Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:11 am  

MattyB wrote:

Pretty unconvinced by Saints today, they should have dismantled Cas as they were woeful for the vast majority of the game. At 20-0 Saints of old would have gone on to put another 2-3 scores on them with ease but instead they limped home by letting in three tries which thankfully for them were all unconverted.

We were poor in the 2nd half yesterday but that left edge of ours was all over the place. We ended up with Roby at centre and Davies on the wing at one point and our left backrower in the sin bin. Davies must be the slowest 3/4 I've ever seen. So yes we "let in" 3 tries but there were clear reasons why that edge was targeted as our entire 1st choice was missing (Dodd, Matautia, Percival and Grace) and it clearly showed. Out of those 4, Matautia is back next week and Percival hopefully not too far off so things will pick up.

Yesterday was just a case of getting the win and moving on. I think "limped home" nails it to be fair. Our performances need to improve without a doubt but I am not too worried just yet. We are going through a lull but bar the Salford game we are still winning. Hull away is a bigger test next week and then of course Wigan away on the horizon too so we need to start ramping things up again.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:17 am  

All banter aside, I wouldn’t take a bit of notice of Saints form this past few weeks. They’ve clearly targeted the Wigan and Huddersfield games and were very good in both and they’ve then had plenty of disruption since and have looked a bit short of motivation in games at Wakey, Salford and Cas. When the proper games come round and presuming they’ll have a stronger team out, they’ll be unbelievably tough to crack. I’m confident we can give it a real go but we’ll need to be better then we’ve been in the other games against them this season and I include the semi in that.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 7:56 am  

Agree with Nicky.

This isn't the time to get overconfident.

We've been improving all season. We no longer rely on Field to do a solo special like we did in the first half dozen games as they are all combining and contributing.

Our forwards have been building all season and we have a real point of difference in our pack now with Mago, KPP as well as the addition of Cooper who gives us ability to make more hard yards.

And, one area where we are easily better than saints is strength in depth and flexibility.

Bateman, Farrell, 2 starting hookers, starting half, two starting centres, Havard all missing this week and we didn't notice it.

What we do know is Saints will be hard to break down and compete to the last second. We just need to loo at Magic again to remember that.

I think we can beat them now and have a great chance in the GF rather than an outside chance at the start of the season, but we'll not have an easy game against them this season.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:06 am  

It wouldn't be as bad if Wigan actually played some difficult games. I can't remember the last time they played a decent team apart from at Magic? Looking at their fixtures they now Wakefield and Toulouse before the Saints game. Where are the games against Catalans or Huddersfield?

However I will say they are building well and are definitely the form team. If the GF was next week against us you'd have to say they would start favourites and rightly so. Pace to burn.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:36 am  

Stu M wrote:

It wouldn't be as bad if Wigan actually played some difficult games. I can't remember the last time they played a decent team apart from at Magic? Looking at their fixtures they now Wakefield and Toulouse before the Saints game. Where are the games against Catalans or Huddersfield?

However I will say they are building well and are definitely the form team. If the GF was next week against us you'd have to say they would start favourites and rightly so. Pace to burn.

I'm looking round the room here looking for hidden cameras thinking is this a wind up and I'm on Beadles about or something?

Surely this is a poor wind up???

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 8:48 am  

Jukesays wrote:

I'm looking round the room here looking for hidden cameras thinking is this a wind up and I'm on Beadles about or something?

Surely this is a poor wind up???

Not at all. From the 24th June, these have been Wigan's fixtures

24th June Toulouse (H)
3rd July Wakefield (A)
9th July Saints (Lost)
15th July Hull (H) and against a severely depleted Hull team
21st July Leeds (A) Lost heavily
28th July HKR (H) and against practically a Reserves team
5th August Warrington (H) everyone is beating Warrington

Next 2 games Wakefield and Tolouse. I know everyone plays each other twice but the point I am making is that I have listed 7 games above and the only two decent teams you played in that spell, you lost both. Even Leeds had lots of injuries. Your next two games are against the bottom two therefore its hard to get a proper handle on just how good Wigan are at the moment.

Compare that to us playing Leeds (at full strength more or less) Catalans, Hudds and Wigan in four consecutive games. That's a big difference.

So how is this a wind up?

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:14 am  

You can only pay what's in front of you.

Toulouse ?

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:17 am  

Leeds are the toughest side to face in Superleague at the moment and Salford not far behind. We’ve faced Leeds very recently and have Catalans on the last day. I’m not sure what Stu’s point is. I think it’s something along the lines of it being tough to know how well we’re playing because we’ve had easy fixtures but could be wrong.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:18 am  

Stu M wrote:

Not at all. From the 24th June, these have been Wigan's fixtures

24th June Toulouse (H)
3rd July Wakefield (A)
9th July Saints (Lost)
15th July Hull (H) and against a severely depleted Hull team
21st July Leeds (A) Lost heavily
28th July HKR (H) and against practically a Reserves team
5th August Warrington (H) everyone is beating Warrington

Next 2 games Wakefield and Tolouse. I know everyone plays each other twice but the point I am making is that I have listed 7 games above and the only two decent teams you played in that spell, you lost both. Even Leeds had lots of injuries. Your next two games are against the bottom two therefore its hard to get a proper handle on just how good Wigan are at the moment.

Compare that to us playing Leeds (at full strength more or less) Catalans, Hudds and Wigan in four consecutive games. That's a big difference.

So how is this a wind up?

Saints lost to a Salford team who were missing 10+ players and were only able to name a 18-man squad, with their 18th man jabbed up to complete the warm up. Which goes to show, playing Top Trumps doesn't really work when discussing rugby league. You could argue that Wakefield and Toulouse will be the toughest games possibly in the next two games due to their own situations and desperation?

What I think we can agree on is that Wigan look very good and a lot more patient in the last few games, still scoring a lot of points whilst improving their defence. On the other hand, Saints look pretty fatigued to me and blunt in attack. This could all change in around a month's time though when the trophy is handed out.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion : Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:44 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

Leeds are the toughest side to face in Superleague at the moment and Salford not far behind. We’ve faced Leeds very recently and have Catalans on the last day. I’m not sure what Stu’s point is. I think it’s something along the lines of it being tough to know how well we’re playing because we’ve had easy fixtures but could be wrong.

Its self-explanatory I would've thought. I have named 7 games where you played 2 decent teams and lost both. You now have 2 easy games coming up. Its hard to judge just how good you are at the moment because of this.