It was another game where we were slow to start but I don't think that's a rarity with this team. We do seem to have a lot of games where the first half is very tight and the second half we cut loose a bit. Considering our makeshift backline I thought our attacking play in the second half was excellent.

I saw some criticism of Lam's team selection before the game on social media but you have to say he made the smart choice rather than the 'default' choice. He could have just looked at who had played centre previously and stuck Bateman there. Instead, after identifying what needed to happen in the game against Leigh (Bateman going back into the pack), he took the risk of putting Farrell in a position he'd never started before and it worked brilliantly. Both Bateman and Farrell were outstanding.

Bullock and Singleton both struggled at the start of the game again. Maybe they both still need a bit more time to get up to speed but that's one area that may need addressing. I thought in pre-season Mitch Clark looked like he had a point to prove and I'd be happy to see him get a chance. Our bench once again seemed to improve the team. Byrne had his best game in a long time which is great to see. Last year I worried he'd been found out a bit and was struggling defensively but he seems to be doing well this year. Havard was once again strong going forward, difficult to bring down and I thought he put himself about a bit in defence too.

Smithies carried the ball well at second row and on a few occasions was looking for an offload which is good to see as so far he's looked a bit limited in terms of handling. Shorrocks, despite fluffing a great try scoring opportunity, had another decent game. I thought he did a decent job filling in at hooker too, which might be something worth exploring given our lack of a natural replacement to spell Powell.

All things considered there's not a huge amount to worry about. Our supposed weakness in the centres turned into a strength. Bibby is in great form. Hardaker is in great form. Our interchange props are doing well even if the starters aren't. Partington is going well. Hopefully with a few more matches Hastings will get up to speed and find form too.

If Gildart and Manfredi aren't going to be fit for a while yet there's a concern there - maybe a need to bring back Hankinson at some point - but tonight showed that we aren't desperate. We do have some options and it may be that we can keep going with those players for a while. The return of French will help things as there's some scope to move things around between French, Hardaker and Bibby. Hanley didn't have the strongest of games but I don't think he was awful. Up against 6 foot 4 Innes Senior he wasn't likely to win many contested kicks so the goal would have been to disrupt as much as possible. Snatched at his chance to score but then soon after helped set up a break by keeping the ball alive in his own half. He lacks physicality but lots of young wingers do. Marshall did. Even Burgess did as he was always more height than size. If Hanley keeps his place next week there's no worries - if he's squeezed out by a returning player that's also no issue.

At the moment there's a hell of a lot more positives to the start of this season than negatives. There are much bigger tests to come but we've overcome two teams that we've had problems with in previous years.

I was at Wakefield a couple of seasons ago when Fafita ran amok down the wing in front of the mainstand

I must say that i honestly thought that we would get beaten,and i wonder if Chester realises how stupid he sounds blaming Johnstone going off for them losing the game,yes it was slightly high from Big Willie but bloody hell we played the whole game with 2 second row forwards as centre's

Same here. Managed to follow the twitter feed to around 7 mins to half time locked at 6-6. Skip forward 90 mins later when I could check again and was hoping for a narrow win (but also fearing a narrow loss). Imagine my delight at the final score, couldn't believe it. Seem the tries on the SKY Sports site, great break by Faz and Bibby took his tries well. Appalling defence on Fifita, not sure what Bateman and others were up to there. But another great win, get French back in within 2 weeks and let's go at York next week.

We could have been up by 18-20 at half time were it not for silly errors.

Seconds half we were much more composed and clinical.

I'd have thought that would be the least of their problems tonight.

They battered us on the ropes for 30 minutes ... and that was it?

Pathetic.

Thought all the young forwards were great tonight.

Byrne, Havard and Shorrocks seems to lift us when they came on.

Best game from Smithies in attack in a while (maybe being a little wider suits him).

Bullock was a big let down again getting subbed about 14 minutes. He should lose his starting spot imo.

