You must be spot on, that’s why the Aussies want him. I look forward to your explanation.

A Challenge Cup win and second in the lead, how did you guys get on? Answers on a postage stamp please.

Exactly.

And Mago. They are not use to playing so many matches!

Playing on the wrong side of the field to accommodate Tommy. Would be a no no for me.

No one's ever said they don't have any impact and you know it. All teams have injuries and Saints haven't even been the worst. It's how you deal with them that matters and clearly we didn't tonight. In case you missed it Leeds had absentees too. They still managed to win and make the final from fifth despite a far worse injury plagued season than either us or yourselves.

On that note, congratulations Leeds. You deserved it tonight.

Won't be winning many trophies with Powell at 9. He came back in and completely blunted the attack just like he did last time. It isn't Powell bashing, he just simply isn't a good player in such an important position but is un-droppable. If i was O'Neil, i would be looking to move on to somewhere where you get rewarded for performing. Isa, garbage, Bibby, garbage, Glad Tommy is retiring, Wouldn't be too bothered if the Bateman rumours are true either, he wouldn't be a huge miss on that money.

What annoys me the most isn't the Saints fans goading, its part and parcel of the game, it's the fact that Hardaker might just win a GF after being a t1t. Has a Warrington fan actually been on here taking the p1ss I;m sure Dudson will fire them to GF glory next season.

Congrats Leeds, the best team won, absolutely no complaints from me.

Took my daughter over to the game last night before she buggers off to uni today. We took our Rob Burrow flag and the reception we got walking back to the car with it was class from your fans. People even stopped us and asked for photos with us. Proper RL people, fair play.

We do try mate,good luck in the final.
Best team won.

Couple of thoughts from me to add on to what others have already said and a couple points i don't think anybody has brought up yet.

Too slow, painfully too slow. Powell should not have started this game after being out for a while, bench spot at most. Tommy showed his age i think aswell. The plays died far too often before it even got started due to how slow these two where. Obviously our hands where tied with tommy, he had to play but powell was completely avoidable and was unfair to chuck him straight back into a semi final. O'neill was really finding his feet in the team too, feel sorry for the lad.

Another thing that contributed to our plays dying early was passing accuracy, we were shocking tonight for most of the night. Far too many players having to reach down/up for the balls being thrown at them. Kills any speed in the play and shouldn't be happening so frequently at this level.

Bateman red card fully deserved, not much more to be said then that. We were already on the back foot with the game slipping away from us at this point and i imagine bateman is kicking himself. We should have had a yellow card in the first half i think aswell for the mago high tackle and any other weekly round we probably would have done.

Onto mago, haven't seen his name mentioned once yet in this thread and i was surprised. I don't like calling out individual players but sometimes they give you no choice but to say it how you see it. I thought he was appalling last night and marked a reel turning point in the game. We were on top before he came on and it was frustrating to watch. Gave away multiple penalties including the high tackle that leeds kicked to bring the game to 4-2. Slow, sluggish taking the ball in from an almost stop start every time, the lad would be devastating if he took the ball in with any sort of conviction of a frequent basis. Poor defensive positioning and not got the agility or fitness to make up for it. The cause of the jarrod o'connor try leaving a huge gap for him to fall over the line into. When it was clear his team-mates were going to be stuck at the play of the ball he should have looked at closing that huge gap even a bit but he didn't, he had ample time to do so. The lad just looks totally off the pace, has since he joined and needs a huge pre-season in him this time around. The signs were there at rabbitohs that his fitness needed work and it seems that has not been properly addressed. Maybe it is burnout from playing so many games and i was happy when we signed him, i liked the player i had seen in the NRL and am not writing him off yet, really hope we see him shine next season.

All credit to leeds, the desire to win was stronger with them last night with some excellent defence. Good luck in your final, is a damn shame sezer won't be playing. Will be shouting for you if you play saints, not if you play salford.

I watched the highlights back on Sky Sports News last night. At the game I thought it was strange/poor defending for the O'Connor try.

Watch it again. Tetavano gets tackled, never gets back to his feet to play the ball, his left hand is still on the floor as plays it, ignore the fact that it also never touched his foot. That's why it was so quick and why Wigan weren't able to number up. Should have been a penalty to Wigan.

