Eh???

This was a squad that contained the following players.....

Dennis Moran, Sean Gleeson, Kevin Brown, Oliver Wilkes, Tim Jonkers, Jordan James, David Vaeliki, Jerry Seuseu and Luisi Sione. Hardly decent.

That is, of course assuming we count the likes of Bryn Hargreaves, Sean O Loughlin, Danny Tickle, Wayne Godwin, Eamon O Carroll, Darrell Goulding, Danny Orr and Paul Prescott amongst the quality that makes up for the dross and makes the squad decent?



Indeed we do. And despite his constant claims that he has learned from his mistakes he has done nothing to suggest he can address the problem thus far.



Because he is not a very good manager/coach. Not too hard to understand TBH.



Despite reassurances that the playing squad would be improved a great deal whenever we got Iestyn the Bradford scapegoats' wage off the books. Another false dawn.



Agreed, except for the part about ruing "missed opportunites in big games." Generally we are never really in contention in big games under SM so the odd bombed try makes little difference.



What does it matter to you? You could always avoid the thread if you do not want to read about it. Because, like it or not, the discussions about Steve McNamara will not go away until he can prove his detractors wrong and his backers right, or, as is probably more likely, vice versa.

And the quality of Gareth Hock, Pat Richards, Brett Dallas,Iafeta Paleaaesina, Micky Higham plus other experienced players such as Calderwood and Logan. So yes I think they did have a 'decent' squad.

You might consider that a relegation material side.. but in 2006 that should have been good enough to be steering clear of relegation!

No. Name Position
1 Michael Platt
2 Waine Pryce
3 Michael Shenton
4 Luke Dyer
5 Damien Blanch
6 Paul Handforth
7 Andy Kain Stand
8 Danny Sculthorpe
9 Andrew Henderson
10 Danny Nutley
11 Keith Mason
12 Tommy Haughey
13 Ben Roarty
14 Deon Bird
15 Craig Huby
16 Matthew Whitaker
17 Richard Fletcher
18 Aaron Smith
19 Gray Viane
20 Richard Fa'aoso
21 Willie Manu
22 Paul Franze
23 Ryan McGoldrick
24 Ryan Boyle
25 Grant Edwards
26 Michael Knowles
27 Danny Ward
28 Brad Davis
29 Peter Lupton
30 Adam Fletcher
31 Danny Brough
32 Jason Payne

1 Colum Halpenny
3 Jason Demetriou
4 Jon Whittle
5 Semi Tadulala
6 Ben Jeffries
7 Sam Obst
8 Darrell Griffin
9 David March
10 Michael Korkidas
11 David Solomona
12 Jamie Field
13 Monty Betham
14 Paul White
15 David Wrench
16 Jamie Rooney
17 Duncan Macgillivary
18 Olivier Elima
19 Kevin Henderson
20 Austin Buchanan
21 Mark Field Full Back
22 Mark Applegarth
26 Ned Catic
27 Tom Saxton
28 Ryan Atkins
29 Adam Watene
30 Tevita Leo-Latu
31 James Evans

I know which side I would have chosen at the start of 2006. Wigan had enough quality in the side to keep them well clear of relegation, but a mixture of crippling injuries and Millward apparently losing the dressing room resulted in their slump. Noble deserves credit for saving them from relegation.. but I thought when he took the job that he couldn't really lose. If they were relegated then the fans would blame Millward, if he got them safe then he would be a saviour for about 6 months.

Quite a few Wigan fans are calling for him to be sacked now...perhaps they don't agree with your assessment that they're 'contenders'?

As for the rest.. it has been discussed at length many times over..I'll leave the broken record impersonation to you.

In 2006 wigan had
ashton
dallas
vaeliki
richards
calderwood
orr
dobson
fielden
higham
paleasina
hock
tickle
oloughlin
moran
brown
fletcher
godwin
hansen
seuseu
hargreaves
radlinski
mcavoy

before you get to the likes of jonkers, wilkes etc..yes its not what they started with and noble brought a couple in to help fight the relegation but that team would still beat the team we have now.

