Super League XVII

[Gail Platz]

I'm not defending Hock but to be fair to him he's been on the receiving end of some shit from other teams this season and he's walked away from it. There's been times where scraps have broken out and he's either broken it up or stepped back from it, even when people are going for him because they know he has a short fuse. He's Wigan through and through and you only have to look at his Twitter to understand how much he hates St Helens. He's got his punishment and I'm sure Waney won't take any shit either. Really starting to like him as coach, I was unsure at first but he seems to know what he was doing.

Anyway we're going to need some big performances from the forwards if we're to beat Leeds on Friday. I was confident of a walkover, I've been to Headingley 3 times and never seen Wigan win there, and I'm starting to feel like it could be a 4th!

Hock, Mossop, Tuson, Hansen, Flower and long termer Fielden all out leaves us really short in forwards. Might have to be a shuffle... Gelling who's been on the wing can play 2nd row and I'm confident Liam Farrell can do a job, Lima and Lauaki as props with Dudson as back up should hopefully be enough if we can get a lot of playing time out of them.

[Leyther_Matt]

Fair bans, to me. Not seen sustained scrapping like for that a long while. That said, the grading system needs looking at as Halifax's Wayne Reittie has just got a 4 game ban for nutting someone when an indentical offence brought a 2 game for a Super League player earlier in the season?

[Gail Platz]

Wow, last night was a bit good.

Heard a lot of Wigan fans saying it was going to be a tough game but I was still confident that we'd give them a battering even with the big forwards out.

Really in recovery mode after drinking in Headingley since 1:00 yesterday!

[jimbo]

Aye, Wigan were great last night. On a real hot streak at the moment and setting down a marker. Wane has got them playing really well with a good gameplan - super aggressive forward play, and then quality at 1, 6, 7 and 9 to provide the strikepower. Really good balance to the side. Interesting to see whether they can keep this run of form going as certain players will inevitably have a dip at some point.

[Leyther_Matt]

I don't think even Warrington could live with the form that Wigan have had in recent weeks, especially when considering how many forwards were missing for the crust munchers last night.

[Gail Platz]

I don't think even Warrington could live with the form that Wigan have had in recent weeks, especially when considering how many forwards were missing for the crust munchers last night.

I hate admitting it but even though us and Leeds have won it the last 2 years, I think Warrington have been the best side in the competition. Really dangerous side, but I think even this Wigan side now is better than Warrington's team.

The best bit was the "oh no we've not peaked yet" from Sam Tomkins on Sky Sports, said so confidently and convincingly, and I think he might be right. I've seen glimpses of play in certain games throughout this season where I've thought that was brilliant, and if we can piece them all together in one game, with the return of Pat Richards with the kicking duties, I can't see much stopping us.

It's definitely the best Wigan side I've seen and I saw the likes of Robinson, Offiah and Andy Farrell.

Only problem is, there's really only one way for us to go now!

[jimbo]

I don't think even Warrington could live with the form that Wigan have had in recent weeks, especially when considering how many forwards were missing for the crust munchers last night.

I hate admitting it but even though us and Leeds have won it the last 2 years, I think Warrington have been the best side in the competition. Really dangerous side, but I think even this Wigan side now is better than Warrington's team.

The best bit was the "oh no we've not peaked yet" from Sam Tomkins on Sky Sports, said so confidently and convincingly, and I think he might be right. I've seen glimpses of play in certain games throughout this season where I've thought that was brilliant, and if we can piece them all together in one game, with the return of Pat Richards with the kicking duties, I can't see much stopping us.

It's definitely the best Wigan side I've seen and I saw the likes of Robinson, Offiah and Andy Farrell.

Only problem is, there's really only one way for us to go now!

Surely you can't say this side is better than the one from the 90s? I'd back our 2006 vintage against this Wigan side still, as good as they are. They've been helped out by the rest of the league being very average this season. They've been on top form for the last few weeks, but there's a long way to go yet.

[Gail Platz]

I don't think even Warrington could live with the form that Wigan have had in recent weeks, especially when considering how many forwards were missing for the crust munchers last night.

I hate admitting it but even though us and Leeds have won it the last 2 years, I think Warrington have been the best side in the competition. Really dangerous side, but I think even this Wigan side now is better than Warrington's team.

The best bit was the "oh no we've not peaked yet" from Sam Tomkins on Sky Sports, said so confidently and convincingly, and I think he might be right. I've seen glimpses of play in certain games throughout this season where I've thought that was brilliant, and if we can piece them all together in one game, with the return of Pat Richards with the kicking duties, I can't see much stopping us.

It's definitely the best Wigan side I've seen and I saw the likes of Robinson, Offiah and Andy Farrell.

Only problem is, there's really only one way for us to go now!

Surely you can't say this side is better than the one from the 90s? I'd back our 2006 vintage against this Wigan side still, as good as they are. They've been helped out by the rest of the league being very average this season. They've been on top form for the last few weeks, but there's a long way to go yet.

Obviously there's individuals like Faz and Shaun Edwards that would just walk into the side now but collectively as a team I can't remember everything clicking into place like it has been these past few weeks. Maybe I'm just getting a bit over excited as I've been waiting a long time for those days to be back.

As for the results today I've had a good laugh at them, especially the Warrington one, Lee Briers missing 2 drop goals and Dobson putting his over has just made it for me!

