By modern superleague standards at centre Moon is a pretty good one but in the grand scheme of things he's not all that. He does a couple of flashy eye catching things but Hall isn't exactly being given 5 chances a game to finish by Moon.



Dare I say it but I think both Leeds centres are overrated. Imagine the trys and assists centres like Gary Connelly,Paul Newlove and Jamie Lyon would rack up at this current standard!

Moon is a very good player and his defensive work is consistently very good especially considering he has often had two HB's defending outside him when Burrow is on at hooker. Even though he had a good season last year he just doesn't have a truly natural position. Hall's try tallies started to drop as soon as Moon arrived.

I am sure you are right in his defensive qualities however, he is a perfect example of the modern day thinking that players must be flexible and play in several positions even if they don't have the capabilities to play in some positions.

Hall is one of the best wingers I have ever seen and these days he relies on kicks for a significant proportion of his tries and rarely gets a chance with ball in hand with a bit of space to work with. It is a sad indictment on the game that wingers today rely primarily on kicks for try opportunities. We have the same issue with both of our wingers.

I really do believe its a lot to do with how we play. We are the polar opposite to your team who all play within a structure and to set plans, where it has tended to be more off the cuff plays at Leeds that has brought us success the last decade. Ryan Hall would be getting 30 plus tries in your team over the last few years, where he has been starved of good ball for us at times and Moon like you say isn't a wingers centre for all his other qualities which adds to the lack of potency on the flanks at times. Watkins too is under used by us in good attacking positions, at times he looks a world beater and has it in him to rip any side to shreds but doesn't do it, or doesn't get the chance to it often enough. The defensive side of his game has come on leaps and bounds the last couple of seasons though.

Leeds overall style of play affects Halls try tally as well to be fair to Moon. They throw the ball about and I'd guess they score a higher percentage of their trys around the middle then us for example. If Hall was at Wigan he'd have scored 30 trys every year for the past five years because we always target the flanks. In that time our wingers haven't always had centres of the calibre of Watkins or Moon alongside them but the trys keep coming.



Whilst I've stated above I think Watkins and Moon are overrated I'd still say they're two of the best 3 or 4 currently kicking around the league.

Exceptional achievement. Wonder what the record is for SL? i would guess it was Saints at some point at KR.

Weird!



Typing pretty much the same at the same time.



I obviously fully agree

Ryan Hall is a good player, but all this WBW business... I was watching the NRL last night and it struck me. Know who Hall reminds me of? Josh Mansour. He's a good player, but no-one would call him the WBW.

Tbf the WBW name was given around 2011/12 around the time he scored some top class tries at international (the one in the corner when Slater broke his collarbone for example) and was MOM in the 2012 WCC and was still scoring a lot of tries. He still comes up with moments like the 2 vs Cas in the cup final and the playoff one vs Saints that help remind you why it was first coined. Like others have said I think he'd have gotten 30 tries a year these last few seasons had he been on Wigan's wing.

....and Delaney, Handley and Golding

Get the violins out! Leeds have hardly had a cold for ten years so people aren't going to start feeling sorry for a club with 6 or 7 injuries when most clubs have carried that at various points for years.



Wigan had more quality sat in the stands then Leeds tonight, now there's a thought!!

Of course it makes sense. What he meant was we brought players through the junior set up back then just as we do now. It's not a new thing. Players like Betts, Edwards and plenty of others were products of the Wigan junior set up and this carried on with players like Radlinski, Farrell and onto Lockers. It's always been a feature of Wigan. We no more bought success any more than Leeds (and Widnes before us) tried or did in Widnes case.



What has changed over recent years at Wigan is in my opinion there has been too much reliance on the academy and a reluctance to address weaknesses in the side by going for a better class of recruit or some experience from outside the club. Leeds have had that balance right over recent seasons.

He was the best in the world a couple of years ago, being named in the world XIII 3 times in 4 years, but recently he is bombing too many opportunities and the title of WBW belongs to big Semi Radradra



However (and I know im bias in I see more of him than most) imo Watkins is the current best centre in the world. Im basing this on the fact that the NRL currently has no real superstars at centre, the Dally M centre of the year was Roberts who totally relies on pace and has no where near the skill of watkins the same can be said for Jennings, whilst the other top centres in Walker and fergason have been moved to 6 and 1, and Whare has dropped form significantly

That basically leaves Watkins competing with Reed and Chambers for being the best centre in the world imo

The sad reality, and this is no slight on Watkins, Hall or anyone else is you can't claim to be the worlds best anything unless you are playing in the NRL.

I know Leeds have a lot of injuries, but it was also sad to see the narcolepsy that has afflicted the team when they are in the tackle... Get well soon guys.

Hahahahaha. Watkins better than Jennings, Roberts & Whare, I've heard it all now

Woah, a whole new level of idiocy has been reached here: If you ignore his considerable defensive inabilities he may be in the top 20, however you can't and his woeful defence makes him the epitome of bang average.



The WBW has never been the World's best winger either, I can't think of one performance against Wigan where he bested his opposite winger.

Cheers Itchy. I just got back, opted to take the bike cos of Friday motorway congestion, and it still took me six hours, even with some pretty spirited filtering through stationary traffic. Anyway, no dramas like my last trip to the DW by bike





Be interested to watch the game back later on, but my thoughts at the time were, Leeds were really poor. We weren't great either and dropped a lot of ball, but if I was a Leeds fan I'd be furious about the capitulation in the second half. Gelling's try, FFS! Good opportunism by him, but shameful defence. You can't blame that on injuries.



As others have commented, given that our two most creative players weren't on the pitch, and hopefully will be fairly soon, I think we can look forward to the rest of the season with some confidence.

Just watched the tries back on Wigan TV, and there is even less excuse for Gelling's try from Leeds' POV, cos Bateman *nearly* did exactly the same thing shortly before, so it's not like they weren't warned.

My only concerns regarding Friday's stroll in the park win is that we didn't score 50 points,

As IMO Leeds were that bad and were there for the taking big time

If Sam, Joel, Williams, McIlorum played it would have been.



Wigan are doing well with key players.

It really is going to be interesting to see how we can get on when Sam, Joel and Williams are all back in and it will be interesting to see how we line up. I was hugely encouraged with the positions that Sarginson got in to on Friday but his execution was off. If he can sort that I wonder if we need another hooker or could we potentially get Sam Tomkins in at 6 and let Williams share the hooking role? Another interesting decision will be who starts in that back row when Joel is back. Does he now play from the bench? Or do we go with Lockers back at prop and Bateman at 13.



Great to have options like that.

considerable defensive inabilities? GF he made 30 tackle no misses and still had the energy to burn your team on the outside for Mcguires 2nd

You guys love to slate Watkins, giving him ridiculous stick whenever he has a bad game, but I honestly cant think of one international game where he has been completely bested by his opposite??? not in the last couple of years anyway, even when he played his worst international game last year in game 3 he still managed to beat his man one on one numerous times.



The sad fact is people wont accept a SL player is better than an NRL player until they go to the NRL and prove it, did anyone think that Graham was the best prop in the world until he went to the NRL? but he was named worlds best prop in his first season



Ryan Halls strike rate against Australia is ridiculous, its his performances in big games that is why he was named the IRL top winger in 2011, 2012 and 2014

But like I said he makes too many mistakes now to still be classed as WBW



Edit: I will admit though that the quality of NRL centres is at a bit of a lull, if GI was still a centre then there wouldn't even be a conversation

I'm not sure what JJB is doing for that try. He just runs towards the sideline and leaves a massive gap. Ridiculously soft try for any level of rugby that!