The sending off was spot on. Feel for Sezer if he misses next weeks match

Not sure on the Marshall no try but I think the try/no try needs to revert to the original system whereby if the ref is unsure he just lets the video ref make the decision.
Leeds deserved the win their try line defence was superb.

Might be right about the play the ball. The problem is there is no consistency when it comes to pinging that stuff at all. They just seem to arbitrarily ping one from time to time to remind everyone it is indeed a rule.

Thought Marshall dropped the ball tbh and it did bounce as well. The slowed down camera angle was suuuuper blurry though and I think if it goes up as a try then it’s a try. I do think it was the correct decision in the end though.

That's nonsense re: Tetevano, the try was fine any day of the week.

I actually thought Marshall's try should have been given; when the video ref said he'd seen enough I was convinced he was going to award it! It looked a try to me on every replay, but happy to take a bit of luck for a change.

Alright lads. First post, be kind!

So I’m from down south and tbh come from a Union background but always followed League/Wigan, watch all the TV games, and been a long time lurker on the forums.

Thought that last night anything that could go wrong did go wrong, and we blew up spectacularly over the course of 80 mins. Credit to Leeds, defended well and when they had the chance to land the killer blows they did and were worthy winners no question, but let’s focus on Wigan…

I know it’s knockout rugby but the tactics got very conservative, even then we got plenty of go forward but seemed strange to take width and pace off our play and don’t think it helped matters in terms of turning points into pressure.

French’s injury seemed to be a key moment, he hobbled on for a bit but we effectively had no right flank (then had to reshuffle) and though I wouldn’t say the team panicked, definitely became unsettled and scratchy in everything it did. Attack stuttered, discipline went a bit, then the defence, and all of a sudden chasing the game.

Then the red card and you knew the game was up. To be honest we kept going and had some chances and maybe one or two decisions go against, but the damage was done, you knew it.

Do have some general musings/questions as a noob.

The pivots were a massive problem last night. Leuluai was so slow in attack, and retirement is the right call. Smith didn’t have a good game, was snatching at his kicking and passing, but had to do everything in fairness and had switched sides and maybe timings etc. were off. Cust isn’t a top drawer player, but he has a calm head and plays at the line, and he was missed last night. 9 was a massive problem though. I know from reading for years that Powell is marmite and the argument has been done to death, but I’m one of those who doesn’t get it. His qualities are always talked about as defence/leadership/culture etc…. ok great, what about consistent core competencies for a 9? Even at his best he is achingly slow to get the ball away from the ruck, he doesn’t fix or control the defence from the ruck, his passing technique and “snap” is really limited, and he has next to zero running game. As I say I’m a bit of an onlooker I admit, but he’s the first one I’d change and can’t believe Wigan don’t want more of an up-tempo guy who puts pace into proceedings the likes of Field and French etc. can thrive off the back of. Time to get away from the McIlorum/Powell types, in my opinion.

Bateman is another I have issues with, just in that he’s nothing like the player he was before and then in Australia. I admit I only see the TV games and it's not likely a popular view, and the stats arguments always look good for him, but for a senior player reckoned to be one of the best around I always see daft errors or him trying to do too much (leading to more errors) or then last night no discipline. His performances, what I see, aren’t worthy of your marquee player, he’s not even a top 5 performer what I see this year. He must be better.

Think I agree with everyone in that Centre positions must be better. There needs to be a bit more x-factor, oomph, quality, call it what you will. Bigger, quicker, can carry harder, release their winger, any upgrade in these areas would be nice. I’d probably also controversially throw in the second rows into equation here – Farrell and Bateman (despite what I said above) are quality players but I always notice both instinctively like to step back inside and see what develops and both more elusive runners. Some powerhouse wider runner could come from this position as an alternative, but whatever, I think somewhere at 3,4,11, or 12 this would help the team and create even more space (especially in the biggest games, where we have got shutdown a bit) for the back three to do their work.

But anyway, I’ll stop there with the ramblings. A disappointing end to what’s been an encouraging season in terms of an upturn in both results and the rugby being played.