Was gutted for Hanley over that try, I think before that he had a really solid game and his carries were much improved. Think that error shook his convinced a little. Let’s stick with him and support him.

Bibby and Isa two players who getting bagged a bit played great tonight.

I think the half time criticism was warranted but misplaced.

Our completion rate was 62% at half time. That’s not the fault of the coach rather down to too many individual errors. It puts pressure on the whole team and generally means we start sets deeper in our own half making it harder to gain ground.

The main difference in the second half was we made less errors allowing the team to build pressure and subsequently play a bit. 5 tries in 40 mins whilst missing a full back, two wingers and a centre shows there’s not much wrong with the attacking structure.

It’s a simple game, players just need to get the basics right.

Hardaker was my MOM, he looks to have picked up a yard of pace from last year. Isa showed some pretty good centre play for a SR. There were some good performances all round.

I’d like to have seen more from Bullock in his first spell though the second was better. It was a shame for Hanley however it was a solid performance overall.

I still feel we are missing an extra grown up at prop. We have the makings of an excellent pack in a few years time but IMO are overly reliant on youngsters.

Totally agree.

Bullock seems to need taking off and an @r£e kicking to make an impact.

His first spell was really poor.

I’d give Clarke a run without doubt next week.

The problem with some of the idiots that populate this board, Jon, is that they have yet to learn that a game lasts 80 minutes.

No, he's belittling them because they don't know their a*se from their elbow.

Exactly what was it about the rugby played in the 2nd half that you didn't like?

The thing that confused me with people slamming the team at half time was that I thought we played pretty well in that first half. That was always going to be the time of the game Wakey came after us and they threw everything they had at us. We defended our socks off, the young forwards turned the game and we gained control of the match going in to half time. The hard work of that first half set the game up for us.

I’ve never been convinced by Lam and I’m still not overly confident he’ll bring trophies home this season but any talk of him being shown the door based on that first half was pretty ordinary.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) it shows people up for what they are. I'm sick of the "I've not renewed my season ticket because of the rugby we're playing" brigade to be honest. It's utter nonsense. The rugby we're playing under Lam is at least as good as anything since superleague began, with the possible exception of a couple years in the early 2010s. For the most part it's a hell of a lot better.

People used to go on about Wayne's rugby being boring but at least the defence is magnificent. We'll firstly it wasn't always and secondly the defence this current team shows is among the best, most commited I've seen from any Wigan team of any era. It's only 3 games ago that we saw one of the greatest defensive displays of the superleague era for God's sake!

I'll also add to that the resilience we've seen to score 20 then 34 unanswered points in the last 2 games, missing almost our entire first choice backline, has been testament to that.

Attacking wise there is no comparison. Some of the attack last season and already this has been a joy to watch. French, alone, last season was worth the (proverbial) ticket price!

That’s what I don’t get the entertainment factor week in week out has improved significantly under Lam and generally our defence is fantastic.

So these comments coming in a half where we actually played from a coaching point of view some very good structured attacking rugby, but individual errors failed to see us execute the play, are just bizarre.

We, had the balls stuck and were it not for player error could have put 3 or 4 tries on in the first half too.

In the second half we used the same structures and plays as we did in the first half, the difference was we were more composed and clinical. The way the team played in either the first or second half from a coaching point of view didn’t really change.

I agree with keeping Lam but you rate this team a lot higher than I do. I'd take any Maguire or Wane side since 2010 (with the exception of 2017) ahead of this one in terms of who would win, as our pack is far too weak. We are more exciting to than most Wane sides though which is ultimately what I pay for.

The actual 2017 side would beat this side IMO.

Some of the rugby we’ve played under Lam has been nothing shy of shocking. Equally some of the rugby we’ve played under Lam has been nothing shy of scintillating with a defence to boot (ala the first half yesterday and the second half).

