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

[Barry Badrinath]

Kinell, something out of nothing  there

[Futtocks]

Just now, Just Browny said:

I hate to admire a Wigan player but he seems to do the basics neatly and tidily, nothing flashy but very effective. Like a budget Lockyer.

He gets the vital things done without attracting much attention. That makes him dangerous, because there really isn't a target on his back, even after nearly a full season.

[andyscoot]

Wahey! Enjoyed that game but recognise that that's far from where Saints are.

[Ragingbull]

Glad i backed Wigan for the GF BEFORE tonights game

[DavidM]

10 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

All it shows really is that in a sport like Rugby League, differentiating between genuine injury and playing for a penalty is almost impossible.

I agree with what he just said . Or at the very least it should be serious enough to warrant a card , not just a pen or on report .

[Futtocks]

Just now, Barry Badrinath said:

Kinell, something out of nothing  there

That Big Finish was 100% showbiz!

[Old Frightful]

"Bevan French, 55 tries in 56 appearances" it seems....pah!

If he'd played against Hull FC every week he would have scored 392.

[Dunbar]

Just now, DavidM said:

I agree with what he just said . Or at the very least it should be serious enough to warrant a card , not just a pen or on report .

Yes.  I am not a massive fan of Wilkin as a commentator but he is spot on here.  If the video ref can't intervene in those situations then players don't stay down to try and get the video ref to award a penalty.  Problem solved.

[Nate90]

What a beltin first half by Wigan. It was more even in the second half, but the effort from the team managed to see it through. 

Jack Welsby of Saints had an absolute shocker for a change.

Rugby League may not  be the most popular sport in the world, but my oh my, it's  the most exciting sport 

[Old Frightful]

Ain't heard Liam Farrell talk much before, sounds a decent unassuming fella.

[DavidM]

1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

Yes.  I am not a massive fan of Wilkin as a commentator but he is spot on here.  If the video ref can't intervene in those situations then players don't stay down to try and get the video ref to award a penalty.  Problem solved.

Indeed , in the NRL its frankly ridiculous . Players are staying down and the VR is buying into it and working back to find an offence , and its playing a big part in games and will as we enter the play offs . It just doesnt look good and basically encourages a player attitude totally alien to what the game is , or was . 

[GeordieSaint]

Well done Wigan. Best team on the night and a couple of cracking tries. 

Some shockers from Saints tonight: Walmsley, Knowles and Welsby really poor. Gifted two tries to Wigan as well.  Can’t do that against a team full of pace and full committed. Don’t think we’ll be as poor in the play offs. 

[Dunbar]

Matt Peet doesn't half speak well.  I think he has any future he wants in coaching.

[SalfordSlim]

19,000 attendance tonight. So if Saints took 4,000 that means Wigan have found 10,000 new fans since Salford beat them in the 2019 playoffs. Impressive.

[Old Frightful]

1 minute ago, Dunbar said:

Matt Peet doesn't half speak well.  I think he has any future he wants in coaching.

We'd destroy him at Hull FC.

[Jughead]

Meh. Would have been nice to win the hubcap at their place but we’ll still win it. While it’s never a meaningless game being a derby, it’s just been a case of getting through games without bans and/or injuries, which hasn’t been the case most weeks. The sooner meaningless weekly rounds of rubbish and rewarding teams winning barely half their games comes to an end and play-offs begin, the better. 

Wigan favourites for the Grand Final. They have the measure of Saints and are where you’d want to be at this time of the year both with or without the ball. 

[Ragingbull]

Only 19k there.  Poor from both sets of fans

[Loiner]

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Who's ever claimed he was the world's greatest player?

Was being sarcastic pal, one of your colleagues on here always claiming Harry Newman is the worlds best when no one from Leeds has ever said like it.

[silverback]

WOW, thats entertainment.

[The 4 of Us]

2 hours ago, andyscoot said:

I'd have kicked for 2 personally.

That’s why you’re on here with the rest of us dreamers.

[Chris22]

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.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Chris22

[Loiner]

Really enjoyed that game, Saints not at there best but Wigan defence was awesome. On a positive note for Saints I think Batchelor is an excellent player, on this form I think an England call up is on its way.

[Man of Kent]

9 hours ago, GeordieSaint said:

Are you surprised? Missing most of their attacking players. 

Even so, Saints were a very distant second in this game.

Wigan’s GF to lose after that?

[Davo5]

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.

[EagleEyePie]

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.