Pace gets mentioned all the time but for me if I was to write down all our problems it wouldn't feature on the first page.

Was our back 5 any slower than Wigan's last night?

Rankin shades Bowen
Lineham and Burgess are well matched
Logan beats Bateman
Gelling beats Talanoa
Michaels and Charnley are pretty equal

They often look quicker because they make better decisions and receive good ball which just gives them that extra split second. Our guys are almost having to work miracles to make a clean break.

Seems to me, our coach and players alike, lack basic intellect.

Burgess is really quick.

It's more skill and guile that we lack than pace.

I suspect that the average actual attendance this season (people physically in the ground) could be as low as about 8,500.

I feel last night shows how vitally important gareth ellis is to us,the start of our mid-season improvement was when ellis returned from injury and went on a decent run,now the top 8 playoffs without him it could become embarrassing,still at least theres no threat of relegation.
I know the format for the 1st part of the super 8,but what if leigh finished in the top 3 and say halifax or sheffield won the 4th and 5th place play off would they both go up? coyh.

... all 4 Championship teams could be promoted.

Thanks. coyh

This. We were close to scoring on a number of occasions (Michaels in touch, Rankin forward pass to Logan, Rankin offside (was he?)) and would probably have done better against other teams. Wigan were faster and made more metres than us, and if anything it was our defence that let us down.

The game was similar to the cup final. We tried a lot and it didn't work. If some of it had (as above) it would have been a closer game and we wouldn't all be so gloomy today. There were positives last night but admittedly that isn't enough.

Wigan fans seem to think we was poor last night and they was average

They're probably right, how many errors did they make? It certainly wasn't their usual clinical performance.

The difference for me last night was pace....but not how quick the individuals are, it was more the speed of their passing, the speed of their thoughr processes and the pace at which they run onto the ball.

They could get it from one side of the pitch to the other, quicker than we can. They run onto the ball at pace which is difficult to defend against. Our passing is woeful, mis-directed and slow. The amount of times players have to check their run when they get a pass off Houghton (who must have thrown around 5 or 6 passes that hit the floor last night, not even going to count the ones that went over peoples heads!) is awful.

Also - they were clever with the ball. We are daft. Michaels trying to go round Charnley with about 2 years of space. Houghton ignoring a rampaging Paea near to their line after 3 or 4 tackles were we got quick play the balls. Talanoa giving a pass to early to Lineham, as well as Lineham trying to bulldoze over Bowen. Just poor pieces of play

Listening to Adam Pearson prior to the game, I was very deflated regarding his comments on our coaching staff.

He was waxing lyrical regarding Radford, and he sees our attack coach as Richard Horne.

Horne never possessed the ability of a flat, fast bullet pass,& his kicking game was average.

Horne was a great runner, but didnt possess the above attributes to make him a regular international at HB.

Pearson thinks signing better players, will improve our situation, but in attack ,the team look devoid of any idea, and the passing technique throughout the squad is below average - IMO.

Said exactly the same last night. Horne was a runner, and when he had to organise it affected his game.

People like Sean Long, Ryan Sheridan, Danny Orr etc who are on teams coaching staff now were all organisers not off the cuff runners.

Actually Pearson didn't 'wax lyrical' about Radford at all - it was just the familiar refrain about how hard he was working and the good job he was doing behind the scenes. And for the first time I can remember he went as far as admitting that Radford might need help on the attacking side.

Also he didn't definitely say that he saw Horne as our attacking coach - just that he was an option rather than bringing someone in from outside.

I think we need a reality check here.

OK so last night we were definitely off colour but it was by no means the worst I have seen us play this season.

Wigan were bigger, stronger, faster and more skilful. They are better players and are better coached.

What we saw was the difference between a top 4 team and a top 8 team.

Wayne Bennett couldn't coach our players to a top 4 finish; we have at best a top 6 squad and it would take a better coach than Radford to get them into the top 6.

Unless something drastic happens I can see a yearly battle to get into the top 8 so we may as well get used to it.