Well done chaps,Stats and facts do not sit well with some supporters as seen by a reaction or 2. 

Fair play to you, you've at least come back and given some opinions as to why it may be, even if we probably don't agree. You mentioned above it's not some conspiracy against Wigan and I agree, I don't think it is. What I do think is that a few factors have lead to a perfect storm in terms of us getting an unbelievably low amount of penalties. 

I don't think all the talk about 'Wigan refs' has helped us and I also think a lot of talk about Wigan slowing games down has lead to there probably not being as much focus on the opposition as there should be. I don't think the Brick has the same partisan atmosphere as ground like Craven Park or Headingley either. Add in that you don't hear Peet moaning in public about refs, ala Burgess/Peters and it all combines to the fact that we're getting way fewer penalties than other sides. 

Again you miss the point. The penalties we give away are relatively consistent no matter who we play. Our opposition's aren't. They are generally only low when playing Wigan. We are a low penalty side. High penalty sides become low penalty sides only against Wigan. You don't find that bizarre? 

I haven't seen many, if any complaining in this thread that there is a conspiracy theory.   However there is something in these figures that is strange.    How do almost every team in the league have their most disciplined game when they play against us?   I don't think there is a conspiracy by the refs - but there's the possibility of unconscious bias where ref's have been criticised widely about being favourable to Wigan  - and they continue to be despite the facts saying exactly the opposite.




Although the stats on 6 again's are harder to find, the ones that are available show we also get very few 6 agains - something you would expect for a dominant team.  

In terms of 6 agains, in my mind teams are going to give them away when they're being busted, be that through clean breaks or on the back of tackle busts and they're in a bit of a panic mode and trying to slow the game down. We're second in the league for tackle busts and clean breaks however, so it's not helping on that score either. The only stats I've seen for 6 agains were in the recent games against Saints, HKR and Leeds and in those 3 games, I believe we've had 1 and conceded 9. Again, there is no issue with what we've conceded, we do try and slow the opposition down and a guy like Faz looks like he's going to have a kip in the tackle at points but to receive only 1? Come off it. 

Would the game as a whole be better if all the matches were refereed like Wigan matches are, ie far fewer penalties for both sides ?

Hard to argue when presented with stats in black and white but what I don't think helps Wigan is the antics of Marshall and to a lesser extent Miski. 


Every single time Marshall is tackled he flaps around like a salmon out of water trying to get a penalty. Refs must get fed up of this. 


NB and yes I'm not saying we are Saints (excuse the pun) in this area when Walmsley milks every play the ball. 

That?s one thing that frustrates me about Marshall, I think when players do that there?s less chance of a penalty being given.  He?s far from the only player in the league that does that though.

I don't think we have enough players who do that sort of thing tbh but we all see things through different eyes. I don't think that will negatively impact on how many penalties we get though, in fact, it would probably increase them, as it seems to do with players across the league who like to try and play for them. 

I'd like to see some stats on which players gain the most penalties, like you see with players who are fouled most in football. That would give an indication of which types of players are getting them and which aren't and would probably lead to a better understanding of why our count is so low (or probably not going off all the other stats because none of it has stacked up so far). 

https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/astonishing-wigan-warriors-anomaly-simply-1111644

https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/astonishing-wigan-warriors-anomaly-simply-1111644

Come on Stu, with all due respect, I think you're clutching there! How does Marshall looking for penalties (literally every team in the league does this anyway) affect offsides, high tackles, 6 agains etc? 

Even if you say it might affect Marshall himself receiving them, which it shouldn't in any case if the referees are being professional, then how does that explain the other 16 taking the field getting less? It doesn't affect Hull KR when Mikey Lewis milks them. It doesn't affect Leigh when Lam throws himself at players (quite the reverse actually) and, as you say, it doesn't affect Saints when Walmsley tries to milk one at pretty much every play the ball. Why level this just at Wigan and Marshall?