Wigan's greatest ever coach?

Imo, he's now passed Wane and is up there with Monie, Madge and Lowe. What a ride we've been on. I hope he turns into our Shankley, Fergie, Bellamy etc.

Unfancied to undeniable

Tricky question and I’m just undecided at the moment.

Could Wane or Peet of achieved what they have had they taken over directly from Brian Noble?

I see so much of what Madge instilled in the current Wigan team & culture.

The succession plan has been sublime but It was Madge who set the platform for what we have seen since.

Not taking anything away from Peet, he’s clearly doing a great job but to be regarded as Wigans greatest is a stretch at the moment.

He's got a great opportunity over the next few years to be known as Wigan's best.

Madge was instrumental in the revival of the club. Taking that group of underperformers and strolling to the league and grand final in his 1st season was an incredible achievement . I don't known f his methods were sustainable though. He hasn't had a period of sustained success.

We won't ever know if Peet is capable of turning a club around like Madge did unless he gets bored at Wigan and decides he needs to test himself by taking on a project club.

It is probably too early to say Peet is our best ever coach. He definitely has potential to be. The spirit in the team is better than I have ever seen. The players seem to genuinely love Peet, and the relationships within the team seem really strong too which stems from the culture Peet has instilled. That says to me that theres a good chance that the success we've had is sustainable over the long term. Peet could well be our Fergie

Too early yet but it’s some start. The rebuild of the side since Lam has been so impressive, so whoever is responsible for choosing who to target and bring in deserves huge credit. I presume Peet plays a massive part in that. We needed centres, we got King, Wardle and Keighran. We needed props, we got Dupree, Thompson, Ellis, Cooper etc. It’s been pinpoint and a roaring success, that has helped fill the holes in the team.

The problem Peet will face, which the likes of Lowe and Monie never did, is the struggle to keep his team together.

Lowe and Monie constructed a dynasty based around the Hanley, Gregory and Edwards triumvirate, which progressed through various configurations, with most of the key individuals - not just the pivots, but star forwards, wideout attackers etc - remaining in Cherry and White until they were veterans.

Unfortunately, Peet will have a hard battle getting long-term quality out of the likes of Smith, Nsemba, Havard etc, as the NRL will pinch them before they even reach their peak. And then he'll have to do the whole thing all over again.

Mark of the best coaches though is that they can break a team up and do it again a couple of years later thats the acid test that Peet will face in due course hes got to decide if certain players such as Hampshire are blocking the up and coming kids, how long now does he keep Keirghan?these are questions that are immediate future that he has to grasp, yes Eckersley is still young but hes not been out of place in the games hes played..these tough questions are coming now and it'll be interesting to see how Peet handles it all.

Rather well I suspect

Agreed and sometimes it may mean cutting ties with a player who may have another year in them to ensure that younger players get their opportunity for a longer run. An example would be Mike Cooper who's shown in the big games this year that he's still high quality but maybe the right time for him to move on at the end of the year so Harvie Hill gets his time. Isa the same for Nsemba. Hampshire for Farrimond.

The Keighran/Eckersley battle will be interesting over the next couple of years.

But we need to maintain a strong squad to ensure that there is competition for places.

I think one of the biggest successes under Peet is the clarity of our succession planning.

We have players like Walters, Eseh, Hill, Eckersley who all at other clubs are in the 17 every week, plus the likes of Douglas and Farrimond riding hard on the rails behind them.

This for me is a big part of future proofing the club as part of those risks and challenges of keeping the team together.

We lose KPP and Smithies last year and it’s the reality is as a team we have not missed a beat.

Second row is my area of concern moving forward with Faz and Isa clearly at the back end if their career and obviously risks over our ability to retain Nsemba who is bound to attract interest. I’m not seeing too much depth in the club beyond that beyond Walters and maybe the Chan project as we look to adapt him to be more comfortable in that department.

This is more of an off-season topic but I love these sorts of things. Firstly, I would look at who the competition is. This would be my shortlist.

Shaun Wane - 7 seasons in charge. 3 Grand Final wins, 1 League Leader's Shield, 1 WCC, 1 Challenge Cup. Also reached two more Grand Finals and one more Challenge Cup Final. Won the double in 2013. Under Wane Wigan were noted for defensive grit and a team that relied on mobility and stamina to wear the opposition down, rather than size and power, or flair and creativity. Wane’s teams were frequently criticised for being dull to watch, and this was a criticism that seemed to grow as his tenure lasted. Nevertheless, Wane achieved considerable success and did so with a team that was very much based around local talent, many of whom he had previously coached in the academy setup. The other question is how much of Wane’s success was owed to the foundation built by the previous coach, Michael Maguire, who was generally recognised as having transformed Wigan from also-rans to a genuine top-tier side. It cannot be ignored that Wane was part of that coaching setup as well, being Maguire’s assistant.

