Hi, it’s Eorl here.
And it’s hard to be thinking positively at this very moment.
We travelled to Wigan with very high hopes of reaching the Grand Final for the first time, and once again came up short when it really mattered.
We were all absolutely gutted.
But looking back at it, there was one positive from Thursday night – the backing we received from the claret and gold fans.
You were all brilliant on the night and a credit to your club. It’s just such a massive shame we weren’t able to produce the performance such brilliant backing deserved.
That made things on the night at Wigan even tougher to take, and one of the reasons I felt it felt even tougher was that I felt really comfortable out there.
I personally didn’t think the contest was too physical or the intensity was that high, the main failing for me was that we lacked a little composure.
Every time we got near their line we turned the ball over cheaply and didn’t make the most of our opportunities. Unfortunately for us, they did.
We stripped them of numbers but every time we did we either dropped the ball, wasted the overlap or went into touch.
Every time we got into a try-scoring position we coughed it up and you just can’t do that in games like that.
I’m not saying Wigan didn’t deserve the win - the score reflected the game, and there’s no hiding from that.
They were fantastic but the bounce of the ball, the penalty count, everything, just went their way and it’s just because of how hard they worked for it as much as anything else.
And, again from a personal point of view, the defeat hit me hard because I’m not getting any younger and the time’s running out for me to reach a Grand Final.
I do see the end in sight for me as a player. And that is worrying.
After a couple of games off to rest my battered body, I went into the Wigan game feeling the best I’ve felt for a long time. I felt really fresh and massively up for it.
I wanted to get out there, put in a good performance, win and go through to the final and I believe we could.
It just wasn’t to be. I’ve got a couple of years left at the moment as it stands but that’s only two opportunities to get to that final.
That’s not many, and it worries me a little bit.
