EagleEyePie

I think the best thing for Hanley has been getting an opportunity at centre. I'm pretty sure when he first came to Wigan he was playing centre or loose forward at high school and for Shevington Sharks. I think his very early academy days were as a centre too. Then came the trend of playing your best attacking player at fullback so he was moved there but I never really thought he looked like a natural fullback. He was good, sometimes very impressive but I always thought there was something lacking. He was a great line runner rather than playmaker, but fullback evolved into a playmaking role. He may lack size but in the modern game I don't think size is as important for a centre as it may once have been. It helps in any position, but since wingers do so much work and are expected to be quite powerful ball carriers you want a centre with some guile, footwork and acceleration and Hanley fits the bill. A bit of improvement in defence and he'll be one of the best centres in the competition.

He's got another year on his contract but there have been rumours that he's retiring at the end of this season. Not sure how accurate that is though but it wouldn't surprise me. I mentioned in the thread for last weeks game that I think Farrell comes in for undue criticism. I don't think that he offers nothing to Wigan. In fact he was the only Wigan forward to top 100 metres last night and he was far better than Nsemba who was completely anonymous. I think Farrell's (and Wigan's) issue this year is he's still trying to play like he did in his mid-20's when he's now mid-30's. He's still getting heavily involved with a high work rate in attack and defence, getting across the pitch doing it week in week out, but I think he either needs to reduce his involvement or he should be spelled. Without a doubt he's making a lot more mistakes of judgement and weaker contact than previously and I think part of that is because he's getting fatigued in games and has lost pace. He can't keep up with what he wants to do and he can't make up for being a step or two behind play, but he can still make good carries and read attacking plays from a defensive perspective.

I think you can chalk that try up to more than just Smith. It all starts before the beginning of that clip with some really weak contact from Ellis on the other side of the field which allowed a soft offload. The passing movement from Leigh following that wasn't particularly quick and we should have snuffed it out but Wardle then came in with an uncharacteristically soft tackle attempt which allowed the offload to Trout which is when that clip starts. That's why Wardle is out of the picture. That clip does show a right mix up between Smith and Farrell though. I'm bemused as to why Farrell backs off so much and seems to be covering his left wing when Leigh's winger is down and Lam is well ahead of play at that point. He leaves a huge gap on the inside. But the more I watch the more I'm puzzled as to why Smith didn't just dive in on Hanley. I think Farrell was fully expecting that too. Either way they both made a mess of that, but ultimately I'd still back Leigh to score with the support they have. I'm more frustrated with Ellis and Wardle though. This shows it better IMO.

As is your right Harry. I hope you enjoyed tonight. I'm starting to think the battle of the borough is the most exciting derby in Super League.

Trout was decent but Thompson and Havard were better. I do like Trout's defence but I thought his carries were a bit weak. When you throw Mago, Ellis and Dupree's performance into the mix though I thought the Leigh middles were much better as a collective. When Havard went off on 57 minutes I thought the defence of the Wigan pack fell to pieces a bit.

Really exciting game of rugby league. Entertaining throughout. Really high intensity for most of the game and end to end stuff. Leigh fully deserving of the win. In the first half it looked like Wigan were going to stifle Leigh despite not playing particularly well in attack. In the end Leigh got their rewards for being the more adventurous side with ball in hand and the more energetic at the end of the game. Really disappointing game from Smith. This was the sort of game we'd win if he was playing at his best. A good kicking game and ending sets well and in a structured way would have been enough to win that. We've done it that way before. Unfortunately Smith was really, really poor. His kicking was appalling, both long range and short range and also the organisation of the last tackle play was lacking. Leigh's outside backs beat ours. Admittedly, both our wingers were far from 100% fit, especially Marshall which caught us out on several occasions, but that was Matt Peet's choice.

Accidental offside. I don't think it needed to take 5 minutes to work that out

After all that first half effort there's some really weak contact from several Wigan defenders in the build up to that try. Leigh keeping the ball alive brilliantly. Wigan need to come up with something special here because we've not looked threatening this half.

Keighran and Miski had a collective mare in defence there and all of a sudden it's anyone's game

Wigan playing well but Harry Smith is not. Needs to get his head in the game as our ends to sets have been poor and his kicking way off the mark.

Wigan's defence has been brutal in this game. Keighran, O'Neill, Havard and Byrne have been absolutely flying in. I hope this isn't one of those games where we get too carried away and someone gets the tackle wrong. There are plenty of twists and turns to come in this game I reckon.

Keighran with the best tackle and catch all in one movement I think I've seen. This is frantic and end to end. Fantastic stuff

If Nsemba fails the HIA then that's a potential game changer. We don't have a natural back row replacment. Thompson will fill in there but that takes him out of the middle of the field where he does the most damage and puts more pressure on our middles.

I think he had a foot injury that ruled him out of last weeks game. He won't be 100%

Good start from Wigan, but Hanley's defence is poor. That's not the sort of defence that they put on back at the start of the year. Much more intensity from Wigan than in previous games.