Sat 18th Feb: SL: Hull Kingston Rovers v Wigan Warriors KO 13:00 (C4)

[Futtocks]

I'd forgotten how tiny Willie Peters is - surprisingly young-looking too.

[Davo5]

3 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

It has been a chastening day for Wigan as a club (though a great one for the NH game). They lost to a much better team today, and the score if anything flattered WIgan. The atmosphere came over really well and it would be great to see those sorts of crowd on a regular basis. They look a club on the up. 

Every part of the club needs to consider why there is a yawning chasm between us and Saints. We have good schools, good juniors, and can spend up to the cap, and yet we are incapable of putting a side on the field with more than a couple of players that would get into the Saints team. As Saints have been excellent for over 25 years now, and a team which will only improve, it is folly to expect them to fall back to our level. I don’t know how you put right structural issues on that scale. Hopefully Matty Peet does. 

I really rate Peet but I’m not sure his coaching ability can overcome the clubs/Radlinski’s deeply flawed player recruitment/retention policy.

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

33 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

So winding up is fine now? It’s a moral maze. 

Hasn’t it always been? I mean, I know we’re all woke now and everything but… 

From the club that gave us Sam Tomkins, everyone’s favourite amateur referee

[JohnM]

2 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I'd forgotten how tiny Willie Peters is - surprisingly young-looking too.

First one to call him Little Willie gets a warning....oops.

[bobbruce]

14 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Are you having a good day, by any chance?

Defo putting the lottery on. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

3 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

I really rate Peet but I’m not sure his coaching ability can overcome the clubs/Radlinski’s deeply flawed player recruitment/retention policy.

Looking at the length of the contracts, even if we got our act together 2025 would be the earliest we would see any tangible improvement. What sums up our complete inability to bridge the gap is that while Saints have had Roby, we have had Powell for 10 years!!

Edited February 18, 2023 by Exiled Wiganer

[Chrispmartha]

Im not sure why Wigan have stuck with Powell he isnt a nine IMO

Edited February 18, 2023 by Chrispmartha

[JohnM]

Nothing will change at Wigan under the current regime. Maybe whoever comes second in the bidding for Manchester United can be persuaded to help.

[MZH]

16 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

Are you available if I buy you a Wigan season ticket. 

It's not that I particularly cared who won, I just wanted to see an exciting finish, and SKD was running it in literally as I switched it on.

I don't read too much into early season games, it's interesting to see how teams are shaping up, but there are always upsets as teams just find there way into it. That said I thought Rovers looked really good. They've put a really solid pack together and there's just enough of an X factor to make them a pretty dangerous team.

[EagleEyePie]

Pretty much exactly what I expected. Rovers energetic and Wigan very lethargic. It's the opening game of the season so no reason to panic from a Wigan point of view, but definitely more concerns arising from that game than reasons to be optimistic.

I was worried about our pack and sure enough it was a poor display. Cooper played reasonably well, Singleton was good for his standards (which aren't very high) but I was disappointed with the lack of impact from Havard, Byrne and Ellis. Farrell was anonymous which is rare but he's getting on a bit and we can't rely on him to be an 8 or 9 out of 10 every game, but it's been clear for years that we're a bit weak without an in form Farrell.

Jai Field had an absolute shocker but hopefully that's just rustiness. Wardle was impressive and I thought Harry Smith did well too (ignore the goalkicking, the conditions were poor for kickers and too much was made of the misses).

Ultimately looking at the Wigan bench there was no one to change the game. Tom Forber had an outstanding pre-season at hooker. I don't want to be too critical of the coaching staff but why send Forber out on loan and pick O'Neill who just didn't impress in the trial games? There is some quality in the Wigan side but there's an awful lot of average and most of it is in the pack.

Full credit to Rovers who just outplayed us pure and simple.

[Just Browny]

I thought Wigan were the better side in the first half although why they still haven't sought out a goalkicker is beyond me.

They never got going in the second half, but even so I thought Hull KR were starting to tighten up and that Wigan might pinch it in the last 10 minutes. Very entertaining game.

[Ullman]

11 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

I'd forgotten how tiny Willie Peters is - surprisingly young-looking too.

Bit of a Father Ted moment. I wasn't sure he was really that small or whether he was far away.

[FearTheVee]

Every year I worry someone at Wigan will realise that going all out to sign a top class prop would be transformational.

Every year they miss the boat.

someone like Paul Vaughan would make a MASSIVE difference there. I think their recruitment is consistently poor.

[my missus]

25 minutes ago, Damien said:

A poor Wigan performance that, we need to be much better. Its clear we also need a kicker, it's so crucial in close games and you really need to be going up in sixes and not fours. Still it's only game 1 but loads to work on.

very difficult to kick goals at that end of the field in that wind

[Damien]

Just now, my missus said:

very difficult to kick goals at that end of the field in that wind

Thats a pretty poor excuse as its not just one game, its a common theme. Regardless of wind his kicking technique was poor and needs a lot of work. That should have been improved in the off season.