Like NK I’m still not convinced by Lam. 2 seasons of inconsistent drivel with the occasional scattering of scintillation just didn’t cut it for me. However I can’t sit here and type this with a straight face and say we’ve not been up to task [iso far [/ithis season. We took the kitchen sink from Leigh and Wakefield in our respectful games in the first half and dominated completely in the second. I’ve still not seen the full Wakefield game owing to the hospital not having strong enough Wi-fi to stream the game (

) so I’ll steer clear of commenting on that too much but my over riding concern is this sitting back and letting the other team come at us and hitting them on the counter may not succeed versus the better teams such as - well the only better team currently in SL IMO - in Saints.

But the start has been promising. It’s shown us a few things in that we are dogged (still) and willing to do the tough stuff (still) and that we can play some incredible rugby, even with a few of our ‘star players’ still missing. I genuinely am looking forward to this season, it’s between us and St Helens for the lot IMHO and that’s not being big headed or over confident, I just don’t see a serious challenger from the rest of the pack (Hull FC maybe but I think they’ll drop off) to either of us.

Bullock isn’t a starting prop, he’s an impact prop. Will work great coming off the bench to tired defences.

You misunderstand me Grimmy. I'm not saying it's the best team we've had. I'm saying the effort and determination, along with the application in defence is as good as anything we've had in Superleague, regardless of personnel. In attack we have shown more flair and 'heads up' rugby than we have since 2012.

If you believe this team isn't as good, particularly in the forwards, as previous ones then that reinforces what I've been saying. Unless, of course, you don't agree that our attack is more exciting to watch or that our defence is as good as previously, in which case I can only, with respect, disagree.

Some of the rugby we've played under every coach we've ever had, including Monie and Lowe, has been shocking. It's not a new phenomenon.

I don't know whether Lam is the man to take us forward or not but I do know we have made significant strides in the latter half of last season and, given the circumstances, so far this, particularly in attack. This season will tell us much more. If we get an improvement again this year we are very likely to land a trophy.

Whatever happens this season we need to make a longer term call on Lam for me at some point this year. Is he good enough? If he is then give him a minimum two year deal to just give it a more settled feel. If they don’t think he is, then find somebody they do feel they can appoint on more than a year to year deal. It may be the case that Lam himself doesn’t want to commit to more than a year at a time due to family commitments but unfortunately for me that isn’t good enough. He’s far from being a proven first team coach and there are plenty of guys with good records who would love the job.

I think (sadly) the bigger question will (again) be... can we get anyone better?

It's very different a player coming from Australia during Covid vs. a coach. Players usually don't have families, kids etc. and coaching in NRL is hugely different. They have more resources, more staff, better facilities.

That decision is huge IMHO, the biggest IL will make. There are signs his style is starting being imprinted on the side and if he were offered a 2yr deal now I’d be content with it given the back end of last season and the 2 games so far this season. I think what helps him is that the league is so poor at the moment with only Wigan and St Helens realistically in with a shout of winning trophies. Given we [ishould [/ibe winning every other game (I know we won’t) and therefore be in the top 2 of SL, it may show he’s better than what he actually is. Any lower is unacceptable.

If we wish to not just compete for trophies but go out and win them we need to recruit at least one experienced prop that makes hard yards, to help those young lads. The first two games this season, as well as a number of games last season (grand final included) shows we struggled to get out of our own territory for large periods.

Win the territory and we are better than most teams 100% of the time.

Burgess was meant to be that player, it hasn't happened, he's gone. We need to replace and quickly in my opinion. If we don't we end up nearly men again, and Lam will be no doubt on his way out.

Lammy is Cherry & White to the core & I'd be happy for him to stay on as coach until Lockers is ready to take the big step.
And I definitely wasn't saying that during his first year in charge.
Loved him as a player -- Not so much as a coach.
He has won me over though tbf.
The only issue I have, is who he picks between Zak & Bev for FB?
My thoughts are pretty clear ... But that's maybe a different discussion, for another time.