I don't think last nights performance was in the same category as last seasons hammering. When you look at the tries we conceded it isn't like we were getting ripped apart in open play. The first try was a poor individual error from Farrell.
The second was a bit of a fluke. Smithies deflects the kick but can't regather as Goudemand bumps into him unaware of where the ball is, then just has to pick it up.
The third is a horrific individual mistake from Cust.
The fourth yet another kick where their man was just ahead of ours.

That's similar to the Toulouse game, where we were conceding tries from kicks that we didn't deal with and individual mistakes. To me the last couple of games come across more like poor concentration and focus rather than being a poor team. Perhaps staying in France wasn't the best idea and it's disrupted the normal preparations a little.

With a bit of analysis and intervention from the coaches looking at how we deal with kicks it shouldn't be too hard to fix the issues we've had defensively.

In attack we've done well in the first few games. There might be a bit of an issue with our starting middles. Singleton, Ellis and Isa looked a bit weak against Leeds and we were under a lot of pressure but Leeds were toothless in attack. Catalans showed what a more clinical team can do. We'll have to change things as Ellis will be missing for several weeks, so perhaps some forced changes will bring a bit more balance to the team.

No need to panic right now. Hopefully Ellis' ban will be offset by the return of Havard in the coming weeks. We just need to stop switching off and making silly errors defensively and be a bit more honest in attack.

I still think we haven't found our best backline but I don't think Matt Peet is too keen on tweaking things. I really haven't seen anything impressive from Hardaker this year on the wing. If he does have something to offer it doesn't seem to be in that position. Bibby is very hit and miss. He's a threat with strong carries close to the line but doesn't work hard enough in our own half and he seems completely incapable of passing the ball. Maybe a few tweaks here and there will see us become more threatening over time.

I don't think the stay over in France was particularly a 'jolly' but if you look at the pictures on the training gallery over there, there is a lot of smiling and laughing faces on the pics, now it could just be unfortunate that the pics just happened to be taken at a particular instant and it may have been really intense, but that coupled with the reports of sight seeing trips and downtime (which I appreciate they have when at home) I wonder if they became complacement in their preperation to the game, when at home most players I suspect would be focussing their attention on the upcoming game and not out on a tour bus.

I think most players had an 'off day' that and the weather conditions turned into us never being able to get a foot hold on the game and once you feel like everything is against you it is hard to get back to a game plan.

Would you rather the club uploads images where they look unhappy, not gelling as a team, on phone to wives/girlfriends missing them, on facetime to new born babies etc?

Sight seeing trips and down-time? Do they have down-time at home? Yes. What is the big deal.

The club have travelled to Catalans enough to make an assessment that to stay out there for the duration was probably better than all of the travelling and disruption.

Like I said it could be just poor timing of the camera shutter but what I want to see in a training session is focus and intent in a players face when running plays etc. not somebody taking a ball in and laughing with his mate in the background laughing with him.

I did says players have down time when at home, but there is a difference, downtime at home will be time spent with family, also preparing themselves mentally for the game at the weekend, time to focus on what they have to do as an individaul to influence the outcome of a game, if they are off on sight seeing trips around France they are not having that time to prepare themselves mentally for what is going to be a really tough game.

I fully understand the reasonings behind staying out there, the travel disruption etc. but I question the itinerary whilst there, too much focus maybe on team bonding etc. and not enough on the task ahead, which in my opinion led to us being to complacent about how tough it was going to be, the players and coaches will know Catalans are a real force, especially at home, but I personally don't think they got the balance right and it showed on the day

How do you know this?

If for example the players are getting downtime on a Friday afternoon ahead of a Saturday game, how do you know X player isn't going sight seeing in the UK?

Can you also share this itinerary that you seem to have please?

Look you know I don't know this for sure, nor do I know their schedule other than what was reported by Wigan themsleves that they had been 'seeing the sights' whilst in France, but do you think the players looked focused and 'up for it' on the day in comparison to all the other games, they have been shaky at times in other games but never have they looked as out of touch with a game as they have against Catalans and I did say 'in my opinion'