Exiled Wiganer
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Posts posted by Exiled Wiganer
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I expect Wire to win, but Cas have been playing well recently. You don't hammer the Giants unless you're on top of your game. I would be astonished if this turns into an easy win, and if cas are close going into the last 20 watch out for Mr Chase.
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I think Wigan have only 4 ever presents, but have not checked. We have had plenty of injuries, but have not gone into a prolonged bad patch for a few reasons - we have a lot of cover, we have no superstars and so are not that reliant on any individual, and are injuries have generally been spread across the season and different positions. If you get 10 out at once any team suffers, whereas Wigan have generally had 6 out pretty much all year. If we had 3 out but they were Sam, Tommy and Lockers we would be in trouble.
It would be worth looking into the types of injuries people suffer before concluding it is conditioning or bad luck. Eastmond was brought back too early perhaps, and so that bad luck may well have been poor judgement. Amos was similarly brought back too early for the 1/4 final.
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Ah, now that's a surprise.
IIRC the camera angles were inconclusive to say the least.
Any more? I am genuinely interested in these lists of high tackles that knocked the player out and made him leave the field concussed.
It was the "now that's a surprise" that was annoying. What was the point you were making?
I do not think many folk care that much about my beloved Wigan, but mine is a perfectly valid opinion, expressed as such. Other opinions are as valid as your own - mine is shared by others, Wiganers and non-Wiganers alike.
I agree with much else on the thread, but took a hugely disproportionate exception to that.
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My opiniom remains that Morley's tackle was dirtier and more dangerous. Plus he has more previous than Attila the Hun. I am not even complaining about Coley's sending off or his ban. And yet Wires make sneering, dismissive posts about my opinion while expressing their own views as gospels. It appears my opinion is shared by plenty of others, inc non Wigan fans, and hence objectively not bonkers.
If this had been an anti Wire thread one of them would have gone boo hoo and had the thing locked.
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On Morley, I haven't got a video of it, but have seen plenty of rugby in my time and can recall it pretty well. I was pleased he was able to play against Wigan as it is important for our young lads to pit themselves against everything the opposition has to offer. That way we learn plenty about ourselves.
I have no issue with Coley's sending off or ban, and Wigan will cope without him.
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Really sad news. He is a great talent. Sam and McGuire will do a decent job but we'll miss him.
I hope he spends his time off signing a longer contract, as it would be a tragedy to lose him to the Dark Side.
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I have seen worse without players being banned and plenty of them. I thought Morley's attack on Sherwin was the dirtiest piece of play I have seen this year, but as I recall there was no action taken there.
That said, it is hard to argue with the sending off and a 2 match ban doesn't seem ridiculous. I would be surprised if there was a deliberate anti-Wigan policy among the Disciplinary panel, but we seem (without my doing any analysis) to have attracted far more than our share of cards and bans. There is perhaps a subliminal "not them again" reaction to our being top of the league again.
If we push Mossop up to prop for part of the 2 games he misses we won't notice Coley's absence. He can be effective but can also make costly mistakes. We aren't particularly reliant on one player, though if Tommy, Lockers and Sam were all out at the same time we might struggle to adjust.
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Really 2nd favourities, I find that interesting, probability suggest that we won't lose 3 players in a game again this year, and we won't lose both half backs. Honestly how many times does that actually happen. So if we can finish within 4 points of Leeds at their own place when all that is going on, you think we'll do the same or worse in a couple of weeks time.
Or by your own logic exiled does that make Wigan worse than both Leeds and Saints as they lost to Saints only 2 weeks ago.
I am not sure that it follows that Wigan are worse than both those teams, though perhaps it shows that Wigan would be second favourites if they have to play Saints again. My point was this, really. While relaxing watching the game, it always looked to me that Leeds would find a way to win, and they so casually closed the game down once they hit the front that confirmed my view. If McGuire had been ruled to have knocked on, then I genuinely believe they would have found another way to win the game. But you never know what might have been. If you believe that you're favourites for the semi then that's good, it's good to have faith in your side.
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I thought it was a sending off, but wasn't as dangerous as many others. The Cats are certainly a "physical" side though, and still have a lot of talented players. Glad we don't have to play them again.
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More than good enough tonight. They are a decent side Les Cats, but, until we were down to 12 we had the game nicely under control. The young lads have been superb once again. Tuson has really come on leaps and bounds. A win next week will leave us very well placed going into the Wire game. Win both and we'll be 6 clear from them with Saints still to win at Warrington. That turned out very nicely.
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I haven't read everything on this, so may have missed the point, but my stance on P and R is that it ought to be the aim of the game to get to a position in which we are strong enough to reinstate it, as I believe that we have lost a lot in doing away with it. I can see the logic of having 2 rounds of franchising if the threat of exclusion actually leads to teams getting their act together off the pitch and getting some young players developed and promoted.
