Huddersfield had the far stronger bench and that really told in the end.

That was very important, we had Taylor on the bench who is quality but after that it was Burke who's been out injured, James who I don't really know what he offers and seems way off the pace, and Hampshire who tbh was a bit of a luxury to have on the bench in a game like that, we'd have probably been better off going with 4 forwards and having someone like Sutton there instead.

I thought Burke went pretty well and was glad to see him back. I agree about James though, he looks like an old bloke who's been drafted in to the team at the last minute because half of the team have broke down in their minibus on the motorway. He's got a big heart but his legs just haven't got the energy to do the things he needs to.

Talk of his deal being extended in to next year simply can't be true. He came as a coach and that's what he should be doing.

I'm suprised no one has yet mentioned Crabtree's elbow. It was a pretty nasty one. Straight contact with the head and his left arm not the right which was carrying the ball. Should get a match or two IMO.

Some very bad calls last night and most annyingly the lack of consistancy, if the video ref is going to be used it should be all decisions where the ref is unsighted. Not the laughable knock or the no try for obstruction when O'loughlin didn't even move from the PTB.

ferres in particular was being a dirty sod last night though, trying to pull Bowens head off after he scored and maliciously taking out Bateman when he didn't have the ball simply wasn't needed. That and crabtree running elbow first.

Overall the ref turned the game and hudds took full advantage; it wasn't the refs fault we kept dropping the ball.

The ref was poor but we were poorer, time to prepare for the bigger game next week

Did anyone notice him for Wardle's try? He was still behind the play 2 tackles after the initial break! Unless I missed him receiving treatment or whatever, that is poor.

The referee did make some mistakes but i think there's being a lot made of them because we failed to defend the subsequent sets. We can't control what Thaler does but we can control how we defend and we let them in immediately after they got the ball. For me it's just that we weren't on our game because everyone's looking at the cup game next week and we've had a run of tough games. Look at how many consecutive sets we defended at Magic, we can defend our line we just didn't in this game. The fact that they were more up for it and stacked their bench were more of a reason for the swing in score for me.

On the obstruction for the Powell try I don't think it matters that O'Loughlin didn't move. He's stood ahead of the ball and gets in between the ball carrier and the defence. That was more of an obstruction than the ones against Salford for me, they were all technical inside/outside shoulder, which side of the dummy runner does the attacker catch the ball interpretation decisions.

At the moment he's just a body. He's about seventh or eighth choice prop and useful for squad rotation. i'm not saying he's at all good btw just that i can see why we might have him in the squad.

We won a playoff game with andy powell starting last year as well so i think we can carry jordan james.

Not the first time that's been the case either. He was the same at your place on Good Friday when Saints were breaking our line.

The match officials made a succession of errors last night which not only affected the scores but the result.
We were doing great until the Taylor knock on, which wasn't. That gifted Hudds possession when they should not have had it. If they scored through good play or poor defence to me that's irrelevent, they only scored because they were in possession when they should not have been.
If there is a procedure in place to help out the match officials when Brough kicks to touch and the TJ signals out on the full but then the VR crew help out by informing of the right decision, why did they wait until then?
I've seen in the NRL when a scrum is formed the ref is informed he's got it wrong they reverse their call to make it a correct one. If they can do it so can we, why isn't it being done?
After the last mess up involving the Giants with the Bentham no drop goal the match officials must surely now look at their match day operations.
We need a Captains Challenge and we need helpful intervention when the field officials have a decision plainly wrong.

It was Hicks who was awful last night. He gave the non existent knock on, gave the Hudds out on the full ( the only wrong decision that was overturned by going to the video ref) and miss the tackle on Bateman.

Whenever Wigan play he's the one official I dread being involved as we seem to get more than our fare share of poop calls.

He's awful.

The Hull KR game a couple seasons back where Bentham broke his leg, Hicks took over as ref and had a shocker that night too.

He was awful last night and his bad decisions certainly let Huddersfield back into the match when we were winning quite comfortably. It was quite alarming though the way we ran out of steam soon after and I think playing so many games is begining to show with some of the younger players. Whether this would have happened anyway, without the dodgy calls, is anyones guess.

