First thing I believe that Cas deserved a lot of credit for the way the played last night. They should have won at both Saints and Catalan and got some poor decisions against them. They were very good and deserved their win.

Now to Wigan, that was as poor a defensive display as I've seen in a long time, and bar Bateman, McIlorum and Manfredi every other player was below acceptable standards. Quite a few years ago Wigan lost about three games on the bounce under John Monies coaching. His instructions for the next game (I think it away at HKR) was to keep the ball tight, run it in and make ground. "I don't care if you get booed off the field for the style, just make sure you win" were his comments.

I do think we may have to do something similar for a couple of games.

The halfback situation needs sorting. In the four league games we've had Williams and Smith (twice) Hampshire and Powell and then last night Powell and Smith. Whilst I accept it's difficult for the halfbacks to play when the forwards are continually giving penalties away and as a team they are coughing up the ball I think we need some consistency at #6 and #7.


Last night there were a lot of calls for Hampshire and Williams to be given a go but that's yet another combination (albeit they've played together at academy level and International from being 15 - 16 years old) I can understand that call BUT they're both young and relatively inexperienced and it may do more harm to them than good at this moment in time. However they couldn't be much worse than the halfback pairing last night. Food for thought?

The stats are really not pretty.

Matty Smith conceding 3 penalties...
Charnley completing 8 tackles and missing 7...
Bateman doing so much work in defence that he could only make 46m...
Mossop averaging 4.5m per carry...
3 offloads the entire game...

Quote: Wigg'n "The stats are really not pretty. Matty Smith conceding 3 penalties... Charnley completing 8 tackles and missing 7... Bateman doing so much work in defence that he could only make 46m... Mossop averaging 4.5m per carry... 3 offloads the entire game...'" Looking at the stats Tautai did better than I though at the game. www.superleague.co.uk/report/11040

Quote: Wigg'n "The stats are really not pretty. Matty Smith conceding 3 penalties... Charnley completing 8 tackles and missing 7... Bateman doing so much work in defence that he could only make 46m... Mossop averaging 4.5m per carry... 3 offloads the entire game...'" Looking at the stats Tautai did better than I though at the game. www.superleague.co.uk/report/11040

Nice honesty from Wane here: youtu.be/gDdYWHy87qU?t=1m9s

Nice honesty from Wane here: youtu.be/gDdYWHy87qU?t=1m9s

You still have to know how to marshal the troops. Noble had virtually the same squad as MM and also earlier on was lucky to have an even better player, Trent Barrett. Still couldn't get them past the finishing line.

You make your own luck as a coach. It's your job.

I'd agree with that . Was Williams injured or dropped? I think sometimes you have to persevere with some players even if their form is not quite right. Particularly as there isn't really anywhere for most of them to go to to pick things up with no U23 or reserve grade available. I think this is particularly true in the half backs.

Williams played last night for the last twenty minutes as interchange hooker!!

Williams had a fitness test during the warm-up so he probably had an injury going into the game.

I'm still confused as to why Logan has been dropped.

Well, we've lost twice out of four. So it hasn't exactly gone wrong. Saints and Leeds are going well but they will hit a run of poor form as sure as day follows night.

Time to circle the wagons I think. Let's get behind the lads against Hull and go to Leeds with renewed confidence which is in short supply at the moment.

Senior players are all poor at present but that will change. We need a little patience here. It will be a struggle to make the top 4 but there's plenty of time left. Out of thirty games you can probably lose nine or ten and make fourth.

Luck by its nature is random and can't be "made".

Blake Green gone - replaced by a kid.
Sam Tomkins gone - replaced by Calamity Bowen.
Shaun O'Loughlin injured. Average replacement.
Joe Burgess leaving - less committed
Matty Smith - Not having a decent stand-off is exposing him as an average player
Josh Charnley - Going through a bad spell. Not worth his place.
Liam Farrell - As above.

That's around half the starting side that isn't up to it at the moment. Little wonder we cant live with even average sides at the moment.

Fridays woeful Wigan performance was one of the worst i have ever seen your club put in during the SL era, Although I thought that we were outstanding and you copped the backlash for our recent defeats

IMO Wigan are far too reliant on O'Loughlin and he sadly has a body that isn't up to the rigors of week to week footy and clearly misses more games than he plays, Is his retirement imminent?

Charnley looked like a turnstile in defense and i lost count of the number of tackles that he missed, Your fans were rating him as one of the worlds best wingers not so long ago, He's not fit to lace Carney,Makinson or Hall's boots

Something clearly isn't right at your club presently and it urgently needs sorting out, I suspect that your players resent the control freak that is Shaun Wane?

You must have missed the Ian Millward era.