French just eased his way into the game, certainly rusty and made a couple of mistakes. At one point I thought he had been taken off as a precaution! Silly me, by the end of the game he was looking dangerous and improving.

Only caught the 2nd half due to working, looked like he was in my running around at 75%, although was unlucky when he got stopped just short of the try line. He should have passed to Eckersley as he would have been away and instead Catalans scooped the ball and put us under pressure.

Won the game again tonight that kick and chase try won the game

Was way away from match fitness, probably less than 50% his best. At one point went over to the wing (for a breather?). Great bit of skill for his try like, another week under his belt where he played the full 80.

He always seems to take a while to get back up to speed and seems to gain a bit of timber in the off season and return from injuries.

Anyway, as long as he does the business when we need him we cannot complain.

Let’s hope he is in full flow at OT.

Aesthetically he looks in better shape to me than before the injury. But cardio has never been French's best attribute. At times he does drift in and out of games but when it matters most he always delivers.

Peet needs to have a word with Harry Smith, all this petulance might cost him and us going forward.
Its clear the backchat is not endearing him with the refs, who are then looking for any opportunity to penalise him (or even worse).
So to then constantly dick about at the PTB having made a tackle is pure stupidity……

I've just been reading an article on Wigan Today about how he felt his 3 games out was a good opportunity to rest and learn lessons from his brain fade against Leeds but I'm with you, I didn't think the signs were great on Friday. Everyone likes a chirpy halfback but he seemed to be in a running battle with Jack Smith and I only ever worry about Harry Smith when he isn't concentrating on the game. When he gets his head right, he is exceptional and manages the games to perfection but his brain has seemed a bit scrambled for a little while now.

Smith v Bentley round 2 this Friday - is Liam Moore ref again?

Jack Smith was pretty dreadful on Friday night. No wonder Harry made comments to him, wrongly of course.
Wasn't the binning of Burgess our first penalty with 30 gone?
I reckoned I saw at least two head high tackles in front of Smith that he ignored.
Yet another game where we lost the penalty count.

Matty Peet will need to have a word with Harry and next game we might lose a pen due to back chat or H get himself binned.

As frustrating as the constant losing of penalty counts is (and it's me that keeps banging on about it and throwing the stat around that we've won 5 in 25 games), Harry Smith has a responsibility to keep his head and not get involved in that sort of running battle with an official. He is our organiser and game manager and that takes total concentration and a cool head. His role in this team is Kevin Sinfields in that great Leeds side and Sinfield would always be in conversation with the ref but he was in total control, which borderline involved him reffing the games. No expletives, no screaming and shouting at the official or getting involved in verbals with opposition players. He needs to get his head down and just concentrate on his job.

Where would you place French in terms of all time Wigan players? I can't imagine anyone in front of Hanley but what about the others? Tomkins obviously springs to mind but depending on how long French stays and his overall impact he has to be up there in conversations surely?

I get its different eras etc

Obviously the likes of Gene Miles and Renouf, Kenny etc were world class but didn't stay as long so didn't play as many games.

sometimes, and it may be due the anti-Wigan persecution complex

, I feel that refs feel they have a duty to make the game closer and prevent blow out scores......I'm certain the stats back this up that in the first half we are disproportionately penalised with the second half going some way to even this up.



James Vella is the exception, who refs to the letter of the rule book, however frustrating it is....

Agree with that NK. I also wonder what the refs say to players. We hear a lot when they shout instructions but we don't hear a word when they speak quietly to a player as they run past. Also when there's a tackle near to touch the TJ comes onto the field and always has something to say.

Gregory and Edwards were two greats. My honest view is that he wouldn’t get in my all time best team. Having said that, he is a fabulous player.

It's so difficult to rank players from different eras. When I think of French, I just think he's a showman and if I'm thinking of players I've enjoyed watching more, then there aren't many, if any. Sam Tomkins between 2010-2013 was a better player overall IMO and he had loads of 'wow' moments but French just comes up with bits of skill that make you come out with those gasps and that leave you and your family/friends looking at each other shaking your heads in disbelief.

He'll go down as one of the best Wigan players I've seen, probably in some sort of top 10/15 players but if I think of the most entertaining players, then I think he'd be in the top two or three, if not the top one.

You must be joking?

There is no bias, we are not the most disciplined team and the rules are very complicated and subjective which means they are not always consistently applied.

In terms of enjoyment and wow moments, its a toss up between French, Tomkins and the unbelievable period Amos Roberts had.

Other players springing to my mind, but not comparable are: Carmont, Barret, Feka and Hock, purely from who I enjoyed watching.

Just re-iterating to the defenders to get up and square whilst they're in a better position to have some presence over it than the ref is. This bit makes little difference in my view but there you go.

If it's an upright tackle going towards touch they will echo the "held" call as well so defenders are more likely to hear them and not continue to take the attacker into touch (bear in mind the ref's voice could be drowned out by a large crowd, especially when a player is going towards touch so half are encouraging their team to push him in and half are getting on the ref's back to call the tackle complete). This bit makes a difference and can avoid a dragging penalty.

I was born in 91, so that disqualifies me from having decent memories of lots of our modern-ish era greats.

But the only back who I'm struggling to put him ahead of in my time is prime Sam Tomkins. Even then I think there's an argument that Tomkins was playing consistently for a dominant team, whereas French has done it in much more average Wigan teams until the last couple of years.

We'll wait and see how long he's here for and how long he keeps at this level. But if he sees out his current contract he'll have given us basically his entire career, and when you talk about that sort of contribution and the standard of rugby he consistently delivers, I think you're in all time great territory. And that takes some doing at Wigan.

I am...a bit older, and I think, at this stage of his career I still couldn't quite put French over the likes of Hanley. As you say, if he maintains this level of performance and sees out this whole contract he will move up the rankings. Even so, he has already won a Man of Steel, been top try scorer in a season,
broken the super league record for tries in a match and made the dream team 3 times in 4 years in 3 different positions. His individual accolades are already outstanding. I'd say he had overtaken Pat Richards as our best ever Australian import (I can't put Kenny, Miles or Renouf ahead of Richards due to his length of service).

But in terms of sheer enjoyment of watching a player, I can't really put anyone ahead of him anymore. He does things that no one else can and he can do it against the very best opposition as well as in the easy games. I also think his rugby brain is such that he will remain a threat even as his pace declines a bit, just as Tomkins did.

A 60% fit Bevan French is still our best game-breaker and top 3 halves in the league.

No one was better or as good as Hanley that I have seen.
But French is a bloody good one thats for sure.

Offiah and Robinson wer'nt too bad on the excitement stakes.

Only 8.5 games. He was incredible.