Sat 29 May: SL: Catalans Dragons v Wigan Warriors KO 18:00 (TV)

[Allora]

Not sure if you can be seen as a top shelf team with some of the players Wigan have in their key positions.

A few are well past their best and a few are pretty average trading on past glories.

[Scubby]

6 minutes ago, Wiltshire Warrior Dragon said:

I agree with you, Scubby, that there was something very positive and Bosc-esque about the attack yesterday.

Have you a source for the news that Bosc's coaching role has developed in the way you state?  I don't recall seeing anything about this.

I also wonder whether Les Dracs are benefitting from two other appointments: maybe Alex Chan is contributing to a calmer, more disciplined off-the filed atmosphere, which is then reflected on it; perhaps the youngsters are benefitting from Justin Murphy's being at the helm of the Elite 1 team, although it might be too soon for any such benefit to be manifesting itself.

He has been much more prominent on Catalans social media and just checked on the website and he is in charge of the attack. It just seems like he has been given his head more. He was a special player and the change is tangible. 

http://www.catalansdragons.com/en/staff/ 

 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

7 minutes ago, Scubby said:

He has been much more prominent on Catalans social media and just checked on the website and he is in charge of the attack. It just seems like he has been given his head more. He was a special player and the change is tangible. 

http://www.catalansdragons.com/en/staff/ 

 

Fully agree.  That try when he chipped over the opposition line and gathered the ball then repeated the trick to pass the fullback remains my second most favourite SL try; was it against London?

My favourite, just for the record, is that amazing last-minute one, away to the Saints, which Scott Dureau's goal from the sideline turned into a match winner.

[Manfred Mann]

7 hours ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

I think Hardaker comes from Pontefract they used to be known for Licorice cakes 

Also I have heard that the people of Pontefract had never seen a gay man, and didn't know that such people existed, until they saw it talked about on the telly. A pupil at Zak Hardaker's school told Zak Hardaker the news, because at the time Zak's family didn't own a television. Zak told the other kid at school who had relayed the news to him that he must be completely bonkers if he believed such rubbish.

[Clogiron]

On 25/05/2021 at 15:47, Exiled Wiganer said:

If we play as well as we did against Cas, we should be fine. We are very hard to score a lot of points against, and have enough quality to score 20 points. Every game has been uncannily the same, but no one has got away from us in the league, and I can’t see that changing on Saturday. 

I didn't think there was so many ways you could be wrong! Now Lam is trying to cover himself by saying he expected them to come unstuck recently but was astounded that it was by such a margin which begs the question why he didn't do something to change it, having player's out through injury is unacceptable to me because the nature of sport is that there will always be player's missing that's why you have a squad.

Wigan might once again make the Grand Final which would indicate a successful season yet it seems to me that their support back when there were crowds at the game wanted entertainment and performances throughout the season for their money, as is their right and the club fail to provide that.

 

 

[barnyia]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

He has been much more prominent on Catalans social media and just checked on the website and he is in charge of the attack. It just seems like he has been given his head more. He was a special player and the change is tangible. 

http://www.catalansdragons.com/en/staff/ 

 

He's been the attack coach for the last 3 to 4 years. 

[Scubby]

47 minutes ago, barnyia said:

He's been the attack coach for the last 3 to 4 years. 

There were other assistants there as well previously. It just seems like he is the main man now. Much more high profile and maybe McNamara has just left him to it.

[Rupert Prince]

4 hours ago, Davo5 said:

I’m not Powell’s biggest fan but any hooker would struggle to make an impact in a pack that’s constantly going backwards like ours 

It was more than good enough to get to a GF last year.  

The issue is when players collectively go totally off piste as they did this week. 

What's happening to Huddersfield right now as we speak?  Or Castleford the other day or Leeds last week? Or Saints last week... it was a close score but they were rubbish.  Hull were world beaters in the cup, look at the game this week... clueless.

As an aside... nothing to do with Wigan, but other games ... I find refereeing totally inconsistent with the 6 again, the ball stripping and alleged high tackles and the 10m off side rulings.   It may well be that some teams are being very cute with all this.

The game is frankly a joke and the results may well be the reason.  There are some stupid results in NRL as well.

[barnyia]

28 minutes ago, Scubby said:

There were other assistants there as well previously. It just seems like he is the main man now. Much more high profile and maybe McNamara has just left him to it.

He was attack and the guy who's gone to Newcastle was the defence coach and MC namara was head coach. I don't think there where other assistants just the fitness coach. 

