Interesting discussion, this. I can see why the penalty stats would make you feel aggrieved but perhaps it really is just an anomaly. One thought that occurred to me is that maybe your opponents have a strong focus on maintaining their discipline when they play against you, simply because they have to. You can't afford to be giving away penalties when you play the champions, so perhaps that's something that gets drilled into players before they play Wigan? But then again, Hull KR are leading the way this season and they get nearly twice as many penalties as you, so who knows?! Trying to work out what goes on with RL referees is probably the road to madness.

The most sensible opposition fan response I've seen on it and it could well be a factor. An interesting point from Matty Peet was that it isn't something they've only just noticed and that the stats over the last 5 years see us sit comfortably at the bottom of the penalties received table. This time 5 years ago we weren't anywhere near as good/dominant as we are currently though, so I doubt teams would've felt the need to be squeaky clean back then. I also found Peet's line that 'maybe it's just an anomaly' amusing. I got the feeling that was a bit tongue in cheek and he does think there are some factors behind it. 

Maybe it is something to do with the no. of Wigan refs who've joined the senior panel over the last few years and even if it's just subconsciously they don't want to be thought of as favouring Wigan.
I honestly don't think it's that big of an issue because the stats show we're the least penalised team in the league, if we were getting caned every week whilst receiving next to nothing then that would be a different matter.

Sums it up well. 

As I said earlier in the thread though it can't be considered an 'anomaly' really, considering the extreme differences between penalty counts. It's actually clear how consistently our games are refereed differently to every other.

Whether we need it or not we should be given a fair crack of the whip as no team can be at their best every week and it definitely matters when you're even slightly off form. Uneven penalty counts could have been the difference in all 3 losses so far this season as they were all within a couple of points (1, 2 & 4). Referees decisions change momentum (a point that was being made very vociferously last night) and any momentum swing in all of those games could quite easily have lead to a different outcome. 

It's not about whether we're getting caned or not. That would only make the imbalance worse. It doesn't negate the fact that there is an imbalance in the first place.