This was the kind of performance that makes you proud to be a Wigan fan. No club's coach or players show as much pride and passion as ours. SW loves the club and the lads all know what that cherry and white shirt stands for and what a privilege it is to wear it.

Didn't the 'Ape' do well, yet again! The preparation, tactics and team motivation were superb.

Just picking out a few of our players:

McIlorum - bullied Leeds. Even Peacock looked rattled. Incredible aggression, amazing to see.
Burgess - right now the only wing in SL I would rate ahead of him is Hall, and not by much. This lad has everything. The only downside is that inevitably he will go to RU or the NRL sooner or later. Let's hope we can watch him for a few years at least. He is a very special player already but is still learning and developing, he can and will get even better, which is great for us and very bad news for the rest of SL!
Dudson - has the physical attributes to be an important player for us, needs to put in more performances like he did yesterday. If he does then he has a big future at Wigan.
Gelling - its fantastic to see him fulfilling his potential. He's now a very good centre and with us not having the biggest pack, Gelling's size and power is very useful.

Some great performances and when you think that we have Lockers, Flower, Farrell and Pettybourne to come back, who would have strengthened the pack it is clear that we have every chance of silverware again this season.

When Burgess went past BJB there is no way he would have caught him had Hardaker not been in position, flat out race he would have scored. I really am excited by him, he seems to be a proper winger who has the pace, confidence and ability to use the touchline, which is a rarity these days.

I also think Suttons performance is worth a mention, he was immense and tackled like a machine, very impressed.

I thought crosby was impressive for you.he punched the line every time and got a quick play the ball.he has looked a good prospect to me every time I have seen him play, granted only a handful of times mind.

If Wane can continue to get this group of talented players playing at that level of intensity on a consistent basis, the future both short and long term is very bright.

Obviously the immediate concern is that availability of players. When racking up the injuries and potential/probable suspensions I'm struggling to come up with 17 available players for our next game from our first team squad list of 37.

Likely to be unavailable:

Charnley
Thornley
Green
Flower
Farrell
Clubb
O'Loughlin
Pettybourne
James
Hampshire (injuries)
Mcilorum
Dudson
Crosby (suspension)
Tomkins
Hopkins
Greenwood
Lloyd (on loan)

Add the fact that Taylor, Williams and Sutton are playing injured and its a staggering list.

Yes apparently Pettybourne is the only who has a chance of recovering for Thursday.

I did say potential/probable suspensions. Looking at it objectively, I would consider it likely that Mcilorum, Dudson & Crosby will all be banned.

Pettybourne likely to be back next week apparently, would expect a few more from that list to be playing!

With regards to Micky Mac, there was nowt in that tackle in my opinion.
Dudson maybe, he did similar a few weeks back. Crosby, would depend on his history...possibly a warning - maybe one game.

Quick mentions to a couple of players - I'm very impressed with the physical and mental toughness of Sarginson. I knew he was skilful but terrific to see him getting so stuck in and responding well to mistakes (big hit and offload to Burgess after a simple knock on). Also, probably the best game Dudson has had - if he ran his weight consistently he could be good for us.

I agree Mcilorum is the least likely - it looked shoulder first and it was more the circumstances beforehand which led to it all kicking off.

Dudson's was a cheap, late shot although not particularly vicious - I'd guess at one game for that. Crosby's throw was unnecessary and there will rightly be a focus on eradicating those types of tackles given the horrible injury suffered by Mckinnon in the NRL.

one thing about last night, those on the sidelines injured certainly know that they won't be walking straight back into the team when fit. There is now competition for spots in the 17 and anyone who drops off in performance know they can and will be replaced in the future

based on worst case scenarios then, what kind of team will we have out on Thu ?

(keeping as much continuity as possible)
Bowen
Burgess, Sarginson, Gelling, Manfredi
Powell, Smith
Taylor, Williams, Pettybourne
Bateman, Hughes,
Burke

Replacements: Goulding, C Farrell, Sutton, Austin

It's unfortunate that Hampshire is injured with Green now out but that just means Sam Powell gets first stab at it. A makeshift backline of

Bowen
Sarginson
Goulding
Gelling
Burgess
Powell
Smith

is still pretty decent. The forwards is a different matter with the sheer number missing, but the likes of Sutton, Austin, Lever, Pugsley and Connor Farrell will all be chomping at the bit for some first team action. Burke played for Workington today and Pettybourne isn't too far off so that will help. We've got a tough run of games over the next few weeks, but yesterday's game has put us in a decent position for a top 4 finish, and hopefully we get some bodies back for the back-to-back Cas games.

Driving in to manchester, I would have been happy to keep within 10 points of Leeds, driving back out I would have been unhappy if we had lost.
the way we got stuck into Leeds yesterday and last week against Hull everyone is stepping up and doing their job well.
The club seem to have the structure and SW seems to get the best from whoever he puts on the park.
Great times.