A pleasing start all in all. Really impressed with Halsall, Mago, O’Neill and Nasemba. Some of the kids in the second half did their reputations no harm.

Good hit up,needed that like a pint after a hard days work just enough till the next one-Warrington.

A good run out. Very solid with nothing to get carried away with yet. We looked more creative in open play and isn't it good to see forwards running with support.
Of the young lads Nsemba was excellent but a big shout out to Nicholson who is on loan at Newcastle and with the 22 were probably the biggest threats to us.

He was superb. It’s going to be a great move for him that. All being well you’d imagine he’ll be a regular start and 25+ games at that level should really help him develop with a view to him becoming a first teamer here in 2023.

I guess the only slightly worrying thing is the lack of a sponsor on the shirt. I know it's been done to death, but it points towards the payments not being made and that's money out of the pocket of the club.

Some very good signs from that game.

Harry smith looked good, plenty of talk and some good play.

Really liked field at fullback, he was threatening and linked up well with the halfbacks showing some good hands. Definately want to see more of him here.

Was impressed with mago, had the effect i wanted to see from him, big impact, hard to put down, some good offloads and i think fitter then he seemed. I wouldnt expect him to play that many first half minutes in a normal game, i think he will be a 2 speller under normal circumstances and devastating off the bench in the 2nd half.

Miski went well, looked strong. From what i saw of him at london i don't think we saw his full potential in that game, definately more to come from him.

Nsemba should definately be getting some game time this season, the lad looks ready and raring to go! Very excited for more of him.

Liked joe shorrocks at loose, i think this is his best postion and from an interview of his the other day the one he is trying to make his own. Good passing game, plenty of defence work as you would expect. I feel like he has put abit of size on in the off season, seems to have filled out a little more which is good to see. The new haircut is much appreciated too, the hair was definately getting out of hand!

O'neill had a very good game, very impressed with him. Good control and fed the ball well, scooted at the right moments and a couple of excellent kicks. Very glad we kept hold of him, would have been a tough choice between him and borough salford have picked up a good prospect in him too.

Other players who impressed - eckersley looks a good prospect for the future on the wing, silva looked solid if not abit raw, smithies solid game and seems to have put abit of much needed size on also, thought hill had a good stint too took some strong carries and has abit of natural size, never heard of him mentioned before but i will keep an eye out in future.

Silva looks a real talent but agree with the point above about him being raw. He just needs to keep it nice and simple. When he did that he did really well but he tried to push one or two offloads that didn’t come off.

Yes he really looks the part, doesn't he?

Wigan should have stopped him for that try, though.

Fantastic engine. His work rate is first class. Not the biggest but Ellis made the point in commentary that he has the technique to make this work for him by maintaining a low centre of gravity. Little raw at times as you say, but otherwise looked good.

The standout points from the game for me were Mago bringing the 'go forward' we'd all hoped he would but also showing an offload game that I perhaps wasn't expecting quite so much, KPP in the centres looking like he'd been studying Dean Bell and Junior Nsemba...what a prospect he is!

Good across the board with more attacking shape and options than we saw all last season. Roll on next week and let's see what the guys that didn't play today can bring.

Some good points from the game.
I think we threw about more in 40 minutes than we did in the last 3 years.

Field looks physically frail but there is a footballer in there.

O’Neil hopefully as a minimum will ensure that Powell making 40 tackles a games isn’t enough.

Smith literally looked like a different player

Enjoyed it. Not said that for a while.

Just flog him to Doncaster instead

Anyone know more about Nsemba? Seems to have come from a bit left field. Loads of talk about Nicholson and KPP etc, but I can't recall much talk on the lad.

Started playing the game from around 11 at St Judes, a team that dominated from U7 right through to U16, in fact only lost 2-3 matches throughout that time. From when he signed he was always a foot taller than the next tallest lad and had speed and strength to carve his way through defences. Not seen much of him over the last couple of years but he's a special kid.

Thank you.

Sounds promising indeed

Yeah, I think 12 months in the reserves and another 12 months with a Championship team on loan will see him really come through and shine.

Wigan love their second rowers don't they? Not surprised they're looking at KPP as a potential centre option given all of our options and prospects in the back row.

We've got real pedigree when it comes to producing backrow talents. You can probably reel off 10 - 20 'gooduns' produced in the last 20 years.

Compare it to our production of props and centres and it seems crazily lobbsided.

Smithies at prop and KPP at centre might be a pointer towards them looking at ways of getting more of these young backrowers some opportunities. The competition for places in that first 17 will be intense in the early rounds. It’s a given that Isa, Farrell and Bateman have a spot and you’re probably looking at 2 places between Smithies, Shorrocks, Pearce-Paul, McDonnell and Partington. If they go with 2 props and a hooker/utility back on the bench, it may only be 1 spot between those 5 (although Partington could be one of the props). You probably can’t totally rule out Nsemba based on today either but I doubt he’ll be in the mix in the first couple of months.

Just seen that first try back, that cut out pass from Fields was a pearl and half

I thought the Smithies move to prop was particularly interesting.
His game at the moment for a quality back rower is very limited and maybe longer term the front row is his best option.

Early days but interesting to see Peet’s changes albeit in a friendly game.

KPP isn’t the fastest of players but love it that every time he has the ball he is looking for the offload.
With the right level of application and luck this lad could be a future star.

Plenty to talk about and mull over. Still lots to sort out but little chinks of light are on the horizon.
The last 3 seasons are hopefully going to become a distant memory pretty quickly.

I was with a couple of Saints fans yesterday and they think we maybe a serious challenger this year. Hope that they are right.

Was quality, having a fullback who can pass adds so much more to a teams attack.

I hope he gets a go at fullback at the start of the season!

Why is that? Is it because you can get away without having any special physical attributes at second row? Don’t need to be huge nor scary pace? The who of Superleague looks to lack top talent at prop and centre currently but over the last 20 years it’s quite striking the lack of talent at prop and centre that have come through at Wigan.

I don't know if that's true r.e special attributes - Joel, Faz, Hock, Lockers all different players but had something special about them. I think we just know what good looks like i.e toughness over size and apply that across the board.

Personally and I've said this a few times, the prop thing runs deeper and is a blind spot for the club. We don't seem to produce, or at least not in the same numbers as other positions, top prop talent. We also don't seem to recruit well for it either. Again when you compare it second row, we rarely seem to get it wrong there, with names like Bateman, Isa, Hoffman & KPP. How can the guys who spotted KPP, also pick out Mitch Clarke?

I liked Mago, not only was he a handful but if you watched how he rolled to one side after being tackled and playing the ball you can tell his pedigree as a forward, I think quick PTBs will come from Mago so need to jump on the back of them.

O'Neil playing Powell out of the side already and I think this season might be Powells last as 1st choice.

Nsemba a big strong runner in the backrow, something we need as a team.

Powell deserves the chance to put a poor season behind him just like nearly every other player in the squad. He was superb in 2020 and has been an excellent player for us over a number of years. In saying that I hope O’Neill does push him and make him improve and if he takes his place over the next couple of years, that’ll be good for the side as he’ll need to play very well to do so.

He’ll always be a target for some will Sam Powell because he isn’t a dynamic runner but some of the criticism he gets, particularly on the other board, is well OTT. You always need to look to improve your side but Sam Powell has played a big part in the sides success over a number of years.