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WN83

Coach
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Everything posted by WN83

  1. It's been a long while since we had two athletes as good as Dom Young and Herbie Farnworth in an England back line. Add in Johnstone, Wardle, Welsby, Williams, Smith, Lewis etc and it's as good a 1-7 as I can remember us having for a long time.
  2. Not sure how he holds a place at fullback carrying that excess weight around. It’s such a demanding position, especially over in the NRL. I’ve mentioned Hiku not looking fit enough for the position recently and even Bevan French looked to be struggling for us, when he had to shift from the wing to fullback. when Jai Field got injured last season. There’s just so much running and he was gassed at times. That is the beauty of Jai Field really, for all his talent, one of his biggest strengths is how fit he is and he looks like he could play all day.
  3. Full credit to Salford, they were the better side for most of the night. They’re fighting for every inch under Rowley and to go that close to a win, with so many forwards out is unbelievable really. I was behind the posts when Sneyd was going for the drop out and it felt like he was going to try and be a bit too clever. He’d played a blinder up until that point as well. As for Wigan, we’re well off the mark in the main but that’s understandable. I think it’ll take a good few weeks to get their heads straight and back on the job of trying to win more silverware. I’ll forgive the players that and you can’t grumble winning games and not playing well.
  4. I've got so much respect for what Rowley and Salford are doing and it won't be straightforward for Wigan tonight, not a chance IMO. It's been a great start for Wigan but the league games have been against sides you'd expect to be in the lower reaches of the league and we have been sloppy in defence and discipline in all of the league fixtures so far. If that continues, I could see the game becoming a real scrap but I am always confident that we've got enough strike to get out of problems. Wigan by 10
  5. Aye, we lost the final and then won by 40 odd points the week after at the Don Valley. I was at both of those games. I still remember walking around London after the final and a local asking how many we’d won by. He refused to believe us when we said we’d lost!
  6. Shame the Wigan game isn’t at Sheffield, It would’ve been a good day out. It’s a nice story and a chance to reminisce about 98 mind (nightmares for us Wigan fans).
  7. Great win by Salford. The job Rowley is doing and the way guys like Brierley and Sneyd are stepping up is something to behold. As for Saints, I’ve only seen snippets of them before tonight. They’re a handful in the middle but they still don’t look hugely threatening when they move the ball wide. There’s a definite lack of pace in the side. On the plus side, it’s good to see Lewis Dodd finding some confidence/form.
  8. The test of Beaumont was always going to come when Leigh hit a bad run. It’s easy to be gracious and complimentary when things are going well and last year, in the main, he was but the mask slipped a little post the Wigan game and he’s being tested again now. Things were never going to go as well as last year. Leigh’s squad last year and this has a similar balance. It has 4 or 5 of the leagues best players in it but then numerous average players and unlike last year, they’re losing a couple of those big players to injury and it’s hurting them. The one thing they won’t have this year is teams underestimating them either and they’ll have to deal with that. You could say they over achieved last year and it raises expectations. It feels a bit like Newcastle in the football.
  9. I have a feeling London will give it a real go. People say it tends to be 2 games after a big final when a lull comes and this is our second game since Penrith. London have impressed me so far. No sulking, no going through the motions and I expect the same tomorrow. I think Wigan will rest a couple of players as well, with it already being confirmed that Liam Marshall is one of those. There are a few rumours knocking about that Jack Farrimond may be in line for his debut, which will be worth watching because he looks a special talent but London will feel they can get at an 18 year old halfback. I'll go Wigan to pull away late in a 20 point win.
  10. They'll value him so much higher than a lot of pundits/media/supporters do over here and rightfully so. I was gutted to see him leave Wigan but he's made the right decision for him. I think it'll boost his profile and help improve his game and in turn it should help his chances of an England place. I thought he was superb this morning in everything he did. The ball playing he's worked on over this past couple of seasons is really starting to pay off.
  11. Matty Johns noting how many English fans are in town just now on the live coverage. Imagine how many would go if the WCC was there next year and maybe a Superleague game! Interested to see the crowd come kick off. The 45/50k estimates look a bit of a fantasy going off the ticket maps pre game but we’ll see.
  12. It looked like we targeted a quick start and the game was pretty much done in 20 minutes. After that the energy seemed to drain away but that is no surprise. I thought both Wigan centres and Marshall were dangerous and Luke Thompson worked extremely hard and got through big minutes. He’ll be all the better for that run out and it was a positive start. The same goes for Tiaki Chan (a shame to see a HIA cut his spell short).
