I think Faz is just as comfortable at second row as he is at loose forward. He's shown himself to be effective in both positions he just needs to improve his consistency which is nothing unusual for young forwards.

I think Farrell is pretty much nailed on to be ahead of Hughes in the pecking order. Hughes has had some good moments and was excellent against Catalans in France but he's had some ineffectual games too.

The player he was most likely to put pressure on is Tuson but there's no chance that Wane will drop him from his weekly 10 minute spell.

Still, playing in a different position isn't necessarily going to hinder a player. In some cases it can help them. I think in this country we're a little too obsessed with putting players in their places and insisting they never play anywhere else. For Hughes working on his speed and handling should benefit him when playing in the second row. I really don't expect it to be a permanent switch though unless he ends up doing incredibly well there. I think Thornley is still expected to be the long term replacement.

As it stands though Tomkins does seem like our only real attacking threat. Blake Green needs to have a very good year along with Matty Smith because the vast majority of the good things we did in attack last year were down to the organisation and structures involving the halfbacks.

The pack could still be fairly strong in theory but for me it requires Prescott to be fully fit and capable of playing alongside Mossop without one of them getting injured. If Taylor, Dudson and Flower show improvement and Lauaki puts in good performances every week rather than being ridiculously inconsistent then there's still a bit of hope.

I'm not expecting a top four finish though.

What you suspect is neither here nor there, but this little bit of add-on mockery does you no credit.

You know nothing about Shaun Wane's state of mind, whether he's learned from his errors, whether he's now adjusting his training and tactics, whether he's reconsidering his team-selections, or whatever.

We're all disappointed that we didn't win a major trophy last season, but to completely discount the fact that Wigan finished first in the league shows a pretty selective memory. That isn't good enough for Wigan - I'd agree. But it isn't like Shaun Wane was an absolute disaster as a coach.

I don't recall where you stood when Wane was first appointed, but I can't help wondering if you'd have been part of the inevitable chorus of disapproval if IL had ignored a young Brit to appoint another unknown Aussie.

The bitching about Shaun Wane is interesting. He was far from perfect in his first season, that is true. Perhaps he was a little over ambitious in wanting to win everything (but isn't that what coaches are supposed to do?).
Still, we came top of the league, missed out on a trip to Old Trafford in a game that we really should have won...yet we lost a close home playoff game against Leeds under Maguire too, as well as a challenge cup game. Wane isn't the first coach to lose an important game to Leeds by a close margin.
We also got beaten by Leeds in the cup semi final where Shaun Wane definitely didn't drop Sinfield's kick, didn't let the ball roll out of play for a 40/20, didn't drop the ball under little pressure in his own half, didn't get outjumped for a kick despite being 6 foot 4.

Sure, it wasn't a great season when it came down to winning trophies but it's not like we were that far away. Of course the loss of several high profile players is great news for those that want to blame Wane for any sort of failure because they are much likely to get what they desire.

Add in winning the LLS which we hadn't done the year before, and getting just as far in the playoffs.

ETA: Note to self always read right to the end before saying the same as everyone else

You need to pay attention to what he says and you might gain an insight. He said during last season that he knew how he wanted to do things and he would keep doing it that way even if it was wrong - I paraphrase as I don't have the exact quote to hand but those were the words he used. On his recent trip to Australia he said what he saw convinced him Wigan were doing it right. He also moved away from how Madge did things so it doesn't take genius to work out he is going to do it his way come what may.

So before you get all sanctimonious perhaps you might ask what lies behind someone's opinion?



I don't give a stuff where coaches come from provided they can do the job and I will tell you exactly where I stood before Wane was given it.

I was all for it because I assumed we would get continuity from Madge to him. If you search back you will find me making this exact point as we all wondered who our new coach would be. I thought the silver cloud in the lining of Madge leaving was Wane would carry on where he left off having spent two years learning the ropes off the best coach we have had since John Monie. I never imagined he was going to decide he knew better though my suspicions were first aroused when he said pre-season he thought he could improve the side in certain ways as he gave the distinct impression he disagreed with what had gone before under Madge.

It's funny really because Wane was exactly the same after Noble left and before Madge joined. You could tell he was having to bite his lip in the interviews not to come out and basically say Noble was pants. I pointed that out at the time as well. He wasn't wrong either but there is a difference between disagreeing with a coach who was unsuccessful at the club and one who was.

So this says to me Wane has had his own ideas on how to do the main job for a long time. There is nothing wrong with that - if you are the one with the right ideas and are no too stubborn to learn from your mistakes but I am genuinely convinced Wane thinks he is 100% correct in his approach.

But you don't know it for a fact, so stop posting as if you do.

I'll say it again, we were all disappointed with the outcome of last season, but it wasn't so disastrous that most of us immediately decided to go head-hunting the coach after only one year in charge, during the course of which he was missing a couple of key players, and yet still managed to finish top of the league.