WN83

Fair enough and I’m happy common sense can be applied to tackles like that. We’ll see if that continues throughout the season when it comes to the disciplinary and fans across the board. It’s been too inconsistent on both sides previously.

That seems extremely surprising given how much uproar there has been around those types of challenges in Superleague. I've always felt some are simply accidents that will happen in a contact sport and presumably that is how this one has been judged.

What's the deal with potential bans from the WCC? Clearly Paasi would be in some bother if that happened in Superleague, especially given the Penrith player is now out for the season but I've not heard anything of it.

Noticed you didn’t respond to my comment about Smithies 4 penalties, 0 yellow cards and 0 red cards in the whole of 2022, after you called for him to stop messing about in games. I don’t need to see the future, it’s all too predictable.

I really like Partington and I’m happy he will now play in his rightful position at loose forward and do the big minutes he needs to do to prove his worth. Everyone at Wigan knows he’s not as good a player as Smithies though and that’s why he’s at Salford. Funny thing is Partington was getting called out for the niggle last year and before, much in the same way Smithies is now but he’ll avoid that now. I wonder why?

He did last year and was excellent. He made a daft challenge in the cup final but besides that he was clean as a whistle. He gave away 4 penalties in the whole of 2022 and had zero yellow or red cards. You’d think he was James Bentley the way people go on. Bentley had 1 red and 3 yellow cards and gave away 23 penalties by the way.

I think that’s probably right. I’ll be the first to admit, it isn’t flashy what he does and maybe you do need to watch him every week. He is so important to us, very much in the way Knowles is important to Saints.

One of his coaches used to get this sort of tripe thrown at him as well when he was 21/22. They different styles of 13’s, so in terms of ‘nothing rubbing off’ you’ll be disappointed if you’re expecting 20 metre cut out balls. Smithies is a fabulous young player. He was fantastic for us last year and we’re lucky to have him.

I’ve watched both since their academy days and like both but there’s absolutely no doubt Wigan have kept the better player. The one thing I will say is that Partington is ideally suited to playing long minutes at loose forward and he will now get that and I’m chuffed that’s the case. It was doing him no good picking up a few minutes here and there as a prop at our place. One game doesn’t change what I’ve watched for the past 5 or 6 years but when you produce your own players in good volume, you can’t keep them all. In terms of the game today, fair play to HKR. They were much the better team and wanted it far more. We just weren’t at the races in most facets. It looked like we might run away with it after that spell of 3 try’s (but no conversations) in the first half but as soon as HKR levelled we didn’t get another sniff. HKR, along with Salford look like they’ll have good years. As long as we use today as a wake up call, I think we will as well.

Nothing but admiration for him. As a Wigan fan you have a natural instinct to dislike Saints players but you just can’t. I can’t help but think what could’ve been regards the World Cup but good to see him get a sign off like that on an elavated stage. He’ll be spoke about for decades to come.

Very well deserved. Good to see Crichton on the deck at the end and he had an absolute stinker to boot. I wonder if the Penrith lads are all doing the air injections in the changing rooms?

Same comment I always make but it would be amazing if he had a bit of luck with injuries. We’re not good enough as a country to have top talent like him sat in the stands.

I do get the feeling guys like Clearly, Yeo and Fisher Harris are the leaders of the team and it’s no coincidence Samoa don’t have any of them. I could see a bit of complacency at the start, until they realise Saints are no mugs and are going at it hell for leather and then they’ll wake up, May h them and try to raise it. I think it’ll be a really good game and certainly don’t buy the bookies handicaps.

Like him or loath him, he’s going all in is Derek and it’s refreshing to see some effort going in. There’s a good feel coming across on TV, much the same as last night.

Injuries have clearly hurt Leeds but I’ve been confused by some of the things I’ve seen Rohan Smith implement. Maybe he’s a genius but I just sense a little bit of over complicating going on and trying to be revolutionary for the sake of it. No captain, players out of position, short kick offs and drop outs and so on. He had Leeds flying at the end of 2022, so I’d have just expected some minor tweaks. They’ll probably win the Grand Final from a short kick now, with a winger playing at fullback and the whole team will have a finger each on the trophy as they lift it but we’ll see.

I fancy Wire to win this reasonably comfortably. Leeds looked to have plenty missing when I saw their squad earlier and I think Wire will want to make a statement. I expect Dufty, Williams, Drinkwater and Clark (and Walker from the bench) to form a pretty dangerous spine on the back of a big forward pack. Wire by 14

I can’t believe Penrith are -20.5 on the betting site I’ve looked at. They’re down Edwards, Koroisau, Kikau and Martin from their GF win and haven’t added much other than the new second rower and Saints are up a World class prop forward and a fabulous young half in Dodd. There’s plenty of disrespect going on for my money and I think it’ll fuel Saints big time. I thing they’ll push it reasonably close and wouldn’t fall off my chair if they won. It feels like they’ve been building towards an opportunity like this for this past 4 or 5 years, whereas Down Under they seem to be throwing it in alongside the other ‘trial’ fixtures.

I think HKR might catch us a bit cold, especially with the big crowd on and the new coach boost you tend to get. HKR by 8

The big question for next week will be if Saints can replicate the pace and intensity of that first 15-20 minutes across the game. There will be the odd dip here and there but they’ll need to be at that level for much longer to go close. I’m reasonably confident they can but what gives you nagging doubts, is that they can play like that in Superleague, against much lesser teams and blow them away (or at least tire them out for the back end) and then ease off but there will be no let up next week and only one of the teams is challenged in that way reasonably often (although not as often as some NRL lovers would like you to believe).

I wasn’t aware what was said but it’s daft on his part and just pointless to do that in a friendly of all games (not that it would be acceptable in any game but tempers boiling over and people losing their heads is more understandable at certain times). The issue I’d have with stuff like this is that people were getting bans like confetti for all manner of things last season, such as accidentally brushing past as an official, so to fall foul of something so easily avoidable and in a friendly, isn’t a good sign of how the guys season will go.

Always looked a risky signing for Wire and it’s not a good start to easing any of their fans concerns.

I have a feeling Saints will go extremely close. There has been too many indications that Penrith see this as a glorified friendly, they've lost some key players (and I saw it mentioned that Liam Martin has pulled up injured) and If they underestimate this Saints side, they could well regret it. Saints have won four comps on the trot and yes, the quality of the league here is generally as poor as I can remember it but Saints have a very good side and I think they will see this as the key opportunity to cement a legacy. They probably feel they don't get the credit for beating pretty average sides to trophies here but they will get it if they pull this off and there is quality across the board in their side. A Saints side playing with pure desperation and desire against a Penrith side treating it as an opportunity to get miles in the legs will lead to a really close contest IMO. If Penrith are up for it and treat Saints with total respect they'll probably win it by 12-18 points but we'll see.

I watch both. The Lathums are Latics fans of a fashion I’d imagine. They aligned with them when they had financial problems and helped raise some money but it always felt a bit like it was a good opportunity for both parties, with their profile being raised in to the bargain. I could be wrong but they’re the only Wigan Athletic fans I’ve heard refer to the club as ‘The Athletics’.

They're doing really well Wigan's very own 'The Lathums' but then they go and ruin it by turning out at Wire In all seriousness, I like the effort that clubs look to be putting in to the pre match. To get the games feeling like more of an event and tempting different fans in is exactly what we need.

Thought Havard and Cooper started well but it dropped off after that. Byrne will add to that unit when he’s back in at HKR. I thought Ellis was the best of the three bench lads. Singleton didn’t do much and Mago was a bit of a mess. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Harvie Hill challenge a couple of them for a spot before long.