I hate the idea of clubs that I have seen winning cups and championships in my brief 30 year period watching the game being excluded from the top tier because at a snap shot moment they were down on their uppers.
I hate the idea of something as arbitrary as the ground in which a team plays determining whether a team can be promoted. Quins play at a union ground (a beautiful one at that) and so score more highly than Cas, simply because no one has made a fortune in over priced sports shoes in that part of the world? At what point did that become sport?
I see franchising as a necessary evil because without it clubs would continue to put bringing in as many kolpaks as they can over improving facilities and developing players. But if it is succeeds it must be shelved.
Finally, when people talk about a gulf between SL and the lower divisions it seems to me that it is entirely within the gift of the game to sort that out. Give NL1 clubs half what SL clubs get and we could enter a golden age in which great traditional and expansion clubs all have a rosy future.
I feel very strongly about this.
Finally well done to any Widnes fan who can still watch the game without feeling sickened by their treatment by it after having brought so much glory to this game in its darkest hours.
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Except to my neutral eyes at least it was lost because Leeds were slightly better. They cruised through the period after they took the lead, and chipped away at the lead with an inevitibility borne out of being a very good team. Leeds also had plenty of players missing, and injuries during a game are facts of life. If it shows anything it shows that the squad left behind after the tax man has caught up with the club is only as good as but no better than a number of other squads. No disgrace in that, and they could yet win everything, but they look second favourites for the semi on what I have seen recently.
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Leeds had the air of a team which was always going to find a way to win. If they hadn't scored after the McGuire touch (where the ball went backwards in any event), they would have found another way to win. They spent the last 10 minutes easily keeping Saints at bay, and could have steppped up again if they had to.
I am not sure how many Leeds have missing, but Webb and Burrow are pretty significant for them. They deserve to be feeling very confident, as they are clearly building nicely. Pryce and Eastmond getting injured during the game was unfortunate, but that is part of life. Eastmond is brittle and Pryce was on for nearly 3/4 of the game.
If Saints fans are very confident, then good on them. Certainly they weren't disgraced. Unless Leeds suffer yet more injuries I can only see one winner in the semis, particularly as Leeds had the Saints pack exactly where they wanted them.
Finally, 2 players who have impressed me recently are Roby and (please don't laugh) Bailey, who may well be maturing into a vey useful prop.
Thanks to 2 teams for a very entertaining game. Wigan know that a win of any sort in France will leave us 6 points clear with games running out. That would be sweet indeed.
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Tough result on Saints (subject to last minute craziness), but Saints can draw a great deal from this.
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It was meant to be a jokey throw away comment. I don't mind whether things are blocked or go on forever. It tickled me that it was blocked. Anyway I will be devouring my copy of Open Rugby (as it will always be to me) the instant it reaches our corner of Surrey.
It's a shame we need moderators at all, especially as we have the ignore option, or the Sam button as I think of it.
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I am concerned that I will get halfway through an article in Rugby League World, get to the point at which Warrington are criticised only to find the rest of the magazine blank.
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Crusaders won at Leeds, to whom Wire lost home and away. With home advantage, there's only one winner here. Wire.
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Is that it, NE?
Is that all you've got? Hardly worth taking you off "ignore".
Leuluai is good.
Bailey, Feca and Phelps are all on their way and wouldn't make our first 17.
Hansen was English enough to play for England Academy.
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This looks classic banana skin territory. V hot. Cats getting men on board. Wigan possibly without Lockers as go-to man again. Not confident at all.
But, if Wigan do win, and Saints lose, I think we will certainly finish above them, so it's potentially a huge week end for the boys.
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I think Leeds will win and win well. Saints put a great deal into the Wigan game and shipped over 30 at home against Salford. I think they can raise their game but their team is either too young or too old to do it week after week. Leeds have looked like a team that really knows itself in the last few weeks, Crusaders apart.
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Are you Wendall in disguise?
By my reckoning, Wigan are very likely to get rid of Bailey, Phelps, Piggy and Feca of the overseas players, and possibly Carmont as well, with Tommy, Amos and Richards the only certain overseas stayers. World Cup winner Tommy seems to be considered a good player by better judges than ParisS. As Hoffman is a second rower I would be surprised if we signed him, unless we see Mossop as a prop already (and with Hock to come back). Not sure where Quinn plays, but if he is a back, fair enough as we need 3/4 cover, even when we promote Charnley and Marsh.
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Gleeson has been playing very well after his ticking off and being dropped, and would as ever do a good enough job for England. It wouldn't weaken the team at all.
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Hull's was the best win of the year, which sounded excellent on the tv. Wigan are going ok, but results at this stage are very unreliable, given that the teams will have trained to be at their best at different times. A fast start was important to Wigan because of the enw coach and the difficulties of previous years, while Leeds may have hoped to coast through the first few games and peak for Melbourne.
St. Helens v Catalans Dragons
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
I think you and Wire should rest players prior to the semi. As many as possible, starting the week after next.