On a more serious note this is absolutely spot on. Wigan cut out the errors and we will dominate most games. Our forwards are very strong, our kicking has improved significantly and we have some extremely clinical and potent threats in the backs. With a ruthless and well drilled defence we will dominate just like we did against Saints and Huddersfield. Start making too many errors and we give teams like Leeds and Castleford a chance. Fortunately we have Sam Tomkins who can cheat us through those kind of matches. I still hate him though.

I think errors hold Wigan back more than most teams, especially Warrington, because of the way the team attacks. The reason Wire seem to rack up loads and loads of points is because their attack mostly comes from offloads, which can be done anywhere on the field and frequently lead to quick tries because the attack is very fluid. Obviously they also have the quality players which make them so dangerous when they attack and make offloads seem effortless.
Wigan's attack is much more structured, which is why it's harder to pile so many points on against weaker opposition. Most attacks need to be set up and then organised before the play is executed and that means that errors can be pretty costly, and the structure needs to be built up again. A few times the team can create something spontaneous from nothing, or very little, and it usually has something to do with Sam Tomkins, but generally the attacks are structured and planned and errors become very costly. The team also seems to attack in the same manner whether the score is 0-18, 16 all or 48-0.
That's why I think Wire can be so successful despite having a high error rate, whereas when Wigan start to make more errors, even if the team are still near the bottom of the league in terms of total errors made, it makes a significant difference to the attacking form of the team.

excellent post.... Do you think maguire sets the attacking plays in training and instructs the players accordingly?

Tony Smith has said that he only works on defence with the players... he lets them figure out the attacking plays for themselves.

Sign Phil Bailey for that essential experience.

Undoubtedly.

Some of the moves are repeated, and very organised, must be direction from the Coach involved.

Plus, Hoffman said he recognised a lot of the moves the team did from his time at Melbourne when he came over, which enabled him to settle in to training a lot quicker.

Most of the plays look like they are planned meticulously on the training ground. There are moves that have been repeated quite a few times and when the team execute those planned moves it's very hard for teams to defend against them. The benefit of the way Wigan play is that practice makes perfect. The players become familiar with their routines and it tends to prevent any panic plays. As someone with OCD, I love watching some of Wigan's well drilled, perfectly executed and well planned attacking moves. I admit I enjoy watching Warrington when they are attacking too, I just wish they'd be a bit more organised and a little neater.

As an analogy, Wigan as a team are a bit like a German car manufacturer like Audi or Volkswagen. It's all about efficiency, doing the simple things and doing them well and trying to make things run like clockwork.
Wire are like a Ferrari or Lamborghini. Very flashy, very entertaining to watch and when it comes to power and performance they beat the others convincingly.

Just like the sports cars though I think Warrington live dangerously. Just like speeding round corners and going full throttle is high risk, offloading in rugby league can also be very risky. If they come off it's almost impossible to stop but taking too many risks will occasionally have pretty bad consequences.

nice analogy...totally agree with this.

We need to defend for our lives at Wire in the cup for the first 20 minutes, they are blowing teams away. We need patience and will get our chance early in the second half, this is when they seem vulnerable.

i's between you and wire now after our abject failures in recent weeks against you both, not much between you both but im sure the VR's could help you in some way

I presume you are basing that on last nights game? Don't forget we lost two forwards for the second half..which made us look more vulnerable because we tired. I agree about the first 20 though...its something we have been doing to many teams this year...initial 20 mins blitz..game over before its started.

Yes, the slight lapse at the begining of the second period may be a mental thing having built such a strong lead. If our defence is as good as it was last season and we can keep you out in the first 20, it makes for a very special cup tie in the second half, no doubt the best 2 teams in SL by quite a distance, a well structured, patient Wigan side against the most entertaining team in SL, I cant wait.

Nice bit of writing that, a class above the usual drivell written on these boards (including my own "work"icon_wink.gif.

Its so good I've got a prize for you: the choice is a VW Golf or a Ferrari 458.

Which do you want?