[Rupert Prince]

6 tries now for Wakey.  I can only repeat my wonderment at what's going on with some results.

[Scubby]

1 minute ago, barnyia said:

He was attack and the guy who's gone to Newcastle was the defence coach and MC namara was head coach. I don't think there where other assistants just the fitness coach. 

Well one guy has left and Catalans have gone up a gear in attack and defence. It doesn't take much to add two and two together. McNamara has clearly given Bosc more responsibility and maybe taken on the defence himself. The Dragons are even attacking more like the Catalans of old. It's great to see.

[Rupert Prince]

9 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Well one guy has left and Catalans have gone up a gear in attack and defence. It doesn't take much to add two and two together. McNamara has clearly given Bosc more responsibility and maybe taken on the defence himself. The Dragons are even attacking more like the Catalans of old. It's great to see.

He is certainly taking a leaf out of Saints defence... 2 yards off side!

[Scubby]

3 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

He is certainly taking a leaf out of Saints defence... 2 yards off side!

Or motivated and quick off the line as less partisan sorts may put it  

[The Frying Scotsman]

Great performance from Catalans - they were a joy to watch despite some of Wigan's "defence" being incredibly weak.

Drinkwater's try on the hour was the pick of the bunch for me, although Kasiano's line break would have been up there if he hadn't been pulled back.

Hardaker was acting like the sort of yob you see outside nightclubs in the North of England. An utter embarrassment in terms of professionalism. Good refereeing to only give a sin bin for the retaliation. 

[Lowdesert]

Early season but imo that is the end of Hardaker for England.  Too big a risk.  The lads box has gone.

 

 

 

[Faithful1865]

59 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

Early season but imo that is the end of Hardaker for England.  Too big a risk.  The lads box has gone.

 

To be fair to him, the gaps between his brain farts do seem to be getting longer.

59 minutes ago, Lowdesert said:

 

 

 

 

[fieldofclothofgold]

I wonder if there was a bit of Sledging went unloading up to the incident? 

[Rupert Prince]

5 hours ago, Scubby said:

Or motivated and quick off the line as less partisan sorts may put it  

[Niels]

4 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Great performance from Catalans - they were a joy to watch despite some of Wigan's "defence" being incredibly weak.

Drinkwater's try on the hour was the pick of the bunch for me, although Kasiano's line break would have been up there if he hadn't been pulled back.

Hardaker was acting like the sort of yob you see outside nightclubs in the North of England. An utter embarrassment in terms of professionalism. Good refereeing to only give a sin bin for the retaliation. 

North of England?

It's seen in the midlands, south and also Scotland as well. Often far worse.

[Niels]

10 hours ago, Manfred Mann said:

Also I have heard that the people of Pontefract had never seen a gay man, and didn't know that such people existed, until they saw it talked about on the telly. A pupil at Zak Hardaker's school told Zak Hardaker the news, because at the time Zak's family didn't own a television. Zak told the other kid at school who had relayed the news to him that he must be completely bonkers if he believed such rubbish.

Being Gay doesn't depend on Location though. In fact there is a gay bar in pontefract. 

At Batley we of course had Keegan Hirst as captain and we were very progressive in supporting his coming out. 

 

[The Frying Scotsman]

10 minutes ago, Niels said:

North of England?

It's seen in the midlands, south and also Scotland as well. Often far worse.

Aye, but he looks like a northern yob. To me anyway. 

[bobbruce]

2 minutes ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Aye, but he looks like a northern yob. To me anyway. 

Do you actually know where Scotland is Celt. 

[dkw]

So it looks like Tomkins is going to get a bigger ban than Hardaker, who has gotten a 2 match ban for headbutting, yet got away with the squirrel grip. How very Rugby League 

[EagleEyePie]

1 hour ago, dkw said:

So it looks like Tomkins is going to get a bigger ban than Hardaker, who has gotten a 2 match ban for headbutting, yet got away with the squirrel grip. How very Rugby League 

Probably because there was no squirrel grip. A squirrel grip is grabbing the testicles isn't it? Hardaker hooked the leg and lifted the player. Uncomfortable for sure, but not the same thing. If there had been a squirrel grip I'm pretty sure the Catalans player would have reported it and even if the disciplinary were going to overlook it Catalans themselves would have cited it.

[LeeF]

18 hours ago, The Frying Scotsman said:

Aye, but he looks like a northern yob. To me anyway. 

Describe a “northern yob”