I can't wait for the Wakefield game as it really is huge for us but i'm as nervous about this game as i have been about in for years.

I think we can achieve something in the Challenge cup because not only are we running into form but the draw could be quite favourible due to alot of superleague sides being out of the picture come the quater final stage.

If we go out and apply oursleves as we've done in the last 3 games we should have enough to win but theres just that nagging doubt at the back of my mind that we could fall flat on our faces.

I really do hope the players realise the importance of this game as it's potentially our biggest in a long while.

You can't help wondering (and hoping) if 'something has happened' in the background at Wigan in the last few weeks.

IL's famous reading of the Riot Act after the Huddersfield debacle last year - which, unbelievably to me, some fans criticised him for - galvanised the team into putting in a storming end-of-season fightback. If something similar has gone on in the last few weeks, causing this sudden transformation, then it ought to carry us for a good few matches yet. (Was Catalan our 'Huddersfield' of 2009 perhaps?).

Of course, if Saturday wasn't actually a transformation, just a one-off 'blip' performance from a team who'll now be content to rest on their laurels for another few weeks, then we'll go out in this round of the cup.

As always with Wigan, it's impossible to know what to expect until the first ball is kicked in anger. But I must say that I'm marginally more confident now than I would have been if we'd lost at Murrayfield.

I wonder if the "change" Cruncher is a combination of the signing of Gleeson - filling a problem area of the team and giving everyone a lift plus the recent team changes, both forced and to be fair Noble making good choices, with Smith (an organiser and playmker) back in the team. Suddenly quite a few players seem to have upped their games - Lockers bieng a prime example (we now have the GB Lockers).

The Wakefield game is a huge one (for me perhaps one of the biggest games for quite a while) - not only for the cup itself but as a pointer - can the team backup a great performance at MM because if they can then I suspect the increasing confidence will boost the team.

Fingers crossed.

Mid season signings always give the whole team a boost, not only have Gleeson brought an extra attacking option to us, but i feel that the whole side has lifted with having him in the club.

Side fact, saturday was the first team Gleeson has EVER been on the winning side against Saints.

Wakefield are on a stinking run of form at the moment they were poor against us and shocking against Bradford, we were pretty poor vs Celtic and average at best vs Trinity last time out, but very good vs Saints. If it goes to form it should be a comfortable win for us, sadly Wigan are an impossible team to predict and so are Trinity, i will say though anything less than a win will be a very poor return from the trip.

That's what signing for Warrington does for you!

After the cup tie at the weekend, we should get some idea whether we're on a good run or not. If you look at the last couple of games before the excellent Saints performance, we played a poor team when Celtic came (and didn't look that convincing in attack) and the Wakefield game was a strange one, where we gifted tries to a complacent opposition.

If we win on Saturday and beat Hull KR the next week, then we're on a roll.

I thought we played pretty well against Wakefield in the league outside of gifing them either trys or opportunities to score trys.

We mustn't get ahead of ourseleves though. If we play aswell as we did on Saturday we'll probably go thrrough but if we fall short of that i fear for us because Wakefield will be bang up for this and have a coach that knows how to spring cup shocks(as we knwo too well).

I know one thing for sure that if we lose this i'll be heartbroke. The way the draw is i really feel this could be our year if we can get through this game but that isn't going to be easy.

With all the rumours that have been circulating, would one explanation not be that the players now know for sure that Noble is on his way at the end of the season?

Possibly, but like everything else it's speculation.

I'd query whether the players would respond positively to such news. Unless they absolutely despise Noble, which I seriously doubt - despite those occasional posters who claim that all is not well with him and the side (and never offer any evidence) - I can't see why news that he's gone would provoke them into their best performance of the season. But that said, if Noble's in a situ where he needs wins to guarantee his job next season, how did he manage to create such a change-around so quickly? And if he can do that, why didn't he do it earlier, when he could definitely have cemented himself in place?

Its all very strange and difficult to judge. There may be something in the view that what we're seeing is the gradual coming together of a plan that's been a long time in development and only now is possible because we've got mostly the right men in the right positions and lots of decent back-up from the bench.

But again - that's pure speculation.

We were not shocking but we were not great. Our defence is what let us down, and if we can improve it and get it to like it was at the start of the season then things will just be fine.

I said at the game on Saturday that your defence is whats letting you down at the minute.

If we looked at it at the start of the year against us there just seemed to be no way through it whereas on Saturday and against us the week before it's only taken one wide ball to get you in abit of trouble.

I'm sure Kear will get that patched up in no time though.

I get the feeling Saturday is going to be a real battle.

Wakefield appear to be out of form. Wigan are improving.
Wigan scored 44 v Celtic, 40 at Wakey & 38 v Saints.
If Wigan top 40 points again then we'll win. That doesn't mean Wakey won't score a few too, they always score plenty on their own patch.
Might be a final score similar to 2 weeks ago.

Agreed, people are just coming out of the line leaving big big gaps! And teams will exploit that as Wigan and Bradford did.

At the start of the year the defence was the best I have seen from a Wakefeild side in a long time. It was solid and teams never looked to break through.

Ive got a bad feeling you'll tonk us

We need to kick on from the result against saints every
season has a staring point and lets up ours was at murrayfield.

im adopting wigan as my team for the challenge cup now ( because hull couldnt even beat salford because were s@@t ), so good luck and smash the wildcats.





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OI





Hope we can improve and put a better account of ourselfs up this time.

If our defence can get back to how it was start of season I would be very confident.

If our attack is as it has been these last 3 weeks, i'll be even more confident.

Good for you.

Although against Saints, it was more Saints that were crap



and us it was more our defence inviting you through gaps



Will be a good game, if we can get back to our better form we should just edge it. But talk is cheap, it is all about what goes on on the pitch.

What pub you all going to before game?

Foristers?

I have a really bad feeling its going to rain only 2 places worse than Wakefield when its raining and thats Leeds and Bradford

When we drew Wakefield, I said we'd win one and lose the other but didn't know in which order.

However based off Saturday's performances from both sides, you'd expect us to win...But inconsistancy is a massive problem with us.

I haven't a clue how the game will go.

We had the same problem last season, as soon as the CC came around our league form fell apart and in all honesty our cup performances weren't up to much, I would be happy to win this one just to get the side winning again, but TBH I wouldn't be heartbroken if we lost because that might just focus the players minds on finishing as high up the league table as possible, and as things are going four league points could be the difference between finishing in the top four and outside the play offs. I have to say that on current form I can't see where we can beat you, but then that is usually when our lot pull something out of the bag.

Hope you are correct...