I have it on good authority that both will be here next year. But that's not to say we can stop the wild speculation!

I will try and answer objectively. We played for about 20 mins. The first 5 and the last 15. In between we were awful. Bradford ran out of steam and I think that let us back in but collectively we didn't look like a team for much of the game.

Many errors with passes going to ground and behind the man. I felt our half backs were awful. Took the wrong option time and again. What summed up their night for me was toward the and we were pressing the Bradford line and I think it might have been Micky Mac who had the ball and had taken into the Bradford line about 2m out. The tackle was not complete but Green starts waving at the the players to his right. MM offloads but Green is too busy waving at the other players so the ball goes to ground. We seemed to make a shed load of errors for 65 mins.

Now granted Roby was very poor and Bradford were a mile offside umpteen times but he wasn't chucking rubbish passes.

We certainly upped the tempo in the last 15 mins and it was a very exciting finish but Bradford will feel hard done by. When Tiscon went over everybody was going mental

The positives for me were Flower who looked very sprightly considering he'd been out for so long. Although Hampshire dropped a high kick under pressure the led to a try he didn't let it get to him and as the game wore on he seemed to grow in confidence. Gave Charnley a lovely pass for a try. I think Bradford missed a trick in not pressuring him more. They put a few kicks his way but after the one he dropped I can't remember them having players near enough to challenge him. Hansen ran himself into the ground and was captain for the night and Tuscon certainly gave 110%.

Overall though we just didn't look like a team for much of the game and lacked organisation.

I just read the BBC report and I have to say while Francis Cummings is understandably gutted I think he is way off to suggest we were favoured by the ref. He was awful so maybe Cummings spotted stuff that went against Bradford but we had plenty daft stuff the other way e.g. their player grounding the ball in goal which he totally missed. They also got a 40-20 that most people thought never was. Be interested what others think about that one.

a la huddersfield

DaveO
I think your summary is about right.
But I think the half back problem was again due to the pack being dominated.

You have to North / South before you go East / West.

I think BOTH half backs are still not 100%, and neither is Dudson or Mickey Mac. Hopefully with a 10 day rest and get them back to something like, along with Taylor, O'Loughlin, Sam etc we should be much better.

Ryan Hampshire did well tonight apart from the dropped ball. Thornley should have put Charnley in for a try in the first half from his superb flick.

Cummings also said in the press conf that they had to look at some of the things that went wrong. Uncluding their inability to close games down. He mentioned that Gale was beating himself up for the kick that went out on the full.
All this was in answer to a question from a Bradford journo who asked FC if he thought the crowd were clever in the way they tried to influence decisions. FC agreed then carried on as above. Opponents think our efforts do matter, so they must.
I thought it was a mistake when Foster went for the goal to make it 20-14. Never thought it would be enough and it wasn't. They should have gone for touch and run it. Bradford looked out on their feet for the last 15 mins and that's when Wigan's extra fitness told.
Hansen was my MOM, Tuson played well with Flower and Dudson putting a shift in.
Our problem was at half back, namely Green. Everything seemed to break down with him. Also teams have now sussed his routine pass to Faz and are waiting for it. They also see Charnley as their main threat hence Thornley had three men tackling him everytime he got the ball. We now need plans B & C. Josh got two passes tonight and scored two tries.
A get out of jail win for me.

I was always optimistic tonight, the teams body language looked better, even when things weren't going right, I thought they looked determined but lacking direction as opposed to lost like last week.
Bradford looked to be working too hard to control us for the full 80, it told in the end
As for the booing, that's down to the individual.

I'm glad, he was being an most of the game.

At times I thought we must have picked up injuries in the game given the subs. MM went off quite early IIRC and I did wonder about his fitness as a result.



I am still wondering if Thornley's pass for the 1st try was a masterstroke of timing or just fortunate he didn't hold onto it too long but regardless it was the half backs who need to look at what they did in that game more than he does. I have only watched Hampshire via Wigan TV and even with that you can tell he's "got it" like you could with a young Sam, Hansen, Joel T or Lockers. It was good to see him do well tonight despite the dropped ball.

I bet the next great debate if Sam does leave will be is Hampshire the next Wigan No. 1 ! And to lay my cards on the table before it start's, he's a 6!

Definitely got out of jail there! A lot of the lads look tired to me, perhaps mentally as much as physically - if I were Waney I'd give them 4 or 5 days holiday, and only resume training midweek.

Thought Hampshire did pretty well, but I still think he's a better half back than fullback. We weren't too bad defensively, but bombed way too many excellent chances in attack (again!), either through bad decision-making or just poor execution. Nothing that can't be fixed, but I do think a rest would do them more good than more training.

Replacements, players just coming back from injury and not up to game speed, maybe even too much training based around Sam, as an outsider. Who knows? All you see is what looks like a drop in enthusiasm in some games, a lack of cohesion, and a shed full of dropped ball and errors. As to why, I think we’re all just guessing the reasons, SW knows more about the behind the scenes stuff that could be in the mix, and he’s not telling. So let’s just keep on analysing and guessing.

the last 2 games we also have seen the biggest shake up in the backs we've had for a while. with new combinations and players lacking a bit of confidence, the ball is getting stuck/slow, allowing the opposition defence to cover the gaps/perssurise.
last week and 1st half last night micky was poor, so we also lacked go forward from the PTB.
its easier to rotate the pack without impacting the team. however, when 6/7/3 and 4 are tired/injured/new combinations its a lot more difficult.

Just seen this quote from the BBC.

Bradford Bulls head coach Francis Cummins:
"Sometimes you feel you don't get what you deserve and that is what we are feeling now.
"You know when you come to Wigan that you are not going to get all the possession and maybe not get all the calls you should get - that is my opinion. But we gave them a bit back and we played really well.
"I just get a bit frustrated with some decisions. They didn't need any help."

That' just sour grapes that. If he hadn't told his players to start trying to run the clock down from 20 mins out - they would have won that game.
Bulls were the better team for most of the game, but their negativty meant they deserved to lose.

Not too sure what he's on about with the ref either. Will have to watch the game back when the full highlights are available, but for me the worst decision of the night was their try 2nd try, where they were clearly offside for the bomb that RH dropped.

Who was the guy in the shirt & tie who was on the touchline between the north stand and tunnel last night? He seemed to be talking to Bradford's 'water carriers' - had there been some sort of complaint?