Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 7:57 am  

Willzay wrote:

Congrats Wigan. I bet Joel,Tomkins feels more of a twit now.

Hasn't he played enough matches to get a winners medal?

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:18 am  

All in all, last night was another poor final. I haven't seen a decent GF since 2011. It's probably symptomatic of how poor and in decline the league is in general, but if we are insistent that this is 'the showpiece' of rugby league in this hemisphere and oppose first past the post, then we need to do something about raising the quality of the finals.

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:19 am  

tigertot wrote:

Knees from Williams on Charnley as he scores..

??? Just watching the replay on Sky now and I didnt see that? He goes over the top of him.

[Mild Rover]

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:21 am  

ThePrinter wrote:

Sorry if the truth hurts, but maybe if people listened they’d understand why the same two teams win.

Saints will be there or there abouts next year but “there abouts” doesn’t win Grand Finals.

Leeds have been Great with the capital G over the last decade or so. It’s the lot of great teams to be resented in their own time, and of some of their fans to bear it with defensive ill humour. As with Liverpool in the 70s and 80s and Manchester United in the 90s and 2000s, the admiration is delayed and they become more widely treasured later. Wane’s Wigan might be Revie’s Leeds in this analogy. If it’s any consolation, if the Rhinos continue on their current trajectory their GF winning teams might start to be more fondly regarded by fans of other teams quite soon!

As for why the same two teams win so consistently, the biggest single reason is resource. You might get a Castleford or a Leicester City doing a spectacular job of swimming against the tide for a while, but ultimately money tells. Which isn’t to say that the Leeds and Wigan clubs don’t work hard or efficiently or have a positive culture or whatever, but the key building block of their success is their size and wealth, which is natural. Back when we were winning major trophies in the early- to mid-80s, we were doing stuff like breaking the transfer record. There is no great mystery to it.

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:25 am  

I never expected the win. They are better than us and the big thing was they had a lot more creativity about them than we did.

Better season than last year, losing in finals isn’t what you want but it’s a damn site better than fighting off relegation!

Losing in finals is actually just becoming like losing normal games now. When we lost the semi to Leeds in 2011 I was absolutely gutted, that was our year that one! Losing the finals in 2012 and ‘13 were bad but since then the CC finals and GF defeats I don’t think we’ve been the best side in any of them and can see why we’ve lost and accept it fairly well.

We need to put more thought into the structure of our squad.

We overachieved in 2016 and 2018. No way were we a particularly top side in either year but we reached four finals and finished 1st and 4th in the league. What does that say about the rest of the league?

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:29 am  

Mash Butty wrote:

??? Just watching the replay on Sky now and I didnt see that? He goes over the top of him.

Nah you don’t go on your knees by accident there. The only reason is to go on the legs of Charnley, which he does.

Wigan were very lucky to still have Tomkins on the pitch and you could say his knees into Charnley would constitute an 8 point try.

Having said that Wigan were extraordinary in that game I thought. Warrington never looked like getting through. Some will say that’s Warrington playing poorly however I think it has far more to do with Wigan strangling the life out of them.

Good game I thought.

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:31 am  

Him wrote:

Nah you don’t go on your knees by accident there. The only reason is to go on the legs of Charnley, which he does.

Wigan were very lucky to still have Tomkins on the pitch and you could say his knees into Charnley would constitute an 8 point try.

Having said that Wigan were extraordinary in that game I thought. Warrington never looked like getting through. Some will say that’s Warrington playing poorly however I think it has far more to do with Wigan strangling the life out of them.

Good game I thought.

No he doesn't I've just seen the replay

[Mild Rover]

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:31 am  

Cronus wrote:

11 wins = Wigan & Leeds

9 losses = Warrington & Saints

6 League Leaders' Shields = Wigan, Warrington, Leeds, Saints, Castleford, Huddersfield (plus Bradford if you go back 3 more years)

What a shame the best team over the weekly rounds is overlooked for a the winners of a mini knock-out competition.

And I say that celebrating our win tonight.

In theory, it seems that a play-off series and GF should open things up, but it’s become clear that the top teams have an extra gear and raise their intensity for the big games.

Phil Clarke’s stuff about other teams narrowing the gap between their best and worst performances, and aiming to be more consistent ignores that the top teams performances are often very uneven, but even on a bad day they can usually get away with turning it on for 15 or 20 minutes. They’re just better.

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:33 am  

Lebron James wrote:

Records have been broken tonight. Warrington are the first club in history to lose both finals in the same season twice.

Regards

King James

If a Wigan fan had posted that I’d take it, but a Saints fan... and YOU!

The masters of choking in semi finals and disrespecting the rest of the league and making the sport look stupid by not celebrating winning the LLS, the only club in world sport who don’t celebrate winning a league yet still keep losing in semi finals?

and from a poster who goes missing for days when his stupid know-nowt predictions and comments materialise as wildly inaccurate and a liar of a man to boot - “I’ll leave this site for good if Wakey make the top 8”...?

You’ve made my morning a little easier after last night knowing I’m not you!

Re: GAME ON : Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors - 18:00:00 : Sun Oct 14, 2018 8:33 am  

A game that went very much to script.
Tight, aggressive, few scoring chances and a Wigan win, which they deserved.
Hill was immense for Wire and is unlucky to be on the losing side and the game was won with the bit of extra quality that Wigan had in the halves (plus Tomkins & O'loughlin).
Warringtons halves were very, very poor and they looked a little clueless in Wigan's 20.

The best team won.