I wouldn't call myself a happy clapper, I like to be entertained by attacking, free flowing rugby. Sadly Wigan very rarely provide that these days. Grinding out mundane victories is largely the norm (when victories do come). However, having said all that, I'll take the win despite the failure to put a very poor cass side to the sword in the first half, despite all the handling errors and despite all the penalties conceded. A win is a win is a win in knock-out rugby and that'll do. Hell, I'll take another one of those next week and I'll certainly take on against Saints...wouldn't anyone? Anyone rather play fancy rugby at KR and get beat than boring tactics, lots of errors and win?

I'll probably get shot down for this, but hey... I'm sure every Wigan fan is sick of accepting mediocrity, but I for one have learned that (at this stage) I cannot expect/ demand of Wigan what I expected of them 15 - 20 years ago. Times have changed, I just wish they'd hurry up and come back.

I'll be taking a few days off from the board now as come this time tomorrow this and every other thread on here will be swamped with bitter, abusive drivel from the unclassy cass fans. I took enough of their drunken, slurring, foul-mouthed, spineless abuse on my way to the ground, I have no desire to have more in the comfort of my own home.

But Mathers wasn't playing, I don't remember a huge quantity of mistakes from Phelps. A knock-on was just about it - but then I am watching via a 3G connection so I had a poor picture and the distraction of Eddie and Stevo talking rubbish all night. I also remember him losing the ball after a couple of high tackles, but is that a mistake or poor refs to blame?

Cameron Phelps 6 - Thought he made some good runs but dropped the high kick and had a brain fart trying to offload the ball in our own half. Not his best display.

Amos Roberts 8 - Excellent performance. Castleford tested him numerous times and he stood up and was counted. Made some great runs and took his try well. Looked dangerous in open space.

Martin Gleeson 7 - Solid performance. Excellent in defence and was making some good runs forward. Needs to strike up a bit more of a partnership with Roberts but a good all round display.

George Carmont 9 - Was always a threat. Great in attack and defence. My MOTM.

Pat Richards 7 - Solid display. Much improved from Huddersfield. Better goalkicking and some fantastic drop outs. Helped out the forwards many times as well.

Sam Tomkins 6 - Was on one leg for most of the game. Had a good kicking game but didn't put himself about as much as you might expect however he isn't fully fit, evidently.

Thomas Leuluai 6 - Made some decent runs from dummy half and put some decent shots in. However again didn't put himself about as much as you would like.

Andy Coley - 5 Made some terrible mistakes numerous times. POTB was awful. Some decent drives but not as good as he has been. Let himself down tonight - hope he bounces back.

Mike McIlorum - 6 Made some good runs and looked good at times. Needs to watch his discipline. Improved from last week hope this continues.

Paul Prescott 7 apart from one silly error he had a good game. Took the ball up strong and stood up in defence. Solid performance.

Joel Tomkins 6 - Should have come back on the inside with that break. Didn't have a massive impact on the match.

Harrison Hansen 7 - Was there for the try but should have had another early into the match. Solid performance.

Sean O'loughlin 8 - Was inventive and looked a threat. Great thinking with the little kicks during the match. Solid in defence as you would expect and linked up well in attack. A good captains performance.

Stuart Fielden 7 - Made his usual one silly error but apart from that he took the ball up well. Looked up for the game right from the start. A good display.

Mark Riddell 6 - Going through a rough patch at the moment. Didn't impose himself on the game enough and didnt control the ruck. Tough couple of weeks for Riddell so will give him the BOTD. Hope he improves next week.

Feka Paleaasina 6 - Took the ball up well on numerous occasions in true Feka style. But still exposed in defence.

Mark Flanagan 6 - Did nothing wrong and did his share in defence.

I am only 25 but for me i agree, in watching rugby this weekend has been the worst standerd ive seen over that many matches. The Barrow v Halifax match was my favorite match that i watched if i am honest.


What its worth i thought O'Loughlin was our best player tonight apart from his pass which went 90000000000000 meters forward

tbh i normally don't have an issue with your posts, but I think you're being massively over critical here.

For the first 60 minutes, Wigan's display defensively was very good. After that some errors started to come in (when prior to this the main errors had been knock ons etc - i.e. lack of composure in attack). Even with the errors in the last 20 minutes, it would have been a tough task for Leeds to put 40 past us, let alone Hudds, KR, Cats, Wakey, Saints and the performances they put in this weekend (see it's not just us is it?).

The only team so far that actually looked decent overall (i.e. Attack and Defence) is Leeds.

Cas defensively did very well to (their coach quoted it as their best defensive performance this season), and again I can't see many would have put 40 past them tonight.

For me it was a game defined by both teams defences playing well, and their attacks lacking concentration (e.g. the bad play the balls, and knock ons) or forcing the pass too much instead of just maintaining pressure.

Yes we're really going to have to step up our game, but so to are KR, Cats and Hudds, even Saints are going to have to be far better in attack to pose a real treat to Leeds.

Maybe im being abit over critical but i genuinely believe we should have walked that one. Cas were there for the taking and we didnt captialise. We could have used that match to send a serious message to the rest of teams left in the playoffs but for me it sent the message out that we were no real threat and probably the weakest team left in the competition. I suppose bar the Leeds game its just been a frustrating season, week in week out leaving the stadium disappointed with what was on show.

If Coley got a 5, what does he have to do to get 4,3,2,or 1?

I do agree with you that if we'd played like we're capable of playing, e.g. the home game against Leeds, then yes we would have done far far better than we did tonight.

My own personal feeling is that we're definitely not the weakest team left in the playoffs, either from this weekends performances, or from what all the teams are capable of producing if they play to their best.

Sadly though, I still can't see a real threat to Leeds if they play to their potential.

Be Mathers/Pryce/Roberts/Riddell....

Personally,
Lockers/Phelps
Rest of team
Coley

Tonight both teams were good defensively and both made a catalogue of errors (largely silly ones) when in attack. We manged to win because when Fielden, Feka and Riddell came on in the first half the two props managed to make headway (which hadn't been happening previously) whilst the team were more composed when attacking. We only used basic rugby but that was all that was needed as the team that cut out the errors would win. The errors crept back in in the final quarter resulting in a nervy finish. All in all the performance wasn't fantastic but it was better than against Huddersfield and we did enough to win. We will need to step up next week but we are more than capable of doing so.

Man of the Match for me would probably be Feka for the positive effect he had on the team's attacking and the momentum of the match. Phelps, Carmont, Hansen, Fielden and Richards were all solid too.

1. Cam
2. Eron
3. Phelps

The amount of times he's caught flat-footed in the defensive line is beyond a joke - every coach in Super League is onto it now. What game can you possibly be watching to give a player like this MOTM?!

As I said in my post we as a team were not great but did the basics for a spell that gave us enough points to hold on to win. We were going nowhere in attack until he came on along with Fielden. With those two we finally managed to hit the Cas defensive line at more than a standing start. He along with Fielden caused the momentum of the game to shift (we were getting hammered territorially and only silly errors had stopped Cas from leading at that point). Without the impact from Feka & Fielden we would have lost. Therefore I consider those two to be pivotal to the win (coupled with our defence). Feka was the better of the two in my opinion due to not making errors in possession. That is why I would give it to him.

Bizarre. he made no more impact than Prescott tonight and at the point the game looked a little nervy was walked round a couple of times leaving others to cover in defence. Whilst I don't like to denigrate what is just an opinion, far too much clout for me is given by happy clappy fans to players who barge the ball in 4/5 times to great fanfare whilst letting the rest of the team sort out the defence/attack and ultimately the result.