Now that I’ve finished celebrating, I can post a few reflections. Firstly, and most importantly, we got the win and the 20th cup win. I’ve been wanting that for a long time, so that is good. The stadium was terrific and, while we all miss the days of 80’000+ at the cup final I think we should be celebrating bringing 51’000 to London in the middle of a cost of living crisis and following a pandemic that’s hit our sport pretty hard. It was a great atmosphere and I would be happy to go back to the stadium, although the train journey afterwards was a bit of a mare.
Pre-match entertainment gets lazier and lazier. I’m always glad to see Lizzie Jones there but, apart from that it was very poor. I wish we could have the schoolkids playing again, rather than wasting time with a dj.
The match itself was not a classic but it was certainly exciting and absorbing throughout. We knew it would be tough and it was. I had no problem with McQueen getting the Lance Todd, I thought he went very well but Smithies was probably the pick of the bunch for me. He is having a fantastic season and I hope we can keep him for years to come. Leuluai was huge for us, especially following Cust’s injury. If he wasn’t fit for this match I don’t think we would have won. Hill going off had a big impact as well, not just for messing with Huddersfield’s rotation but also the leadership and experience he brings.
I thought that Child had a good game and, honestly, I don’t think referees get a fair shake at all from fans these days. I’d have him over Ganson every day of the week. I can see Huddersfield fans would have a fair point regarding Smithies not getting at least a yellow, based on the season so far but, equally, I think it is generally expected that referees show a little more latitude in finals and, on previous seasons, I don’t see Smithies walking for that. It could have gone either way.
I feel for Huddersfield and their fans – they should have won with the possession and territory that they had but, in my opinion, they didn’t make it pay. As others have said, their tactic of dying with the ball on the last with just a two point lead was over cautious to the extreme. I think they were too concerned about the possibility of turning the ball over to Field or French, but they should have been looking for repeat sets to turn the screw and potentially get the match-winning score. The whole performance screamed “you have to lose one to win one” for me, and I think they will be better for this if they can keep their heads up.
Wigan, on the other hand, stuck at it and we took our chances when we needed to. Being critical, we were sloppy with high tackles a few too many times, giving Huddersfield easy yards that they did not need. We failed to complete sets after both of our first two tries, which really hurts us, particularly after the second try when I felt we had an opportunity to put Huddersfield under real pressure but let them off the hook instantly. Made up for Marshall, especially since I am a Wigan Marshall! I don’t know if I am actually related to Liam and David but, asking my Dad, he said that he knows there was another branch of the family that our lot weren’t in touch with, so it could well be. Either way, I’m claiming them!
All in all, I am really happy with that. It was far from a perfect performance but a lot of that is down to the performance of Huddersfield. I am not going to get bogged down in being critical of our errors and shortcomings when we lifted the trophy. Obviously, I want to see the team push on from here and have a real dig at the Grand Final. However, I will be reminding myself for the rest of the season that most of us were not really expecting silverware this season, so we are already ahead of my initial expectations.
