The numbers from the actually game dont match upto that squad list... I Think 5 was Petersen formerly of Wakefield, 3 was Michael Garvey and 7 Craig Priestley.

i sit corrected (it was a rather flippant remark with no evidence to back it up, in my defence - esp as i'm in the office & supposed to be writing software not fiddling around with world cup stuff [conference calls & BS bingo notwithstanding])

So did I. I can't see history repeating itself where we play a player suited to the back row as a prop just because he's big and hard hitting or whatever. I'd hope how Lauaki and to some extent Hughes form was possibly affected by not playing in their natural positions would mean we didn't do it again.

Pettybourne made 151m, the only forward to make more in the first round of games was JWH.

rlstatsrl

And 28 tackles with 0 misses.

I think it's more the other way around. Only 6 of the 24 came from the US league. There are a lot of smaller Australian and NZ clubs in that list above.

Mackay Cutters, Wentworthville Magpies, Redcliffe, Ipswich, Newcastle South, Tuggeranong, Cabramatta, Dalby and Belrose all play in NSW cup or the Queensland equivalent.

It'll be interesting to see how much of an impact this world cup has in the US though, especially with the league structure. I remember reading about David Niu doing a lot of work getting a professional rugby league competition up and running in the US but half the teams broke away to set up their own league and they don't really recognise each other.

There has been a feeling in the game and mentioned since Stuart Raper was our coach that most NRL players need a year to get settled into the game here.
Exceptions being the calibre of Barratt & Lyon.
Pettybourne may possibly be lined up for dual positions of prop/2nd row.
HH only signed a one year deal and it wouldn't surprise me to see him go to Salford for 2015. Isn't he still having problems following wrist injuries and plates being inserted.
We have a lot of forwards for next year, and quality men at that.

Heard that "H" will miss the rest of the World Cup. Very sad if true, he was delighted to be made Samoan captain.

On the night #3 was Tagaloa, who was on the teamsheet as #4 but switched at the last minute.

I see Eddy has had a haircut.

Makes him faster!

He was blowing last naught after 20 minutes. Hardly surprising given his lack of game time.

His performance dropped off significantly as he fatigued.

He also seemed to be laying down a line in the sand with his future team mates. He was looking to put a shot on Flower every time he took a carry up.

Watching him against Scotland I thought he ran his blood to water. His stats bear that out; 30 tackles, 22 drives, 156 meters. I'll let him have his 1 mistake. If he isn't currently fit (?) and he puts in this effort he'll be one big asset.

Impressed with him going off last nights game.

He seemed to be a real handful and made good yards but what I liked the most was his aggression when things got lively in the middle.

Our pack is looking very strong next season when you factor in Hopkins too.

The beauty of next seasons signings are the unknown potential they have IMO. When you look at lads like Pettybourne, Hopkins, Clubb, Sarginson etc they all come with that bit of an unknown element to them and all look to have room to improve massively in Wigans system.

I'm really looking forward to it all starting again.