[Leyther_Matt]

Afraid to say that's why Wire are still only pretenders to the throne - no way Wigan would have got in the position of losing that game, and the same could be said of the Saints draw with 'Ull.

[jimbo]

Turning into a really odd season this. It's probably the most average competion I can remember, with WIgan way out infront at the moment. Great set of results for Saints this weekend mind. We've just snook ourselves into the top 4, and you'd have to back us to finish the season stronger than those around us. That would be a miles better finish to the season than we could have expected after Bradford away, and credit must go to Rush and Cunningham really, though it would say more about how poor other teams are than how good we are. Wouldn't be surprised by a WIgan - Saints grand final.

[Gail Platz]

Huddersfield went tits up since the announcement of Nathan and Kevin Brown both leaving. To be honest, I'm not bothered either, they've got the most pathetic set of fans in the division after London. They're in a prime location to attend the majority of away games, they don't really have any other club in their surroundings (that's any good) and yet they still only get 5,000 on. The fans that do turn up are silent as well.

[jimbo]

Did anyone see Origin yesterday? Great game, and really pleased the Blues managed to hold on for a change. Some great defence on show from both teams

[jimbo]

Oh, and McNamara is a dick.

[Leyther_Matt]

Huddersfield went tits up since the announcement of Nathan and Kevin Brown both leaving. To be honest, I'm not bothered either, they've got the most pathetic set of fans in the division after London. They're in a prime location to attend the majority of away games, they don't really have any other club in their surroundings (that's any good) and yet they still only get 5,000 on. The fans that do turn up are silent as well.

Think you're being a little harsh there - 10-15 years ago they'd have been absolutely delighted to have 5,000 on; now that's (rightly) justified as a pretty dreadful crowd. Having Leeds and Bradford down the road certainly won't have helped either considering Huddersfield have been pretty dross up until the last couple of years.

Origin was AWESOME by the way, the intensity of it was absolutely unreal.

[jimbo]

Interesting to see what the Exiles game is like tomorrow. Once again McNamara has picked a shocking side, and there's the issue of who Chase plays for, but on the whole it's a pretty good concept. Last years game was good, so hopefully tomorrow will live up to it. Hopefully there'll be a good crowd on as well.

[Gail Platz]

Wow, we were bad last night. So many errors and missed tackles it was like watching Castleford. I can't believe how much Tommy getting injured has changed the team. Fair play to Bradford, they got a lot of belief when they realised how bad Wigan were and started throwing the ball about, fully deserved the win.

Only plus side is seeing Wire get battered!

[jimbo]

Yeah, Leuleui was a big blow. Interesting to see McIlorum getting sent off showing that he's not lost any of his stupidity. He'll have a nervy visit to Red Hall this week.

As for Saints - was a really bizarre game last night. 26-0 up after 25 minutes, playing the best rugby since Rush came in, and then completely fell apart. Errors crept in, struggled to get field position, and as a result KR ran in try after try to go 26-28 up. The interchanges probably didn't help - we had Perry, Soliola, Laffranchi and Puletua off at the same time, which was when we lost momentum. Fair play to them coming back into it though. We need to keep winning to consolidate top 4.

Just seen Catalans have won again today. If they win their game in hand which ia at home they will move to within 2 points of Wigan. Outsiders for the league leaders shield?

[Salford Trotter]

Wow, we were bad last night. So many errors and missed tackles it was like watching Castleford. I can't believe how much Tommy getting injured has changed the team. Fair play to Bradford, they got a lot of belief when they realised how bad Wigan were and started throwing the ball about, fully deserved the win.

Only plus side is seeing Wire get battered!

The mighty City Reds played really well last night albeit it was against a weakened Warrington team but you can only beat what's in front of you I guess. It's such a shame that Salford have waited years to have the makings of a team that could be potential play-offs contenders but sadly 3 or 4 of their key players are either retiring or heading for pastures new next season.

[Gail Platz]

Yeah, Leuleui was a big blow. Interesting to see McIlorum getting sent off showing that he's not lost any of his stupidity. He'll have a nervy visit to Red Hall this week.

As for Saints - was a really bizarre game last night. 26-0 up after 25 minutes, playing the best rugby since Rush came in, and then completely fell apart. Errors crept in, struggled to get field position, and as a result KR ran in try after try to go 26-28 up. The interchanges probably didn't help - we had Perry, Soliola, Laffranchi and Puletua off at the same time, which was when we lost momentum. Fair play to them coming back into it though. We need to keep winning to consolidate top 4.

Just seen Catalans have won again today. If they win their game in hand which ia at home they will move to within 2 points of Wigan. Outsiders for the league leaders shield?

It's going the way of football, all Micky Mac did was give him a tap on the head and he gets sent off. I remember being a 10 year old seeing Andy Farrell scrapping with players and not getting anything for it. Rumour has it that Elima was elbowing him in the head to provoke it.

Didn't know the Hull KR game was like that, just saw the final result. As for Catalans, I think they'll start to drop off a bit, but I think they'll hang on for 4th place.

Salford, I hope they do get a decent team together. I've said for some time that the market is there in Manchester, if they get it right then I can't see why they can't be one of the bigger boys in the division.

[Salford Trotter]

Do Bradford lose points for going into administration?