Exactly what I thought on the way home this evening.

Hopefully after todays performance one of them will be Durbin, I was impressed by him and Stanton today.

i thought Durbin had a quiet game



Longstaff played well and never shirked the work



i was impressed by Stanton too even though he looked like a little kid chasing an adult when we was tackling pryce

Wigan should try and get a refund for Pryce!

Watson knealt on the back of Pryces knee all part of the game and it worked.



Jimmy Taylor for me today was immense i'd like to see the stats on how many drives he took in and his tackling must of been up in the 30s.



Well done lads!

Agree about signing Durbin. Looks like he's very vocal, got great vision, good kicking game, decent pace & a good pair of hands. For a young kid he really bosses the game and he'll give us a great extra option at scrum/dummy half.



I still think the missing link is an experienced starting stand off. (I'm sure Ridyard can improve, but he could probably do with someone to mentor him for a while at this level & take the pressure off his shoulders a bit). If we solve the stand off slot, I think we could actually win this league, coz I think all these young lads will improve as the season progresses. Just hope Kelly has one more signing up his sleeve....(& Fingers crossed for a 6).

If you get somebody to pass both ways you will do fine.



Get Fred's DVD and just note how many attacks went down the right compared to the left. It will frighten you.

In a nutshell we just lack attacking prowess and killer instinct in the opposition half. Our rugby lacks width and is played very much around the ruck, if that does'nt change then by half way through the season we will be in trouble. I am sure NK is very much aware of what he wants to achieve and what the players are capable of but the early warning sirens are already starting to sound. It does'nt matter how well we defend and how many tackles an individual makes etc etc, points win matches and if we aint scoring them then we are in trouble.



Our first three scores last week had no rugby in them whatsoever and it was more than apparent then our current strike capability was limited.

I think Armistead can open up NL defences



Marsh has some rugby in him but looks like he needs to trim down

more people joining LISA could help that

could not agree more...biggest moan is apparent lack of condition of lee marsh , needs urgent address by coaching staff

give the lad a chance he's only been back a fortnight and he's been expecting to eat 'porridge' before that

Bang on there Maurice. Donlan, Higson centres, Morty full back. Can't see why this is not obvious. JT...don't know, didn't think he was all that good today...unless I was seeing wrong man again!!

rubbish...as that stopped him going to the gym

was billyleyther watching same game as me,sure stanton was on wing and had a very good game.

Sorry beerguzler if I'm giving bum steers! Stanton, I like very much...but may have confused him somrtimes with the lad Durbin ion second half...although I still like the way he does his share of work from hooker...the most important position in modern rugby. And that ankle tap on Price...that was Stanton wasn't it!?!?

billyleyther,totally agree with ur last post,pity morty spent 70 mins warming up

My thoughts:



Goal line defence, excellent.



One on one defence still needs a little work.



Bringing the ball out of our 20, excellent.



Attacking options in the oppositon 20, poor. We rely on grubber kicks too much.



Long range kicking poor.



Players that stood out:



Armistead - The next "fans favourite" if we can leard to back him up he could be an important attacking weapon. I'm glad we got him and let Doran go, he will have the upper hand against Dorans game when we play Widnes.



Stanton - A real live wire when he comes into dummy half. Lots of pace and looks like he could do the business if we can get the ball out wide more.



Taylor - As put on more beef in the off-season. He now looks like he can break line, which he never looked like he could do before. Still hits as hard as ever in defence.



Durbin - Gives us another option at dummy half with an astute kicking game and very vocal.



Hill - New lease of life under Kelly. Seemed to go into his shell when Shaw was in charge but is now back to his old self.



Donlan - Solid as a rock at the back, still has enough pace to do damage at this level. Fullback or Centre? Still un-decided.



Reay - Came off the bench late in the game. Made some good runs down the left hand side (if only he had passed to his winger when one on one with the Wi*an defender, we would have scored) and defended well.



Marsh - Definate second row/loose forward option for this season. Hard to put down especially when he runs out wide. Could this be the wide running second rower we have missed since Sid caused havoc in Terzis first season.



Smith - Didn't look out of place on the wing against his more distinguished opposite number. Looking forward to seeing him develop this season.

my step dad and i went home at half times for a few reasons,got bored watching the game payed £14 for a disabled ticket where i bet pensioners will get in for 7 or 8 pound so cant affard 14 week in week out especially with the cost of living,paid for the worst hot chocolate drink ive ever tasted,plus got home for a decent game of football in the warmth,i predict this team to be lucky if they end up in the top 6,i await the critics lol

But what about the Negatives...........

did your step dad not get in free as your carer?

the laughing face was a clue

get a sense of humour of your gona come on here pal.

Our defence on our line was truly fantastic at times, real hard work and a huge improvement from last week's failed sliding defence.



Main gripe is the lack of killer instinct whenever we were in Wigan's 20; I'm sure Watson contributes elsewhere on the park, but the bloke simply can't open up a defence. The grubber kick might work a couple of times a season in our league, but it's never likely to work against Wigan the first time around, never mind the fifteenth!

Exactly and it has to change.

I really enjoyed today and I dont think we will have as bad a season as some on here think. I'm sorry Fred but Ian Watson isn't the man to lead us round the field. I dont care what anyone says about him, his position is our weakest on the field at the moment. We need a scrum half that can take us forward and Ian doesn't do that. Looking at the two teams today we looked like lambs to the slaughter against those well toned muscle men. But our lads did us proud, they never really gave up. Even some Wigan fans behind me were applauding us for putting them under so much preasure. It was wonderfull when the north stand was in full voice (except that ridiculous flute crap), the noise was excellent. Stanton looksw like he could be a good signing. I think we will be lucky to keep Chris Hill if he keeps playing like he is but fingers crossed he wont take the bait. Lots of things I saw today has really wet my appetite for the coming season.

=redCome On You Leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeigh