I haven’t suggested your worse than anyone else on that score at all but there have been high profile incidents in Saints last two games of your players acting up for the ref and trying to get opposition players in trouble. On the play acting front your much of a muchness in fairness. I’d say your in the top few teams in the league but nobody is perfect. My main issue with Saints has been around that All Stars game and the timing of your Covid troubles. I can’t lie, I think you’ve taken the pi*s but again, we don’t agree and that’s fair enough.

And when Tommy Makinson wasn't a Saints player too?

How about Hardaker's misdemeanours being before he ever pulled a Wigan shirt on? Oh! That's right, I forgot. That doesn't count because he isn't a Saints player.

Look mate, Saints and their players are no Saints (pun intended) either and that's fine. At least have the decency to recognise that their constant play acting, surrounding the ref, convenient Covid, ball tampering and offering contracts to wife beating thugs among other things is worthy of its own list if you're making them. I don't think 'just missing a couple of games' covers it, do you?

Saints do seem to be worse for diving/feigning injury right now to be fair. All teams look to milk set restarts though. I'm just wary of getting on my high horse about it because I think everyone else will follow suit.

Hardaker got done for drink driving when he was a Wigan player didn't he?

As for the rest of it, the "constant play acting, surrounding the ref, convenient Covid" is no different to any other team. The ball tampering fair enough, brain explosions from Makinson you can't really explain or justify. And didn't Barba become a "wife beating thug" AFTER he left Saints? Or if he was in trouble for the same thing before he came over then I am wrong.

I personally thought that Wellens was the greatest advocate of trying a take-off from a standing start !

We'll start with this shall we

In 2013 the NRL investigated Barba after his on and off girlfriend, Currie, claimed he punched her in the face, and sent pictures to a friend showing her bloodied chin

Anyway
Let's all stop getting away from the point

Coote and his play acting antics are embarrassing
Teams feigning injury so they get extra time to set densive line embarrassing , holding heads to stop play 30 yard in back play embarrassing, players holding necks so video ref takes 10 looks to et a penalty embarrassing, players showing yellow cards embarrassing, players getting a tap on the back of the head (coote again Monday night) then going down holding their face for a penalty embarrassing

What was the old saying "Footballers spend 90 minutes pretending to be hurt. Rugby players spend 80 minutes pretending not to be".

Very soon to be confined to the history books
And Grimmy, this isbwhat was saying was going to happen

Spot on, 100% correct. All teams are guilty of it sadly.

I don't agree
Saunts have been pretty good tbf at the going down in back play stuff, but the play acting in terms of taking a tackle after a kick or a slight tap above the shoulder and going down like theyve been shot has been particularly bad.

I can't give Wigan much credit this year and I do believe a lot of our indiscipline has come through frustration at our poor play (and imo poor coaching). The indiscipline of the usual penalty type i.e. lying on, hands in ruck, high shots, haradkers headbutt, Singleton retaliating and punching etc we have been very poor at.
But I honestly believe in terms of the players acting around injuries either by holding necks, going down in back play using HIA rules and play acting of the dying Swan type then Wigan have been very good.

The worst teams I have seen for the holding heads/holding necks/going down in back play to get the game stopped etc have been wakefield and Huddersfield with HKR/Wire/cas not far behind From the games I've seen.(huddersfield being particularly bad).

NK said a few weeks ago, in a bleak season for Wigan, its the only thing (along with the covid card that we haven't played even though in one of your previous posts you mentioned Wigans games called off by covid, we haven't had any I dont think and if we did it would have been the other team.) that i can feel proud of.

Forums etc are particularly bad imo at whipping up both frenzied anger and blinkered views when either a/thigs are going bad (Wigan) and when things are going well (saints)

At the moment Wigan fans (certainly the most voiceforous on social media etc) are whipping themselves up into a frenzy and making it feel like the whole worlds about to end (when in reality and imo were a good coach away from resolving 80% of the issues) a bit like Saints were 4 years ago under a series of poor coaches.

Whilst over at Saints everything is rosey and your living in a blissful paradise when it isn't (both on and off the field). IMO the echo Chambers of Redvee exaggerate that. Thats why I'd rather be on here as you donget more varied opinions and I welcome opposition fans, in fact I wish there was far more. But the likes of redvee and our other site live 99% world of arent we brilliant or aren't we awful with no outside perspective.

