was supposed to be managing him but all he has done is play him full time. Good coaching?
As for the rest, others have pointed out Charnley and SOL being pale imitations of what they were but who else could SW pick? My biggest gripe is that I'm getting sick of seeing MM being criminally underused by SW. He should be playing far, far longer than he is IMO.

Charnley looks like he's spent too much time in the weight room. Seems very leaden-footed. Has done for a good year or so.

Anyone want to talk about Mossop he is seemingly anonymous does 20 mins and he is hardly ever noticed after that,

That's true about Charnley. When Burgess gets the ball 30m out with a couple of defenders on him, he always looks he has a chance of squirming past them and heading North at a rate of knots (and sometimes does). And in fact you could say the same for Sarge. Haven't felt that about Charnley this season.

+1, and MickyMac has re introduced the obligatory forward pass at the most crucial point of the match. Wigan had no rhythm going forward last night, all the passes fell way behind or blantantly forward, on another day they would have come off. It was so dissappointing because the conditions were near perfect for our game style

Bowen wasn't the only bad thing about last night's performance but he still made crucial errors that directly led to tries. He's made errors like that far too frequently in his time at Wigan, particularly in big games. You can't fault his ability to make one on one tackles to stop breaks. He's exceptional at that. When it comes to kicks though he's been prone to silly errors. He was brilliant against Leeds after a long rest. He's had some excellent games previously too, but they've been few and far between. It seems that if we are going to see the best of Bowen he's going to have to be managed very carefully, missing games frequently.
At the moment though it's getting to the point where it's worth asking if it's sensible to persevere? These costly errors keep happening. He's a shadow of his former self and seems to struggle to be fully fit? Is it worth it? Does he offer anything that no player could replace?

Personally I think Burgess would make an excellent fullback so should be considered as an option when Manfredi returns. He's solid under the high ball, would be a bigger threat than Bowen from kicks, has bags of pace and has shown himself to have excellent handling skills too.

If not Burgess, then give Gabe Fell a few games when Bowen is out of the side. He's playing well enough for the under 19's and is a better fullback than Tierney and Hampshire.

I don't think enough credit was given to Wilkin for the kick. It was outstanding and I doubt many full backs would have taken that.

Re Charnley, it wouldn't matter who's on the right wing at the moment with Tomkins at centre, he cannot pass from left to right, all a defence needs to do is slide and wait for the inevitable backhanded pass to the winger who's then got nowhere to go.
Tomkins needs to be back in the forwards now.

A comedy of second half errors, too many penalties again, and a great deal of luck and good fortune went Saints way. No doubt they deserved the win but for me the rot started in the first half when we turned down the two points on offer and chose to run the ball to no account. Second half either we, or the Gods gifted them too many crazy points. But they say you make your own luck and they did last night.