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FORUMS > Wigan Warriors > 98 season |
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Rank | Posts | Team |
Club Coach | 16256 | ![](images/sitelogos/fullsize/21.png) |
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Oct 2004 | 20 years | |
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Jul 2024 | Jun 2024 | LINK |
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10289_1326111229.png Challenge Cup winners 2009 2010 2012 2019
League Leaders 2011 2016:d7dc4b20b2c2dd7b76ac6eac29d5604e_10289.png |
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| I think Lindsay and then Whelan were struggling to adapt to the SL era and the rise of Bradford and Saints and were acting like those presidents of the galacticos European football teams who like shopping for players and changing coaches in the hope that something works. Halifax had a great season in 1998 and were the team on the rise, so their best players Florimo, Chester and Clinch turn up at Wigan. Orr was the rising star at Cas, so they get him in. Moran was a one-man team in London, so they get him in.
It was a strategy that kept Wigan trapped just below the top tier, they had a rotating door of talented players who came in and out but they didn't have the stable core that Bradford, Saints and Leeds did, other than Farrell, and when he left the foundations caved in rapidly. It was similar to the Sydney Roosters in the 1990s (when Lam was there), they were the 'transit lounge' for big names coming and going then something clicked in the early 2000s when Ricky Stuart was coach and they dominated the NRL for a while.
In the 2010s Wigan had a different approach, much more strategic, no vanity signings, mostly a home grown core and then some signings strategically bought in. Some of these, Blake Green, Matty Smith, were like Clinch in that around the league people thought is this guy really a Wigan calibre player, but they fit the team and what Wane was trying to build.
I remember early in 2004 seeing an interview with Mike Gregory when he was hinting at changing the culture in the direction of the type of thing Wane would later bring in - moving away from big names and big egos towards building the squad around the generation of talent coming through. Obviously tragic events intervened but if that hadn't happened, it would have been interesting to see if Whelan would have had the patience for MGs approach. He soon reverted to type, bringing in Millward and then going on that big recruitment spree for 2006 which completely tanked.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 4718 | No Team Selected |
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Apr 2010 | 14 years | |
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Jul 2024 | Jun 2024 | LINK |
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| Quote: sally cinnamon "Not all those Bradford players were there at the same time...Henry Paul never played with Vainikolo or Hape. They had Spruce, McAvoy, Brooker, Costin, Harris (Ben and Iestyn) in there at various times.
I think Hape was the best, he was maybe underrated, and he missed some long spells with injury.
Vainikolo...not as good as Tuigamala. He was a juggernaut when in full flow but he could be targeted too with teams putting kicks on the ground behind him, he was slow and could be clumsy on the turn.
But in the final third of that last Grand Final winning season, in 2005, the Hape-Vainikolo combination was unstoppable. They were savaging teams like Miles and Offiah.
St Helens had a good back line at the time as well, with Wellens, Albert, Lyon, Talau and Gardner.'"
Inga and Robinson were better, again with the saints team none were better man for man than that Wigan back line
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Rank | Posts | Team |
Club Coach | 16256 | ![](images/sitelogos/fullsize/21.png) |
Joined | Service | Reputation |
Oct 2004 | 20 years | |
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Jul 2024 | Jun 2024 | LINK |
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10289_1326111229.png Challenge Cup winners 2009 2010 2012 2019
League Leaders 2011 2016:d7dc4b20b2c2dd7b76ac6eac29d5604e_10289.png |
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| On Henry Paul....how good do you think he was, really?
I have never made my mind up on whether he was just very good (eg Robbie) or absolute world class.
He had a bit of Cristiano Ronaldo about him, in that he wasn't just content to be a ball playing talent, but developed a rock solid physique, made sure there weren't really any flaws in his game. He also had that swaggering arrogance.
Was his departure for Bradford the key factor that tipped the balance away from Wigan to Bradford over the next few years?
It seemed to weaken Wigan a lot when HP left, but Bradford seemed to take it in their stride when he left them. Maybe the way they were winning games meant that they were less reliant on a great 6. And also was why it was a bad business decision for them a few years later to tie so much of the salary cap in bringing Iestyn Harris in.
When Jon Dorahy was at Wire, he seemed to be searching for a Henry Paul for us. He brought two young New Zealanders over: Toa Kohe-Love and Nigel Vagana, who were both billed as "the next Henry Paul" when we signed them. They both ended up being good players although centres rather than the stand-offs they were talked of as when we signed them. I think NV played stand-off in the game after Dorahy had been sacked when we beat Wigan (he got a hat-trick).
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 4718 | No Team Selected |
Joined | Service | Reputation |
Apr 2010 | 14 years | |
Online | Last Post | Last Page |
Jul 2024 | Jun 2024 | LINK |
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51052_1304440802.jpg :d7dc4b20b2c2dd7b76ac6eac29d5604e_51052.jpg |
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| one of the most naturally gifted players i've ever seen, remember being at central park on a cold wednesday night and he murdered us on his own for wakefield, you could see then how good he was at 19
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 1081 | ![](images/sitelogos/fullsize/28.png) |
Joined | Service | Reputation |
Sep 2010 | 14 years | |
Online | Last Post | Last Page |
Nov 2022 | Aug 2020 | LINK |
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| Quote: sally cinnamon "On Henry Paul....how good do you think he was, really?
I have never made my mind up on whether he was just very good (eg Robbie) or absolute world class.
He had a bit of Cristiano Ronaldo about him, in that he wasn't just content to be a ball playing talent, but developed a rock solid physique, made sure there weren't really any flaws in his game. He also had that swaggering arrogance.
Was his departure for Bradford the key factor that tipped the balance away from Wigan to Bradford over the next few years?
It seemed to weaken Wigan a lot when HP left, but Bradford seemed to take it in their stride when he left them. Maybe the way they were winning games meant that they were less reliant on a great 6. And also was why it was a bad business decision for them a few years later to tie so much of the salary cap in bringing Iestyn Harris in.
When Jon Dorahy was at Wire, he seemed to be searching for a Henry Paul for us. He brought two young New Zealanders over
I think Henry Paul was at his best when he first joined Wigan. He was like a ghost moving across the field and he scored his best tries in those first couple of seasons. In his last couple of years he seemed to lose a bit of spark, still a great player but not quite as dangerous. Then he joined Bradford and seemed to recapture his form.
I have fond memories of Paul always scoring tries against Saints, usually ones that sealed the game for us. He could be very quiet in a game and then just step forward and ghost through the defence.
He was certainly the most stylish player ive ever watched. Almost everytime he took the ball to the line he looked to spin out of the tackle. His balance was superb, almost like he was floating in zero gravity at times.
He was world class but not in an orthodox way. He had a unique style and way of playing the game that ive not seen before or since.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Chairman | 1468 | ![](images/sitelogos/fullsize/33.png) |
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Dec 2001 | 23 years | |
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Jan 1970 | Jun 2022 | LINK |
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| Quote: Pieman "one of the most naturally gifted players i've ever seen, remember being at central park on a cold wednesday night and he murdered us on his own for wakefield, you could see then how good he was at 19'"
Correct, a outstanding talented player just like his brother Robbie.
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Mens Betfred Super League XXVIII ROUND : 1 | | PLD | F | A | DIFF | PTS |
Wigan |
16 |
443 |
182 |
261 |
28 |
This is an inplay table and live positions can change.
Warrington |
17 |
436 |
231 |
205 |
24 |
St.Helens |
17 |
441 |
186 |
255 |
22 |
Hull KR |
16 |
397 |
217 |
180 |
22 |
Salford |
16 |
317 |
308 |
9 |
22 |
Catalans |
16 |
304 |
234 |
70 |
20 |
|
Leeds |
17 |
309 |
316 |
-7 |
18 |
Huddersfield |
16 |
298 |
365 |
-67 |
12 |
Leigh |
15 |
270 |
250 |
20 |
11 |
Castleford |
17 |
280 |
455 |
-175 |
11 |
Hull FC |
16 |
218 |
496 |
-278 |
4 |
LondonB |
17 |
176 |
649 |
-473 |
2 |
Betfred Championship 2024 ROUND : 1 | | PLD | F | A | DIFF | PTS |
Wakefield |
14 |
520 |
154 |
366 |
28 |
This is an inplay table and live positions can change.
Sheffield |
14 |
382 |
217 |
165 |
22 |
Bradford |
14 |
353 |
230 |
123 |
19 |
Toulouse |
13 |
344 |
186 |
158 |
17 |
Widnes |
14 |
327 |
269 |
58 |
15 |
Featherstone |
14 |
396 |
283 |
113 |
14 |
|
Doncaster |
14 |
257 |
341 |
-84 |
13 |
York |
15 |
339 |
305 |
34 |
12 |
Batley |
14 |
217 |
320 |
-103 |
12 |
Swinton |
14 |
284 |
344 |
-60 |
10 |
Halifax |
14 |
270 |
405 |
-135 |
10 |
Whitehaven |
14 |
266 |
424 |
-158 |
10 |
Barrow |
13 |
215 |
393 |
-178 |
10 |
Dewsbury |
15 |
184 |
439 |
-255 |
2 |
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