Wigan Warriors fans give their verdict on the derby defeat to St Helens and look ahead to the Challenge Cup tie against Warrington Wolves

Robert Kenyon

The Saints game was a bitter pill to swallow because our forwards got bullied off the pitch, albeit with special mention to Kaide Ellis and Morgan Smithies who ran their blood to water.

The rest didn’t rise to the challenge and some players should be embarrassed at their performance.

For me I’d send a few of them with bad attitudes out on loan to give them a reality check so they appreciate playing for the greatest rugby league club in the world.

For the Warrington game I’d be bringing back Powell at nine, I’d give Hampshire a go at six and I’d bring in Hill for Mago and Nsemba for Shorrocks.

In fact I’d go as far to say Mago may as well go now.

Go out on loan to anyone who’ll have him with immediate effect, there’s lads in the academy who’ll take more than three drives in a derby- that’s pathetic.

I’d happily play Harvie Hill, Joe Brown, Max Wood or Harvey Makin before Mago.

With regards to next season, there’s a few off contract.

We need to beef up our pack and get some size, because Farrell, Shorrocks and Smithies is a small back row.

Without stunting Nsemba’s journey into the first team ,we need a big strong running back rower in the Curtis Sironen mould, some 6ft 5 17 stone athlete who runs hard, runs good lines and tackles his socks off, someone like Tariq Sims or Tyson Frizell.

We also need a metre eating prop to complement Ellis, Havard and Byrne.

I’d throw the cheque book at Christian Welch or Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, maybe Liam Knight from Souths.

I know the above players might cost a fair few quid but surely there are people watching the lower leagues in NRL and Championship and can spot a bargain to help build a strong team.

I also think we are missing Lee Briers’ contribution to the side in the way we respond to the opposition.

I don’t think we react quick enough and carry on with plan A for too long.

Against Saints we were too lateral, a big second rower running back inside would have put that doubt in the defenders minds and punched holes through, that’s what we were missing in my opinion.

Warrington are on a high, they’re playing well, they’ve got pace and a big pack so unless our forwards muscle up then they’ll walk all over us.

Saying that, the best way to tire their big pack is the offload and promote that second phase, I hope we do that on Sunday otherwise we’ll struggle.

Here’s to hoping anyway.

Darren Wrudd

I can honestly say that I did not expect to win that one so perhaps it did not sting me as much as others have.

It is always hard to take, being beaten in such a manner by the old enemy.

Although the club will not offer excuses and blame players, or the lack of them through injury, it has obviously hit us hard and we need to find some rhythm once again in our general play.

The space offered by a dominant pack cannot be underestimated and with Havard, Cooper, Pearce-Paul and Isa missing, that is a lot of energy that we are missing mid field.

Singleton came back and his first impact had him rocked back on his heels by Paasi, he showed amazing toughness to get up and carry on.

We are definitely light in the forwards and a group of injuries there would always take its toll.

The injuries to Cust, Field, Thornley and Marshall have all meant that swaps and changes have had to be done and we all know that the team at the top is often the one whose injury list is small and the starting 17 almost unchanged.

It is too early to worry though and I don’t rank with the ‘don’t panic Captain Mainwaring’ brigade just yet.

Watching Matt Peet learn his craft over the years has been great to see and he is no stranger to jeopardy in sport.

He will know what needs to change better than all of us and is an honest and hard working man who will spell it out clearly to each squad member exactly how they will need to improve their own game.

What does that mean rolling forward to this weekend's Challenge Cup tie.

Well it is not going to be a pushover and we certainly need to approach the game with the right state of mind.

If we do stay on plan with our defensive play and try to dominate when we get the chance to, we can give our backs the room they need to shine and we all know where that can lead.

So I am quietly confident and positive about this weekend and can see us pulling out a performance which not many will expect to see.

I am looking forward to it and watching some of the guys play with their heads up, enjoying the game.

David Bailey

Another sobering defeat at the hands of the old enemy, and the pressure is starting to mount on a wounded Wigan.

There are many questions surrounding the Warriors at the moment, and unfortunately, it's difficult to offer up any solutions.

Everyone knew that the club had loaded up the salary cap on the backline but right now it is in the forwards where Wigan are sadly lacking.

Those early season victories over Leigh, Saints and Warrington seem a lifetime ago.

