Saints were sensational - threats all over the pitch. Bringing Walmsley off to put Paasi on is unfair. Heavy favourites for everything still.

As for us Jesus were to start.

Was slightly optimistic at half time, after their second try we started to get agreesive and matched their physicality. Second half was just men against boys.

Mago is a complete waste of time and we should just blood Hill/Nsemba over him.

Team wise I don’t know how to sort it but Harry Smith needs a settled partner.

I know Powell splits opinion but how on earth is Cust getting a game over him, he’s an absolute turnstile and must have missed at least 5 tackles.

Thornley had a shocker and King should return next week IMO.

Hopefully we can sneak a result next week then try to work out our best team before a potential semi final. Can’t see it unfortunately.

People can say about injuries, or referee decisions going against us, but they're a sideshow for me.

Look I don't see every match but if people were being honest then you'd say that from the first game this season we've been worse than last year in every aspect. Structured attack. Structured defence. Set completion. Handling errors. Meeting the physical/mental/intensity challenge. Discipline. Goal kicking. And so on, you name it and we were better at it last year.

Of course there are still times where talented players have done talented things. Or we've had a mini blitz in games. Or toughed it out/dug deep... This team still has a lot of good things about them... but I've read too many times already this season where getting a result despite being pretty crap for the vast majority of the game has been spun into a positive. For me you get found eventually and can't keep winning "despite".... and there's been too much glossing over and leniency for very underwhelming performances so far this year.

Yeah adversity has been thrown in our path... but people need to earn their corn, we have numerous things that need improvement ASAP.

The club doesn’t really have a history of ruthlessness under Radlinski. Look at the whole Mossop/Bateman incident from way back. There’s favouritism and jobs for the boys aplenty across huge swathes of the club. We all want the same thing, for us to be the best we can possibly be and actually try to be that way. We seem to be getting a lot right off the field because of what’s going on with the Latics e.g. Robin Park development and Radlinski sends whiskey to players left, right and centre but
I fell like we are years off turning the squad into legitimate challengers for the Grand Final because of the major surgery needed in the squad. I never thought I’d say this season that we are missing Isa but here we are. Maybe try Smith out of the side and give someone else a go at taking the team around the field too but we are stuck in one sense because of who we have left in the halves, again comes back to salary cap mismanagement.

Well at least they finally mentioned our injuries, although apparently we can't count Cooper.

I don't recall all of this negativity when we won 3 in a row at Easter.

Weve got players playing that should be nowhere near a shirt (Mago) and those that wouldn't be if we weren't carrying the injuries that we are (Hill)

We can point fingers at recruitment, and the signing of Mago is definitely a bad piece of recruitment, but in a salary cap sport we can't have 15 props sat in the stands.

We've shown what we CAN do this season and if we get close to having that side out towards the end then we'll be in with a shout.

It was probably a bit better than I feared. It’s a tough spell for sure but there are reasons for it and we just need to make sure we start getting a run together on the other side. I think we will and I’m not ruling us out of anything yet.

Wigan fans throwing their pints at kids.

Stay classy wigan fans.

Disgusting

I’m very much with this point of view, I have pretty much written off the challenge cup but I think with a few more bodies back in the pack and we could be in with a shout come October. I really do think if Dupree was a realistic signing we should pay the money and get him in now, he could be the difference this year.

missing briers

Missing tackles! Our defence is shocking.

I agree with you Exiled, our pack is the problem and it needs some serious surgery. Anything short of two new props and another second row will be criminal. We need to stop trying to put round pegs into square holes. The only stand off in the squad is Hampshire yet we persist with trying everybody else in that position. If the coaches deem Rocky not good enough then we need to recruit. Come on Rads and IFL get a ruthless streak and move players on.

We have been for a few years John, I keep hoping we are going to correct the problem but then we sign the likes of Mago!

I think that is a fair summary. We need to get rid of a number of players and sort our recruitment out. Mago, Singleton, Powell, Cust, Miski, King, Thornley and either Isa or Faz need to go in order to release some cap space and non-federation quota spots. Miski has been one of the successes this season but we can’t have a backup winger as an overseas player. Likewise we cannot afford to carry two players who are coming to the end of their illustrious careers. We need to follow the Saints model: size; power; and craft. We are forever commenting on ‘if we had their pack of forwards’ but our management do little to bridge the gap. As for our coaches, they must now come under the spotlight. Lockers is our defence coach and we are leaking tries for fun. Tommy is our attack coach and we are struggling to create opportunities. Peet now looks out of his depth with team selections.

Apart from the 53 tackles he made? 22 more than anyone else in a Wigan shirt and 17 more than anyone in a Saints shirt.

Was half expecting some raw stats to be used but they don’t show his impact on the opposition, he doesn’t dominate tackles, he’s too small. Symptomatic of our entire pack to be honest, great engine but absolutely offers nothing in attack to warrant the opposition being concerned by him. You would think he did more tackles anyway with the amount of ball we didn’t have. He’s a bit like a welterweight throwing 100 punches on a heavyweight and then the heavyweight lands one and puts him down.

Great post (and raised a smile here)

Agree 100% on the pack as a unit - not good enough.

Can't agree with some other comments on this thread re get rid of Smith/Cust/Hampshire/King/Thornley - if we fix what is the real problem (the pack) then these guys look 100% better. I'm not saying the backs are perfect BTW.

Rest Smith? For who - Farrimond isn't ready and where is Astley? Maybe Forber at a pinch?

TBF - Get Havard back and maybe look to promote the biggest reserve prop we have, get Singo fit along with Isa and we get more out of Hill/Nsemba rotating in. We just can't afford less than 4 forwards on the bench right now so pick your best Hooker and Stand off and stick with them.