[bobbruce]

21 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

Looking at the length of the contracts, even if we got our act together 2025 would be the earliest we would see any tangible improvement. What sums up our complete inability to bridge the gap is that while Saints have had Roby, we have had Powell for 10 years!!

I thought when O Neil came in last year during Powells ban he looked the part. Was surprised to see Powell starting again just don’t see it with him he’s a back up player all day long. 

[Jughead]

Powell’s ######, if he hadn’t come through there, he’d have been bombed years ago. 

O’Neill looks very handy and they need to give Smithies, the Partington treatment aka get shot because he’s a liability and will give away penalty after penalty. 

Edited February 18, 2023 by Jughead

[The Mighty Trin]

21 minutes ago, MZH said:

It's not that I particularly cared who won, I just wanted to see an exciting finish, and SKD was running it in literally as I switched it on.

I don't read too much into early season games, it's interesting to see how teams are shaping up, but there are always upsets as teams just find there way into it. That said I thought Rovers looked really good. They've put a really solid pack together and there's just enough of an X factor to make them a pretty dangerous team.

I didn't see it as an upset I took Hull KR to win by 6-10pts OK only a fiver on 7/1 but a wins a win. When are the top 4 gonna stop disrespecting the rest. There are no easy games in this competition its who turns up on the day. Wigan will be there in 2nd/3rd behind Saints. Hull KR giving it a shot. No easy match at Craven Park can't believe majority of people on here that have take Wigan.

[EagleEyePie]

3 minutes ago, Damien said:

Thats a pretty poor excuse as its not just one game, its a common theme. Regardless of wind his kicking technique was poor and needs a lot of work. That should have been improved in the off season.

Smith's kicking was up there with the best in the league last season. It's one game in poor conditions. Even Coote missed what should have been a simple kick when he was kicking into the wind and I don't think Lewis kicked any going that way either. Smith then kicked his one conversion going the opposite way. Not really a cause for concern given Smith's 80% success rate last year was despite a huge number of them being touchline conversions. Needs a few more games before writing him off.

[Dunbar]

22 minutes ago, EagleEyePie said:

Wardle was impressive

Have to say I thought Wardle wasn't that good.  He put his hand up for the ball but I thought he was dominated in the tackle when clearing his line and some late footwork would suit him better.

And he needs to get the ball to his winger.  At least one clear overlap and massive scoring chance 5 yards from the line bombed.

He is a good athlete and will get better  ut still has some parts of his game to work on.

[EagleEyePie]

6 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Have to say I thought Wardle wasn't that good.  He put his hand up for the ball but I thought he was dominated in the tackle when clearing his line and some late footwork would suit him better.

And he needs to get the ball to his winger.  At least one clear overlap and massive scoring chance 5 yards from the line bombed.

He is a good athlete and will get better  ut still has some parts of his game to work on.

Just let us have this one. We spent last year watching Jake Bibby's invisible man impression and anything is impressive compared to that.

[Damien]

24 minutes ago, EagleEyePie said:

Smith's kicking was up there with the best in the league last season. It's one game in poor conditions. Even Coote missed what should have been a simple kick when he was kicking into the wind and I don't think Lewis kicked any going that way either. Smith then kicked his one conversion going the opposite way. Not really a cause for concern given Smith's 80% success rate last year was despite a huge number of them being touchline conversions. Needs a few more games before writing him off.

He was in the bottom half of regular kickers and it's not 1 game, plenty of Wigans fans were saying the same last season. More importantly context and the ability to kick under pressure is important when it comes to kicks and that is were Smith falls short, he is too hit and miss.

[Damien]

37 minutes ago, bobbruce said:

I thought when O Neil came in last year during Powells ban he looked the part. Was surprised to see Powell starting again just don’t see it with him he’s a back up player all day long. 

Definitely, I'd certainly have O'Neill in there before Powell. As you say I have always firmly seen Powell as a backup player and no more.

[Damien]

32 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Have to say I thought Wardle wasn't that good.  He put his hand up for the ball but I thought he was dominated in the tackle when clearing his line and some late footwork would suit him better.

And he needs to get the ball to his winger.  At least one clear overlap and massive scoring chance 5 yards from the line bombed.

He is a good athlete and will get better  ut still has some parts of his game to work on.

Agreed, I certainly wouldnt describe Wardle as impressive either. He should get better though and should be an improvement in the centres, which isn't difficult. In a poor performance all round he was no better or worse than most of those around him.

[Davo5]

18 minutes ago, Damien said:

Agreed, I certainly wouldnt describe Wardle as impressive either. He should get better though and should be an improvement in the centres, which isn't difficult. In a poor performance all round he was no better or worse than most of those around him.

He was certainly better than his centre partner,who looked all over the place defensively & was poor with ball in hand.