Tony Smith - "I think the gauntlet was thrown down for our forwards this week with some comments that they weren't going to be bullied but my boys stood up. I thought we were right on the money today."

It was an awful performance, but it's not catastrophic.

We weren't torn apart from deep every set, we weren't completing set after set in their 20 and just not scoring points. We were poor, but we know it's not how we can play.

Fix it, move on and win our last 3 and top the table.

Correct. He needs to be smarter as a coach. People criticised Madge's media blackouts but boy did they work. He has been outsmarted yet again when it matters.

I hope I'm wrong but we seem to be mirroring last year where we completely fell to pieces at the backend of the season, though this year we haven't got the excuse of being at Wembley. We don't look the same side that was walloping Saints at the Etihad or putting 50 in to Leeds at Headingley. This long break between now and the Salford game next Monday followed by the weekend off needs to be used correctly to put things right. If we don't see a marked improvement for the last few regular season games and the playoffs there's every chance that we'll end up with nothing and the brilliant early season form will have not meant anything.

Question is what's changed in two months. We won plenty of tough games in a row only a few months ago. Saints in the cup, Leeds away , Catalan away. I'm struggling to think what's changed between then and now.

I refuse to believe the absence of Tommy is the root of all this. Maybe in the continuity of the attack perhaps, although we really should have overcome that by now. But this sloppiness with ball in hand and lethargic aura that Wigan are giving off really is concerning. Has Wane fatigued the squad with the full contact training session's each and every week?




I'm beginning to worry the same myself.

Mullered in every department, hard to see how they can come back from that, If Warrington had showed a bit more composure we'd have been looking at a 50 pointer.

Is it that hard?

I don't necessarily think it is. We were poor, dropped the ball too much and were out-muscled in the forwards.

That forward pack more than held their own in the Wire game at home, it wasn't as if their forwards have murdered us every game we've played this year, and we went out to France and beat Catalans' pack pretty comfortably.

Our forwards are better than that 'effort' we got today, and getting them back to how they were 2 months ago is the key to Old Trafford.

We can't play the basics, which is very worrying. Warrington just did the basics right and thrashed us. I don't know where the team has gone that that smashed Saints and Leeds at headingley, but we need to find it fast or it could be a long off season.

Why are we blaming Wane for having players who can't catch, pass or hold onto the ball is beyond me. I hope this is a big wake-up call to the players as we have been quite frankly poor, lethargic and have had generally the wrong attitude for a number of weeks now.

It's clear that the loss of Tommy and Finch not being fully fit has made an impact. But the dropping of the ball time and time again is something else.

Yes, but how do they get back to where they were, they look physically shot to pieces, and God knows what that will have done to them mentally.

I think the training has something to do with it.

No need for it really. The players should be fully match fit and it's a case of keeping them ticking over and building confidence.

Easy to be negative, but I'd still rather be in our position than Warringtons. Top spot still in our hands.

Only one of those games you mentioned was a must win game though. In that must win game against Saints they were pretty woeful. We played well but that game didn't strike me as much of a test. Saints were well below what they were capable of.

The Catalans away game was certainly one of the high points of the season and it seems to have peaked at that point.

The players do look fatigued now and some important players, particularly in the forwards, have dropped off significantly in terms of performance. I mentioned on twitter that full contact training sessions must surely be counter productive at a time when we appear to be having so many issues with injuries and fitness. We seem to have had quite a few players missing with vague 'knocks' that they've picked up outside of matches. I mean how on earth did Powell and Tuson suffer their injuries? Wane keeps saying that he hasn't got many players to choose from, well how have these players been picking up knocks?