Couple of years ago, all the pundits were banging on about Brody Croft being the best player in the comp. Haven't heard that lately. Very pleasing tonight, if not perfect. As I said to my neighbour at the game, French can remarkable things, and he manages to produce a gem in nearly every game. He really is a very special talent, and the term 'born with a football in his hands', applied to the likes of Latrell Mitchell, apply equally to him. You can't coach that, and we are lucky to have him. But all that happens, of course, when you have forward dominance, and we were always on the front foot tonight.

Ellis, Thompson and Wardle in some sort of order would be my top 3 for a Wigan player of the season award. I'm really struggling to split those 3.

He looked like he was really struggling a few weeks back but that was brilliant last night, his hard yard carries were unreal

Thompson came in with the pressure of a big salary, questions on his fitness and the weight of carrying a pack that needed someone to not only dominate but do it in big minutes. Everyone else functions off the back of his tireless efforts every week. When the team was in a dip, he's stood up every week. Just can't look past him despite all the other contributions from Wardle, Ellis, Marshall etc.

Big improvement from him these last two weeks, you can tell the backroom staff are ramping things up, Field looked sharper and a yard faster, French that bit better than last week, even Dupree (who I've been disappointed with recently) had a solid game. Yes Leeds were pants but I thought we handled them whilst only really hitting second gear. More of the same Thursday please.

Liam Byrne has stepped up a few gears as well. We're in a much stronger position this year in regards to props going in to the play offs. We'd lost Cooper, Byrne and Havard going in to last years and had Ellis, Dupree and Mago fully fit for the final, alongside a clearly under prepared Havard. This year we look to be going in with a fully fit Havard, Thompson, Dupree, Mago, Byrne and Hill and maybe Cooper (not a clue if the chances there) plus a couple of other options. Fingers crossed for no problems on Thursday and then they can rest up and get ready for a huge push after that.