Sat 29 Aug: SL: Wigan Warriors v Castleford Tigers KO 4.15pm (TV)

[Davo5]

5 minutes ago, snapski said:

Don’t think we did bad for 5 days notice. Get the season finished, and start again.

Your very good,did you charge Daryl much ?

[JohnM]

3 minutes ago, snapski said:

Thing is, the next teams benefit from the Smithies ban. Awful refereeing from a god awful ref.

Gracious in defeat?

[graveyard johnny]

12 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

Start one then...

that would be me banned for life

[Man of Kent]

Just now, graveyard johnny said:

that would be me banned for life

Ooh er. 

[JohnM]

5 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

That will disappoint a lot of people.

Good to see him telling it as it is. He's learned, which is good for his credibility. Respect. 

 

[Old Frightful]

37 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Good to see him telling it as it is. He's learned, which is good for his credibility. Respect. 

 

He didn't tell it as it was though.

Cas were very hard done to I thought, forward pass that wasn't that immediately led to a Wigan try that finished the game off and Wigan could well have been reduced to 12 for most of the match due to Smithies' antics.

Powell did very well not to allude to those.

[EagleEyePie]

Delighted with that win from a Wigan point of view. We usually struggle against Cas so to win with at least a degree of comfort is promising.

Our pack was strong. Havard was outstanding playing down the middle for 80 minutes, Farrell is the best back rower in Super League and Joe Bullock had one of his best games for us. It was also good to get Flower back out there. He's massively underrated and makes a real difference.

The negatives in the forward department are George Burgess (AGAIN!) being our worst prop and looking unfit in defence, and Smithies who will need a minor miracle to avoid a ban. The headbutt, yes he might get the slightest bit of leniency as it seemed to be towards the chest rather than the head, but he's got to be smarter than that. Someone having hold of your shirt doesn't warrant that kind of aggressive response. The crusher tackle - while it's doubtful that it was intentional, ultimately the sport has a responsibility to keep the players safe. It may have been nearly impossible to avoid the pressure on the neck, but just like with tip tackles, players should be avoiding putting players in positions where serious injury can occur. I imagine Smithies will be missing for a while.

Wigan still aren't playing brilliantly during games. While there's good play there are often long periods where we're under pressure and generally our last tackle plays are pretty shambolic. That's something that needs to improve but at this point it's fairly satisfying to know that there's improvement there to be made.

[Exiled Wiganer]

We need our billionaire to sign up Havard on a long term contract. Meanwhile, the ginger pearl is made for open fast re start games, the quicker the better, And Smith has so much talent, he could be our next world class half in a couple of years. 

I am not quick to criticise a Wigan player, but Smithies’ behaviour was really poor. He is such a good player, hopefully someone will have a word. 

Oh, and what is it about Cas and our wingers getting knee injuries? Hope Liam isn’t as badly injured as Dom has been... 

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Old Frightful said:

He didn't tell it as it was though.

Cas were very hard done to I thought, forward pass that wasn't that immediately led to a Wigan try that finished the game off and Wigan could well have been reduced to 12 for most of the match due to Smithies' antics.

Powell did very well not to allude to those.

Maybe he's not changed, then. Maybe he just didn't have any issues. 

[Old Frightful]

1 hour ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

Oh, and what is it about Cas and our wingers getting knee injuries? Hope Liam isn’t as badly injured as Dom has been... 

You know I usually respect your input on here mate but commenting about Cas and suggesting your wingers suffer knee injuries in games against them, without any remark about Castleford's winger Clare suffering a potentially serious spine injury goes against the grain somewhat.

[Rupert Prince]

2 hours ago, snapski said:

Don’t think we did bad for 5 days notice. Get the season finished, and start again.

Cas scored 12 points in the first half hour.  What more excuses do you need.

Probably everyone will disagree, and I only saw it on a small phone whilst also being distracted, bur i did not see much in Smithies actions.  It was all very quick and someone else in the tackle lifted the Castleford player up of the ground which caused the injury.

[Niels]

40 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

Cas scored 12 points in the first half hour.  What more excuses do you need.

Probably everyone will disagree, and I only saw it on a small phone whilst also being distracted, bur i did not see much in Smithies actions.  It was all very quick and someone else in the tackle lifted the Castleford player up of the ground which caused the injury.

I think it was the one where he headbutted the Castleford player and threw punches at him.  

