ON REFLECTION, how disappointing was the defeat against Wigan.

You obviously never like to lose, so in that sense it was very disappointing.

But when you look back at the game as a whole, there wasn’t that much difference between ourselves and them.

With just a couple of minutes to go, there was nothing between us. They’d got two tries from kicks and we’d got one.

That showed there were two very good defensive sides out there, and with very little to choose between them.

Having said that, I thought they were a little better than us for the first 20 minutes, and for the second 20 I felt we were a bit better than them.

It was during that spell we scored our try, but we also had two other very good chances to score and failed to do so.

David Fa’alogo made a break and no-one turned up in support, then Leroy Cudjoe went through and if he’d looked inside he’d have seen Scott Grix was free and would have had a clear run to the line.

And when you’re playing Wigan, or any of the top sides for that matter, these are the chances you simply have to take.

You know that against the top teams you’re usually not going to create that many chances, so when you do you have to make sure you take them.

We saw the results of not doing that against Wigan the other night.

But while you talk about the missed chances, how much credit should go to the Wigan defence for the incredible way in which they kept you out in that second half?

Wigan are a great side, there’s no doubt about that, and their defence was very, very good.

I’m sure that had we been playing against a lesser defence we’d have scored at least four or five tries.

The Wigan players just kept on turning up for each other and that something we have to recognise and appreciate.

When you face a defence like that you just have to make sure you execute exceptionally well. Unfortunately, the other night we couldn’t.

Last Friday night, what we saw was two pretty decent sides out there and playing reasonably well, too.

You threw Joe Wardle in at the deep end by giving him a Giants Super League debut at centre. Were you pleased with the way he handled it?

Joe is another who has trained well throughout pre-season and showed up well in the trial games, so he deserved his chance.

And I thought he had a good, solid game, even though the opposition were so tough.

It showed he certainly has the potential to develop into a good player at this level.

He definitely didn’t look out of place, and that’s a positive thing to say when you consider how big the game was and how intense the game proved to be.

In fact, straight after the game, I spoke to Amos Roberts (the Wigan full-back who had a glittering career in the Australian NRL) and he said it was a very tough game.

Lee Gilmour also said how tough it was, and Gilly’s obviously played in quite a lot of really big games during his time in the game.

So for Joe to come through such a game so well is a real credit to him.

You mentioned Amos Roberts there. Were you disappointed Danny Brough didn’t keep putting high balls up to him in the second half after he had been all at sea with them in the first?

The fact we didn’t do that was probably due to the fact we had slightly better field position after half-time and Broughy was coming up with a few different kicks.

And we were unlucky these didn’t pay off, too.

On one occasion when the ball was kicked along the ground Joe Wardle just missed it, and another time Leroy was close to gathering one.

At the same time, the Wigan defence was hungry and frequently got back into position to cut down our options.

They worked extremely hard to put their bodies between us and the ball.

You obviously made a number of changes from the side that beat Bradford. Were you happy with that decision, given the result?

The decision was taken very early, for instance, not to include four of the five players who had been in camp with the England Knights in the build-up to the Wigan game, as explained last week.

And, at the same time, we’re also very keen to give everyone an opportunity in our Super League side, because most people have deserved it.

As I said, we’re still trying to learn what our best team is and, if during that process, we do get it wrong once or twice – not that I’m saying we got it wrong against Wigan, of course, because we did have our chances to win – then we have to live with that.

Luke Robinson was obviously back last week after his shoulder and elbow surgery. How good was that to see and has he come through the game unscathed and put himself in contention for Saturday’s trip to Hull KR?

Robbo immediately showed how great he is for us when he came on against Wigan, and he’s definitely looking good for the weekend.

His toughness and courage was there for all to see.

The Wigan attack targeted him whenever they had the ball, but that made no difference to him at all.

Without a doubt he’s one hell of a player for us, and we’re all looking forward to seeing him in action for us between now and the end of the season.