No, but then again I'm not convinced we've ever played to our best ability under Wane when it's mattered, so I'm not sure why the play offs will be any different.

One Word: LOCKERS - Thats whats wrong with our attack he creates the link and unfortunatley i can't understand why Waney has decided to spell Tuson at 13 again and again he's far better as a second row he does't have the handling skills to fill that position and neither does Ben Flower he's much better at prop, i can't believe for a minute that only i can see this surely others can see that when we have to replace Lockers we seem to handicap ourselves by playing our 13 as another prop, weve done this in about 7 or 8 games this year and the outcome has been the same everytime, is this Waney playing it safe and trying to limit mistakes valuing experience over skill because for all my money it seems to have increased our error count thorough the roof and handicapped our attack, too much reliance on Sam is also not helping when we shift the ball out wide, he's class but he's not Clarke Kent, We have a proper number 13 sitting in the stands in Burke, what on earth are we playing at, throw him in and give him the freedom to play, someone needs to fill lockers boots one day the young lads have stood up all season when called upon and some have played better than the so called regulars.
Green seems to have gone down hill, Leeds are now on the charge again and if we don't change something they are the Winners of this competion again imo HANDS DOWN!

That's been my philosophy recently but more so towards the whole playoffs.

If we wimp out then one half of the board were correct. We're sh*t.
If we win the final then the other half were correct and it was all about being focussed.

Should make for an interesting few weeks anyway.



Obviously I hope it's option B. Had we been playing badly with a full side I'd be worried but other than last night we've been playing with numerous changes which is why I haven't been concerned. We're back into do or die territory now so now is the time to judge us.

React like when he threw it to Jones-Bishop?

And react like:

- When he made the break for Pat's try

- When Thornley was put through and we should have scored

- When he put the kick in for Pat

Yes react like the three times we actually broke their line last night.

Three factors.

1. SOL being out. He formed the link to either getting Sam or the winger into space or playing a short ball. Without him we are not playing the same structure we were doing at the start of the season. We just don't have a like for like replacement.

2. Off the ball movement. Start of the season we had bodies in motion on almost every play. 2 or 3 options for the defender to have to pick. Recently we have been static and easy to spot with almost zero off the ball movement.

3. Opposition defence. Made easier by point 2. The defence on the decent fit well drilled teams are moving very quickly out wide, shutting off any link to Sam or the winger. This is made easier to do be the loss of SoL and our recent lack of movement.

If we can't replace Sol then we have to look at changing our attacking plays, as they are stopping at the point where he would have received the ball.

IMO this cries out for a half back who takes on the line, backed up in theide by Sam, together with the occasional kick behind the on rushing fringe defence.

That will make it harder for the defenders to rush on the fringe as they will be in two minds.

Considering he was the only one who seemed to creative anything I'd suggest those with a Green agenda look elsewhere for a new scapegoat after last night. While there are plenty of attacking issues to be addressed dropping Green loses the only one in the team at the moment with the rugby brain to break down a top 4 defence.

Likewise no point bagging someone if you're not prepared to acknowledge making up for the a mistake.

As I've just said he was the only one capable of creating something last night. Without Locky our attacking structures fall apart, that's the main problem that needs addressing.

lmao

So criticising a below average player is now having an "agenda" against him?

It was a questionable signing to say the least and sadly, a year later I have been proven correct.

No. For example, saying that the two best pieces of play last night only happened simply because the opportunities presented themselves (that could be said about any piece of creativity - it takes someone to actually take advantage of it) and therefore didn't warrant praise might be argued to have been agenda driven.

Just like pointing out criticising a below average player is ok without actually taking account of their performance might also be argued to be agenda driven.

HTH.

Tonight Leeds played on the advantage line, and perhaps, should have been pulled up more than they were for forward passes, but we were playing from a couple of yards back making defence relatively easy. We did not give ourselves the chance.
We looked plodding, look at the pass for the interception, it was as though the decision to pass had been made several tackles earlier. Only Andy Powell looked to be capable of thinking on his feet and no one was looking for it.
Lastly we suffered from not having a back on the bench. Sam Powell could have covered both hooker and in the backs. Even Gelling would offer a bit more.

IMO Last night Leeds came onto the ball from depth at pace, forced themselves across the tackle line creating better go forward.
Our attack was flat, had no pace and we were stopped on the tackle line. It wasn't only predictable ( other than the three obvious occasions) it was slow, like preseason warm up.
Lastweek against Hull our attack was exciting and fun to watch
Never mind, It's been a good season, we aren't out of it yes and Sams leaving so we may try some other attacking plays next year.

A lot of our problems lie in the smaller parts of the game. In defence we are very quick in making a tackle and getting set at marker. This avoids penalties but there is no wrestling tactics by Wigan which makes the dummy-halves job a lot easier against us. Look at what position our players are in when getting up to play the ball in respect to the opposition. This then negates a lot of what Michael McIlorum & Logan Tomkins can do in making cheap gains and further hampers our dummy runs which last night didn't seem to exist. This then puts far more pressure on our halves who don't have the time to get the balls out wide. We regularly played the ball quickly last night and Sam came into the line only to find the Leeds line had kept up with the play. If we do that we have to run down the middle and that becomes a bigger challenge.

Add to that our backs taking the balls in for cheap yards and somehow gaining none (We had three quick PTB's in a row last night with no markers set by Leeds & still had to kick from our own half) and our awful kicking game and its no wonder we are poor. Unless we get the tactics spot on regarding the small things we will never be in a position to challenge top quality sides with good defensive structures like Leeds, Warrington & Huddersfield