He can have that one I guess

We did smash them and stop them winning anything for years. I find him generally positive about the game as a whole though, whereas some other actively seem to dislike it.

I said to my mate at the time that it was our 'Aguero moment'. I'm struggling to think of a final where we were losing up to the final couple of minutes, on the last tackle with nothing seemingly on and then bang, winner! Even Manfredi's try in the GF we were already winning, his try made it safe.

It’s just not done much at all in Rugby League. It’s easier to score a try, than it is a goal, so games aren’t generally as close as they are in football and that’s leads to very few moments like that one on Saturday, especially in finals. The try on Saturday wasn’t as late as the Welsby one in 2020 but you pretty much knew it was game over when he went in (easy to say now mind, I was packing them when they were kicking off) and that led to wild celebrations, the like of which I’ve not seen for a long time and probably won’t for a long time again.

That feeling is just amazing. You’d love to just go back and do it all again and again. We can count ourselves lucky that we were in the Stadium to witness it and not sat watching it on the TV like the Saints fans were in 2020. As much as we’re rivals and as much as they still all clearly love the moment, there’s nothing like being there, going crazy, jumping on strangers, running about like a not right and being with all your family and friends and they didn’t get that.

On a side note, I saw some stats for John Bateman earlier from the game in a post by England Rugby League and it got me thinking about the expectations on the lad. I thought he was good on the day and one of our better players but didn’t feel like it was anything out of the ordinary. He made 17 carries for 186 metres and 34 tackles. That’s just outstanding and he should be lauded but I think we just expect so much (and sometimes probably too much) from him and I’m guilty of that.

Great to see him playing so well and enjoying himself.

Wouldn't get in the Saints team

There's another side to it though. I think that Welsby try would have been horrific to have seen in the stadium. Was bad enough from behind the couch.

Imagine the feeling in the stadium



I just walked out the living room in a huff and sat on my own in the bathroom for half an hour

I couldn’t have done that at Old Trafford (well I could but they’d have locked me in).

Rugby league is a simple game. The best team is the one which scores the most points and concedes the fewest. It is not synchronised swimming with points for artistic interpretation. It really annoys me to hear people lauding a negative game plan that allowed the opposition to snatch the victory at the end. That just says that Huddersfield did not get it right. It is the same when, in the football, coaches complain that the opposition parked the bus and would not allow the super rich to play their game. The best team on the day can overcome the oppositions game plan and win.

If I remember rightly, there was a similar sense of outrage in the press, led primarily by the Yorkshire Evening Post, when Wigan beat Leeds at Wembley in 2011.

i've watched the game twice now (sober) on TV, and really dont get how McQueen got man of the match. He did nothing with ball in hand that i can recall, defensively solid, but nothing more than that if i am honest

Leutele, caused us problems with ball in hand, as he is a good strong runner out in the centre

outside of that, not 1 player from either side really stood out as an outstanding contender for MOM. Hudds did a good job on their kick chase, to prevent French or Field getting any free space to run into Their last plays, were boring, downright boring, surrendering the ball virtually every time they were in Wigans 20, and happy to turn it over. To me that just showed lack of ambition on the day, and probably the reason they lost the game. If they had tried a kick into the dead ball area, try to force the error or repeat set, then it may have been different but they didnt

Harry Smith or Morgan Smithies from a Wigan perspective were IMO our top performers, but for only 2 votes to be cast for Wigan players just shows that it was the Huddersfield fan club who voted for the MOM awards. Harry Smith, involved in all 3 tries, cleared up a couple of Hudds kicks through as last line of defence. Our forwards, especially Faz / Bateman, did their usual, tackled and made yards all day, but nothing special from either of them, but a Hudds player gets MOM for probably less than either of those 2

The Rugby League press has become so Yorkshire centric it has no real value or voice worth listening to. You may as well have asked McQueen's mum to pick the Lance Todd.

Looking at stats on tackle busts, breaks, attacking metrics we were far ahead of Hudd's.

I still don't get the perception Hudd's were the better team.

Sure we made some stupid mistakes, we gifted Hudd's field position and possession.

But our quality in attack was far higher, and our defence due to putting ourselves under pressure was far better. Better attack, better defence usually means you deserve to win.

That's my thinking, but you know what - ultimately it doesn't matter. How many people can remember the scores, or performance from our 8 in a row?

The result is all that matters. We won & the trophy came home. Let the bitter Hudds fans talk about how they were the better side, or how they've got some kind of moral victory. The Trophy once again sits in Wigan's trophy room.

I can always remember 27-0

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2022/05/ ... n-numbers/ Posted this in the wrong thread.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2022/05/ ... n-numbers/ Posted this in the wrong thread.

From Gavin Willacy at the Guardian:

"My vote helped McQueen become the 11th defeated player to win the man of the match award. Not that he really stood out. Despite looking his usual exhausted self from first minute to last, he just ripped into the Wigan defence every time he got the ball and did that more than most."

Firstly no he didn't. Smithies and Bateman were both better in that detail. Secondly, when has that ever been a good enough reason to award a MOM, let alone the Lance Todd! That award is supposed to be reserved for the player who had the most impact on the game. If that was McQueen I'll start watching a different sport.

If they had any self-awareness, people like Willacy would have been feeling pretty stupid once that game was over, though I doubt they will.

A close-to-retirement Aussie gets the award for doing his job (i.e. tackling), over a young British halfback who has just won the Challenge Cup for his hometown club with a stroke of genius. Yeah, on reflection I bet that decision feels like the right one down in Guardian Land.

A player who for me is is underrated by opposing fans and some Wigan fans.

You never know wingers with pace rather than size may come into fashion again. I've said a few times over the past few years that Martin Offiah wouldn't get a place in today's game hopefully, times are a changing.

Nothing absolutely nothing can substitute for pace and thankfully we have 2 lads who can go the full length of the field on each wing at the moment and a FB who can outrun both wingers. I love it.
I know that you need your grafters to set the platform but give me our second try on Saturday any day of the year over a high speculative kick to the corner for a winger to pounce on a mistake or maybe out jump his opposite winger.

On the day I thought that Huddersfield were the better team by quite a margin for most of the 80 minutes however, on watching the game again a lot their territorial advantage was gained by poor handling by ourselves rather than line breaks by Huddersfield. I obviously saw that on Saturday but probably too much beer and disappointment in our opening 20 minutes led me to be overly critical of our display and overstate the effectiveness of a well drilled but a too conservative Huddersfield.

This was their main cardinal sin. They were never so far ahead of us that a strategy like that didn't come at very high risk.

In the end, it was a calamitous decision and they had no one to blame but themselves.

Maybe. To be fair though, it very almost paid off - and they kept our attack quiet for the most part.

Those saying Huddersfield were the better side are definitely over-egging it, but their approach was a bounce of the ball away from causing an upset (albeit only a slight one).

Spot on.
I respect Watson's coaching ability but thankfully his approach proved to be too cautious.
This season most teams in SL I think are playing a more open style of play which for me can only be good for the game.
Hopefully neutrals watching the game will also appreciate the skills involved in all of the tries scored but our 3 were of a particularly high standard and execution.

I think the knowledge that we can execute those plays on the big stage will stand us in good stead going forward. The players will also know if they respect the ball a bit more then this team is capable of great things.

If Saints have any sense they'll appoint Watson as their next coach. He's proven that he's not a flash in the plan and he'll thrive there. Also love the idea of him and Peet battling it out for the next decade too.

I have a suspicion they'll go after Tony Smith if Woolf leaves.