Fri 18th Feb: SL: Wigan Warriors v Leeds Rhinos KO 20:00 (Sky)

[Scubby]

2 minutes ago, Damien said:

Mmm and Radford hasn't?

He occasionally got Adam Pearson to cover for him (with mixed results).

[Jim Prendle]

Just now, Barry Badrinath said:

Well, its Liam Marshall, so I'd say 99 times out of 100 we know what his reaction would be

Marshall is a decent RL player. I’m not going to get involved in defending him against whatever it is you think he has done wrong.

Many teams, including yours, have players who act up more than players did in the past. Such is life.

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

Sky discussing the laws on that Bibby try, they agree to the letter of the law its not a try

[redjonn]

12 minutes ago, Barry Badrinath said:

Sky discussing the laws on that Bibby try, they agree to the letter of the law its not a try

well it's a pity the video ref or even maybe on the field ref does know the rules.  The young lad watching with us called it, of course we oldies thinking we know better chuckled.

He was well chaffed to find he was right that the Wigan first try should have been disallowed if the ref's remembered the rule/law.

He is still buzzing now... good on him.  He also said the (I think Powel) try should have been disallowed too with his knee coming in dislodging the ball. Again confirmed by Sky...

we have a budding ref on our hands... of course we oldies all claim its what I've taught him... chuckle.

[kev p]

what was attendance tonight? looked poor? 7-8k?

[The Magic Rat]

It's surprising that Thaler doesn't know the rules, isn't it?

[kev p]

what was attendance tonight? looked poor? 7-8k?

[Jim Prendle]

1 minute ago, kev p said:

what was attendance tonight? looked poor? 7-8k?

Seeing as you asked nicely, and twice, it was 12500.

[Exiled Wiganer]

1 minute ago, kev p said:

what was attendance tonight? looked poor? 7-8k?

Could you ask again in a couple of minutes? 

[andyscoot]

8 minutes ago, redjonn said:

He is still buzzing now... good on him.  He also said the (I think Powel) try should have been disallowed too with his knee coming in dislodging the ball. Again confirmed by Sky

It's assumed it was deemed a loose carry?

[Jim Prendle]

Just now, andyscoot said:

It's assumed it was deemed a loose carry?

Like the Ellis one in the first half when Prior ripped it out of his hand.

[Niels]

21 minutes ago, Jill Halfpenny fan said:

Just rewatched this, Cust kicks the ball but at no point runs past Powell, as such when Walker gains possession Powell is within the ten and offside. Farrell who is behind Cust may possibly just sneak ahead of Powell in the chase but as Farrell did not kick the ball so to the best of my knowledge cannot play Powell onside.

I wondered about this. But I am not sure of the rule. 

The video referee seemed to say that he was onside once Walker caught the ball?

It was a great spot by the referee and good positioning to notice the grounding. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

I do think that last week’s game will have taken a lot out of Leeds. So much of the difference between the sides was down to energy (made worse by Leeds losing players during the match). That said, the 3 moments of genius from Field “here you are, have the outside”, gap/what gap and billy whizz (with a fantastic assist from Mago) honestly provided more entertainment than we saw all season in 2021.

If you can find it anywhere, you could check out our competitors for 2021 “tries of the season” which were all so dull they could have been compiled by an energy vampire... 

[WN83]

Extremely slow start by us but some really good stuff once we found our form. It’s great to see Field playing like that with the ball but his highlight for me was that tackle on Tindall in the first half. He measured him up in a way I’ve not seen since Kris Rads and timed it to perfection. 
 

Work to do still but a pleasing start. 

[redjonn]

57 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

Walker is going to cost us more games than he wins us at this rate

Briscoe is just dreadful

Sutcliffe hasn't been able to pass in all the time I've watched him play for Leeds - his other attributes don't make up for that.

I think their was more wrong than those three... The tackling was awful and with another ref may have been penalised more more for lying on. Plus not sure why Leeming was running the show for Leeds most of the time.

Walker is  just really coming back from that long injury and didn't have much help from his wingers at all, especially when Hanley went off.  The two youngsters despite some good moments no doubt impacted the defensive shape and decisions.    Walker needs to be nursed back into the team but with Myler out he had to step up sooner from his long injury outage.

[EagleEyePie]

Well that's the first time in a long time that I've gone to watch Wigan and actually enjoyed it! By far the most important thing for me this season was to just go to games and enjoy what I was watching.

The promising thing is that I didn't think we played that well across the board. Field was outstanding and a constant threat with his pace and the way he runs off the shoulder of the ball carrier. Mago looks to be exactly the sort of prop forward we've been lacking for years - big, powerful, hard to bring down and with good ball handling ability.

In the first half we were scrappy and a bit out enthused early on. I didn't think the starting middles of Singleton, Ellis and Isa were particularly effective. It was a bit like last year where they just struggled to make ground down the middle and couldn't win the battle for territory even though we had a strong wind behind us. Once Mago, Byrne and Smithies were on the field we looked a different beast and much more threatening.

I thought most of our players were good but not spectacular, which gives me hope that if some of those players can start to reach their best in the next few games we could surprise a few people this year.

