Andy Gilder wrote:
To be fair, I'd be equally interested to hear what was in Nathan Brown's team-talk. Saints came out swinging in the open set - Masoe in particular. Indeed, that Wigan were in the field position they were at the time of the Flower incident is down to Saints giving away a penalty for a cheap high shot.
True, but they weren't worked up beyond the point of losing control. Wane has been getting his players to a high emotional state week on week, it's been obvious in the way they play. So in the biggest, most emotional game of the year one of them cracked and crossed the line. I'm not excusing Flower at all, he bears 99% of the blame. But I think a smidge of the blame can be attributed to the way he coaches his players.
Don't get me wrong, I've begrudgingly admired Wigan's aggression in defence. It livens up a game that is sorely missing talking points like big hits/shoulder charges and modern defences that don't allow offloads. But then they step over the line from aggressive defence to things I don't like such as twisting legs in tackles, cannonballs and taking players out off the ball.
It's no surprise to me that one of the younger, less experienced players has stepped well over the line in the most highly charged game of Wigan's highly charged season.
