Agreed this was the turning point for me, I was screaming for it all night. Tommy is never and will never be a top class 9, he may well be a bloody good 7 though.

Not too sure we played poorly???



We just didn't have the ball for basically the whole of the first half. The tackles we made and the amount of times we had to defend our line was crazy, the lads are bound to get tired and that is where the penalties creep in (although I thought Silverwood destoryed us in the first half). But like the saying goes (a game of two halves) when it was our turn to have the ball we hit them quick and hit them hard, where as they were dropping off tackles and started to get desperate we keeped composed and lasted till the end to get the win.



Turning point though the hit by Coley and Hansen (or J Tomkins) on Briers. If the brains not there the body can't work. Saying that I still think we would have come through for the win.

Dogged defence & a willingness to force the ball free + really scrappy penalties from Wigan,(lot's of extra work there for the tackle coach !) gave Wire the position to use the players that could score.Unwillingness to surrender & some individual play in the 2nd half gave Wigan the win.

Tough game that both sides can learn important lessons from.



Maguire on Roberts.

:4skmaq4cI'm well aware of the type of player he can be and he's only going to improve."'"

We did not have the ball or field position basically because we were so poor, poor errors, silly penalties and lack of direction from the halves.



For me the turning point had little to do with Briers and much more to do with Deacon moving to 9 and TL to 7.

I am as biased as the next fan but, we didn't have the ball because believe it or not Wire are a damn good side and if we didn't hang in there we would have been blown away in the first half like we was in the CC semi. But we have a new steal down or spine and I was nervous but still confident that when we had our turn of luck and possession we could out score them, and if you think it had little to do with Briers, then thats up to you mate. I just think that with him off they had to rely on a 1/2 fit Monaghan and a still fresh Myler .

Under Noble it would have gone from being 16-4 down at half time to a 30 odd points drubbing.

We did not have the ball in the first half because we hardly completed a set, it will be interesting to see the stats on that one when they are published.

We were very poor other than the first 10 mins and the last 25 IMO.

I find this critism of the team a little hard to take, yeah we gave away a couple of penalties ( some fair others not so), we have beaten Wire for the first time since 2003. We where proper steam rolled in the first half yet turned the game around when we had the chance.



I just don't get it, I thought it was two very good teams, one great match and for us a fantastic result. Yeah there are things to work on but there always are.



Enjoy the result FFS.

I do enjoy the result hence the optimistic tone of my original post I think we have a champion team on our hands, but that does not take away from the fact that for most of the game tonight we were our own worst enemy. Individual brilliance won us that game not a good team performance.



The effort in defence was immense and if you look at the stats I am sure without knowing the score if you had to pick a winner you would have said Wire would have won it comfortably, but the stats are not where a game is won thank god and while we did not play great, and lacked direction and control I am more than happy with the result and the direction this great club is moving.

Although individual brilliance might of won us the game, I feel the team's effort keeped us in the game. I just think Wire are a very good team, who are fully of confidence and red hot at the moment they came out to smash us. We got smashed but in the end keeped on moving forward.

that we can win when we play poorly and show our title credentials.



Also, tonight proved our fans are THE BEST in the world.

damn right

You did not play poorly, come off it, now you're making it like you played like and still won.

we did.

we was nowhere near the standard we had been last week. Lots of dropped ball and awful kicking game. Our defence was superb tonight and we so could have easily lost it in the last minute.

We were pretty shocking other than the first 10 and the last 25.



Our fans certainly showed we are the best in the world!

Don't talk balls. Seriously, we dominated the first half and you dominated the second. Even match.

You just think you played poop because you came up against just as good a side.

I seriously think both sides have much to work on although Wire much more than Wigan.



I am made up with the result but I do not think the coach will be very happy with certain aspects of our performance, we played very dumb at times and made many unforced errors.



I get the impression in the build up to this game and the aftermath some Wire fans think that their team are much better and advanced regards development under Smith than they actually are.

Don't be so limited in your thinking. Jonh saying some aspects of our play were poor (ball retention, giving away penalties, poor kicking) does not take anything away from Warrington's performance. It doesn't automatically follow that because we did some things poorly that we think Warrington were anything other than fantastic (because in a number of game aspects they were). The elements of our team play that jonh is referring to were entirely in our control, nothing to do with how well or poorly an opponent played. Talk to anybody involved in coaching and you'll get the same response, teams are always looking at the areas where they did not perform well, and i'm sure McGuire is going to be going over the failings in training this week.



Don't have a chip on your shoulder and feel this means any disrespect to Warrington, it doesn't - you're a very good side and you played and bossed the game very well, but i'm positive that big nose is far from overjoyed that you didn't put it to bed when you were dominant, and likewise Maguire won't be thrilled about poor discipline/kicking/lost ball etc putting us under more pressure than we needed to be.



It's just a technical analysis of the game and our team's performance, don't take it so personally. Both coaches will be feeling they've got lots to improve on, as after all it's their Job to look at it from a professional not emotional view point. Emotionally Wigan and Wire were great, professionally and technically they both have a lot to improve on.

Sums my thoughts up, while i think at times we were our own worst enemy Wire played a very good game and pretty much did everything right except finish us when they has the chance.



Both teams can expect good seasons but both also have much to work on.



We as rugby league fans can expect one of the best seasons ever in my opinion and both clubs on display tonight will be amongst the leading lights in contributing to that.

out of the 3 games this seaon tonight was our worst

There have been massive improvements in out team:

The fitness of the players

Their confidence

Their aggression

The dummy runners

The moves

Even Richards' kick-offs go towards the posts making it difficult for the catcher, instead of near the corner.

I can't praise them highly enough considering Maguire has only had them a short while. They are certainly ahead of where I thought they would be.

They will get better and better.

I thought we were generally poor as well, but we've gone and won a game we would have got hammered in previously had we played as poorly, and that for me is an excellent attribute to have - there's loads more to come and that's what's winding up the Dire fans.



Think one or two players got a bit too wound up by the atmosphere tonight and didn't have the best of games, Mossop and Carmont were surprising underwhelming tonight as they are usually among those who are most solid.



The ball retention was 67% in the 1st half and I'd be surprised if it was higher overall, add in the lack of discipline and Maguire's got plenty to work on before the Les Cats game.

Thought Carmont had a stinker in the first half but he made up for it in the second. basic errors ball in hand and failing to pick the runner up in defence.



Credit to Chris Bridge though who does seem to have his number and always comes off the better of the 2 when they meet.