I think my only gripe is playing Bibby at left centre. He looks like he's never passed a ball successfully in his life. Last season Farrell playing as a makeshift centre made tip-on passes look simple. Tonight Bibby had a good opportunity but looked like he'd been thrown a wasps nest. He's only ever looked good for us on the right wing and I can't understand why his been moved from there since Hardaker is currently a makeshift right winger. That's pretty much the only thing I can find to complain about.

[Chrispmartha]

46 minutes ago, Niels said:

I wondered about this. But I am not sure of the rule. 

The video referee seemed to say that he was onside once Walker caught the ball?

It was a great spot by the referee and good positioning to notice the grounding. 

Walker catching the ball is irrelevant if hes inside the 10 he’s offside unless walker makes 10 yards before Farrell tackles him

[Chrispmartha]

43 minutes ago, redjonn said:

I think their was more wrong than those three... The tackling was awful and with another ref may have been penalised more more for lying on. Plus not sure why Leeming was running the show for Leeds most of the time.

Walker is  just really coming back from that long injury and didn't have much help from his wingers at all, especially when Hanley went off.  The two youngsters despite some good moments no doubt impacted the defensive shape and decisions.    Walker needs to be nursed back into the team but with Myler out he had to step up sooner from his long injury outage.

We were poor tonight but our fans writing walker off after coming back from a near 2 year lay off is ridiculous, as is some of our fans saying our season is over, in round 2

[WN83]

6 minutes ago, EagleEyePie said:

Well that's the first time in a long time that I've gone to watch Wigan and actually enjoyed it! By far the most important thing for me this season was to just go to games and enjoy what I was watching.

The promising thing is that I didn't think we played that well across the board. Field was outstanding and a constant threat with his pace and the way he runs off the shoulder of the ball carrier. Mago looks to be exactly the sort of prop forward we've been lacking for years - big, powerful, hard to bring down and with good ball handling ability.

In the first half we were scrappy and a bit out enthused early on. I didn't think the starting middles of Singleton, Ellis and Isa were particularly effective. It was a bit like last year where they just struggled to make ground down the middle and couldn't win the battle for territory even though we had a strong wind behind us. Once Mago, Byrne and Smithies were on the field we looked a different beast and much more threatening.

I thought most of our players were good but not spectacular, which gives me hope that if some of those players can start to reach their best in the next few games we could surprise a few people this year.

I think my only gripe is playing Bibby at left centre. He looks like he's never passed a ball successfully in his life. Last season Farrell playing as a makeshift centre made tip-on passes look simple. Tonight Bibby had a good opportunity but looked like he'd been thrown a wasps nest. He's only ever looked good for us on the right wing and I can't understand why his been moved from there since Hardaker is currently a makeshift right winger. That's pretty much the only thing I can find to complain about.

I like a lot about Bibby but that is a weak point. He’s hitting like a train in defence though and he’s a handful with the ball, so I wouldn’t change it at the minute. 
 

I’m with you with the three starting middle forwards. I think Ellis has been pretty good but Isa and Singleton have had really slow starts. I’d start Smithies next week, he’s had a really good start to the season, with some added size really helping him. 

[Desert Skipper]

Leeds are better than they were tonight, no doubt. The pack is immense, it’s just a case of whether 1-7 gel enough to trouble the top teams. We’ll know that once Austin and Sezer have had a few games together. Agree about Leeming, he seems to run the show at the moment.

[Futtocks]

3 minutes ago, Desert Skipper said:

Leeds are better than they were tonight, no doubt. The pack is immense, it’s just a case of whether 1-7 gel enough to trouble the top teams. We’ll know that once Austin and Sezer have had a few games together. Agree about Leeming, he seems to run the show at the moment.

I agree. Leeds have a bit of work to do, to get their teamwork clicking, but they'll do more than okay by the end of the 2022 season.

[Chrispmartha]

3 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I agree. Leeds have a bit of work to do, to get their teamwork clicking, but they'll do more than okay by the end of the 2022 season.

After having a nearly fully fit squad for round one were back with some concerns injury wise, we need a big reaction on Thursday regardless of the final score

[WN83]

Leeds will be a totally different proposition with Myler, Newman and Fusitu'a in that backline. Had the game started like that with those 3 in, we’d have probably been a few more points down. 
 

I’m sticking by my prediction that they’ll be Saints closest challengers ‘if’ they can get their best team on the field enough. 

[Jim Prendle]

13 minutes ago, WN83 said:

Leeds will be a totally different proposition with Myler, Newman and Fusitu'a in that backline. Had the game started like that with those 3 in, we’d have probably been a few more points down. 
 

I’m sticking by my prediction that they’ll be Saints closest challengers ‘if’ they can get their best team on the field enough. 

To do that they are going to have to improve their discipline.

They may have had a few out with injuries tonight but let’s not forget they had two out due to a lack of brain cells.

[WN83]

5 minutes ago, Jim Prendle said:

To do that they are going to have to improve their discipline.

They may have had a few out with injuries tonight but let’s not forget they had two out due to a lack of brain cells.

True enough. I don’t think Dwyer will be an issue but sorting Bentleys discipline out might be a step too far. 
 

They’ll be a bit panicked with 2 defeats in 2 but they’ll be ok. It’s a shame for them that they lost one they should’ve won last week and they then have to back up with a tough away game at Wigan. He really has hurt them Bentley with that tackle. It probably cost them last weeks game and then heaped pressure on tonight.