You do that then. That will be fine. Many thanks.

"He has done nothing"
Bollox. Unprovable either way, rhetorical and thus bollox.
"the problem thus far"
self-aggrandising bollox, presupposing that McNamara and you both know what THE PROBLEM is, and you would know when he had "addressed" this mythical problem.


Again arrogantly spouting your minority and extremist views as if they were a given and universally acknowledged fact, thus yet more bollox.


Can you post a link to when McNamara gave this assurance, or would your weird claim be perchance just more . . . bollox?


. .. a comment proving (not that you deny it) that you don't actually watch us play. So more bollox, then.


Newsflash - they've already gone away. Everyone else pretty much seems to agree at least that McNamara has done passably well under difficult circumstances, has the clear support of the players, and has earned a crack at another SL season. You are a one-man detractor campaign, repetitively chanting away like a demented prayer wheel on speed in a Category 6 hurricane, yet have persuaded yourself that you are the spokesman for the nation. Bollox I know, but the thing is, you really do believe it.

When we announced our 2008 signings the coach said that he will be looking to bring in some "marquee players" for the 2009 season when we had more money to play with. I cannot find the exact T&A link but I cannot really be bothered indulging you TBH. However, it was there, I assume you saw it too. Plenty on here have done also.

As for the rest of your post? Oh dear. No need to start resorting to sweary words. That really is a sign that you are struggling badly.

only problem with that is there havent been any 'marquee' players available to sign this year ( with moimoi being the exception who we attempted to get but chose to stay in the NRL). you'd be the first to whine if we just signed anyone for the sake of it. better to take the current course and see who becomes available mid season and have the cap space available plus it also helps the club finances in difficult financial times.

Good idea. We could have our pick of unwanted players who are not getting a game for their current club or ones who have been sacked by their clubs for misconduct.

Whilst I accept we have picked up a few mid-season gems in the past, I have doubts that the current man in charge really knows how to identify quality players that maybe need a break at a different club.

Moimoi didnt choose to stay and would gladly have come across to one of 4 clubs in for him but his club parramatta wouldnt release him unless they got someone else in as good or better than him, but since that didnt come off then moimoi had to stay to see out his contract, he will however come across to England next yr, to whom is anyones guess yet, longer hes left unsigned to another deal longer other superleague clubs have of offering him a contract.
On the other hand i wouldnt say moimoi was a marquee signing, hes no better than Burgess and certainly wouldnt guarantee extra bums on seats or to bring the x factor...Lockyer on the other hand....

No better than Burgess? If he's no worse he'll do for me.

I think he's exactly the type of signing thatwould go down well at Bradford. The Parra fans love him.

point is there were no big names off contract this year and whilst we have cap space we cant afford to pay big transfer fees. As long as we don't have a big money backer like most other superleague clubs have then I can't see that changing. AFAIK theres quite a few top NRL players off contract next year who could be realistic targets for us next year. Players quite often become available mid season for reason unrelated to discliplinary issues eg hendo,ben harris, lauititi etc. Better to wait and see who crops up and if no-one does put the money saved into securing the clubs financial stability.
Couple of players who might be possible targets mid season would be jake webster at KR who are rumoured to be in major financial difficulties and a reasonable transfer fee together with taking one of there big wages off the books might be agreeable to both parties, especially as they have some young coming through. Other possible would be cameron phelps at wigan. They are looking to use him as a makeweight in a deal to get greg bird and again a reasonable transfer fee could be enough to snah him and he'd give us cover both and the halves which we're desperately short off.

Edited for accuracy


Edited for truth

He is awful and a worse option than anything we have already

Certainly no better.

didnt say he wasbetter than our first choice players, but he would give us cover in a couple of positions where we are short and he's probably better than our cover options or at least has more experience.