Hardly any fans of any clubs will be saving themselves for the play-off's unless there's an £8 ticket offer

You have to laugh at these Wigan plebs!!!! Really you do!! "Full of gifted players" ??
Sam Tomkins - Too scared to play probably v Widnes in case Ah Van cracked him one or he got a bruise on his precious thumb from the artificial pitch! Achilles injury my a@$e
O'Loughlin - the Superleague's very own Mr cheap shot merchant and 1 trick pony extraordinaire.
And thats just 2 of your "stars"!!

Quote: Aboveusonlypie "You are right Leeds won when it mattered. Did you come away from the DW after the play off thinking that you were the best team or that you'd got away with it (Wigan were without the best player in Super League - the players vote, not mine - yet lost by one point)?'" After the game I seem to remember Wane saying we were the better team, perhaps he is a better judge than either of us. As for winning by one point and you missing Tomkins, so what? That's what your squad is there for, we were mising McGuire.....its swings and roundabouts. www.skysports.com/rugbyleague/ma ... 24,00.html "Jack's a good player," said Wane. "He'll play again next year and the year after. Losing Sam Tomkins is not the reason we lost the game. "It's a tough one. It's a really disappointed dressing room. We were not at our 100% best and we needed to be. "If you play 40 minutes like we did in that first half against a team like Leeds it leaves you with too much to do. "Our last plays weren't the best and I think that's where Leeds out-played us. They deserved to win. Kevin Sinfield is one of the best players there is and he burned us again. "In the second half we showed what we can do but, at the end of the day, Leeds know how to win games. "I knew when we were one point in front that, if we were not careful, it would come back and bite us."

Quote: Aboveusonlypie "You are right Leeds won when it mattered. Did you come away from the DW after the play off thinking that you were the best team or that you'd got away with it (Wigan were without the best player in Super League - the players vote, not mine - yet lost by one point)?'" After the game I seem to remember Wane saying we were the better team, perhaps he is a better judge than either of us. As for winning by one point and you missing Tomkins, so what? That's what your squad is there for, we were mising McGuire.....its swings and roundabouts. www.skysports.com/rugbyleague/ma ... 24,00.html "Jack's a good player," said Wane. "He'll play again next year and the year after. Losing Sam Tomkins is not the reason we lost the game. "It's a tough one. It's a really disappointed dressing room. We were not at our 100% best and we needed to be. "If you play 40 minutes like we did in that first half against a team like Leeds it leaves you with too much to do. "Our last plays weren't the best and I think that's where Leeds out-played us. They deserved to win. Kevin Sinfield is one of the best players there is and he burned us again. "In the second half we showed what we can do but, at the end of the day, Leeds know how to win games. "I knew when we were one point in front that, if we were not careful, it would come back and bite us."

Everyone knows the requirement for becoming Champions before a ball is kicked in February and will no doubt plan their season accordingly to reach that ultimate goal.

Whether it is the correct system (especially in terms of maintaining the integrity of the Regular Rounds) is open to debate - as is the suitability of the current Play-Off system where it's arguably better to finish in 5th than 4th or perhaps even 3rd, IMO.

Correct



The best teams win things. End of.

I have a lot of admiration for the way Wigan have adapted to the loss of some key players from last season. You have some big, strong, confident and aggressive lads coming though who are certainly battering the majority of the rest of SL.
Based on the way you are playing I see no reason to not have you as favourites for the playoffs at the moment (injuries etc. can effect any team and they cannot be predicted).
However, the one point win last year to knock you out of the playoffs was thoroughly deserved. It was closer than it should have been, Leeds turned up and did the job. One point or 20 points, it doesn't matter.
As for the LLS of the GF deciding who is the seasons best? Surely after over a decade we have finally put this to bed. The ultimate objective is to win the GF, all the teams know this and the crushing disappointment of your own coach and players last year would also suggest that the GF was their primary objective also.
For me, there should be no trophy for finishing 1st after the regular season, I'm sick of this bullcrap non- debate. Having said that the playoff system is rubbish with the top 8 system we have. There should be a significant advantage to finishing 1st and then 2nd and the only playoff system that really gave this was the top 5 system. Could a team win from 5th in that system? That would be a real challenge IMO.

Really? Must be nice to have such simple view on life.

So winning the league isn't that important, so that's Wigan out of the argument. Ok, if we accept that then obviously winning 'things' like cups does count. So who was the best last season you or Warrington?

So which games did Leeds plan to lose last season then?

Not at all but "best" is subjective. "Champions" is not. The Champions are the ones who achieve the pre-determined goal.

There's no doubt the Grand Final is one of the greatest things to happen to our modern game. I wouldn't devalue that in any way and would scrap the League Leaders shield all together, like DHM says.

FWIW two out of my three most satisfying Grand Final Wins came when Leeds didn't finish top (2007 and 2011). Of course, 2004 was the most satisfying but not because we finished top. We all remember our first time fondly don't we ?I'm seriously not fussed about the League leadership in any way shape or form. If Leeds get it, nice, if they don't, lets go out and be champions.

Well that's nicely argued.

Ask Jamie Peacock what HE thinks of Sean O'Loughlin then.

If finishing top floats your boat, enjoy it mate.

You won't change the views of the more enlightened posters who have left 1996 and all before it in the past.

We've won it from top. Winning it was great, finshing top was nice but "meh".

It's a consilation for fans whose team blow it from top. Sorry, that's not a dig but it just is.

That's ok, but you haven't answered my question "Who do you think was the better team, you or Warrington?"

It isn’t necessarily about planning to lose a game, its about planning your training and conditioning to peak at the right time. You cant be at 100% all the time, some teams try to get to a higher level for shorter periods, others a slightly lower level but for longer periods of the season. Wigan seem to try to be at a high level for most of the regular season, it could be argued that this disadvantages them come the end of the year because they are can’t peak at 100% as they haven’t left a lot in the tank, where as other teams haven’t been at as a high a level during the regular season so have a bit more left in the well come the end of the year. Similarly you could also argue that Wigans regular season form is a little misrepresentative as they are conditioned to be at a higher level that their opponents in that regular season.

We all know the score at the beginning of the year. If Wigans training and conditioning is asking too much of them during the regular season then they have only themselves to blame.