So disappointed to hear all the down-beat talk. I'll look forward to seeing the game back.

Just back from the game. We conceded 6 in a tough game and won it. Nothing else needs to be said, we did the job and that’s all that matters now for the next 3 weeks.

One thing that was clear is that Peet doesn't trust Mago or Hill to play in those final moments when defence is all that matters. Add Ellis' failed HIA and the injuries to Cooper, Havard and Byrne and we did well to see it out.

Havard looked to be limping a little at the end of the game so not optimistic on him returning but we sure could do with him.

Leigh to beat Hkr then beat Wiggin int semi.

Wouldn’t bet against it, would be reminsent of Salford in 2019, we beat them 3/4 teams in the year in close games then they did us in the semi.

Just posted on the Leigh board but Leigh are proper team. Can beat anyone.

Have the upmost respect for them.

Walking off the ground a few us said that if we repeat that display in the SF we won’t make the final. I think HKR will give Leigh a good hiding next week as they seem to be hitting some form and I think Leyth put so much into tonight that they maybe a spent force. HKR for me could be the real dark horse to get to the GF.
On the plus side I thought O’Neil had a great game. Not sure who won mom but for me I thought that he walked it.
Smith’s kicking game was very good and at times he kept us in the game. I thought that all of the three quarters played well. Field looked dangerous every time that he had the ball. I don’t know why his second try was disallowed because I struggled to see any obstruction.
French was disappointing and what do you say about Mago?? I’m totally amazed that we have extended his contract. Unless he is injured his minutes/effort was poor in the extreme.
I’m a big Farrell fan but at the moment in attack he is almost pedestrian. Maybe he is still struggling with the calf strain?

Maybe we needed a game like that to really stretch us. To be fair to Leyth they are a very fit and physical side and the metres that they made when they had the ball was impressive at times.
Hopefully a weeks rest and god willing Havard back and we may just have enough for HKR. Somehow we have got to get French in better positions with the ball because for me at the moment we are getting very little form our main strike player.
Having said all of that if someone had said to me 10 weeks ago we would finish top I would have laughed my head off. Peet and his team have some work to do but thankfully we’ve now got 2 weeks to fine tune the attack and get the defence playing at a significantly higher intensity than we did at times tonight. Peet is a smart guy and I’m hoping that he can squeeze that little bit extra out of the team that will be absolutely required if we are to progress further.

Ellis passed his HIA, he's only allowed on after 15 mins, by which time the game had ended.

Fair enough. The bigger concern is Bevan French may well get banned for deliberate contact with the referee.

Play conservatively at this time of the season and you can win trophies. It’s all about winning not entertaining.

I thought Harry Smith's kicking game was outstanding last night. Goal kicking aside, I've been very impressed with how he has kicked on.

Yep, I'm worried about that. Totally unnecessary.

I thought last night was far from a complete performance particularly in attack but surprised by some posts on here. At no point in the whole match did Leigh have any real sustained pressure and although the no try for them was an awful decision I thought the scoreline flattered them a little and we contained them pretty well over the 80 minutes and I feel if we had needed to we could have produced more in attack, certainly the last 10/15 minutes we just territory wise killed them and made sure they wouldn’t score rather than push for the try, if needed I think we would have scored. I do agree with another post saying it reminded of them of Huddersfield in the Cup Final last season which I agree with and I think we may have been a bit too negative but overall I think we showed good play off rugby, Smiths in play kicking was brilliant and I’m confident with the extra week off we will win the semi at home.

Would the reserve game count?

I’m back in the Bevan’s not a 6 camp after last night. I literally jump from he is/isn’t on an almost weekly basis.

If you contain his running threat then you pretty much nullify him and I do worry that in the big tight games he lacks the craft and plan b to get us over the line.

I do think he will get there as a 6 but I do worry he hasn’t enough game time there and experience there to get us over the line this year.

As for the try no try thing I felt both were tries, or if the ref was consistent no tries.

Lots of positives, outside backs again fantastic, I think Wardle has been second fiddle to King for most of the year but he has really kicked on at the right time of year (not that he has been poor the rest of it either he’s just gone up another level).

KPP looks determined to go out a winner, Faz just so consistent and Hill went well and will get a lot from that kind of play off intensity game.

Smithies though for me is the highlight love watching him play, a genuine hardened pro already even at his age.

As an exercise I think it was a positive. We can’t expect to blow teams away every week at this stage of the year and that sets us up nicely for what is to come.

Real intense game, something which we needed, as has been said by others.

First half was a great performance, solid defence and clinical in attack with our two chances. If we replicate that 1st half, we can progress. However, we won't progress if we play like we did for the last 40. We were hanging on at times IMO.

Nonetheless, a massive win in the context of the season. Making Saints go the long route plus as potential Catalans v Saints semi makes last night an even bigger win.

Sadly, I think French is potentially looking at a 1 game ban for the contact, although I wouldn't be surprised if the disciplinary just give him a fine; they've been very, very lenient over the last few weeks. I'd still be confident with Hampshire slotting in for the home semi, though.

Well done Wigan on 2 counts.
Beating the awful Leigh and keeping the smug Saints in 3.
Just go and win the final now please.

Enjoy the Championship lampface!!

I said a week or so ago that one of my concerns about us being capable of winning the GF is the ability of French at 6. Smith quite rightly dictates how we play but he dominates it so much that French for the majority of minutes becomes almost anonymous and when he does get the ball he is quickly closed down. I think French kicked the ball once maybe twice last night? Peet and his team need to come up with plays that get French more involved and with more space which is easier said then done with an inexperienced 6.
On reflection the result and the performance is what I expected last night. Leyth are no mugs and they put in a lot of effort and made at times lots of metres which was a bit concerning. I wasn’t particularly worried in the final 20 minutes or so primarily because our defence, as usual, was well organised and Smith did some good kicks to relieve the pressure. Obviously we need to raise our game even higher and I’m hoping that Havard might be available to enable us keep up the intensity when Ellis and Dupree are not on the pitch. Hopefully Peet and the coaching staff can work on improvements over the next couple of weeks to lift us to the next level.

I believe it would count but the jokers at Red Hall might give him 2 games


Under the modern rules it will have to go up to the panel to be assessed, I also think Ellis might be in trouble too for a shoulder with no wrapping action of his arms.

Just on the super league website and saw that our semi final is Saturday 7th October 12:45 on sky and channel 4.

Bit of a weird time for a semi final.

I always thought first place got the first semi for the extra days rest? Not that I feel it’s much of an issue. Latics are also away that day so there should be no movement like previous years, I would have been quite interested to see what would have happened if they were at home. Under joint ownership surely a semi final trumps a league one game? Although it’s maybe easier to re-arrange a game that’s never officially been set or tickets sold.

Ellis normally gets a ban for farting on the field so I’m sure he will cop one.

It should.

It’s a sign of the times that every clubs fans (and players and officials I’d imagine) are on pins waiting for the findings of the disciplinary committee. French was a bit silly in doing that but there is absolutely no malice, he’s not shouting and bawling at him and is just trying to get his attention. I can’t say I recall the Ellis one but as pointed out, it doesn’t take much for him to cop a ban.

As for the game now the dust has settled, I wasn’t overly impressed with our performance as I said last night but it’s a game we really needed and we should be better for it. We will need to raise our defensive intensity a couple of levels in the games we have left but if we can do that, we’ll give ourselves a chance. We have more game breakers that most teams in attack, so in tight games, we can hopefully find enough big plays to win them.

Think it was always going to be Friday night Saturday afternoon but channel 4 won’t go to France.