Some of that's surely just down to defences being more on their game at the season's end (we'll make an exception for hudds)? We (Leeds) have ripped a few teams apart at various points of the season but we weren't really any more creative than you once the play offs rolled round. You can always look for improvement, sure, but back end games between the best clubs are almost invariably tight.

It was an issue for Wigan all season - we could score long range tries for fun but always seemed to struggle when close to the opponents line - especially against good defences. Yes defences got better as the season progressed as expected but Wigan seemed to lack ideas at times - passing the ball across the line but never really looking threatening. We always looked more threatening from 20 yards+ out than right on the line.

It's not easy to score tries from short range against a good defence. We see it in the NRL too. I've watched the Roosters, Cowboys, all the top teams struggle to do that on occasion despite plenty of repeat sets. It's not a criticism of the attacking abilities of Pearce, Thurston etc etc.

That's not to say there's no room for improvement in our attack, though. FWIW I fully agree with Walsh/Roby and McGuire/Burrow offering more than our current incumbents.

Our short range grubber kicking close to the line is a major weakness compared to other teams and is an area that needs sorting before next season.

Which other teams? Leeds the eventual champions barely ever force drop outs with grubber kicks, and wigan have caused leeds numerous problems this season with kicks near to the line. Leeds more often seem to prefer to run it on the last close to the line and worst case scenario they don't score, they make the opposition bring the ball out right on their own try line.

And Leeds grubbing kicking is still infinitely better than Wigan's. The Grand Final was a good example, Leeds score a try from it. Wigan have Joel Tomkins trying it when we've put it wide and have run out of ideas.

The short kick with runners is something we rarely execute well, as it's usually gone through too many hands and we're out wide.

I actually think our kicking close to the line has been as good this year as it has in a while. That has all been down to George Williams IMO whos very talented in that respect.

He'll only continue to improve as well and Sam Tomkins will improve us further.

Totally agree. Our short kicking game is not as bad as some may think, although I do agree it went astray in the Grand Final.

It is not just the short kicking game - it is the whole breaking down tight defence near the line - for some reason Wigan seem to have less chance of scoring from 5 -10 yards out then from further out. For me it has been an issue for at least the last two years, there were signs last season with the short pass/turn back inside move that worked quite quite well late in the season that finally the penny had dropped that there were other options - will Sam make a difference - I hope so because many times last season when Wigan were camped on the opponents line that I genuinely did not feel that Wigan had the guile or ability to score, but from 10 yards+ distance I had much more confidence.

Don't all side struggle to get past a set defence from close range? Are Wigan any different to other sides in that respect?

Quite so. When we successfully defend repeat sets near our line, it's praised as good defence on our part rather than poor attacking, but when other teams do it to us it's our attack that's at fault, and nothing to do with their good defence.

In my opinion Saints are by far the best team for scoring short range tries.
They are generally not a team that can go full length unlike ourselves & Leeds, keep them pinned in their own line and don't give away penalties and they can be beaten (quite convincingly too). It's only when the ref starts giving them penalties (or the opposition give away possession in their own twenty) that they get on a roll and score from short range.



Look at our last two visits to LP for evidence.

Of course it should be difficult to score from close range but not as hard as we make it look. As mentioned Saints are masters of it (but in fairness that down to their pretty dull style of play) and the other top sides are far better then us.

It's certainly an area to work on. We are probably the best team in the league from deep (but get labelled as a structured team who aren't the best to watch) but we'll not always be able to rely on that.

Yep, and perhaps no coincidence that their coach made a career of short-range, barge-over tries when he was playing.

Well that doesn't work. Just because our defence may be excellent it doesn't follow our opponent's defense is equally good. If it isn't then if we still struggle to score near the line against less good defences then there [iis[/i an issue with our attack.

What you want to look at is how we go attacking close to the line v the same team as a comparable side. So compare how good we are v Saints close to the line compared to how good Leeds are v Saints close to the line. No idea if these sorts of stats are available but if the general impression is we aren't so good in this area on attack then the fact we might make other teams look poor close to [iour[/i line is neither here nor there.