I’m glad you said it. I was amazed on SKY that all the talk was of Wigan resting players. It was made out like it was a full Huddersfield side v Wigan academy.

I counted at least 7 missing from Huddersfield who would most likely start in a full strength 17.

NK mentions they had their spine but were still missing Pryce and Cogger and had Levi on the bench. Plus Hill, McQueen, Jones, Ikahifo and Yates from the pack. Plus McGilvary on the wing.

Agree with this, as a Hudds fan i felt the main difference was the control Fages/Russell and Lolohea provided, but Watson has been real smart with recruitment we have no less than 8 prop forwards 6 of which can do a great job , which really allows us to rotate the Big boys with a settled spine and that paid dividends tonight

They’ve a good squad (more cover than us in the pivots and certainly more than you guys) but if everyone is available the same 1,6 and 7 start and they had 2 experienced hookers in there, albeit with their usual starting hooker on the bench. It’s not excuses, it’s a fact and it was always likely that it would decide the game. We didn’t have a first choice player at 1,6,7,9 or 13.

Not to worry, they deserved the win and it should’ve been by more. We’ll lose very little in real terms.

Your squad is superb, as is Watson himself. I’ve debated our depth on here in key positions and it’s pretty good but Huddersfield’s is better than ours.

The game in 2 weeks will be a cracker I reckon. I think it’s an absolute 50/50 affair and that’s a good thing for the sport.

Yeah agree with all that. It means nothing in the grand scheme, was just strange how all the talk was of who wigan had missing. Even read a few comments about it being a decent result for Wigan all things considered, which is a strange take in my eyes.
Virtually their full starting pack missing tonight and yet they had all the field position, certainly in the first half. Expected more from Singleton, Ellis, Partington.

Nicholson looks handy though, good debut from him.

Just on the way back from the game, so not heard the commentary. The fact we’re handing a couple of debuts out probably sways that towards them mentioning us being inexperienced more.

Matty Nicholson is some prospect. He’ll start knocking players off and getting past them in the next year to 18 months IMO. I’d be surprised if he’s not a first 17 player come the middle of next season.

Just back from the game, kind of as expected really going off the teams.

Some takeaways

- Think if Farrell and Cust would have played (as squad indicated) that might have been enough to sneak a win.

- Hudds put on some nice plays, loads of late shifts of playmakers to create numbers.

- If I were Watson in the final I’d go at Smith and Thornley all game.

- French still lacking fitness and sharpness, we know what he can do. Would it be worth post final him coming out of the team for a month or so and do a mini preseason ? Might be a daft idea but I’d like to see the best of him at the end of the year.

- We seemed to have moved on from Isa and Partington. All effort and aggression but our pack now has that plus size and more skills (which these 2 lack).

- Nickleson I thought looked superb (even without his tries) would like him in and around the first team more.

- Smith I thought attacked well and looked threatening (his tunnel ball for Halsall’s try was a beauty).

- expected more from senior players.


Happy enough, we move on.

Weird that, I sat there in the second half and looked at French and thought exactly the same to myself, even down to it being a month. I don’t think it’s daft at all, he looks lacking in sharpness and in the middle of a season it’s tough to get real fitness work in to them, with games coming thick and fast. There’s a run of around a month after the cup final where we play Salford, Toulouse and Wakey, before then going in to Saints. It wouldn’t be the worst time to do it but I doubt we will.

Have to say that didn't look like a weakened team to me,credit to Watson for assembling that squad should make a very Interesting final

I thought before the game that even if we rested players, the one thing we didn't want to do was to get hammered. And one point it looked like we might be, Hudds certainly butchered some chances in the first half. But we weren't. So, a much better effort in the second half, Miski was very creditable, and I thought Joe Shorrocks had a strong game. Of course he is not a talented dummy-half like O'Neill, but he did plenty of good stuff in midfield.And, if we didn't already know, Hudds are a good side. How much better a player does Lolo look now, compared to when he was at Leeds?

And, of course, so pleased for Nicholson. He's looked a real talent every time I've seen him, and if he can bring to SL level, that's great. He could hardly ask for a more encouraging start.

So now, I suppose, the question is, what side do we put out against Hull? Our strongest side?

Come on NK you can't have it both ways. Last night 2 of your starting spine also played last week in the semi-final, one of whom was MOM. Also there are lots of Wigan fans desperate to see French at FB with Field in the halves as they feel that is French's best position. Last night you had him at FB so in real terms you were missing a 6 and 13 not a full spine.

In relation to Nicholson, his performance didn't surprise me. I was talking about him a couple of years ago with Rogues Gallery as I knew all about the story of his signing and the excitement that surrounds him at Wigan. On him signing I was told that Wigan feel he has the potential to be as good as SOL and Farrell and thats not far fetched. He certainly didn't look out of place last night.

Not the best game,but better team won on the day.
Move on now.

Credit to huds, they were excellent with the ball in hand. Played some good rugby and thoroughly deserved that win. If they had finished better in the first half we would have been dead and buried by the break.

Rogues was correct re. astley, definately too kick happy. Kicking early in the tackle count when we are chasing the game and haven't earned the right to is not the best. He didn't look ready for the step up tonight, which isn't a bad thing as such he is still only young. Plenty of time to mature yet. I couldn't make the game tonight so had the pleasure of listening to our amazing sky commentary team, they mentioned a couple of times that he come from a union background, previously signed on at sale sharks. Wonder if this could explain the kicking somewhat?

Sharrocks was playing great at loose i thought (his most suited position imo) it's a shame for him that smithies has to take that role atm due to how well he has been playing. I thought he did a better job then previous games also when he moved to hooker, although would still prefer it if we could get o'neill playing full games.

Miski had his best game by far in a wigan shirt, he has received alot of flack in his previous games so far so was nice to see him show abit of something. His carries out of our own half were huge.

Overall performace was pretty poor to be honest, we should have been better with the team that we put out. Hopefully it can just be put down to semi final hangover, Not too concerned about it though and nothing devastating. Onto next week i think we need to play full strength, get some momentum going into the final.