St Georege took the chances they had. We didn't. That was the difference

We lost Roberts for most of the season, and though he was a key player, he was only one man. We're now lacking two key players in Finch and Richards for a prolonged period, and we don't know how long it will be before Fielden and Gleeson return.



I should revise what I said before. I don't think it's exactly an 'injury crisis'. But Finch and Richards are two guys who would make a big difference to any team. If the other two are off for a sustained period as well, I reckon we'll find it harder than we did last year.

I think the point Geoff was making was that around the time we went to Leeds away we had around 7 players out injured and that tested the squad as much as it's testing now.



Roberts/Phelps/Prescott/Mickey Mac/O'C/Bailey/Mossop were all 1st team/1st choicce players in and around rounds 1-4 yet by this part of the season they'd all missed/been missing 6 weeks + each and you can add Hansen who was only coming back into the team after 2 month + missing.



This pushed the move to FB for Sam, the inclusion fo Goulding as a Winger & the development of Tuson/Farrell etc further on and quicker than maybe would have happened with a cleaner bill of health?

I find it amazing that we so easily find things to devalue an excellent game;



They had to fly round the world, the weather is different etc. If we had flown to aus and were beaten by the same score it 's because we were not as good - anything else is just excuses.



The St George team are extremely well coached and have an amazing defence (as anyone who saw any of the NRL last season would testify). They also have an amazing backline. Morris, Cooper, Gasnier, would replace the top 3 backs in any SL side.



Credit to wigan that they



a) kept them to within a score

b) put them under a great deal of pressure in the 2nd half - we were a bad pass and a dropped ball away from making things very very interesting.



It was pretty unfortunate that gleeson dropped the ball in our own 20 to give them position for their 1st score.



The only really disapointing thing from a wigan perspective was our defence on gleeson/gouldings wing - goulding always looked well out of position - not sure if that's where he's been told to play or whether he just got sucked in?

Hansen, McIlorum, Mossop & Deacon missed a lot of games too (as well as "fringe" players like O'Carroll, Phelps, Bailey). I remember games when we had 6 or 7 regulars out at the same time - but as I said, nobody really noticed because of the depth we have.



I think we only had Sam & Joel (and almost Pat) who played every game.

Thought it was a cracking game of rugby to be honest and the best team won on the day. Any penalty or knock on from us was punished by a world class outfit but I felt we played really well and if we keep that standard up for the rest year and we'll be hard to beat.

Wigan would have won if Gleeson had of stayed on the park. Joel Tomkins got murdered playing at centre. Didn't think St George were all that tbh, was more impressed by Melbourne in recent years.

Our right edge defence tightened up after Gleeson went off imo. Tomkins pulled off two superb last ditch defensive efforts which kept us in it. To say St George werent all that is completely unjustified, they would have nilled most SL sides with that defensive effort, whilst drilling 50 points in to them.

I agree... I though the defensive structure looked far more robust after Gleeson left the field.

Tomkins did pull off two decent tackles and put in an incredible effort but he was getting beat on the outside near enough every time and they made massive yards because of it.



I don't see why it is completely unjustified, I thought Melbourne were a far more dangerous outfit last year, that's all. Wigan could quite easily have won that game, and Wigan are perfectly beatable in the Super League.

Who do you think would of beat us on last nights performance?

Perfectly beatable is a bit strong