Exiled Wiganer

Quins and Crusaders can count themselves really lucky that they serve a wider purpose to the game. Crusaders could be a focal point for the excellent development work being done elsewhere and could in time help support a Welsh national side. If Wales win the Euro cup thing this year, then they could go into the 4 Nations with a fair few genuine Welsh players next year. Who knows where RL in Wales could be in 5 years time. Quins serve 2 useful purposes. They could act as a focal point and catalyst for some essential junior development away from the heartlands and they give us a southern presence, however tenuous. The only basis on which clubs should be "invited" in is if they can acquire their own TV deal or show that they can pay for themselves. We have enough on our hands supporting Wales and the Quins. I have written this 1000 times, but the instant we have more than 14 clubs with decent facilities this ridiculous anti-sporting franchise system must go. I can see it serving a purpose to get clubs to get their act together, but once that has been achieved we must go back to p and r or risk losing once great clubs who could be great again!!! Finally, I will raise a glass of bubbles when Widnes retain their deserved place at the top table next year. The criteria look perfectly designed for them.

Without being tedious I did have a quick look at locked threads and remain puzzled - the Wigan bottlers thread went for 5 pages longer than the Wire equivalent, Mick's thread about the gap between threads like this and the reality got 1 post, and (I may have imagined this) but I was sure I saw a thread about buying Ablett a drink lasting a day. If you re-read Mick if it is trolling it is of the gentlest kind. If we are to be bombarded with Wire predictions of greatness then is it not simply the flip side to point out that they may not have matched words and deeds?

Saints will have my support on Saturday, and I think they will be grinning afterwards. Leeds need to be on top in the forwards to win this, and with Ablett rightly doing a 3 stretch and injuries elsewhere they won't even have parity. Saints are not the side they were and cannot perform every week like they used to, but have shown enough for mine to win this comfortably. An all Cheshire final looks a likely outcome. I thought that the semis last year were both excellent games and hope that this year's will equally be a treat. It would be good to have a classic final, as it has been a long time since we had one (any since Radlinski's foot final?).

I am so confused by so many things here... 1 - why is this a fair thread but a subsequent questioning whether they are a great team when they clearly aren't will be locked instantly (while a let's buy a head hunter a pint one goes on and on...)? 2 - he has already played in so many bigger games 3 - Wigan stood astride the game like a colossus for a brief period in the early 90s essentially through being the best run club in the history of the game. Their success was fuelled by 1 thing - the Wigan public's enthusiasm. In the pre cap era having the best crowds allowed you to spend more and sign better players and win things. There was nothing stopping any other club doing the same. Indeed, you could argue that success in an era where the top clubs are all capped is more down to financial juggling than being a fantastically well run and supported club. As long as you can reach the cap you don't need to see any 20k crowds. If, like some clubs but not Wire, for a period you can run rings around HMRC then you can have a full team of internationals while everyone else makes do. Success in the old world was purely and simply a function of a fantastically well run and supported club, with a team of greats 4 - this is another example of Wire talking about doing things before they have done them. It is an interesting approach, and one that could lead to further locked threads in due course, should the next peak actually be lower than the last one 5 - you can't knock the Treble (does the Cup count double?) Winners for self confidence and they do provide more entertainment than most clubs

Maybe, with spending next year in Widnes they may just be treading water for now.

Not a scary signing, but could work out well I suppose. With KC* and Gidley leaving, Graham eyeing the NRL and Eastmond the dark side, I expected Saints to produce a Matai class master signing.

Always look forward to getting mine. They should include a pull out and keep page locker in case any anti Warrington articles slip in.

3 seems fair to me. The only point I would like to know the answer to is whether the video ref is entitled to tell the ref that the tackle deserved a sending off. I simply can't see how Ganson could have seen it properly from where he was and not sent him off, and I have never known Ganson be shy about reaching for a red card.

Given how badly caned the Catalans are most weeks, getting the count in their favour must have been a refeshing change. You don't lose so many games on the run without having far more serious issues than the referee. Given the crowd was 6k and loose change at least there weren't many spectators to drive away.

Crusaders for mine. No idea about the crowd - don't know enough about Neathians and their love of league.

Great work from the Crusaders. 8th is theirs for the taking. They can then beat Leeds away again and lose gallantly to Wigan...

