There is no doubt that Flower assaulting Hohaia was a turning point. It's a professional sport and the guy would no doubt get a couple months inside if he acted like that off the pitch as Jamie Peacock said on Twitter.Hope Flower gets a lengthy ban!

But in simple terms the Saints player he knocked out didn't feature again in the match either and he was one of their few experienced pivots.

Roby was great and Wigan were beaten by a Saints team missing several of its top players! I knew Wigan supporters would come out with 'if we'd had 13 on the pitch....'

Well done Saints you deserved it!

Yes we had loads of old players. Wello is defo 30+, LMS is past 25, Lance is around 30, oh hang on, we can't count him as he was taken out of the game by that insane thug Flower. Pretty much like he took out Gaz O'Brien at Langtree Park last year only worse as he also kept going once he'd already knocked him unconcious. The rest are all pretty young, but obviously not as young as your toddlers.

Saints made 1 break against Wigan's 6 , tackle busts were even with 19 each. This suggest Saints had to resort even more to a forward game, it would have been great if we could have had Lomax, Walsh, Wilkin and Lance playing.

I wasn't trying to make a comment about the age of Saint's players, I was just saying Wigan have a good foundation right now.

I think the result would have been the same either way pal, your thick prop took out saints only playmaker, they bet you tonight with a second rower and a over the hill fullback as halfs and to top it off a prop playing for 78 minutes. Best team won I think

Dave maybe what you say is right about no Wigan players being sent off this season, but what must get other fans backs up is Wane going on record that Wigan will do what thet have to do to get an advantage ( the recent behind the scenes showing Wane saying what tactics he expexts Wigan players to resort to hurt other teams.
Also what am having trouble coming to terms with is that Wane or no Wigan player came up before the camera in the post match interviews.

never mind fellas, there's always next year. Puts Benny's minor discretion in 2013 into perspective.

This is a gloating thread and ho boy am I gloating.You have a coach that is very limited in his tactics........NO PLAN B.

I agree it's not like Westwoods last year, Flower's was far far worse, Could you explain exactly what you mean by your last sentence.

I think Wane would have said something he might regret had he done so.

I also think the "hurt" comments are to do with hitting hard. I think it's a bit hypocritical of other fans as they would love it if there was a huge tackle on say Smith or Green that left them winded or made them think twice about doing certain things. It's been part of the game as long as I can remember. Equating what Flower did as part of Wane's tactics is crazy.

How can you wind a player below the knees and around the head.

I think what they meant was Westwoods was an unprovoked attack on a player on the ground. a stupid reaction to having an elbow in the face, just a deliberate attempt to take a player out of the game. Which is where the hypocrisy comes from that its Wigan who are a bunch of thugs. Westwood led the way on that score.

You don't give up I'll give you that

Flower lost his head and did something stupid, Westwood without any emotion put in a sly punch on Green to try and take him out of the game. Obviously Flowers was worse but there is no way on Earth that his was tactics or gamesmanship like some people have been saying.

And with Walsh and Lomax I think we would have cruised it ... such is life.