Reaction to Today's game..

1st half was encouraging, we had control of the game and looked dangerous in possession. I fully expected that to set the pattern for the remainder of the match, but unfortunately we took our foot off the gas and made some silly errors which ultimately gave Wigan a victory that they barely deserved. I was disappointed by some of the Wigan players attitude to the game, I thought it was supposed to be a friendly. Some of the tackling, high shots and behaviour of their players was not in keeping with a pre season game. They game to rough us up a bit and it worked. Thought our catching game was superb, B. Hodgson looks assured every single time the ball is in the air....likewise D.Hodgson and Aspy. Lawrence and Whatuira had excellent first halves, Crabtree and Kirmond looked solid when they came on. Brett probably played a bit within himself today, although as I said his catching was faultless and he did grow in the second half. Kevin Brown looked decent in the first half, but fell away badly in the second stanza.

We do look quite predictable though and think we may struggle to upset the better sides this season. Still saw enough to suggest we should make the top eight!

I am really concerned about Brett Hodgson's goal kicking abilities, i really am! the rest of him is great, its just his goal kicking! whats the matter with him?

True, good point there. It did look a bit off today didn't it. Was it equally as poor against Cas?

For the first half our defence was top notch, movement of the ball excellent.
Scott Moore was my MoM, a big effort in both attack & defence.

Bit of a concern about the second half but generally I feel quite positive. With 3 weeks to go there is a good base to work with.

Thought Brett Hodgson had a mixed game but his defensive positioning was superb along with his catching.

JudgeB wrote:

For the first half our defence was top notch, movement of the ball excellent.
Scott Moore was my MoM, a big effort in both attack & defence.

Bit of a concern about the second half but generally I feel quite positive. With 3 weeks to go there is a good base to work with.

Thought Brett Hodgson had a mixed game but his defensive positioning was superb along with his catching.

Agree with every word of that. Got Danny Kirmonds try on video which i'm trying to upload as I type. It's a beauty!!!! I'll get it on here shortly.

To be honest in the 1st half it would be difficult to pick a player out from our side who played badly. They all looked up for it and prepared to graft. It just looked like we ran out of steam and desire to see the game out in the second half. Maybe the lads felt the game was already won and that allowed Wigan to bounce back and steal the win.

Hope that for the new season the refs start to take more notice of trainers on the field. Forshaw spent more time on the pitch than some players.

first half was excelloent, defensively and attack, 2nd we looked like our old selves making errors and not defending close to the line, im sure NB will work on tha though, up the giants

Another disappointing aspect of today's game was the crowd, just over 3,000. In the Antich the most vocal support was coming from the Wigan speccies, didn't we sell nay on 6,000 season tickets?

and most of them were wigan fans, mind you i only saw most of them at the end when they scored

the last two wigan trys were scored when we started changing the team around,we brought lunt,cudjoeand walsh on just before the last two trys.
over all we where unlucky not to win

Do not worry about Hodgsons kicking. He is a class kicker with an 80% average. He will practice and practice and practice his kicking and will be fine.

he is the consumate professional and will do everything he has to do to improve. that is why nathan Brown has made him captain.

Durham Giant wrote:

Do not worry about Hodgsons kicking. He is a class kicker with an 80% average. He will practice and practice and practice his kicking and will be fine.

he is the consumate professional and will do everything he has to do to improve. that is why nathan Brown has made him captain.

Ok i hope so:)

so hes actually captain now? :O

Got to admit I was shocked at Hodgsons missing his conversions having seen him in NRL comfortably getting tricky kicks over. In fact he seems to be kicking differently though I wonder if he's changed his style to accomodate our weather or pitches??

Didn't really see much today as it seems some wigan kiddies had had too much pop, I spent the match hoping for the skins to break on their drums! Is it no wonder both Giants and Town fans complain so much about drums they don't help the atmosphere one bit!

washy wrote:

Didn't really see much today as it seems some wigan kiddies had had too much pop, I spent the match hoping for the skins to break on their drums! Is it no wonder both Giants and Town fans complain so much about drums they don't help the atmosphere one bit!

Giants have just got to ban drums (plus any other instruments) from the ground.
The atmosphere is good enough without the constant thump from some imbecile who finds it fun to irritate the hell out of me & probably many others.

I think Hodgson's kicking will be fine - trouble is he wont have been training on that pitch so wont have the angles down yet but I am sure he will be fine.

Enjoyed the game as a whole, showed lots of promise, Scott Moore was fantastic.

I reckon Hodgson is captain. he led the team out, gave the half time talk on the pitch, was giving the instructions when they scored, approached the ref and was giving all the chat to th other players.

I would not take a bet against Hodgson being captain no matter what odds you gave me.

dannablue wrote:

I think Hodgson's kicking will be fine - trouble is he wont have been training on that pitch so wont have the angles down yet but I am sure he will be fine.

Enjoyed the game as a whole, showed lots of promise, Scott Moore was fantastic.

Good point, he's too good to not sort his kicking out. Like you said once he is familiar with the pitch he'll be banging them over with his eyes closed.

Scott Moore did have a good game today and by all accounts at Cas too. When he burst onto the scene with Saints he was being hyped as the next great thing (a bit like Kev Brown at Wigan I guess). For whatever reason it hasn't clicked for him in his Super League career thus far, but he might just have joined the right club at the right time and could prove a hugely useful player to us during a long and gruelling season!

(My Wife wanted to point this next bit out!) Stephen Wild was constantly working today, always backing up and supporting his team mates. The guy is fantastic, and if I were him I would feel a bit p*%£!& off not to have been given the Captaincy, if as has been said on here it has been handed to Hodgson. The man showed great loyality by snubbing St.Helens to stay waith us, and he never gives less than 110%. He was the greatest signing Jon Sharp made during his spell in charge.

Durham Giant wrote:

I reckon Hodgson is captain. he led the team out, gave the half time talk on the pitch, was giving the instructions when they scored, approached the ref and was giving all the chat to th other players.

I would not take a bet against Hodgson being captain no matter what odds you gave me.

All true that! congrats to teh lad if so he will do well

Can everyone view the video of Kirmonds try on the 1st page of this thread? Someone told me it was just a still image and had no play button.

It works for me!

and me Ponner

Thanks for that !!

works fine,next time get all the trys.

bostock wrote:

works fine,next time get all the trys.

They don't call me sky sports you kow!!!