I meant to put a smiley there. I thought Graham played the way on Saturday that Morley used to - at the heart of everything - but he is the only prop in SL I would place above him.

not heard that but Gleeson was dropped for his unprofessionalism earlier this year from what I have seen of him recently he is England's best centre - he was superb again on Friday - and so he would be a loss Charnley is probably going to be brilliant but plenty of players fail to kick on no inside knowledge, not heard anything and would be surprised if this was so

It would be a shame to leave Owen on the wing. I wonder whether we might see Mathers in the halves, which i have long thought would be worth a shot.

Ferriol did play against him a couple of weeks ago so may have more first hand experience than most as to how tough a player Morley is these days. I subscribe to the view that this could be stage managed to try and drum up interest in the semi, and may be as much about pantomime villainy as anything else, in which case good on Ferriol. EVen if not stage managed, perhaps Ferriol is concerned to draw the fire onto himself so that Sherwin can get through the game in 1 piece? It would be good to see him have a go at a big chap again. As for how good he is, rather than how hard he is, Morley looks to me like he paces himself very well these days, making the most of the dwindling number of games and hits he has left. He has been a great player and did a lot for English players' reputation at a time when the Aussies could have written us off altogether.

Out of interest, how did Charnley play? He seems to be ready for the first team already, and I hope Wigan use him and Marsh as first choice 3/4 cover next year. The boy has talent.

I am guessing such a long losing run being continued against a team with nothing to play for and everything to hold themselves back for is in part due to a combination of poor defence and attack, and that concentrating on that is a better place to start than the referee.

Oddly enough I tend to find certain players in my own team more annoying than players elsewhere. Out of principle I find KC* very annoying, but in the past nobody annoyed me as much as DV and Fielden who, until this year stole a big wage from us.

Assuming this isn't a Bradford thread, I think the way things are looking at Wigan, we have... OUTS - Feca, Phelps, Pryce, Piggy, Deacon and Bailey (4 overseas) INS - Finch, Hoffman, Lima and Hock (3 overseas) I suspect we will play Charnley and Marsh a lot more, but may need some additional half back cover. I would like us to sign Ratchford, a good Wigan lad with some talent. Apparently we will have a quota space left over, but I am hoping we don't fill it. I am assuming we re-sign Fielden on a smaller contract. He certainly sounded happy enough with Wigan last night.

I thought Brian Smith coached the Roosters? If so, they'll find a way of losing as sure as Wire will drop the ball with a chance to beat Saints comes knocking.

A new record.

It is the sanctimonious bs that is the board's most attractive feature.

What was interesting for me was that Leeds put so much into the game, picked their strongest side, talked up its significance, had a numerical advantage for reasons unclear to the rugby watching world.... ... and still lost. That's 9 defeats and a draw already. I thought that Leeds would walk away with everything this year, and had been discounting all their defeats because it was likely to be alright on the night, but they are just not all that. Not sure why a team should go off the boil so much and so quickly - maybe they just kept the same players together too long, but Saints could well blow them off the park next week, finishing 5th is a distinct possibility, and all of the other 3 best teams this year will relish playing them in the play offs. Leeds' "stability", which has been such a strength, means that the group of players in decline will be together for another year. With so many of their core players with so many miles on the clock, those Leeds-Bradford games could be closer than I thought. Last night was the business end of the season according to Leeds themselves. It wasn't even close enough to be tense in the end.

It would be worth knowing what the vr's role is in pointing out foul play. There should be some guidelines somewhere on that. Having watched it again, the most damning angle is from behind Sam, where it is clear he has caught the ball, Ablett looks at him and picks his spot. He isn't challenging for the ball at all at that point. That is worse than Howell's which was a careless swing, and should see him miss Leeds' Challenge Cup exit. Bailey's is harder for mine, as raising a leg is very dangerous indeed by must be hard to prove. Wigan were terrific last night, particularly when we threw the ball around. An Indian summer for September and the start of October would come in very handy indeed. I am even re-considering my opinion that we stand no chance of making Old Trafford if we have to play Leeds again.

Wigan seem to have learnt a lot from their mistakes in terms of selecting more props and playing Deacon as a kicker. Leeds weren't as clever as Wire though. Can you imagine what Briers would have done to Goulding? It would have been a massacre on that wing.