If we're looking at small negatives I thought Faz looked off the pace a little at times. Few too many missed tackles as well. 

I think he’s being asked to do more as just like tonight teams are targeting that side and Eckersley. 

AK does give away penalties but defensively he’s very good and I think that edge is really missing that element of his game. 

But equally AK wouldn't have gone the length of the field (twice) Jon. It's not like he's a liability in defense or anything, it's just that AK is a bit more experienced. That will come. He's a better defender than Robertson for example (which is also fair enough as he's a year or two ahead of him). 


I thought that was a terrific performance, especially in the 2nd half which was Vegas like but against a better team on the night. Some of the attacking flair was outstanding and we were defensively very resolute, especially when you factor in the intensity of the game. KR were visibly running on empty for the last 15 mins. 


Walters is turning into a top player. His engine is immense for such a big guy. The highest praise I can offer is that we didn't seem to miss Thompson (if you get my drift). Miski and Marshy were also exceptional. Their work rates were both top drawer. 


On to Good Friday.

I never thought Eckersley would be an upgrade on AK and still don't. Still a valuable squad player, though.

It’s not about being an upgrade. You have to look at his age, opportunity and where we could use the AK quota spot and cap space.


I think he is nailed on to take that centre spot from AK but I think it will be wise to retain AK for 26 with a view to ZE taking over in 27, which is a year later than I thought it would happen. 

What was the pen count last night? Watching it back and KR got an away with a lot in the ruck and were standing offside on a few plays. 

What a great win! And how resilient were they against a very mobile and defence oriented side. 


But the thing that irritated me no end was that Jack Smith gave KR the benefit of the doubt when Burgess “scored” his second try and didn’t extend the same courtesy to the late Abbas Miski try. Thank goodness the video ref saw things differently and overruled him on both occasions.

I think it’s more to do with the system that is flawed. If a refs not sure I think they should follow the union way of doing it and send it up simply asking if there is any reason why they cannot award the try. 


I was ok with both those calls on the field as different camera angles had to be looked at on both occasions to get to the right decision. 


The penalty where O’Neil was messing about at the PTB and the KR player was begging for a penalty was a really poor and weak bit of reffing though allowing JWH to basically bully him into giving it.


Another one I think was strange was their captains challenge. In my opinion that clearly highlighted a block play obstruction and should have resulted in a penalty to us. 


They ran that block play a lot last night at Faz and got away with it on every occasion. 

A fantastic win, against a good side. I thought guys like Marshall and O'Neill were absolutely outstanding. I think we lost the penalty count 5-2 but I'd have taken that from Smith before the game, as I worried it could be a mess. The difference in him chatting to Wigan players, warning them about offsides and laying on, to how he spoke with the KR players was stark. I watched it on holiday, on my tablet and it was so noticeable how much more he was policing Wigan but ultimately It could've been far worse. 

That was a significant win after a rocky start. 


The main question I have: Was Mikey Lewis playing, or not? Sky Sports were never quite clear about it.

ZE looks like a future superstar to me , he might not be quite there yet , but he's 21 and you could get 10 years out of him.

I agree mate. AK's kicking is an enormous asset of course but Zach is already the greater attacking threat. He needs to improve his first contact in defense but he'll do that with more first team experience. I like AK but the potential in Zach at just 21 is there for all to see.