I read all this and I agree with it all, but I still feel like I've had my insides ripped out. We've still got plenty to look forward to this season but today's defeat is very difficult to take. The double is extremely difficult to do and it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise, but right now that's a very fine silver lining around a very big cloud.

It is true. The prize money isn't all you get from getting to a CC final.

I'm sure a few weeks ago IL said on Radio Manchester the money from the Challenge Cup was £50.000 the Grand Final reaps £250.000,

I hope with easier matches coming up wigan can sort out the balance of the team.The discipline in our structure has gone to pieces,nothing a few days on the training field cant sort out.

i think Waney will have the tackling pads out next week,

Defence will be the key v London and NIL pts against will be the aim.

When you add in merchandising, future sponsorhsip and season tickets etc, being "Champions" has to be worth a LOT more than the CC. Given the small crowds through most of the playoffs I'd be surprised if there were much to divide amongst 14 clubs once costs are taken out - I'd be stunned if half the playoff games didn't make a loss.

Wasn't just the poor defence though. Some of the unstructured attack yesterday reminded me of the Catalans semi-final under Noble. Finch was throwing passes as though he was in a 7's tournament.

Wane should be a tackling pad himself for a while. Another one that has seemingly escaped any criticism.

Ive mentioned in another thread that some of Finch's passes were crazy! This was mainly due to our attack being stood so flat though and he had no running options. This was also apparent in the amount of times he was tackled with the ball in hand because he couldnt find a runner. I dont care how much the players say they were desperate to win the CC again and how much they wanted to go back to Wembley the lack of enthusiasm shown says different.

28 points scored should have been enough. Offhand, I can only remember 3 times we've conceded more than that. It was primarily individual errors that cost us, rather than any overall structure.

Any coach of any team could say that about any points conceded. It is very rare indeed that points are scored where no individual can have an element of responsibility attached.

The teams which win reduce those individual errors to a minimum.

True, but many tries are scored through a poor defensive structure, rather than individual errors. That wasn't the case yesterday.