  13. Don't panic, the ticketing system is giving people plenty to go at this week.
  14. I don't disagree with much of that but the rules were the rules on the night and I stick by the opinion that Moore gets a ball steal wrong and nothing else. If anyone gets anything wrong regarding the trys, it is Kendall on VR duties and not Moore. There are clear images of Wardle having the ball in a position that must be on the line and there are zero images of May doing the same, so he sends them up as you'd expect. Nothing has been made of the French no try but there are images with lines drawn on suggesting Moore probably got that right and Kendall wrong also. Take all that away though and going forward I'm with you. There should be refs from as neutral a place as possible and certainly not the town of one of the teams and that should be the case in Superleague as well (and the NRL for that matter) and we should not be sending up trys with a decision attached and we then should decide who gets benefits of the doubt in those cases (attackers or defenders). They're two points I've been vocal on previously, especially when Moore gets us in games against St Helens and in finals. It isn't fair on the guy himself IMO.
  15. And realistically Penrith should have been able to overcome any bad decisions people thought they got when they were only playing against a rabble, who'd had one of those famed 'Pi*s easy' English pre seasons. I think Wigan spent most of theirs playing darts, following on from watching young Luke Littler at the worlds and being inspired by his athleticism.
  16. Agreed on nuetral refs but it’s the same when English clubs go to Oz. Wigan paid for Penrith to come over and we’re unlikely to offer to let them bring an Aussie ref with them. The issue with nuetrals is where do we get them? Are there any Kiwis now? (I know there was Henry Penenara) and I know there are no French refs in Superleague so tough to see an answer. Avoiding it being a Wiganer in charge of Wigan shouid be an open goal though and not to avoid him being bias but to avoid accusations of that. On a separate note with the game, it was good to see Wigan were fit enough to defend for 80 minutes after their ‘pi*s easy English pre season’. We’ll be dangerous if we ever bother having a proper one.
  17. Agreed and even with that it seemed like he got a call in his ear as initially he looks like he wants to play on. I'm a Wigan fan, I suppose I'm going to say it but I thought Moore had a good night and if people want to point the finger at an official then it should be at Kendall (and even then I think these supposed horror decisions have been hugely exaggerated).
  18. The video ref isn't from Wigan, it was Chris Kendall, who is from Huddersfield. I've seen a lot of people calling out Liam Moore (who is from Wigan) on his decisions but the only thing I saw him get wrong on the night was the ball steal on Harry Smith. He looks at the ball on the floor for the Wardle try and sends it up as a try and he cannot see the ball for the May try at the end and therefore sends it up as a no try and both calls were totally understandable on his part. In terms of the video refs decisions, there is zero issue with the May one. He cannot overturn that without getting to see it grounded. The Wardle try is the big controversy but I keep seeing people saying it is short of the line and that's not right. It gets to the line but the call is then on it being a double movement or not. I personally would've turned it down but not for it being short and it isn't the sort of obvious double movement you see dozens of time in a season. The other decision he may have got wrong was the no try on French. Even if both feet have to be behind the ball, I'm not sure how he made that call as quickly as that and that would be given in Superleague without a shadow of a doubt. Maybe he saw the moans and groans incoming from the Wardle decision.
  19. I played with him at Hindley as a kid. I’ll be honest, I was surprised when I saw him in St Pats first team about 10/15 years later because I wasn’t sure he’d reach that level. When I first saw that he had become involved at Wigan it was again a shock but Christ, he’s worked his way up and looks born for the job. He is doing an incredible job and seems to just get it.
  20. Couldn’t really tell at the ground that the Wardle decision was a shocker but watching it back it doesn’t look great. On the flip side, the French no try is the first time in donkeys years I’ve seen an offside call given on one as marginal as that. They just don’t give offside for that in any superleague game and benefit of the doubt goes with the attacker. That felt like then giving Penrith one back. Ultimately though I just don’t care! Ha. I was underwhelmed with Penrith tbh. They came with the most conservative game plan I’ve seen at the DW in its existence and they got burned. It feels like their style of play gives the English sides a sniff because they didn’t challenge Wigan in any other way than trying to pin them in their end. They looked like a high class Ian Watson side.
  21. We’ll wait and see. I see that as a red card against my side in a Grand Final and I’m not sure I bother going forward.
  22. Not sure you know. Giving up the game you love because your lads are getting sent off in 50/50’s wouid he but this isn’t the game we love is it?! Doesn’t look like it anyway.
  23. Not joking, it’s actually made me feel a bit down in the dumps that sending off. Where is the game going if that’s a red? It’s been a huge part of my life for 35 years but It’s a real concern that I might get to the point that it won’t be any longer.
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