Whilst I think Friday's performance against Cas was nothing short of appalling I'm not going to hit the panic button just yet, in the words of Nobby they'll have to put 'humpty dumpty back together again'.

Watching the NRL start this week made me realise how many ex-Wigan players are running around that competition, I've seen Leuluai and Hoffman carry the Warriors at Newcastle, Richards drop a last minute goal to win for the Tigers at Gold Coast and Green play at 6 for Melbourne, our favourite son ST didn't feature due to tight hamstrings and everything Madge touches turns to gold at the moment...even Pettybourne looked half decent. Furthermore you can consider the players that aren't running around and are either working behind the scenes in the NRL or in the media - Carmont, Finch, Riddell.

The point is this, look at our line ups for the last two GF wins and the CC win in 2010, 2011 and 2013:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Super ... rand_Final

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Challenge_Cup

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Super ... rand_Final

We have lost an awful lot of talent over the last five years and some of it is making strides in the NRL, what have we replaced them with? - Some will point out the salary cap is to blame and to some extent they would be correct as the player drain continues from SL to the NRL.

Whilst its nice to see the conveyor belt of young talent coming through our ranks...before it heads to the bright lights of the NRL (Burgess) we have shifted from attracting experienced talent to big fish in little ponds, unproven overseas recruits and players returning from RU.

Compound this with an inability to close out games at present, the loss of several forwards in the off season, poor recruitment policies and Mr Pewterschmidt cutting every possible corner to increase profits it's been starting to unravel.

I hope it starts to come together and SW turns it around, as people have pointed out Flower and Mossop will be welcome returns and Bateman is exceptional. However, Williams is inexperienced at 6, Farrell is giving away far too many penalities and Gelling is becoming our Francis Meli i.e. a liability.

Whilst I think Friday's performance against Cas was nothing short of appalling I'm not going to hit the panic button just yet, in the words of Nobby they'll have to put 'humpty dumpty back together again'.

Watching the NRL start this week made me realise how many ex-Wigan players are running around that competition, I've seen Leuluai and Hoffman carry the Warriors at Newcastle, Richards drop a last minute goal to win for the Tigers at Gold Coast and Green play at 6 for Melbourne, our favourite son ST didn't feature due to tight hamstrings and everything Madge touches turns to gold at the moment...even Pettybourne looked half decent. Furthermore you can consider the players that aren't running around and are either working behind the scenes in the NRL or in the media - Carmont, Finch, Riddell.

The point is this, look at our line ups for the last two GF wins and the CC win in 2010, 2011 and 2013:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Super ... rand_Final

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Challenge_Cup

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Super ... rand_Final

We have lost an awful lot of talent over the last five years and some of it is making strides in the NRL, what have we replaced them with? - Some will point out the salary cap is to blame and to some extent they would be correct as the player drain continues from SL to the NRL.

Whilst its nice to see the conveyor belt of young talent coming through our ranks...before it heads to the bright lights of the NRL (Burgess) we have shifted from attracting experienced talent to big fish in little ponds, unproven overseas recruits and players returning from RU.

Compound this with an inability to close out games at present, the loss of several forwards in the off season, poor recruitment policies and Mr Pewterschmidt cutting every possible corner to increase profits it's been starting to unravel.

I hope it starts to come together and SW turns it around, as people have pointed out Flower and Mossop will be welcome returns and Bateman is exceptional. However, Williams is inexperienced at 6, Farrell is giving away far too many penalities and Gelling is becoming our Francis Meli i.e. a liability.