Centre, which was a good tactic for Warrington because as much as I hate to admit it - Briers can have a lethal offensive kicking game on his day which he did and put 3/4 fine cross-field balls up for King.

Correct, so where the bl**dy hell was Gleeson.

If you are suggesting they would have swapped King over as well that isn't as likely as you might like to think. It is not as easy to switch centres as it s a winger.

They may have tried to same tactic of kicking to Roberts wing (now on the other side of the pitch) but without King to challenge it may not have been as effective.

If the teams line up the same way this week and Roberts is targeted again and with the same sort of success what do you suggest Noble does? Shrug his shoulders and leave things as they are?

Dave

What I'm suggesting is that his centre who is marking King should be the fist in line to make the block, but they may have swapped centres, I guess we'll never know.

As King is not playing on Friday it may be irrelevant. To be fair Briers kicks were very accurate last week and were dropping between the centre and winger right on the try line.

Simple, hicks would have got a hatrick instead.

Dont let logic cloud the issue.

I agree and so sometimes the winger has to be able to deal with it and can't rely on the centre being there all the time. Swapping the wingers would have at least have given them something to think about but we stuck with plan A.

Dave

Correct. Roberts was up against 3 Wire players for the Anderson try and even has a go after the try was scored. The fans get on his back. With Ainscough they applaud and say 'he's only young' etc etc

The lad just can't win. In the first half Sir Sam Tomkins OBE MBE PMT TTFN threw an absolute shocker of a pass to Gleeson (well I think it was meant to go to him anyway ) but it flew past Gleese and BEHIND Roberts into touch. Cue cries of 'Bloody rubbish that Roberts, I hope we don't keep that useless bag of crap'

Second half and Sir Sam crosses for a try (granted it was forward a mile) but does Roberts get any praise for chasing the kick, keeping it in play and finding Sam? No. Would Shaun Ainscough? I think he probably would.



BTW - my mickey taking of Sam is not a shot at him but at how high a pedastal fans have put him on. I think Sam is a class act and will be the future of both Wigan and England/GB for years to come.

Will be interesting to see where Gleeson is.

So close to the line the centre must move forward, he cannot hang back to defend a kick of else he will leave a clean run to the line for his opposite number and a massive hole in the defensive line.

It is also very difficult for him to be a blocker if he is in the right position as he should nearly be in the attacking line when the attacking team is so close to our line.

Perhaps he could have done more and perhaps Roberts could have done more, but i think rather than being so quick to point the finger you simply have to applaud the quality play of Lee Briers who came up with a play that was almost impossible to stop on the day.

Many may not like to admit it but he was top notch in the semi, shame he has not played to that level all his career as he had the potential to.

Look how every one slated Pat when he first came over !! and look how he has turned out!! Maybe the same will happen with Amos?? Takes some players more time to settle in than others give him a chance and then make judgement. Too much slating of individules on this board.

How many more times does it have to be pointed out Pat was poor when played at centre and when switched to his correct position on the wing his form improved dramatically. It had IMO nothing to do with him "settling in" and everything to do with him being played out of position.

Roberts does not have the same excuse and has had plenty of time to "settle in".

Dave

It's all to do with good coaching that tells the players where to position themselves and giving them the confidence to deal with the unexpected.
We need only to look at Mathers. Still not a great player but he is now oozing confidence thanks to the coach.
Robinson praised Brown highly and likewise Briers couldn't praise Smith highly enough. Which Wigan players came out and said, "Noble gave us a great game plan and we let him down,"?