Exiled Wiganer
-
Posts
9,505 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
2
Posts posted by Exiled Wiganer
-
-
I think the Giants are a terrific side, who showed in the Cup what they can do. Here, though, Wigan are fortunate in that they have the possibly season defining semi final the week after. Wigan have also got a massive game, but, with arguably more places up for grabs (and a trophy already in the Pie Dome trophy cabinet) I think we will go into this with a more focussed mind set. Should be a great game to watch, as the Giants’ style is very easy on the eye.
-
Are Salford contractually obliged to play in fantastic matches? They are an absolute joy to watch.
-
1
-
-
The semi final looks like being a game for the ages, or a massive HKR victory.
-
I still can’t believe my luck that I get to watch every Salford match. They are on a mission to entertain whatever and however.
-
5
-
-
I have always found the World Cup scheduling slightly odd, as, aside from Rochdale’s brilliant Fiji links in 2013, we have never seemed to have got a grip on where they should play and how to promote them. Is that because there isn’t a Fiji equivalent of Samoa/Tonga in Auckland and West Sydney?
-
1
-
-
Goodness! Cats are superb today. The magic of the cup in reverse.
-
Fantastic game between 2 superb sides. About the only time Peet was publicly ill considered was when Nicholson left us for Wire. He is a cracking player.
-
3
-
-
6 minutes ago, Dunbar said:
And do you think this incident falls into that description?
I mentioned above that, given the horrific outcome, which may end Isa’s career, I would rather not re watch it, as that feels ghoulish. I was just thinking about the “foul/not foul” question in the abstract, by reference to my own experience.
-
37 minutes ago, Dunbar said:
I agree with the last paragraph but I am not as comfortable as you seem to be with a catch all 'otherwise apply pressure'. Seems to me that describes every single tackle in Rugby League.
I tell ya, it's the Rugby League deep state at work!
I am not sure I agree. When you make a tackle, you occasionally find yourself in a position when you are applying pressure in a way likely to cause injury. Not because the tackle was a standard foul, but because of the movement of other people involved. And then you can release, or do nothing, or apply greater force. I think this is what the rule is trying to pick up. It frequently happen, but in most cases people move or release the pressure. It might be cumbersome wording, but I think the idea is sound, having been in that position as tackler and tackled on many occasions.
-
The score in the Cup was an outlier - Cas had beaten Salford (who have beaten Saints and nearly beat Wigan) the previous week. Only the Giants had given them a hammering in the league. It showed a few things for us: pluses include - our pack strength is immense and we will benefit from playing at home a lot in the second half of the season. Negatives for me were Leeming’s passing and Hampshire’s inability to read the game. I am not sure why we don’t go all in on Farrimond as the back up half back - he has real vision.
-
Cas will be much better. They beat Salford in their last SL game. In the Cup, when it’s gone it’s gone.
-
10 minutes ago, OriginalMrC said:
Alot of rugby fans again have shown themselves up for not understanding their own sport and making excuses due to tribal loyalty. An unnecessary tackle, using poor technique, which severely injured another player is a ban all day long. Intent doesn't come into it!
Dunbar is a Wigan fan. I have not looked at the tackle - given what I have been told the result of it was, I am not sure I want to see it - but I would have thought the rules should give some guidance as to 1) if this tackle broke the rules, and 2) the severity of the rule breach (possibly differentiating between accidental, careless, reckless and deliberate etc). That establishes the case to answer. Then, as to sentencing, I am assuming that the extent of the injury is a pertinent factor in the sentencing. The guidelines must cover these points.
-
1
-
-
He has decided to leave sport for a job in the leisure sector. League made him good, and will make someone else good in his place.
-
1 hour ago, Dave T said:
I always make this challenge, and I feel I have to do it again. History has been rewritten with Wire and we are an easy target because we've never made that final step to win a Grand Final, but we have won LLS, Challenge Cups and appeared in a handful of Grand Finals.
We haven't been the basket case that many claim. We were decent under Price, consistently a top 4 team, and even beat Saints at Wembley at their peak. We were falling just short and made the change to Powell in the hope that a more expansive style would see us over the line.
This became a whole "the culture needs changing" thing which didn't appear to have much basis when you look at our results and many performances. Powell was an absolute car crash and it was a dire 2 years. We now look to be approaching what we were doing pre-Powell and that's a good starter for 10. The next step is progressing to become champions.
The biggest mistake was key people believing the whole 'culture' thing as the issue when we were one of the best teams in the country.
“Culture” though may be something more subtle than not having 20 pints, but be around what does it take to become a serial winner. I absolutely take your point that, over the last 15 years, you have won plenty of big games and done so in style.
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, Just Browny said:
I am not yet ready to attribute our upturn in fortunes to Wigan, but have admitted on another forum that I seriously underestimated what Powell would bring and he has been very good so far.
He and Hayes bring a tidiness and simplicity which is, in theory, what we signed Drinkwater for but hasn't much been in evidence.
I didn’t mean to claim any credit on Wigan’s behalf - you weren’t forced to sign him: this was good judgment on your part. Wigan have had a surfeit of good pros - Willie Isa being another case in point - and so the cultural upside was arguably less significant for us. My father - to our eternal shame as a family - was on Saints’ coaching staff for a while (and Wigan’s shortly after) and he made the point that the levels of dedication and professionalism pros like KC and Roby brought to every training session were light years ahead of Wigan’s efforts at that time. All the indications are that Peet has put that right.
A result like Saturday’s suggests Wire are doing a lot right all day, every day. That was built on months of commitment. I would be very buoyant if I were you.
-
1 hour ago, Just Browny said:
I agree. As well as we played, there were two spells in the game yesterday where Saints could have taken the game away from us:
- Between about minutes 25 and 35, where only some dogged desperation tackling and a forward pass stopped Saints racking up 2-3 quick tries
- Early in the second half when Saints took two when they had us on the ropes. I was relieved that they kicked the goal and Lomax immediately made that daft error from the kick off.
Nevertheless, it was still very encouraging. What pleases you as a fan is seeing the team playing with adventure and desire, and being able to see what they are trying to do even if it is not always working. There was plenty of all that yesterday, combined with a few dreadful errors by Saints.
But another way of looking at that is that those were moments where in the past they might have folded. This lot didn’t and the next time they will draw from that.
-
A few things on Wire, having re watched the second half:
- they have the resources but seemingly not the culture/character;
- they were inspired one year by having Andrew Johns on board. That presence of a world class talent made everyone else believe and fulfil their potential;
- if you don’t have a work hard enough to win ethos in the club’s DNA, then you have to look elsewhere. I wonder whether 2 Sams could be key here: in Sam Burgess they have an Andrew Johns equivalent. He has the stardust and can inspire because he has been there, done that. It doesn’t matter so much that they follow the Wire way when they can follow the Sam B way of doing things. It inspires greater ambition and takes some pressure off. While he is a limited player, everyone connected to the club believes that Sam Powell was a central figure for us. In terms of always turning up, always working, always learning. I assume he was signed with that in mind. With Sam B inspiring and Sam P keeping everyone’s eyes on the prize then it comes down to talent and resources, and Wire have enough of those to be champions; and
- it might though be a year or 2 too soon for this squad, as they have ground to make up. However, with no inspiration at 9 or coaching them they have the advantage of being far better placed relative to Saints than at any time in the SL era…
-
They have won the cup on multiple occasions recently and topped the league. They have had a lot of good years recently.
-
2
-
-
Superb performance. Burgess was a risk, but my goodness it looks like coming off. The post Roby/KC world may be tricky.
-
11 hours ago, LeeF said:
A surprise result which nobody, except one Giants fan, expected
Excuse me? Have you blocked my posts for some reason?
-
1
-
-
I thought that was a good game between 2 good teams. Both of them have superb players, and clearly know what they need to do. Very entertaining. Leigh have just got too many injuries to be at the top table, but the wheel will turn. And the ground looked and sounded absolutely brilliant - and that was for a cup game. It makes you wonder just how big they could become…
-
3
-
1
-
-
On 11/04/2024 at 18:48, Exiled Wiganer said:
The Giants are a very good side, with a very smart coach, who can score a lot of points. Their style is well suited to going up against the Dragons. I think they will win with something to spare.
Whoever wrote that knows their onions.
Having re watched the Giants Wigan game recently, I came away thinking we were very lucky to get one of our games against them out of the way. Good players and a good coach will take a team a long way.
-
3
-
-
On props, Wigan have Havard, Hill, Thompson and Dupree (and Byrne and Eseh), who could be internationals (again for 2 of them) one day.
-
I think Thompson is superb. O’Neill is class but there are other options.
Fri 10th May: SL: Leigh Leopards v Salford Red Devils KO 20:05 (Sky/BBC/SuperLeague+)
in The General Rugby League Forum
Posted
I think it could be a draw. Salford are so entertaining, it will be another glorious match.