Not a big fan of the WCC so I did not bother watching the game. Saw the 5 minutes of highlights; is that referee related to Barry Gomersall by any chance?
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You wouldnāt call that a classic game but Wigan did turn up and at best it was a good trial game for us.
Sadly the Ref calls were terrible and not even close to a 50/50 call, some of them were just terrible.
I know its only game 1 of a very long season but i saw some issues which IC will need to address.
Wigan exposed our left side on many occasions and not sure we were not trusting our players on the inside and we didnāt adjust. If that is the biggest issue we can fix it but IMO May showed what he did many times when he was playing before his injury, he just doesnāt look to pass when an opportunity to do so is there. Would Crichton have chipped infield when he fluffed the first try?
I know he is no Crichton but we struggled to finish and when we opened them up in the middle we have no players in support or players in support in bad positions.
Wigan also just missed on the very smart play of kicking from the Scrum and many coaches will put that play in the memory bank.
Cole was OK but didnāt show what i had hoped to see from him but he wasnt alone. Cleary looked off his game as well.
i said it last year but if Peach is our best option on the bench, we do have problems and those concerns persist,
Without Crichton and Luai on the field, i donāt know where we will see points come from we will need to win games.
As i said its game 1 and 2 of their tries were not tries but in a long season, you will get calls which go against us and we just didnāt seem to have any creativity, we just looked to get into a grind which suited Wigan and maybe was our game plan but to win a comp you need firepower to outscore the other mob.
But great to see the footy back and hope Turuva is not badly hurt and the boys pull up OK.
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To be honest, Iām just happy itās over and we can get on with the season proper.
For the teams first hit out to go down to āSuper Leagues Bestā by 4 (under questionable circumstances) wasnāt too bad considering.
Roll on to Round 1 v Melbourne at home.
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On another site I saw mention that the referee came from Wigan.
Surely not I thought; until I got Mr Google on the case. Turns out he is indeed from Wigan.
So, the ref comes from Wigan. Doesnāt that just tell a story. Both of those tries in question should have been treated the same way. If anything, Mayās try was the more certain. If both go to VAR with the same on-field adjudication, then we win. Toss in the Martin non-strip and youāve got the triple whammy, plus the forward passes for the Wigan first try is sus. I think the question about the referees familial links is apt; he really might have been Gommersalās love child.
Iām a big fan of the Peach, but not as a centre. He and Garner are surely too slow. But I think that May might be better on the wing, so thatās a conundrum for IC. Whatever, the comment about our leaky LHS is sadly true. The team chosen for round 1 will be interesting.
The game was there for the taking. Itās tough to accept being the dominant team for so much of the match without converting field position into points. Letās hope that it is just pre-season rust.
One of the most frustrating events for fans or coaches is stuff-ups in the play-the-ball. The opposition canāt strike, so it is inexcusable. It happens too frequently. Leota did that on their 10 yard line; that must sorely test ICās famous nonchalance.
Final comment ā the English dead ball lines are a dangerous joke. That field seemed to be a soccer pitch. They need to have a dedicated RL ground, or remove a few rows of seats at the ends of the grounds so that a reasonable depth of dead ball can be accommodated.
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Iām hearing we got beat in our trial gameā¦Note: Iām more than happy to lose this game if we keep winning the NRL GF!
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This is pretty much the point. If both the tries were treated the same (he didnāt have line of sight in both cases to his own admission on field) then the result would be the same. His inconsistency cost Penrith the game, bias or not.
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Honestly, Iād forgotten I had a log-in here, but as I haveā¦ 
Interested to read your comments. If I was a Panthers fan, Iād feel pretty hard done by too. I donāt think there was anything to suggest May got the ball down at the end, but sure, Wardleās try looked much more dubious. But there were a few other decisions in the game too, both ways. And at the end of the day, we restricted you to 12 points, which was a wonderful defensive effort. And we showed the we can create tries even against the best defences. I am so proud of my club.
I said before the game, Iād rather have an Aussie ref. I still think that, I think it was a poor choice.
I should also mention that the classy responses of Ivan and Nathan Cleary, who took the trouble to spend a long time with young fans after the game, doing selfies and signing autographs, was much appreciated by Wigan fans.
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Liam Moore is born in Wigan I believe he is also Wigan Warriors supporter. He should been investigated by the governing body Uk Super League Ceo by Tony Sutton. The referee should of been neutral country from New Zealand or France.
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I donāt know if there are too many quality refs outside Australia & UK that would allow a neutral ref.
My suggestion is one country provides the ref & 1 touch judge, the other country supplies the video ref & other touch judge.
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I personally donāt care who the ref is or where they are from. All I want is consistency in decisions. Both the Wigan and Penrith try were in positions that the ref could not get a clean angle on. So you would assume the ruling would be the sameā¦ Video Refereeā¦ same ruling (try or no try) when they VR canāt find anything to overturn the result is the same.
Instead we go two different responses for similar events.
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I agree with the neutral ref idea.
Time to start training up refs in NZ, France and in the future PNG.
Wether the bias was rap or not it was poor decisions and calls.
Kudos to Wigan and the wider greater Manchester community, you certainly turned it on for our boys, and showed your true community spirit.
Hopefully whilst super league is played in the UK summer we can have an NRL/SL Super Bowl game 1 or 2 weeks post the grand finals.
But that said, media reports saying the NRL are going to buy Super League and revert it to a winter season,
That would destroy the concept.
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I canāt believe that āNRL to buy SLā idea has legs. Sounds like newspaper talk/clickbait to me. Would NRL coaches even want that? Their players swanning over to the UK in the (Aussie) summer, and risking injury/fatigue? We are not in the 70s/80s now. I remember when we had a French ref at one time, he was so appalling that the video ref literally had to argue with him cos he didnāt know the laws! Many SL clubs (Wigan one of them) share stadia with football clubs. Playing in the winter here would be very problematic, to say the least.
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I agree completely, letās face it English summer is like our winter for the most part - yes I do know there are exceptions.
I think it more likely they would spend the money on a League game playing in the centre of randwick racecourse during the Everest 
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Two Wigan Warriors supporters received a classy response from Penrith Panthers after writing to the NRL giants to thank them for the part they played in a memorable World Club Challenge.
Supporters John and Tricia Pattison wrote to the Australian three-peat champions following Saturdayās clash in front of a sell-out crowd, impressed by their dignity in defeat as Wigan claimed a record-equalling fifth World Club Challenge with a 16-12 victory
Superstar Nathan Cleary took his time taking selfies with supporters inside the DW Stadium following the full-time hooter, with the game a major boost for the profile of the sport live on the BBC and Sky Sports.
Replying to the impressed Wigan supporters, Penrith Panthers Rugby League CEO Matt Cameron, wrote: āFirstly, thank you for your kind words about our club and our players and coaches.
One of our aspirational goals at the Panthers is to be a source of community pride so to see our players transfer that passion to your community is something that we really value.
"Although as Panthers we were disappointed with the result, I think rugby league in the UK was the winner on the night.
āI had the opportunity to be on the sideline as last yearās Grand Final kicked off with 85,000 people at ANZ Stadium but it did not compare to the noise that 24,000 Wigan fans made last night and it was something I will never forget.
āAgain thanks for your feedback. In the world we live in today, itās very easy to catch somebody doing the wrong thing so when we catch them doing the right thing, it makes us very proud.ā
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