Brian Carney reflects on the latest round of Super 8s and Qualifiers action, which saw a vital victory for Wigan and significant losses for the Leigh Centurions and Salford Red Devils.
Good Week
Wigan Warriors
For the ninth consecutive season the defeated cup final team has bounced back and won their next Super League game. Wigan are the ninth team to do it.
Heading over to the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday, we were all anticipating a really intense match. The quality of it was always going to be susceptible to Wigan's short turnaround, as Saints had two weeks to prepare for it.
What we got was a Wigan performance that belied the fact that six days ago they'd had a big game in Wembley which they'd lost.
I thought they were absolutely sensational. St Helens gave plenty in that game and there was a big anticipation around Ben Barba and the decision to start him at full-back, but Wigan really got off to a great start with a couple of tries inside the opening five minutes.
I thought everything they did was really sharp and really challenged a St Helens side which, with that loss, are in a situation where they are going to have to rely on the results of others.
With that, it was a significant win for Wigan, first of all to bounce back from a disappointing cup final performance but also in the context of the Super 8s. I just thought they went there and to a man, they outplayed the opposition.
It was a top notch performance and it means we've got a huge game coming up between Wakefield and St Helens on Thursday, live on Sky Sports Arena. Wakefield yet again registered a significant win in this landmark season for them, scoring 43 points against Salford, and you've got a game which could see the elimination of Saints if they don't win.
At the moment, fourth place is Wakefield's to lose but they have the ominous prospect of Wigan breathing down their necks.
Andrew Henderson
On Saturday night I turned on the TV to look at action from the Qualifiers and looking at the London Broncos and Warrington Wolves beforehand, you think it's a Warrington win all day. Then London go into a 14-0 lead, could have been more, and you think what's going on here with Warrington?
But I had a funny feeling the status quo would be restored and it was, Warrington came back and at one point in the second half, I think they had a 20-point lead over London. Well, the way they capitulated and almost lost the two points - it could easily have been a draw had a penalty been given for a Ryan Atkins incident late in the game - you're left scratching your head with Warrington.
But then you'd be taking away from what London did and what Andrew Henderson has done with London. I thought they were really exciting to watch, really good.
They all knew what they were doing and it wasn't a boring style of rugby league, they chanced their arm from the outset and some of the skill execution was top notch, and I have no doubt that's a result of his coaching. He had a very decent playing career and I think he's going to be a great coach.
He's doing a lot down there on and off the field to develop rugby league in London. Other coaches in Super League wouldn't have to do any of the development work that Andrew Henderson has to do to try to get people playing in London.
He's occupied with that and at the same time is able to coach a side to the standards they showed on Saturday, and that was exceptional.
Despite losing the game, despite only having one point in the Qualifiers, I think Andrew Henderson is certainly going to emerge out of these Qualifiers as a winner.
Qualifiers
This year's Qualifiers are shaping up to be a rollercoaster last few rounds. Looking at the fixture list and what's ahead of the sides, I'm not sure I can call anything at the moment.
I think Warrington will probably be okay, they've got Featherstone and I think they'll get two points there and that should be enough for them, but even Hull KR have got three Super League teams to face in the next three weeks. Could they get three wins? Absolutely. May they lose all three? That could very well happen as well.
Leigh and Catalans are currently in the Million Pound Game positions, but I'd be surprised if that was the case come four weeks' time. Leigh will look at London and Halifax as two of their three games coming up and consider them ones they can get results out of, but there's a lot of changes going to happen.
I think while we are sorting out the final two Super 8s semi-final positions, I think there are going to be real stories emerging from the Qualifiers.
Saturday night's Qualifiers action live on Sky Sports will be must-see television. Exciting times are ahead.
Bad Week
Protecting Referees
We have laws in place in the game to protect the players and the safety of the players, and that's great, and the job of the referee is to enforce those laws so that we play according to the rules of the game and protect the welfare of the players.
I'll ask the question again, who's going to protect the referees? Such is the nature of sport, the referee is never going to come out of a game which much praise. In fact, getting out of a game unseen or not commented on is going to be a winner for a referee but it's an all too rare occurrence.
People are having pot shots at the referee on the field and in post-match interviews. There is no doubt that there are issues with the referees and some of the standards of refereeing we are seeing, but a far greater issue is some of the standards of play that we have seen from well-paid players that are coached by well-paid coaches.
That's the nature of the beast. You criticise a player and the coach defends the player. You criticise the coach and maybe his chief executive defends him or the players come out and defend him. I want to know who is defending the referees from what seems like weekly verbal assaults?
And I'll say to these coaches, if you feel the standard of refereeing is at an unacceptably low level, go and see your chief executives en masse and get them to instigate change at a higher level.
You have an avenue but taking pot shots at the referee in interviews is a weak way of doing things. And I'll say to the people that are tasked with protecting the referees, the referees' bosses, you are in dereliction of your duty.
Again, it's not perfect but neither are a lot of things in the world. If you want change and improvement in the standard of refereeing, urge that from the people that can best affect it.
Anybody who thinks that the standard of refereeing in Super League is in the top five problems the game has is deluded.
Leigh Centurions
Sometimes a loss is more than what it says on the scoreboard. You can lose and you can hold your head up high at times, you can even sometimes lose heavily and hold your head up high, but it was a worryingly poor performance from Leigh in a crucial game against Widnes.
There's no doubt the Vikings and Denis Betts will breathe a whole lot easier after that result, notwithstanding the fact I still think there's a bit more to play out in these Qualifiers.
But for Leigh fans, they will have gone home from yesterday's game worrying about a Million Pound Game and maybe a return to the Championship.
It's such a variation between that level of performance and what they showed in France against Catalans. I thought Leigh were really good in the South of France and really professional and efficient, and they were none of those things on Sunday.
They are going to have to get a more standardised level of performance at that club and they're going to have to do it quickly.
I don't think personnel changes are needed at all, the ingredients are there, they beat Hull FC this year. You can lose a game but you've got to lose it in a certain way, and they didn't on Sunday.
Salford and Huddersfield
These two are gone. Their races have been run in 2017.
Both of these sides were in the Qualifiers last year and Salford ended up in the Million Pound Game. So when the whistle blew on the 2016 season, what would Huddersfield fans and Salford fans have been looking for? Well first and foremost Super League 2018, and they've both got that, so job done in that sense.
They've both done it in really contrasting ways. One season didn't start until really late, and one season seems to have ended really early.
Huddersfield were behind from the get-go and just scraped into the top eight, but have been improving ever since, and even in defeat have been showing up well.
Salford had a roaring start and went as high as second, along with a Challenge Cup semi-final and looked almost certain for a top-four position.
But they have just gone into an absolute terminal decline. They've lost the last seven straight and 10 of the last 11 as well. That's a really worrying run of results and I'm not sure where as a coach you start looking.
The thing is, they'll probably end up now in the position you maybe expected from them at the start of the year, and this is where sport is intriguing and puzzling.
They're in Super League in 2018, and they're going to have to try and find out how and why this came about, and why within the decline they weren't able to do anything about it.
They are leaking over 20 points in each of these defeats, so everything is gone. Ian Watson said he's going to have some brutally honest and frank exchanges with his players, but that's the very least that's going to be expected.
A top-four place was there for Salford but their decline and manner of their decline are the two things they will have to have a post-season enquiry into.