Fri 26th Aug: SL: Wigan Warriors v St Helens KO 20:00 (Sky)

[Dunbar]

9 hours ago, Chris22 said:

Feared the worst before the match and so it proved. The Marshall and Farrell tries were both soft and summed up our night.

Thought Wigan's goal line defence was excellent, but we were understandably clunky in attack.

I really like the looks of O' Neill for Wigan. For such an inexperienced player, he's all class. Massive prospect.

We've played Wigan 4 times this year and each side has won twice. 1 big win for each side and 2 that could have gone either way.

With both sides unbeaten at home and having home semis, I'd be surprised if this wasn't the Grand Final. If it is, then the previous meetings don't give much indication about a winner! But Wigan's excellent goal kicking against our hit and miss goal kicking could be crucial.

 

3 minutes ago, EagleEyePie said:

Enjoyable match and one of the best atmospheres at the DW for many years. It was a solid performance from Wigan. Still a bit to improve upon but it's hard to be play perfect rugby in a derby game. I'm under no illusions that if we play Saints again they will be far, far better than that. Wigan seemed to be a little bit more motivated which isn't surprising. Saints have won the LLS and it doesn't matter when or where the trophy is given to them. Wigan obviously wanted to tie up 2nd but the ridiculous figure scheduling meant that it was hugely beneficial to get it sorted last night.

Lots of uncharacteristic unforced errors from Saints which relieved a lot of pressure. It would have been a much tighter game if they'd just had a bit more focus. I thought Welsby had one of the worst games I've seen from him. He's the pantomime villain so good to see him have an off day. We did really well to get in his face and put him under pressure. I've seen some people complaining about his getting stick from Smithies and Smith after an error but he's shown he's more than willing to dish it out so he's got to take it too. It's all part and parcel of the game. He's a quality player though so the next time we play Saints he will be outstanding without a doubt.

The pack was strong. Our back row of Farrell, Bateman and Smithies is the best in the competition in my opinion. I doubt any back row can match it in terms of graft but there's so much quality in there too. None of them are big for forwards but it doesn't seem to make any difference. The front row coped very well with the Saints forwards for most of the game. As ever Paasi was the biggest threat but we nullified his threat most of the time.

The biggest worry is the injury to Farrell. Forget the nonsense about Wigan being overly reliant on French and Field, Farrell is the most important player we have so hopefully the injury he picked up won't be too serious.

I was also really impressed with Brad O'Neill. He's got huge potential and so many positive aspects to his game. It's a tough ask to play 80 minutes in a derby but he looked like he belonged and finished the game as top tackler with 50 tackles and made so key contributions. Sam Powell is hugely underrated and we've missed him at times, but long term there's no doubt O'Neill could be a far better player. Hopefully it will just be a case of waiting for O'Neill to find the consistency needed to be a first team regular.

Now on to the absolutely ridiculous game against Hull KR on Monday. I'm sure it's not the only fixture to feel like this, but I can't imagine either side has any real desire to play the game. Rovers barely have any players left and Wigan with just 2 days rest after a derby would be mad to do anything other than rest every single player from the Saints game bar maybe 2 or 3 and just throw in any returning players like Havard and Leuluai and use fringe/academy players. Why on earth clubs insisted that there had to be a double header this weekend rather than just playing one less loopy fixture I'll never know.

I agree with these two well thought through posts and in particular the performance of Brad O'Neill.  I thought he was excellent and is showing great potential. 

[Damien]

2 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Big crowd,enjoyable,physical game,but to expect these players to back up less than 3 days later at the end of the regular season & on the eve of the playoffs is absolute crazy,no wonder the players Union are pleading with IMG to do away with these dumb double round weekends & loop fixtures.

Yeah something has to give. There is zero benefit to the 2nd game. Its bad for players, crowds are poor and the quality is terrible.

[bobbruce]

I’m not sure the league leaders is done and dusted yet. Both Wigan and Saints have a good/form team and a poor team to play. For me though Wigan have them the right way round they should be able to rest a few players and still get a result against HKR. Where Saints probably won’t beat an in form Wakefield with the team they put out last night never mind if they rest a few players.  

[northamptoncougar]

Maybe that’s the best way - have every club coach get together and agree to play their reserves / academy for the following game.

Eventually the message will get through. 

[Damien]

39 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

I’m not sure the league leaders is done and dusted yet. Both Wigan and Saints have a good/form team and a poor team to play. For me though Wigan have them the right way round they should be able to rest a few players and still get a result against HKR. Where Saints probably won’t beat an in form Wakefield with the team they put out last night never mind if they rest a few players.  

Let's face it, it's winning the Grand Final that matters. Its more important to get players right for the play offs and give yourself the best chance of getting to the Grand Final and winning it.

[Faithful1865]

2 hours ago, Damien said:

Yeah something has to give. There is zero benefit to the 2nd game. Its bad for players, crowds are poor and the quality is terrible.

It does seem as though our prayers have been answered as the Easter double headers are to be abandoned. Some common sense - AT LAST!!

[Josef K]

Wigan thoroughly deserved the victory they scored some cracking tries. Some of the Saints fans who was sat around me thought i was a Wigan fan for applauding their tries and touchline conversions. I didn’t know applauding good RL from the opposition was frowned upon.
I didn’t expect us to win but when we decided to go for the 2pts early on in front of the sticks instead of tapping it, i knew it was going to be a five drives and a ###### little up & under night.
Our kicking in general play has to be one of the worst in the game. Hurrell came up with one of his howlers as he always does, the pack was nonexistent, they were stood still when they got the ball.

Then there is Ben Davies he just offers nothing, id sooner put someone in the halves who has a bit of pace and can offer something like Bell. Davies is like a static caravan wherever he is on the pitch. 
It was a great atmosphere, but ruddy hell Saints fans are joint first with Leeds&Hull fans for whining. The hatred towards the Thaler was quite shocking. Someone threw their glasses onto the pitch (is that a banning offence or just RL bants) aimed at Thaler. He should have thrown them at Woolf. I still don’t think we will win the GF, Hurrell & Davies are bog standard, bennison is too young to be playing so much first team RL he was caught out again with his defence. But the pack was a big letdown with their feeble tick rugby tackling. 

Wakey on Monday, i expect they’ll fancy their chances if Woolf sticks with his dull negative tactics.