I like Miski, he's strong and can usually find the corner to score. He's never been a Marshall or Manfredi that can score full lengthers or even from halfway, but that's no bad thing....just look at Makinson at Saints, he rarely scores from distance either.

I think his confidence is lower this season so far, he's had a new centre partnership that's not yet produced much as he's not had good service in good position (Keighran fails to release the ball most times), whereas King/Miski last was as devastating on the RHS as Marshall/Wardle was on the LHS.

Big question is, do we try make a move for King at the end of the season (heard his contract is up). But then what do we do with Keighran? For me not impressed yet other than great goal kicker, plus a liability in defence which has seen him receive a few yellows/reds.

Not sure if Miski is fully fit, he started the season with a lot of strapping on his leg and looks a bit low in confidence as if he is maybe carrying an injury? Maybe a game or two out might help him. But obviously being very low on experienced players this might not be a viable option.

Keighran is a frustrating one, sometimes there looks to be a decent enough player in there but the frequent bans and knocks stall any momentum he gets and means that he has to start again and before long is out of the team again. If he could get an extended run in the team we could get a better idea of his performance level and it might help Miski having a settled centre alongside him.

King I am not sure is an option - would probably cost too much and what would be do with Keighran who will probably be one a decent wage as well and we couldn't just get rid of him, also would we want to block Eckersley getting an extended run in his favoured position?

Leeds fan in peace.

You have a great squad, but I'm not at all surprised to hear that Walters isn't cutting it. He was massively over-hyped by Sky in his last season with us - Jon Wilkin even claimed he was our best player. I would have liked to have kept him at Leeds given our lack of size in the pack, but there are some reasons why you should be cautious with him.

Before Rowan Smith joined Leeds, Walters was knocking about the first team. He'd occasionally score a sensational try running off a good line out wide, but Agar evidently didn't trust him defensively and there were some really shocking defensive lapses around marker and on our goal line.

When RS came in he quickly promoted Widnes boys Walters and O'Connor to the first team. O'Connor hasn't missed a game since because he just works hard - maybe not the most skilled or physically blessed, but he's a good team player. Smith wanted to use Walters as a prop because we were short in that position, and he looked decent going forward, but the same defensive issues occasionally got highlighted. Personally, I preferred him spelled at prop - he scored fewer show pony tries but at the same time it meant he had to concentrate for shorter periods of time on the field. I get the sense that Smith wanted Walters to earn his place in the first team at the start of 2023, and he took umbrage that he wasn't an instant pick like O'Connor, and was also expected to play prop instead of second row.

He signed for Wigan just before Smith brought him back into the team. It was disappointing, and he scored a few more eye catching tries in the games that followed (I think he got away with bashing up a Saints player in the last game we won against them too). However, as the season wore on, his form actually got pretty poor - throwing silly passes and offloads, more weak defence, and too many penalties given for high shots. When the new rules about tackle height were announced, I thought Leeds had dodged a bullet - not because the guy is too tall, but rather because I have the impression that he doesn't have the attitude to be a top professional and adjust his game accordingly to suit the rules. I could be wrong, but I'm not surprised he hasn't set the world on fire yet. Nsemba seems a much better prospect.

He hasn't even struck the match. So do you think it's an attitude thing? Since he has been here everything seems half d. Don't know whether that is fair or not but he seems to lack effort.

I think as with every position in the side, you always need to make sure nobody is certain of a spot. I back Miski to bounce back and Keighran has shown flashes of what he can do but Eckersley and Douglas are good young players and in time it may well be the case that they start to pressure those first two for their spots. As and when that time comes Peet will need to be brave but for now I think Miski will be fine and get through this rough patch and Keighran will hopefully get a consistent run going towards the end of the season. It's always difficult to discuss the future when you're in a patch of poor form because it seems reactionary but it's only natural that you keep looking at ways in which you can progress/freshen up the side.