Purely in the swan diving and play acting going down feigning injury on tackles after kicks and Slight high shots Saints have been one of the worst, other areas as I say theyve been pretty good.

You called one off last season I recall. That's the one I was referring to. I remember it because ironically I messaged NK on here privately to tell him the game was going to be called off as I had been told about Covid in the Wigan camp. None this season though you're correct.



I agree. Wigan despite doing it tough at times are still 4th and can't be ruled out. Your players are capable of performing much better than they are collectively, so a change of coach could cure those issues as you have mentioned. Whether Matty Peet is the right man remains to be seen.



To be fair you do get some opposition fans on Redvee who add to the debate. But without wanting to open up this debate again (I think it was you I had it with a few months back) the redvee site isn't overly welcoming to obvious trolls and wind up merchants and some of the stuff aimed at one particularly poster goes over the line, I admit that.
However overall I don't see much difference in the two boards. Both have good posters, some idiots, some blinkered/biased posters and some who take it too far. I have seen "Stains" "scousers" "bin dippers" etc all spouted on here. But yet I hear how fluffy and warm and welcoming this site is.



We can agree to disagree. I think Coote has been guilty at times of it and Bentley did one on Monday against Warrington where he was clipped on the back of the head and went down like he was shot. But I do think on the whole most teams are as bad as each other and outside of a few posters on here I haven't seen Saints singled out anywhere else. As previously mentioned I do cringe at Walmsley looking at the ref before he plays the ball after every carry though.

But it's all about opinions mate and yours is a fair one that's put across sensibly which is all you can ask for I suppose.

Your much better at snipping posts and quoting against relevant section than I am for a start.

On the covid cancellation, catalans tested positive and cancelled, wigan and cas then rearranged their game and played, the other 3 players/members of staff caught covid and it was identified Wednesday pm. Until all other players and staff had been tested and the game wasn't allowed to go ahead.

This was mid 1st wave and 2nd wave pandemic, hardly comparable to some of the shenanigans this year.
Wigan have played every game I believe thisbyear although at times I wish they hadn't!

IIRC Wigan have had one game postponed due to covid, Hudds away (postponed by Hudds) which was rearranged for and played on Wembley weekend.

On the wider topic of covid and cancellations it's a tricky one to judge really.

I suppose part of me doesn't want to believe that teams are "faking it" and using it their advantage. Whether that's naïve of me or just being an optimist/idealist I don't know.

Some of the cancellations (including ours) have come at a handy time and in that sense can look dodgy and too much of a coincidence maybe. But by the same token in our case we gave up a home game to Huddersfield which could cost us the league leaders shield, so I find it hard to believe we faked it. Yes it came at a good time in terms of a post-Wembley breather but we also gave up a very winnable game.

As you say Wigan have fulfilled every game so hats off to them for that and I was proud of Saints being able to say the same thing prior to the stuff after Wembley.

For the good of the game I can't wait to see the back of it and I hope we never hear the words "points percentage" ever again.

Yeah I think you're right. The one I was referring to was a home game v Catalans last year which was due to Covid in the Wigan camp. Lam was one of those who had it.

Before he even played. Never been in trouble since he's been a in the team. Even you must admit it's a remarkable rehabilitation on Wigan and Hardaker's part. Barba had drug issues before he came to Saints and there were many rumours of, shall we say, domestic problems, during his time at Saints. Subsequent events suggest there was probably some substance to the rumours. I'm not making any judgement calls here, by the way. Merely pointing out the 'creative accountancy' in making a Wigan list whilst reducing Saints indiscretions to "missing a couple of games" (sic).

I would certainly also take issue with the statement that "convenient Covid/constant play acting is no different from any other team" unless you're arguing that several wrongs make a right? In that case we'll knock most of the Wigan list off too as similar has happened at most other clubs.

You getting my point yet?

I think I have just answered the Covid related stuff in another reply.

And of course stuff goes on at all clubs. The reason I put that list to NK was that he was questioning the integrity and reputation of Saints which I thought was a bit of a stretch, especially given the stuff that has gone on at Wigan. That was the point I was making. I haven't ever or would never claim Saints as a club are flawless and full of absolute angels.