I can't believe that you are blaming last nights defeat on the referee?



As a neutral I thought that Thaler had a great game for YOU against the Whinos at Magic weekend,but i never saw you all complimenting him afterwards for his performance?

Personally speaking i thought that you were easily 2nd best on the night and that the Giants fully deserved their win,you looked very jaded after some very tough games recently,your junior stand in's cannot be expected to produce their recent high tempo and quality performances for long periods of games

On a positive note,I still think you will make the GF this year though as you play a great brand off play off footy when it matters

Do you think the game was refereed fairly or evenly last night?
Wigan lost the game because they couldn't defend well enough, BUT Huddersfield were granted a big advantage with the calls.

If Thaler can take advice when the ball wasn't in touch then why was the same advice not given for the no knock and the no ball strip.

It's these inconsistencies that cause the problems with the fans.

It'll be very interesting to watch the refs call on twitter this coming Tuesday.

Was it was refereed fairly or evenly- yes giants had a couple of calls that went their way and they capitalised but the amount of offside and forward passes by Wigan (including one you capitalised on for your first try) that were ignored last night was -sognificant- and then the two swan dives to gain penalties- I thought for a moment the World Cup had started early.
Funny how when your team loses you only see the calls that go against you- all teams fans are guilty of it I'm sure.

is this for real? seriously?
he made some poor calls for both sides but is he really the reason wigan's wonderkids were beaten?
apart from the knock on he gave against burgess i don't recall anything else to believe he cost wigan the game or am i just being stupid?
no mention of a forward pass for wigan's first try or the numerous times he let wigan players not stand square or offside, or the times he was conned into giving wigan penalties by their players falling over at the PTB.

i didn't think he was that bad at all just the usual frustrations, but i suppose wigan fans would think a referee cost them the game because they couldn't use their usual tactics against us?

the turning point was the introduction of crabtree, patrick and ta'ai who completely dominate wigan's forwards from that moment.

How many times do I need to say it.Im not saying thaler is why we lost the game we all know the introduction of the 3 players you say raised your game.But 3 clear and I will specify 3 clear decision what should of gone our way went in favor of hudds and 3 try's came of the back of all 3.I can handle 50-50 calls going against us but all 3 calls went against us!!!

Which three decisions are you referring to?

Hudds were the much better team and their forwards were constantly breaking tackles all over he field, thoroughly deserved their win. However, the officiating in SL is dreadful. The non knock-on called by hicks leads to a try and then Ferres tackled Bateman off the ball and nothing is given, Hudds then go up the other end and score to more or less seal the game. I don't mind getting beaten by Hudds because they are a very good team, but the officials on Thursday got some basic calls wrong that changed the game.

In addition to this, it seems to me that during the last few years Wigan have a habit of turning in below-par performances before big games. Away at saints last year before the cup semi, Leeds in the last round before play offs last year and now this. From what Waney has said in interviews we have been targeting Cas for a few weeks now, let's hope we turn in a good performance.

Everyone keeps going on about ferres tackling Bateman- wigan made a break at that point due to ferres falling for the dummy pass and tackling the player he thought had received the ball! From where I was sat I thought he'd received the ball until I noticed Wigan were still moving ahead. The officials got basic calls wrong for BOTH sides. Those led to tries on both sides. Those calls did not affect the overall outcome of the game.

Usual tactics ?

Please enlighten me as you have a good recent record against Wigan so obviously these "usual tactics" whatever they are obviously don't work"...........we'll not unless it's a big game anyway

What was particularly annoying was watching Mr Thaler sneakily looking at the screen when it suited him. Very similar situations were being treated differently because of this. The Bateman off the ball tackle was spotted by everyone except the officials but Mr Thaler did not want to know. That leaves the fans very confused.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand the Huddersfield argument that Mr Thaler was fine because he was rubbish for both teams. He was a major factor in the outcome of the game. In that case perhaps we should toss a coin to see who wins. Mr T could be the .