Whilst you could argue that our attach was poor I think it's fair to say the gulf in class is clear to see. They are bigger/faster/stronger and more skilful as well as being better coached.

Our attach has been pretty 1 dimensional for a number of years now but I look back at superleague 10-15 years ago and the sides we had then and the quality of the players in comparison to what we have now and I think it's obvious the quality has gone downhill.

by superleague standards I don't actually think we played badly. the problem is, this wasn't a superleague standard of opposition and I struggle to see how we can ever get to that standard when our reserves competition has gone to pot and the salary cap has weakened the bigger teams. 1 game a year against opposition of that quality is going to become a waste of time, money and effort.

If I had to take any positives from tonight it was that Bateman had a really good game and surprisingly Tautai did well imo. Seems to have cut out a lot of the silly errors and put himself about.

Here are the stats from last night. https://twitter.com/RLBarrieMc10/status ... 6142040064 The missed tackles are the BIG difference. Nobody can accuse us of only playing boring overly structured rugby though when you look at the offloads compare to Brisbane.

Here are the stats from last night. https://twitter.com/RLBarrieMc10/status ... 6142040064 The missed tackles are the BIG difference. Nobody can accuse us of only playing boring overly structured rugby though when you look at the offloads compare to Brisbane.

Rogues just read you post on Red V as you know I'm here in Perth there are a no professional RL here but there are still a lot of local Rugby League clubs, like you say they are supported by the Authorities they are way ahead of us, I blame the salary cap as we have always had from year dot top class Aussies and Kiwis in our game to enhance it and bring our lads on,used to be you taped a game and watched it about 4 times over the weekend now after you've seen the game you don't bother to watch again.

Quote Rogues Gallery="Rogues Gallery"Here are the stats from last night. https://twitter.com/RLBarrieMc10/status ... 6142040064 The missed tackles are the BIG difference. Nobody can accuse us of only playing boring overly structured rugby though when you look at the offloads compare to Brisbane.'" When I saw who had produced the stats ( Barrie Mac ) it made me understand why these sort of stats should be taken with a pinch of salt. It says Wigan produced 18 offloads to Brisbane's 9. It is what happens with the ball when you offload it, not how many times you do it. Wigan spent to much time scrambling about on the floor after offloads that had gone to ground behind, often taking a couple of attempts to re-gather possession.

Quote Rogues Gallery="Rogues Gallery"Here are the stats from last night. https://twitter.com/RLBarrieMc10/status ... 6142040064 The missed tackles are the BIG difference. Nobody can accuse us of only playing boring overly structured rugby though when you look at the offloads compare to Brisbane.'" When I saw who had produced the stats ( Barrie Mac ) it made me understand why these sort of stats should be taken with a pinch of salt. It says Wigan produced 18 offloads to Brisbane's 9. It is what happens with the ball when you offload it, not how many times you do it. Wigan spent to much time scrambling about on the floor after offloads that had gone to ground behind, often taking a couple of attempts to re-gather possession.

Think you guys got very unlucky in loosing Mclorum last night, you needed a leader in defence desperately, without him the aggression is misplaced and leads to mistakes, the last try of the first half showed the problem precisely, a player shoots out the line to look tough and smash milford (the smallest man on the pitch) who welcomes the hit with open arms and puts a man right in the hole that player had left, lucky for you there are maybe 3 or 4 halves in SL who are capable of the same vision
I wouldn't be too down on your attack as Brisbane regularly nilled teams last year and defended their lines successfully for entire halves at times

I agree. There are several ex-SL players running around for the NRL sides over here such as Moa and Eden who no one thought were world beaters when they were here and have not become so because they have more money in their wallets. The lines they ran and the questions they asked of the defence are not beyond the capabilities of our players but they do seem beyond the capabilities of the coaches to construct and coach these plays. This should be as a big a wake up call as the 1982 Kangaroo tour of GB and France but will anyone be listening? And if they are will they be able to act on it? I have my doubts and there is no excuse because there is no salary cap applied to coaching or the resources you can put into coaching (and player) development.

Agreed. You could say the same about Josh Hodgson; nobody thought he was all that when he was in SL, but week in ,week out, he looks a top player now in the NRL, with Aussie critics not famous for Anglophilia praising him.

It's a perfect example of Catch-22 isn't it? We've not got the depth of talent in the UK to secure continuity because there's no real consistent route from pre-teens through to top flight (& what there is, is fragmented) and thus as a result, kids are pulled to union or soccer where there are more opportunities to succeed.
Thanks to a pathetic run of incompetence in the governance of the game, where short-sightedness and penny-pinching have ruled for far too long, the game is slowly spiralling to inconsequentiality (I don't think we're there yet, but the event-horizon is looming).
It's always going to be an uphill struggle against the old boys' network run from Twickenham and the bribery & corruption of soccer, but with the RFL as it is we've got one hand tied behind our back before we even start.

I don't know if expanding the WCC to 8 teams and make it a proper competition will work (when would it fit into the schedule for a start?). But we've got to have more representative competition if the game is ever going to survive (I'm not going to hold my breath though).

I think the SL needs to increase the cap if we want our top teams to compete, the cap relative to inflation has gone down in recent years and the poorer teams are holding us back
Theres enough quality in SL to beat NRL teams but it gets spread out by the salary cap, if the top players all played for the 5/6 teams who could afford it then they would be as good as NRL teams
If the NRL is the premier league then we should aim at being La Liga, where the league on the whole isnt that good but the top teams in the world are in that league
It would mean a less competitive SL but the players would improve by playing superior opposition on a regular basis every other game, leading to a better international team as well
If the international tea got better then there would be more TV money in SL and eventually the weaker teams would catch up

The problem is with the amount of money in the game (or lack of it rather) how many clubs could realistically spend more than the salary cap at the moment and do it in a sustainable way? unless clubs get the likes of koukash who like to just throw money at a team and not really seem to be bothered about getting any profit or atleast running without a loss then I don't see how we can do it.

I'm not sure what Leeds look like financially but I don't seem to recall wigan making massive profits and I'm sure saints havent been doing great financially either.

The truth of the matter is that we have been rumbled. Our defence can be OK for short periods, but we don't have the discipline to stick to the plan for extended periods.

Going forward, we have no problem getting into the oppositions 20, but very little clue as to what to do when we get there.

Most worrying of all is our execution. The Aussies may be bigger, stronger and faster, and their environment may very well play a large role in that, but does it also mean that they can catch better? Every time Wigan forced a pass it went down, Brisbane picked them up, and scored.

I have always been a supporter of Shaun Wane, but the lack of progression in the last two years is beginning to highlight the guy's limitations.