Sun 17 Feb: WCC: Wigan Warriors v Sydney Roosters KO 7pm

[Manfred Mann]

On 2/15/2019 at 4:12 AM, Bleep1673 said:

Have roosters not sold/bought anyone then?

Since the 2018 Grand Final Sydney Roosters have released winger Blake Ferguson, second rower Ryan Matterson, and prop Dylan Napa, and acquired wingers Brett Morris, and Ryan Hall (injured), and second rower Angus Crichton.

[graveyard johnny]

7 hours ago, Lowdesert said:

There’s a poster in the window of the chip shop in Fryston, Johnny and some on several lamp posts - amazed you didn’t you see them?

that must have been before the window got boarded up and the lamp posts cut down for scrap

[graveyard johnny]

its a shame we wont get to see Latrell Mitchell , although I suppose he will be terrorising our national team for the next decade so we will be sick of the sight of him by then.

[Jim Prendle]

22 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

publicity and promotion of the game seems to = nil at the min

They seem to have accidently sold 20000 tickets for it then.

[graveyard johnny]

31 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

They seem to have accidently sold 20000 tickets for it then.

that's down to the great loyal fans that the rlf don't deserve nothing to do with them

[Jim Prendle]

1 minute ago, graveyard johnny said:

that's down to the great loyal fans that the rlf don't deserve nothing to do with them

Nah mate, I'm not having that. According to Oliver Whatsisface, Wigan fans are a disgrace.

[Dave T]

19 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

that's down to the great loyal fans that the rlf don't deserve nothing to do with them

This isn't an rlf event, whoever they are anyway. 

[Dave T]

56 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

They seem to have accidently sold 20000 tickets for it then.

It would appear it is twice as popular with Wigan fans as a regular game against Leeds. I think sometimes we allow our frustrations to overshadow some decent efforts.

Of course we would like 50k at the etihad, but until SLE shares the investment and benefit it ain't gonna happen when left to individual clubs.

But it will probably be Wigan's biggest following of the year, outside of Wembley or OT if they make it.

[Padge]

2 hours ago, Jim Prendle said:

They seem to have accidently sold 20000 tickets for it then.

Looking at the web site it seems they have accidentally sold another couple of thousand.

[ELBOWSEYE]

9 minutes ago, Padge said:

Looking at the web site it seems they have accidentally sold another couple of thousand.

It looks like they will do well and I will be cheering them on but a few seasons ago they pushed games against leeds and warrington and were rewarded with 20k plus crowds, I think Mick Hogan was involved then.

[Padge]

Current ticket availability. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

17 hours ago, EastLondonMike said:

Can't see anything other than a comprehensive Roosters victory. Hopefully i'm completely wrong but i am actually a bit worried about what the scoreline will be.

Looking forward to seeing Victor Radley (if he plays). Think this kid is gonna be a superstar.
 

His Dad is English and he has said he would like to play for England. He should have been in the England squad against the Kiwis last year, get him signed up to England before he breaks into Origin and it’s too late. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

The NRL salary cap is $9.6M this year which converts to £5.3M. If the Roosters don’t win by a 20+ margin against a £2M Wigan team, they are getting poor value for money from their players.

[GeordieSaint]

Saints doing their best to warm up the Roosters...

[TBone]

2 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

The NRL salary cap is $9.6M this year which converts to £5.3M. If the Roosters don’t win by a 20+ margin against a £2M Wigan team, they are getting poor value for money from their players.

I doubt that they’ll see it that way. Either way, win or lose, they will no doubt use lessons learned to provide areas of focus for the remainder of their off-season training.

[Man of Kent]

Having looked at the coverage it seems Easts are taking this seriously and are not here for a holiday. Trent Robinson even met Gareth Southgate for coaching tips.

Easts by 10

[Exiled Wiganer]

Good to see Saints supporting the game over here. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

15 hours ago, ELBOWSEYE said:

It looks like they will do well and I will be cheering them on but a few seasons ago they pushed games against leeds and warrington and were rewarded with 20k plus crowds, I think Mick Hogan was involved then.

I think Wigan will push other games as the season goes on. We have a number of initiatives, such as the BIG 1, armed services day, local community day, plus of course putting Saints in their place on Good Friday. If we make zero effort we end up around 11k, if we sell it as an event we get far more. Last year, we had a double whammy of the Oz trip taking a huge amount of work and marketing effort and of course the super 8s fixture uncertainty. I expect we will get significantly more people in this year.

I also don’t follow people’s concern for our support as there is masses of information showing that we have a great core supporter base, with many thousands who can be persuaded to watch events, I genuinely think it is about 10,00th on the priority list for our game. 

[Manfred Mann]

The crowd atmosphere should be interesting. Does anyone expect the crowd to applaud when the Sydney Roosters score?

[Manfred Mann]

22,000 in attendance will be good for the game, especially the 2,000 Saints fans who were given free tickets by the Roosters.

[Padge]

7 minutes ago, Manfred Mann said:

Does anyone expect the crowd to applaud when the Sydney Roosters score?

Well our little group always applaud the oppositions scores, whoever they happen to be.

[Dunbar]

I'm really looking forward to this game as I do every WCC game and I am hoping for a Wigan win as I hope for a SL win every time.

But Wigan have a huge task here. The Roosters are a terrific outfit, their defence is outstanding and their attack is well structured and well executed. 

At the start of 2018 they were a little disjointed with Tedesco and Cronk joining the spine and the team adjusting to their style of play but by the time the finals rolled around they were super slick. They will just click back into it after  a rest this year. There will be no rustiness unfortunately. 

I will try and enjoy it. If Wigan win I will love it, if it is close I think Wigan will have played a great game and if the Roosters run away with it I will try my best to enjoy watching a wonderful rugby team (although it will be tough).

[Davo5]

3 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

Saints doing their best to warm up the Roosters...

Let's hope they have passed on their deep knowledge on how to win big sudden death games then.

[Rupert Prince]

1 hour ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

Good to see Saints supporting the game over here. 

Come on, be fair... Wigan have trained against Aussie teams.  Apparently the Roosters also acclimatised, and trained as well with a set of cherry coloured dust bins.  The Roosters scored more points against the Saints than the dust bins.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

Sydney Roosters 19 man squad 

Mitchell Aubusson
Nat Butcher
Lindsay Collins
Boyd Cordner (c)
Cooper Cronk
Jake Friend (c) 
Matt Ikuvalu
Luke Keary
Lachlan Lam
Isaac Liu
Joseph Manu
Brett Morris
Victor Radley
Siosiua Taukeiaho
James Tedesco
Zane Tetevano
Daniel Tupou
Sitili Tupouniua
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves