lacuna1

I wouldn't even know where to begin trying to predict this one. It ranges from 8-6 to 44-46 So i will go... Warrington's inconsistency to give Catalans a rare win. 21-14

Everybody calls us (Wigan) a one man team without French, even though we have proved lots of times that we still win without him but if teams didn't target him already then Mikey Lewis is going to completely singled out for 'special treatment' from now on. It's obvious that Hull KR are completely reliant on him. They are a very average side with a sprinkling of moon dust in Lewis.

The one where it appeared the Hull KR defender knocked it forward from Nui's hand? No the ref played on, Leigh scored. Hpwever it came out, it went towards the the oncoming Leigh players anyroad but only by a mile.

Not at Wigan, Leeds and Saints. All 3 clubs have proved time and time and again that the path to success is to integrate the two options. The clubs that ignore their youth deserve everything they get. Diddly squat. Hull KR are riding a crest at the moment and might well win the Grand Final this year but they are a team of average players all playing very well as a unit. You can't 'buy in' every year and expect to get it right every time. It will inevitably go wrong and down the table they will tumble. Hull FC have a decent'ish' conveyor of youth and give them a chance and have had some limited success with it but then went back down the route of buying in and slipped down the table. Warrington are just about getting their act together in this regard and will eventually reap the benefits. They just need to get rid of Fitzpatrick.

The less said about the Wigan performance the better. We have been ghastly since Vegas. First half was a slight improvement but Leyth absolutely deserved the win. They just wanted it a lot more and delivered. Surprised nobody has mentioned Halton. His offloading gave us aggro all evening. Leigh went from almost held to an extra 10 yards or so on multiple occasions due to his offloads. Hock'esque'

Open and shut case M'laud. Horne shouldn't have picked him up. All teams play an incredibly slow set in the 79th minute when they are winning and have done for decades. Nothing new here,. In fact, the opposition very rarely even try to force an error. They just resign themselves to the impending defeat.

I wouldn't say it's got worse. I would say it's got harder for them. I couldn't begin to imagine how difficult it must be to ref a game, it moves that fast. Watching every ruck, play the ball and offsides all at the same time etc. Not that long ago, head shots were common place and got little more than a penalty if anything at all but now the new protocols mean every tiny detail is scrutinised and then they have to decide on the force level of a headshot etc. I definitely don't agree with penalties for players hit in the head for slipping into tackles. That is the attackers fault, not the defender. If the said attacker loses the ball then it's a knock on. If he keeps hold of it, give him a few seconds to collect himself then play on, if he has to go off, he has to go off. Pretty sure players never used to slip into tackles as much. Have they all started wearing football boots instead of rugby boots. The irony is that one of the worst offenders in history for deliberate head shots (Bobby Goulding) is part of the cause for all of this mess.

I thought the Smith decision was a penalty and would have been disappointed if it had gone against us. Then again i thought Cas' last try was a knock on but the video ref seemed happy with the one view from the one angle. Swings and roundabouts but maybe not. Wigan get all the decisions

What a ridiculous point to make. Take the best two players out of a team and the team doesn't play as well. No sh*t sherlock. The fact is, we DO have them in our team and when they play together are game changers. When they leave, we will sign 2 other exciting players to replace them. I suppose having both your wingers who both score loads of try's and take loads of hit ups missing makes no difference either plus a starting prop. Take Lam and Ipape out of Leigh's team and they are crapper than they are now. Easy that isn't it

As a Wigan fan. Mikey Lewis just has to start. It doesn't matter what number he has on his back. He has been the best English half by a mile this year. He is an odious little runt and all opposition fans hate him but Sam Tomkins was the same. I don't care what club he plays for when he puts the England jersey on Williams and Smith have been awful all season and up to now i wouldn't pick either of them to accompany him but due to a dearth of choices, at least one of them will play by proxy.

Wigan comfortably but not a blow out. We just don't seem to do that any more. Get a few scores up and then try to coast the games seems to be the way now. It has and nearly has caught us out this season but in Peet we trust. He knows the kind of energy levels required when it comes to the business end.

Great game on paper but a drubbing for Warrington in reality. Not even going to watch it. It will be over after 20 mins.

It happened last season. He was injured for a long period alongside Field, O'Neil and Smith amongst others. Spoiler alert. We kept on winning. Like any other team though, it wasn't as flashy when the best players aren't playing. Exactly the same if any other team had their best players missing. Thats why teams usually have star players. It's just that we trust our youth players to come in and do a job. We don't cry when we have injuries and start making excuses before the game. We just roll our sleeves up and crack on.

Here come the 'We have some injuries so Wigan should win by a cricket score' brigade to either excuse a bad performance or backslap each other for a brave performance. Wigan never, ever have injuries or suspensions and never give their youth players a chance, nor have they ever had a short turnaround.

Tom Holroyd to Wigan apparently. I will take that any day of the week if true. Would explain the Byrne and Hill departures.

Clunky and lethargic but don't forget Exiled. It's around magic weekend where we start the mid season fitness drop off before it starts getting ramped up to peak fitness around early September time.

Spot on Worzel. Our high schools in Wigan still push RL to the hilt so every year there is a plethora of players looking to sign for amateur clubs. I am sue this is the same in Leeds. It certainly is in St Helens. It starts from early education. Thats what needs pushing. There are too many lazy clubs who ignore what they have in their respective towns and just buy in year on year. This was the Warrington model but a few years ago took the steps KR are now taking and they have started getting a bit of a pipeline of youth players making the grade. You are correct, it does take time but once that cycle starts, it's pretty never ending.

I have seen this a thousand times so it must be true. Saints only ever lose because they make errors. Not because the other team is better, nor does that team gift them chances either. They are that good of a team that the super duper Saints only lose when they want to.

When the Saints fans are begging for an untested 18 year old to play in the halves you know they are in bother. Not that i am complaining being a Wiganer. Bring on the game. Derby match so form out of the window. Hope Peet let's the shackles off Field and French earlier this week and we go for them early. Last week vs Hull KR he kept them out of the game until the second half after the forwards had done their bit. He could well do that again. It's a tactic he has used in quite a few big games.

Just as well because Saints don't have a second gear. Just one big Massey-Ferguson gear that trundles up the middle.

I am a Wigan fan but if there was only 1 game available to watch it would be Batley v Cas on a Saturday afternoon on BBC1. We see games like Leeds v Saints every week. The casual RL viewer probably doesn't know about Batley, their good old fashioned ground and that they are a decent side capable of sending Cas out. Bring back Grandstand.

We will be sending Hill out on loan, iv'e no doubt about that but Bryne? Not a chance.