Recurring theme here, we beat Warrington with 9 first teamers out on Friday

At half time me and the husband sat in quiet disbelief at what we were watching,i said it'll 40 before the end and without hesitation my hasband said it'll be 50 at least,so abject the display that had been put on by Wigan,little did we know that it could and did get much worse,easily the worst i've seen,the other half has been watching much longer and couldnt off the top of his head think of a worse or more spineless display.

Hard to know where to start other than the usual excuses of injuries etc which given we're suppose to have a strong squad shouldnt be an issue no matter how many you have out,i suspect IL and co are confusing a strong squad to a squad thats fairly thin but bulked up by a lot of young lads who may or may not make the grade.

So what is it that the powers want ?
A) All teams to play 5 teenagers ?
B) All teams to have 10 missing players ?
C) All teams to spend the same money on the playing squad ?

It's always the same after a game like this though. Fans of other teams say you can't use injuries as an excuse, until they pick up lots of injuries and use them as an excuse. It's obvious that injuries play a part. If teams were able to maintain the same quality without key players they wouldn't need those key players and every club could save a whole heap of money. When you've got 10 genuine first team players missing, and not just first team players but KEY players, there's always a big risk that you will find it tough.

We've won games with plenty of players missing. We've had plenty missing all season and have picked up wins but sometimes luck runs out, sometimes the situation is just a bad one and everything goes against you. We've just come out of the Easter period with an already depleted squad and picked up more injuries, played two big derby fixtures in 8 days with a game sandwiched in between. Then the team had a 4 day rest which became a full week without any training as players were sent home due to illness. Then we face the form team in the competition at their home where we generally play badly even with a full strength side. Throw a team together with 5 teenagers and the only players with experience being those who are out of form and you've got a perfect storm.

Despite that defeat we still have the second best defence in Super League. We've seen how the team has defended throughout the year so far and it's generally been pretty good. Statistically it was the best until this weekend. Our defence has been what pushed us towards the top of the table because our attack has been dire. For the defence to be that bad and for the team to look that lethargic right from the start you know something wasn't right. Fair play to Wakefield, they looked pretty damn good and were ruthless. A full strength Wigan side would still have struggled.

I don't see a need to panic unless things continue to go downhill. We've got the Castleford game to bounce back and if things get back to the way they were then this was obviously just a blip. Remember when an understrength Wigan side went to Headingley in 2012 and absolutely hammered Leeds? Who had the last laugh that year? They couldn't even use the injury excuse, they just had a downright awful performance but they came through when it mattered.

I'm not saying everything is rosy and we should ignore it. There are lessons to be learned without a doubt. I do think we should wait and see what the performance against Castleford is like and how we play in the coming weeks before we declare a disaster though. I still think we are seriously lacking creativity in attack though. That's a bigger concern than one humiliating defeat because it's an issue we've had all season.

There were six England internationals playing for Wigan and 12 first team regulars. There is no excuse with that sort of a side for losing 62-0 and no excuse for Wane's ridiculous after match comments particularly about Wakefield buying tickets for London.

Spoken to a couple of players who played today and told them how embarrassing it was to be a Wigan fan today. I won't say who they are but they were just as embarrassed. Wake up call today though.

This. Disgraceful. Give them credit, they've beaten some good teams and they absolutely schooled Wigan today. Why can't he just say "They were the better team, well done to them, we'll try our best to play better next week". Why does it always have to come with a snide comment (that doesn't make sense because it wasn't a CC game).

Injuries or not, to have your supposed main play maker playing and not only shipping 62 points but not scoring a single one shows how poor that is. Lost count of the passes Matty Smith put to ground and I think a prop kicked on the last three times. That is appalling game management. Errors left right and centre just makes it all the easier for the Wakey to do the damage. The decisions that the club makes is baffling at times. Playing a second rower at stand off is only going to give you problems and highights the lack of depth in pivotal roles. Matty Smith has a lot to answer for. I'm not asking for a win as that Wakey team looked good, but make it respectable, and to not be able to score a point is on him. He gets the credit when we dominate and he should get the flak when we don't.

Great post overall. Sums up most of my feelings. We have had the lack of creativity for longer than this season IMO - it was evident last season too.

The win at Leeds in 2012 we still had 1. Tomkins, 6. Finch, 7. Leuluai, 9. McIlorum and 13. O'Loughlin. Yeah we had injuries but not to 'key' players in attack. You have to point to that as the main issue. Things aren't clicking and you get stuff like Smith and Sarge chucking their toys out at each other which then spirals into finger pointing and a lack of confidence and cohesion.

And in 2012 we had an attack coach in the shape of Iestyn Harris. We still haven't replaced him have we? Maybe with Deacon but our attack has been going rapidly downhill since both of them left. Most of last year was chucking it wide to Burgess and he'd skin the opposite winger and either score or pass inside to someone that would but we haven't got that luxury now.

It is a good excuse but Cas had 10 missing at Widnes but still came back from 18-0 down to win 34-24.

The times they are a changing.

Not in Wakefield it's not, it still seems to be stuck in 1950

I don't think its what the powers want, its seems to be going in that direction anyway with most of Superleague struggling with quality player depth. The game is going stale and I don't think I will be watching it next season, its totally mediocre these days.

Wane In.

I have to say we do look to be screaming out for a quality attacking coach. I don't think Wane needs replacing but he definitely needs better assistance. We have lost key staff members over the last few years who have been replaced by internal promotions or people combining roles, and there does seem to be a "jobs for the boys" culture developing. I don't think SW is the useless oaf that some make him out to be and I think he played an important role in the success we had when Madge was head coach. But the main aspects that seems to have been gradually eroded away over the past 2/3 seasons are the attacking structures and ball handling skills.

We were accused of being robotic at times under Madge but we were simply well drilled and everyone knew their role. And the proof was in the pudding because we used to score bagfuls of tries. The "sweeping" plays used to be perfectly timed with plenty of option runners available to take a short ball if the pass out the back wasn't on. It was a fast moving, deep lying attacking line that had been rehed over and over, and it worked. Now that has evolved into slow, sometimes standing still, passing along the line like what you would see at under 10's. Ridiculously easy to defend against at this level.

The injury excuse has worn thin for me,many other clubs are blighted by them and arent crying into their milk too much about it,Wane got his excuses in so early with this game the wholeaffair seemed off,if there was a virus,and you have to take their word on that,then why in gods name wasnt the game called off at Wigans insistance? simply put if a virus goes through a club or a place of work then people get it at different times not all at once,sorry that game,if there is a virus should not have been played as Wigan simply did not have the players to put a full strength (or as near as damn it) side out.

I think the last couple of weeks have shown the squad clearly doesnt have the depth people thought it had,the asset stripping of seasons past has come home to roost in my view,filling it full of untried kids who may well in years to come be Wigans future isnt the way to run a club,Lenegan and Radlinski need to sort the recruitment policy (if there is one)out and get a player or two in shaprish,a fullback and hooker would do for starters surely our old boss in audtralia knows of a player or two not getting a game in the nrl and could come over on a short term deal.