Really should have been a sending off but the referree missed it. 

[corvusxiii]

22 minutes ago, Niels said:

I think it was the one where he headbutted the Castleford player and threw punches at him.  

Really should have been a sending off but the referree missed it. 

And then damaged the opposition winger which led him to be stretchered off after an illegal tackle- which the referee missed/didn't miss.

[JohnM]

36 minutes ago, Niels said:

I think it was the one where he headbutted the Castleford player and threw punches at him.  

Really should have been a sending off but the referree missed it. 

Can't condone retaliation, though. Smithies should not have reacted in the way he did to the actions of the Cas player. Whatever our differing views,  the disciplinary will sort it if it come before them. 

[Futtocks]

5 minutes ago, corvusxiii said:

And then damaged the opposition winger which led him to be stretchered off after an illegal tackle- which the referee missed/didn't miss.

Pick one.

[Niels]

14 minutes ago, JohnM said:

Can't condone retaliation, though. Smithies should not have reacted in the way he did to the actions of the Cas player. Whatever our differing views,  the disciplinary will sort it if it come before them. 

I thought he should have been sent off for the retaliation John. 

It looked terrible,  and had he been so then the later dangerous tackle injury would not have occurred.

[Rupert Prince]

50 minutes ago, Niels said:

I think it was the one where he headbutted the Castleford player and threw punches at him.  

Really should have been a sending off but the referree missed it. 

Then I did not see that.

I'm still bound to say I would like to see him sticking it to the Aussies. 

So distracted and subsequently missing quite a bit of the game I could not see much of Harvard, but I saw he got man of the match.  Generally I am impressed  by a lot of good young players, and not all from Wigan! 

[Niels]

10 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

Then I did not see that.

I'm still bound to say I would like to see him sticking it to the Aussies. 

So distracted and subsequently missing quite a bit of the game I could not see much of Harvard, but I saw he got man of the match.  Generally I am impressed  by a lot of good young players, and not all from Wigan! 

Yes he played well, I chose him for man of the match myself before it was awarded. 

It was a good game overall. 

[daz39]

I see Wigan's next breed of talented young ........thugs are already coming through !!

how old is Smithies? and already a dirty get !!!

[Exiled Wiganer]

2 hours ago, Old Frightful said:

You know I usually respect your input on here mate but commenting about Cas and suggesting your wingers suffer knee injuries in games against them, without any remark about Castleford's winger Clare suffering a potentially serious spine injury goes against the grain somewhat.

It was absolutely not meant to suggest foul play or any equivalence. It was simply that Manfredi suffered 2 long term knee injuries at Cas, and Marshall suffered knee damage. Indeed, I commented on that before the game, as I was preoccupied about it. Having re-read it, I don’t see any suggestion that there was even an offence - indeed, it was clear he simply injured it by accident. 

[Jim Prendle]

1 hour ago, Niels said:

I think it was the one where he headbutted the Castleford player and threw punches at him.  

Really should have been a sending off but the referree missed it. 

Sending off? Behave yourself.

[Jim Prendle]

5 hours ago, snapski said:

No matter what, it always comes back to James Child. 

Only in your head.

Why do people always have to blame the ref when their team loses?

Cas played OK, but not OK enough to take the points. Childs had nothing to do with that.

[Jim Prendle]

6 hours ago, Dunbar said:

There are a lot of crusher tackles where either the ball carrier has backed into the tackle and essentially reversed his body position or one's where the head is accidentally caught in a bad position. 

But this was different.  Smithies deliberately placed his arms in that position and trapped his head and then brought the weight down on him.

If I were being generous I would say we will never know if it was a deliberate attempt to harm the ball carrier but it is a terrible tackle and he should see a lengthy ban.

But you’ve already said that he deliberately put his arms in position to trap his head, so how can you then say it might not have been a deliberate attempt to harm the player.

At least try to make your mind up.

[Davo5]

2 hours ago, daz39 said:

I see Wigan's next breed of talented young ........thugs are already coming through !!

how old is Smithies? and already a dirty get !!!

He's 19, going by your pathetic,childish posts he's probably 10yrs older than you.

[JohnM]

Perhaps I'm an 3xception on here. I generally prefer the refs perception, largely accept the fidings of the Disciplinary, and believe that  tv cameras are not authoritative judges of forward passes.