I loved watching McIlorum hammering away at Warea-Hargreaves in the second half. He really will go at anybody and have a dig which makes me smile even more when I think that I've actually seen people on the Saints forum call him a coward.

He's one of the toughest players in world rugby league.

Sinfield won the best player in the world over a year ago. He is not even the best player at his club.

That's true.

Typical Wigan the thread is about McIlorum and it ends up sagging off two Leeds players.
FWIW I agree what you are saying about Sinfield and Hall.
But for me McIlorum played well today which is more that you could say for the likes of Green and Bowen who were terrible.
Be interesting to see how many matches your other import gets.
On the day no other team from England would have beaten the Roosters and all credit to Wigan for giving it a go.

This is the thing that really irritates me as a rugby fan. Yes McIlorum hit a few players hard, but 'outstanding' because of it? It's not just confined to McIlorum either, seems that a few big hits counts for a lot more than a player's general play in fans eye's

His distribution was poor and how a hooker can be pulled back for 2 forward passes from the ptb is incredible, especially in a big game where you were desperate for some ball. Not forgetting that stupid late hit on the kicker too?

Yeah, bravo

Why no thread about Pettybourne, SOL or Burgess who were actually very impressive?

Lockers was our best player. But McM has become overall one of the best 9s in the game, alongside Roby.

Sad thing is I can't see McM being at Wigan much longer, I hate to say it, and people will undoubtedly misunderstand my next comment, but he's now too good for Wigan, or any SL team. Same goes for Charnley.

Lockers, a 1 club man who's good enough to play NRL are a dying breed at Wigan.

Is O'Loughlin not too good for Wigan then if you think McIlorum is? O'Loughlin is definitely the better of the two in my opinion.

McIlorum is a good player but he isn't the best in SL and he certainly isn't one of the best in the world. For every big hit he does, he either misses a tackle or throws a poor pass.

To suggest he is too good for SL is well wide of the mark.

But why are only Wigan plundered, there are some other good players out there, albeit not enough. The likes of Crabtree, Roby, Houghton, Watkins, Hall, Hardacre could give it a shake over there but seem to go under the radar.

Roby has now turned down 3 NRL offers to stay at Saints. It's not that all other players go under the radar, it's just that it doesn't appeal to everyone the same.

And don't forget Bradford lost 3 Burgess brothers, Leeds lost Luke Burgess and Saints lost James Graham.

Its about attitude (of the respective chairmen) IL is a great chairmen and has done so much for wigan, but he does need to get tougher with respect to players going. The NRL teams know Wigan wont even try and stop players leaving, they probably treated the WCC as a shopping trip.

Sam was a special case, it was always going to be very hard to keep someone that special. The other players you've lost though, under contract? IL should set a marker down with Charnley and do what it takes to keep him.

It seems a bigger Wigan issue than anyone other clubs but you are right Saints have lost not just Graham but Eastmond went as well. Its an issue in the game as its weakening SL year on year. Maybe the reason Roby has turned down 3 offers is that now is he not in the same situation as SOL he has some exemption on the cap as playing for Saints for over a certain amount of years. So at his age now its not worth it to go down to the NRL especially if he has a family and is on top wages in Saints.

NRL do seem to be targeting younger players with no family or kids.

I wonder why the Rhinos seem to be able to keep hold of Hall and Watkins?

I don't know the answer. You would think that they wouldn't be short of offers. Hall had a great World Cup and Watkins is probably the best young British back in super league now that Sam has gone. Leeds seem to be able to keep their talent better than either Wigan or Saints.

Well, you have named two, the rest of their "talent" is too old, or not good enough individually... We have a crop, just as the big bucks have become available to the NRL and the RFU.

Or, maybe it's that Wigans players, like Wigan fans, are more ambitious.

thought mm was ok yesterday but not as good as some of the posts here. forward passes, late hits on kicker and struggling for fitness (one whole set in 2nd half he never made it to dummy half when we needed him) says to me I've seen him play better.