Yes…as did Moy when he came on

A disappointing defeat but you can't win them all. There will be a few lessons in there for them, about making sure you don't presume a game is won when in a good lead and also for Peet in how you deal with the loss of a player like Field. Our game management was poor but so were our energy levels and enthusiasm at times. 


Fair play to Hull, they're turning a corner and I'm happy for their fans. 

Hull v HKR looks like the best final for "us neutrals"

I wasn't 100% sure so didn't want to guess, I thought they had played against our Academy a couple of years back and given them a hiding! Really good signs for Hull, great that they (and Moy) are getting their chance.

I turned off at HT and went on Red Vee to say that Wigan were winning the lot again and that HKR are the only team that can get close to them. Obviously that aged well. 


I've said before that I think the pitch will be a huge problem to Wigan and I stand by that. There seemed to be sand in a lot of places and it is not conducive to the style of rugby you play. It makes you wonder if it has impacted on Field doing his hamstring. When you played in Vegas on that 3G style pitch it was like watching it on fast forward. 

I think its the word nestled inside the name that is causing the issue

Pretty woeful performance in that second half. Peet shouldn't have left Keighran out there. He should of taken him off at half time, played Leeming at 6. I think that would of given Farrell and Eckersley/Marshall (i think he switched Marshall and Eckersley round towards the end) more confidence on their inside shoulder.


The most dissapointing part of the second half was Smith's performance. He should of took that game by the scruff of the neck and killed it with his kicking game. For some reason, we just kept trying to outscore them rather than control the game and for me that has to be Smith's responsiblity when we've lost our fullback, have an injured stand off and then lost Ellis too.


It was a good game in the end, credit to Hull who scored some great tries. Unfortunately, we cant win them all.

They all take blame for me but we can let them off with a bad day at the office, after they've had so many good ones in the last couple of years. It will be a lesson in always respecting the game and the opposition because I didn't feel we did that at times. He was out there on one leg, when maybe he shouldn't have been but at one point, with about 10-15 minutes left Keighran threw a ridiculous inside ball on tackle 2, which we lost, when we had an 8 point lead and could easily have managed the game out to a win, had we kept the ball up their end of the field. It all just felt a bit like they were thinking 'it's only Hull' until they got within a couple of points and then it was panic mode. It reminded me of the England Vs Samoa games in the World Cup. Mullered them one week and a few weeks later, the attitude is off and when you try and wake up, you're in panic mode and keep making bad decisions. 

There's a saying you often hear which I'll paraphrase here: No one can stop Wigan but Wigan themselves and that very much applies in this instance. Without taking anything away from Hull who were excellent in that second half and were good enough to exploit the weaknesses presented to them, I think we could play that game another hundred times and not lose it from the position we were in at half time. 

Everything that could be done wrong, we did wrong. The coaching staff, who have been exemplary for almost 2 years, got it wrong following the Field injury and everything snowballed from there. This is not hindsight. I said it at the game. I've posted elsewhere that we ended up with Eckersley, who's not really a winger, Farrell, who's not really a centre (let alone a right sided one!) and a one legged Keighran, who's not really a half all defending alongside each other and being covered by a fullback who hasn't played the position in around a year and, if rumours are to be believed, hadn't trained all week. All because one player went off! I'm not sure we could have got that any more wrong. 


You're probably right about the pitch as Barron for Hull also went off with a tight hamstring but regardless of that we should have comfortably seen that game out. 


On a positive note though, I'm actually less bothered about this loss than I thought I would be. I said before the season started that another clean sweep wasn't really on the cards. The last 6 trophies on the bounce is a great record but it was never going to be 9. This loss should work in our favour with regards to taking out the Grand Final again and, ultimately, that is the one I think we all want. I'm not saying we'll win it. As we've just seen, anything can happen on the day, but I do believe this ultimately puts us in a stronger position to make it 3 in a row. 

I hope Vegas was worth it financially because I've lost one of my favourite home games of the year and a day out in the semis and at Wembley because of it.

I agree. Another thing that's gone unmentioned is the loss of Ellis late on. I think Hull scored two tries after he went off?
The coaching team got their substitutions wrong, but as my dad god rest his soul used to say "The man who never made a mistake never made anything." 


Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Peet could have brought Leeming on either at #6 or #13 just add a bit more pace particularly in the defensive area to target Sezer who was given a free reign particularly in the 2nd half.


I'm not sure about the pitch being a factor though, Fields hamstring injuries have come previously at Leeds, Leigh and Wembley.

It'll be interesting to see if there are any charges regarding the Rapana tackle on Keighran, had there been a video ref at the game I'm sure it would have been looked at.

I'm not sure it's as straightforward as that. I think it probably played a part but we've seen this team have days off in every season recently, even when we've gone on to win everything. They have a bit of that 'we only need to turn up' in them on occasion. What they have been good at is bouncing back from those days and they've also been good at making sure those days have come in games where it wasn't hugely important. Unfortunately this one did matter but I'm with Phuzzy above, I think this exit makes our chances of winning another Grand Final better and I do think the players will take some pretty important lessons from this defeat.