Both games we could and should have lost

Yeah but we didn't we won. We also could and should have been out of sight after 20 minutes in the two home games against Wire and Saints. IMO there isn't a great deal to choose between us, Wire, Saints and Leeds this season and any one of those four teams could take the big prize in the GF. My main concern is that the other three teams all have players who have won finals before, whereas we are relatively inexperienced on the field when it comes to playing in finals (only Pat, Deacon, Fielden and Tommy have any sort of final experience in our current squad)

I wouldn't worry about burnout yet. The only year I saw real burnout at Leeds was 2005 when we got to (and lost) the CC final and GF, and looked a dreadfully tired team in the GF. Wigan will have played a few games less than Leeds, Wire and Sts and that should help come the playoffs.

I can't believe how dramatic some people are being about this. The Wire game was a must win for them, they had a full strength side out and the rain helped their forwards get on top far more than they would have done anyway given the fact we were without Coley who has arguably been our best prop this year. Fielden and Prescott both played longer than usual and in energy sapping conditions against the biggest pack in the league and under normal circumstances Fielden would have been given far longer to rest after taking a really heavy hit. Piggy was missed when he went off too with McIlorum being out but this would have been far less of a problem had we had Coley in because he would have lessened everyone's workload. I think people are making a bit too much of the opening 20 mins or so too. Sure they made mistakes with the ball in hand but their defence was fired up and very effective as would be expected from a top side with a huge pack, loads of games against decent defensive sides take a while to get going, look at the Hudds game in Edinburgh for example.

Wire then replaced Carvell who looked like a liability just as we were starting to feel the effects of the opening hits at a time where we would normally be bringing a fresh prop on and rotating the hookers. They had their period of dominance, out muscling us and targeting the ball exceptionally well and we made a lot of mistakes both forced and unforced but we were clearly and understandably knackered at this point yet despite this and the fact that Amos too looked injured and lacking in confidence it still came down to the last few minutes and we were still in the game. Had Pat kicked the penalty in the first half instead of us deciding to tap the ball we'd have had an extra couple of points or if Prescott had managed to hold on to the ball after we tapped the ball (as he would have done in better weather) we may well have scored who knows, on another day Briers may well have missed the drop goal Pat might have grounded the ball and Carmont's foot might stayed out of touch in the same way as for them Solomona could and should have scored against us at their place. Look the best team won but Tony Smith summed it up in a nutshell when he spoke after the game, some times an inch can make all the difference when good teams play each other but all the players were committed.

If any of us had seen the respective team sheets early on in the season, let alone 12 months ago we'd have probably expected Wire to have put 50 points on us regardless of poor weather, Amos not being right, Fielden being concussed, a few harsh calls (blatant forward pass eg) etc etc.

The biggest positives from this game all things considered are that despite THEIR huge periods of dominance they only beat us by 7 points in a must win game and as we have demonstrated before this season, Saints home game without Lockers for example, continued to throw everything at them until the final whistle suggesting that any notion of burnout, particularly from players at other teams is wishful thinking on their part or possibly even mindgames rather than based on any real evidence. You could see by the reaction of the Wire players at the end that they had been in a really tough game and it meant everything to them.

I really wouldn't want to be Hull on Friday particularly if a couple of their players end up getting banned. Leeds, saints us and Wire are all capable of beating each other on their day and we now have a point to prove to all of them after some narrow defeats so whichever of these teams we face in the playoffs we have a further incentive to win, not that we need one and we also have the advantage at least over Saints and Leeds that we have been playing to a consistently high level throughout the season. Warrington will be full of confidence but the fact we are out of the cup could be a major advantage to us when it comes to the final few games.

A good post and I fully agree, the thing on this forum is that for some people the highs and lows are way over the top in either direction. We lost one game by 7 points anyone would think we had been battered.

Fact is we are still top by 2 points and all the remaining games are winnable (and even if not are Warrington going to win all their remaining games??). Given this with pretty much the same team as last year I think just about every fan would have taken the position we are in at this time last year.

Burn-out - hardly.