The size of the pack is my biggest concern. We identify we need a big pack over a year ago and recruit no size at all in the offseason. Very odd call.



Ashton Simms would have been top of my list he is exactly the type of player we need.



Patrick turned up last night but he plays more like a backrow. Tautai gives us bags of go forward but will miss plenty through injury. Clubb brings size, Mossop.....who knows? Flower for we gives big minutes and great defence and intensity but not much go forward. If you have a big backrow you can maybe counter this but we don't.

We'll never know about the GF as it was ended as a contest after 3 minutes.



As for last night - we were down an interchange and had to put in a lot of effort on defence due to silly errors near our line. They were knackered by the end of the game.



Crosby, Clubb and Sutton are big units. We matched the Broncos upfront last night - they were getting smashed at times on their carries.

The FB/HBs are my biggest concern.

Nobody's saying he is (or could be) another Benji Marshall, but the fact is, we've seen him play much better last season that he has done so far this year. You can't complain when a player plays to the limits of his abilities, but Smith has so far failed to do that this season.

I didn't suggest that Hunt was good so I don't know what you're dissagreeing with.



During the extra time Smith had the first opportunity to keep a cool head and instead of snatching at a drop goal from an impossible position he could have kept his wits about him and kicked the ball deep into a corner. Therefore allowing the Wigan defence to pin Brisbane down just metres from that own line.



Instead you tried a drop goal that would have been miraculous had it been successful this then allowed Ben Hunt the opportunity to do exactly what Matty Smith had failed to do. From that field position Brisbane took a stranglehold and never relinquished it until Wigan gave the penalty away which ultimately ended of the game.



That is where Ben Hunt won the battle of wits with Matty Smith

I've never liked the Broncos much, but anyone who watched much NRL last season would know that Hunt is a very good half indeed who fully merited his Kangaroos cap. Bearing in mind it was only Brisbane's second game of the season, he did OK.

Maybe the fact that it was Wigan's first ever golden point match, whereas their opponents face the proposition every time they play, was a factor in the Bronco's extra time game management?

Brisbane's pack isn't that far behind any pack in the NRL. They have Thaiday and Parker who walk into the Queensland and Aus team every year. Add to that Glenn and Blair NZ Internationals obviously not that bad players and Maguire who narrowly missed out on the Aus squad and went on to represent Samoa well. Yeah awful pack Brisbane have!

Oh, don't listen to Mugwump! You won't see him for dust now that Saints 1st choice 'big forwards' got completely mauled in a much more spectacular fashion than Wigan's 2nd string 'Lightweight pack'! Anyone who can suggest that a pack consisting of Flower, Mossop, Tautai, Clubb, McIllorum, Joel T, O'Loughlin and Bateman/Farrell is lacking in either size, aggression or anything else is talking out of their arris. It's easy to be critical of a pack where only 1 of our first choice props was playing at full potential and our most important player in both attack and defence, not to mention our captain and onfield leader, was sat in the stands but to argue that it's somehow indicative of how the season will go or even, god forbid, that it's shows some sort of mismanagement on Wane's part needs to go and give their head a wobble!



I was unable to watch the game last night so only saw it this afternoon immediately prior to the Saints match. After reading some of the comments I was expecting our pack to be smashed all over the place. The truth was that, in defence at least, they were dominant over a very useful Broncos pack. TBH it was the Broncos who were being smashed and it was particularly noticeable that, when the two 'first 4' props were on, we got on top of the Broncos pack in both attack [uand[/u defence.



As for the lack of yards; it was equally noticeable that Saints much vaunted pack were totally in the same boat and, perhaps, even worse! Countless times during the match they were restricted to just 25 or so metres per set and only Walmsley and, to a lesser extent, Greenwood won ANY collision whatsoever! Souths, in comparison were rolling up field with ease and were making plenty of metres in the majority of tackles AFTER the collision. In addition, their back row did feck all! At least Bateman, Farrell and Tomkins were able to make an impact.



This isn't a dig at Saints by the way. They were simply outclassed by a much better side. However, I'm sure I can't be the only one who is getting a little tired of these self congratulatory 'our pack is better than yours' posts when, in truth, we haven't even seen anything like our first choice pack take the field yet! Looking at the complete lack of go forward we saw from the Saints pack today, maybe we should see how they actually go against a full strength Wigan pack before we start making these judgements? Just a thought...

Well Souths pack took Saints apart last night.



It'll be interesting to see how the Brisbane v Souths game goes next week.



According to the majority of Saints fans Souths are light years ahead of Brisbane and St George, which is a bit strange seeing that Souths and St George played out a 12 all draw in their charity shield game a couple of weeks ago.

It's face-saving time for some Saints fans. They confidently expected to do a lot better than they did yesterday, even if they didn't think they would necessarily win. I expected them to as well. But they were the worst of the three participating British clubs by some distance.



Of course, they were playing in a 'real' fixture, but let's be fair - neither of the other two were contested as friendlies. They were also playing against the better of the three Aussie teams - but how much better remains to be seen, as the Aussie season has barely started.



I think it's fair to say they were more 'up against it' than we were, but not perhaps by as much as they're now telling themselves.



I reckon Saints will be a force this season, but I wonder if they're reading too much into massacring the ever-useless Salford and just managing to beat Catalan at home.

Simms would have been perfect. Big strong intimidating. Clark would have also been a great signing. I think we undervalue the 9 shirt at Wigan. McM offers a lot, but for me isn't a great '9'. The interchange is usually left to Logan (who's really not good enough), or a makeshift 9 in Powell or another.



The pack would look better with a rudder to guide them around from 9.



Patrick for me is going to be the new 'style of 13' runs the ball like a prop but can handle big minutes. Gallen seems to have revolutionised the position.