Saints avenged Good Friday in style and really put Wigan to the sword, leapfrogging them in the table in the process.

Jack Welsby was again a thorn in the side, and I wouldn't be sorry to see him try his hand in Australia.

Of course we should be looking to keep the best talent in Superleague but anything to deplete Saints is fine with me.

Next up, it's Warrington Wolves, another side out for revenge who are currently tussling with Catalans for the top spot.

Hopefully this weekend the lads will remember that terrific day out at Tottenham last May and will pull out all the stops to continue on the road to Wembley.

Although I don't fear missing out on the playoffs just yet, Wigan's 6th place is looking precarious and a cup run will instil some much needed confidence.

The key this weekend is closing George Williams down, I am sure Joe Shorrocks will be given that task after his impressive role at the Halliwell Jones earlier in the season.

In the first part of the season, Warriors conceded just 111 points in 11 games, averaging 10 points per game.

The last 5 games alone they have conceded 142 at over 28 points per game. It isn't hard to see where the issue lies, but solving it is an entirely different proposition.

Matty Peet has the conundrum of fitting Field and French into his team effectively and for me, French has been the better fullback so far. Neither of them have the authority to partner Smith at halfback.

Maybe one of them with Cust at half back is worth a roll of the dice.

Peet has made brave decisions such as dropping Powell, and the side story of Toby King is another tale for the day.

Stephen Ford

An anticipated, but still difficult , defeat against Saints extended our poor run since May.

Injuries are partly to blame, particularly the absence of Cooper and Havard, but even with a full team available I still think that Saints would have beaten us in a canter.

The most disappointing aspect is that it should have been far worse, as Saints coasted the final 20 minutes, otherwise a +50 point defeat was very much on the cards.

The problem boils down to a thin and inexperienced squad.

The back row is also too lightweight in the extreme.

A poor pack that just cannot handle a big aggressive intense opponent has been laid bare against Catalans twice and Saints in a matter of fact defeat.

Even with an intact pack, it just isn’t good enough against most packs in the league.

If we are not careful we may struggle to get a top six place as we will be competing with Salford, HKR, Leigh for the three remaining places, assuming that Saints, Catalans and Wire will fill the top three.

We started the season with no experienced halfback to support Smith and the back row with just Kai Pearce-Paul to cover the second row.

We have a number of props but none of them are top drawer.

Havard and Ellis are ok and maybe Cooper if he can recover from his injury, but the remainder are just not good enough.

We need a minimum of two proven and experienced props and backrow forwards plus an experienced halfback who can kick from hand and ideally also kick goals.

To do this I think will take two years, so another year in 2024 where we won’t really compete for the Grand Final. Not a surprising state of affairs but still very disappointing.

The Challenge Cup on Sunday hopefully could give us a chance of some silverware.

Wire are stuttering a bit at the moment but in all honesty I just don’t think that we can score enough points to deliver a much needed victory.

I expect Powell and Hampshire to return with Havard hopefully also making the 17.

We need to get back to the intensity we showed against Saints and Wire earlier in the season but that form now looks like a mirage as our confidence has disappeared and I am not sure how Peet can turn it around.

If Wire can get a good start then we will be in trouble and another good hiding could be on the cards. I expect some improvement from us but anticipate a defeat by at least 12 points.

Glynn Bradshaw

Another week, another defeat.

Although we weren’t embarrassed as we were against Catalans, we were still soundly beaten.

We were competitive in the first half, but needed to score first after half time.

Once Saints crossed through Paasi, I think we all knew it was game over.

I think Peet is unsure which team to put out at the moment, and there were some surprising omissions, but French at stand off is not something I think we should repeat.

Personally I think we should put Bevan back on the wing, leave Field at fullback and play Cust at stand-off.

This seems a little harsh on Miski who has performed really well, but will give us greater width in our attacking options, with pace on both flanks.

Looking forward to Sunday, it’s yet another tough game.

Inevitably in the Challenge Cup, as you can’t use your season ticket, the gate will be adversely affected, in particular the home support, especially with the game on TV too.

It’s hard to be optimistic at the moment, but the potential inclusion of Havard would be a big boost, and give us a bit of size in the middle against a sizable Wire pack.

As usual we need to get off to a good start and try to gain some good field position, and build some pressure, hopefully leading to some points

Here’s hoping, fingers crossed.