Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:16 am  

I keep hearing the calls for Mcguire to start prop rather than Kasiano but the fact is he is not a prop and has barely played many minutes this season as it is. To me there is no reason why Kasiano could not start. I agree he is best suited as an impact prop but St Helens Wolf’s post has it spot on. out 1-13 is arguably nearly full strength and we struggled from the off. Wigan had the better game plan full stop. There is some right guff talked on here about the players we have missing. If any of those had played on friday night i have no doubt the result would have been the same.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:34 am  

wirecation wrote:

I keep hearing the calls for Mcguire to start prop rather than Kasiano but the fact is he is not a prop and has barely played many minutes this season as it is. To me there is no reason why Kasiano could not start. I agree he is best suited as an impact prop but St Helens Wolf’s post has it spot on. out 1-13 is arguably nearly full strength and we struggled from the off. Wigan had the better game plan full stop. There is some right guff talked on here about the players we have missing. If any of those had played on friday night i have no doubt the result would have been the same.

McGuire has played as a starting prop in a State of Origin game, so I think he could play there for Wire if we need him there.

As I mentioned in a previous post, both Vaughan and Kasiano knew that nothing was on the bench to help them and had to conserve their energy. Neither could play their normal game from the start of the game knowing that.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 10:47 am  

Captain Hook wrote:

Well I’m sure I’m not the only one who disagrees with your assessment.
I also appreciate hearing the views of sensible opposition fans, it avoids us living in an echo chamber and end up believing the RFL are involved in a conspiracy against us etc etc

I'm also all for hearing the views of sensible opposition fans, I'm one of the few who appreciates Saddened's regular contributions on here, but these Wiganers are merely here to gloat in a patronising way.

Do you reckon they'd have been seen on here had they got beat on Friday?

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:21 am  

In fairness to Powell it seems he instructed the team to kick early which weirdly we never did. Couple of times in the first half we had a scrum in our ten, French was up in the line and it was the perfect opportunity to launch the ball long straight from the scrum and chase it. Worst case scenario it has Wigan back in their ten in wet conditions. Considering how much we were struggling for yardage I thought it would’ve be a no-brainier. Hopefully they’ll learn.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:27 am  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

I'm also all for hearing the views of sensible opposition fans, I'm one of the few who appreciates Saddened's regular contributions on here, but these Wiganers are merely here to gloat in a patronising way.

Do you reckon they'd have been seen on here had they got beat on Friday?

That’s the exact point I was making. Wire fans were all over the Wigan forum last week but have now disappeared, I wonder why? I am not on here to ‘gloat’ but to merely discuss the game. Rugby League is about opinions which may differ. Warrington at home with eight wins on the spin were favourites to win that game but Peet out coached Powell and the Wigan team outplayed their counterparts. We should be discussing the game not what ifs. It is now up to Warrington to go away and come up with a plan that reverses that result and, if they do, you will see me on this forum giving them the credit for doing so.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:29 am  

St Helens Wolf wrote:

Congratulations to Wigan, the points went to the better team on the night. As to our performance, some lessons to be learned.

Whilst our bench was the weakest that I’ve seen that is not the reason for our downfall. We were second best from the off and our starting 13 was very nearly full strength. We were only missing Clark (Walker is more than capable of being a starting hooker) and Harrison for whom we had Kasiano. We were simply outplayed by a Wigan team, also missing a few, who handled the conditions better and who out enthused us. The positives for us are that, despite being second best, we clung in there and whether you want to see it as poor finishing or poor officiating we could still have snatched it at the very end.

Let’s hope for some improvement next week against a Saints team that will be desperate for a win. There’s still a long way to go but who could have really imagined that we’d be where we are now based on last year’s performance.

I think that sums it up perfectly. By the way, I think you will beat Saints if Powell selects the right team.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:32 am  

Boss Hog wrote:

Although Vaughan and Kasiano did start for us, and it did make our initial 13 look strong, both players knew that they were going to play long minutes, with little to no respite from our bench players.

So they would have both been unable to play their usual game from the start and had to conserve their energy to compensate for that.

It would have made more sense to play Matautia at loose forward and play with Maguire at prop, with Kasiano on the bench.

Green is nowhere near ready for Super League and shouldn`t have been selected. Thomas was out 18th man and has held his own as a prop in the games he has played up to now.

Those changes would have given us a far better balanced 17 man squad.

Exactly. Powell and his coaching staff got it wrong.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:34 am  

Boss Hog wrote:

McGuire has played as a starting prop in a State of Origin game, so I think he could play there for Wire if we need him there.

As I mentioned in a previous post, both Vaughan and Kasiano knew that nothing was on the bench to help them and had to conserve their energy. Neither could play their normal game from the start of the game knowing that.

McGuire played as a prop anyway, he just had a different number on his back.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:42 am  

ratticusfinch wrote:

In fairness to Powell it seems he instructed the team to kick early which weirdly we never did. Couple of times in the first half we had a scrum in our ten, French was up in the line and it was the perfect opportunity to launch the ball long straight from the scrum and chase it. Worst case scenario it has Wigan back in their ten in wet conditions. Considering how much we were struggling for yardage I thought it would’ve be a no-brainier. Hopefully they’ll learn.

One of the major problems you have, which I don’t think anyone has touched on, is your outside backs are lightweight and consequently they make few yards coming out of their own 20. Saints are the best at this, even on GF their backs made unbelievable yardage, their forwards very little. Wigan have learned from that and now we have two centres and two wingers who regularly put us on the front foot (Field’s injury has allowed the inclusion of Miski and that has improved our yardage). On a dry patch you will be better, but come the September rain you may struggle unless your game plan changes.

Re: Tonight’s game v Wigan : Sun Apr 16, 2023 11:46 am  

Hmm you’re not correct there. Ashton is an excellent metre maker and Thewlis is also pretty decent considering his size. Give me either of those two over Miski any day of the week. We could do with a bullocking centre though which I believe is in the pipeline.