Statistically he's making good ground Walters but he just looks like a prop playing at second row at times. It's his concentration that worries me. He looks half asleep during games and has come up with some really silly errors. When you think of a 'Wigan forward' over the last 10-15 years, he doesn't strike you as one tbh but to give the lad some slack, his season has been so stop start and it must be difficult to get any sort of momentum going. He may get the opportunity to build some of that in the next few weeks because it does feel like Nsemba could do with a bit of a freshen up as well (which is totally understandable).

I think he made 96 metres against Wire.

[urlhttps://www.superleague.co.uk/match-centre/report/4493[/url

Betfred Super League stats reports 86m from 11 carries, most yards by a Wigan forward on the night.

I think one thing we overlook with players sometimes is how they need games and time to get in to a rhythm. He's not had a great start Walters but so far he's played in fits and starts, with the odd sub appearance here and there and just a couple of starts. He even had to go in at centre on Friday, so it's not been perfect circumstances to help him get going. I'd actually start him on Thursday and put Nsemba on the bench and give him a little run now to try and get going. I think Nsemba needs a freshen up anyway and we can use him to impact games against tiring defences.

Thats fair comment, it would be nice to see Nsemba running out wide and creating havoc for the opposition.
He has been used as a battering ram more the last few games and putting in a decent number of tackles.

You look at the sheer size of Nsemba and it makes you forget that he's a baby in rugby league terms. He looks a little jaded to me and as you say, we're not really get him them opportunities to cause problems a little wider. I think it's just a case of freshening his mind up as much as anything.

Nice of George Williams to put in a performance that bad tonight, Harry Smith can be chuffed with his nights work last night!

Satisfying after seeing all the nonsense this week about Warrington’s rebirth as the British version of the Aussie Invincibles.

Not convinced that was the best result for us. There's one fixture I think we want to avoid in the playoffs and thats Hull KR away.

Was that No 42 for Warrington the richer, but far less talented twin brother of the John Bateman who used to play for us?

We wont be away to Hull KR in the playoffs - we'd have to finish 4th for that to happen or Warrington would have to finish top. And that wont be happening.

Going off the Sky coverage last night, it's a 2 horse race for the LLS and we aren't involved. Pretty nice of them to take off any expectation and the players can just go about their business being the 3rd best side in the league. Maybe the plucky underdog (who weirdly hold all 4 trophies there is to win) can surprise a few people as the season goes on.

The only two - must win games this season have been the challenge cup semi and final.

In which we absolutely battered Hull KR and Warrington.

Warrington's easier fixture list gives them the edge for top spot for me. I think our best chance of getting in the top 2 is to get ahead of Hull KR.

Three - Where we also beat Australia's best.

There's a lot of rugby to be played yet, in effect we are only just entering the final quarter of the regular season. Every team will lose matches, we just have to make sure that we lose less than the others.

Or just stick to the same number of losses.

Given our game in hand, if we can put Leigh to bed, then we're 2pts clear again.

Probably, but then again the last game we lost last year against Wakey was in early July. I don't think we can be [ithat[/i confident that Wire will drop points before the season's close. Tough games at Leigh and Saints but they're be going big favourites in all the others.

Its in our hands but easy to say, hard to do.

We have Leigh, Saints at Magic, Cats away, HKR at home, all are tough. Leeds away will be tricky although Smith has picked up a ban.

If we can take care of our own form and energy and cut out the silly errors, we should be ok in these next two games. Leigh are playing well and Leeds have improved but you still look at the sides and there is a difference in quality between the 17's of Wigan and Leigh and Wigan and Leeds, especially with Leigh missing Amone and still possibly Moylan and Leeds missing Cam Smith and by the sounds of things, Oledzki.

The issues will come for us if we're short of energy again and can't rid our game of the ridiculous errors that have plagued us in the last 3 games. We did seem to pick up in both of those areas in the second half of the Huddersfield game, so hopefully we just keep that going.