Quote: Itchy Arsenal "I wouldn't call anyone a happy clapper irrespective of their view(s). Each to their own
Unlike yourself I don't think we have a top quality squad. Of the above SOL albeit a great player his best days are behind him and he has been "nursed through" the past 3 seasons. TL - ready for the coaching role. MM seems incapable of playing 80 minutes on a regular basis. JT - nowhere near same player before he joined union.
That's 4 players who I would suggest are in the top 6 earners at the club - the other 2 being ST & GW. You can't have that much salary cap tied up in players who are passed it, incapable of playing 80 minutes or your never sure when they will be available. I want my best players on the field for 80 minutes and excluding long term injuries on the field each and every week.
We have got some fantastic players Farrell, Gildart, Williams, Bateman (would be better if he could pass to his right), Davies, Sam, Burgess, Escare (was a breath of fresh air) and TT. For me these are the foundations that you refer to but not some of the players who missed a preseason. I also hope young Wells can kick on - really like the look of that lad a proper forward.
We are woefully short of props and have been since circa 2012 so it isn't a new issue. We may and I suggest may have found a goal kicker but its taken us years to do this and Williams seems to have happened by accident. Just plain woeful planning and recruitment.
All that being said what really drags my enthusiasm down is how slow we play and sheer lack of intensity at every game. Go back to 2012 and it was the complete opposite. Our style now seems to be slow, slow quick, slow, slow. Mechanical with absolute minimum risk. The club seems totally focused on the CC and don't seem to give a damn about the league with the Warrington & Leeds performances just about summing up the season for me i.e. wasted.
Historically I would have crawled over broken glass to get to a Wembley final this year I just cant be bothered. Perhaps I've caught the bug from the club because they cant be bothered to arrange a coming home ceremony after winning the GF (did I miss it??) or play every game to win. No one and I mean no one can convince me our players wanted to win against Wire at home or Leeds away the other week. I can accept and fully expect losses but when we turn in regular performances of absolute rank proportions then enough is enough.
I don't really know what a middle is - I think it's a small prop who cant take the ball in or do more than 20 minutes (by the clock) but no one has ever been able to tell me what one is. All that I know is that our squad is full of them. As for the wrestling well its wrestled my love of rugby out of me.
I sincerely hope that you are right and that I'm wrong but after the last 3 years of incredibly low standards on and off the park I'm going to take a break after 50 years. I said the same this time last year but in the end I couldn't resist and bought my season ticket as usual. I wont however be doing the same for next year unless there is some new blood on the playing front and some changes in the coaching. I like SW but he needs to change his backup team or stand aside.
Its either stop going or carry on complaining so unfortunately, I'm going with the former. My rationale is that if enough people do this then IL will be forced to make changes. That to you probably seems odd after winning 2 trophies in the last 3 years however, the quality for me devalues any final appearances if you don't even enjoy watching us in finals with the levels of performance being pretty turgid.
As I said Bigred I hope your right (enjoy your Wembley trip as well by the way) and although I wont be at the ground for the remainder of the season I will always be there in spirit wanting the team to win or least go down with a fighting spirit showing a bit of class. Unfortunately I don't equate fighting spirit and class anymore with Wigan RLFC.'"
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