Michael Maguire – 2 seasons in charge. 1 Grand Final win, 1 League Leader’s Shield, 1 Challenge Cup. When Michael Maguire came to Wigan the club had gone five seasons without appearing in a final, seven without winning a trophy and ten seasons without being crowned champions, all things that would have been unthinkable at any point in the 1990s. Under previous coach Brian Noble the team had been regular, but unconvincing, play-off contenders. Without drastically changing the squad, Maguire led the team to a dominant championship in his first season. Wigan under Maguire were a well-drilled outfit, brutal and uncompromising in defence but able to unlock defences with skill and pace. Wigan followed their championship with a terrific Challenge Cup win, which saw them knock out holders Warrington in the quarter-finals, arch-rivals St Helens in the semis and finally defeat Leeds Rhinos in an excellent final. After that it was perhaps somewhat disappointing that they did not kick on and reach the Grand Final again.

John Monie – 6 seasons in charge, 1 spell of 4 years, 1 spell of 2. 5 Championships, including the inaugural Grand Final, 4 Challenge Cups, 1 WCC, numerous other trophies that would take too long to mention. In plain terms of trophies delivered, John Monie easily wins this competition. With four consecutive league and cup doubles, Monie stands alone as the most dominant coach in British rugby league history. The question that always dogs assessments of his reign is that of how much of his success was down to inheriting a team that was already the best in the competition. Monie’s second period in charge of the club was not as successful as his first, but still saw Wigan finish top of the league in 1998, after a couple of seasons off the top, reach the Challenge Cup Final and win the first ever Super League Grand Final. The recurring criticism of Monie’s initial run is that “anyone could have done it” but the truth is, “anyone” didn’t do it – he did.

Graham Lowe – 3 seasons in charge. 1 Championships, 2 Challenge Cups, 1 WCC, various other trophies. The way in which Graham Lowe laid the foundation for what John Monie achieved is somewhat similar to what Michael Maguire did before Shaun Wane took over. Before Lowe took over Wigan had finally ended a trophy drought dating back to the 1960s when they won the 84/85 Challenge Cup. However, it was Lowe who was to build that success from a one-off to a dynasty. He brought in top players from his native New Zealand, who would go on to become club legends, and he began the 8 in a row Challenge Cups that is the most famous winning streak in rugby league history.

Jim Sullivan – 20 (!) years in charge. 5 Championships, 2 Challenge Cups. Player coach from 1932, Jim Sullivan’s era is obviously hard to compare to later ones, but he absolutely belongs in any discussion of Wigan’s greatest coach. Jim had already led Wigan to one championship as captain and coach before he retired from playing in 1946 and focused solely on coaching. Between then and leaving the club in 1952 he then won another 4 championships as well as 2 Challenge Cups, making Wigan indisputably the dominant force of the era. He then went on to similar success at St Helens, taking them from a relatively mediocre club to a true top side and making sure that the Wigan-Saints rivalry would become one of the great British sporting rivalries.

So, while I think Matt Peet has already put himself very much on this list, I definitely think it is still too early to say that he has surpassed all of these men. For me, Monie remains the best. He took what was undeniably a great team but transformed them into a relentless winning machine that may never be matched. I would say Lowe and Sullivan follow close behind. Maguire’s impact on the club can’t be denied but two seasons is just not enough to quite put him in the same bracket as the others on this list, in my opinion.

One small point
Lowe only did 3 season and won 1 championship (Widnes winning the other 2 in 88 and 89).

D'oh! Quite right, I somehow gave him Monie's first season as well. Now edited.

Major honours (League title, Challenge Cup, WCC)

John Monie - 10
Jim Sullivan - 7
Shaun Wane - 6
Matt Peet, Graham Lowe, Graeme West - 4

Peet has potential to top that list if he sticks around and we carry on this trajectory with success

Edit - just noted someone already posted a much more detailed analysis of the above.

Talking of honours, an interesting article has been published by Love Rugby League about trophies won by all the Superleague clubs. We're only 54 clear of second place! Plenty of Rugby League fans like to throw around the idea that from the late 80's to the mid 90's we bought every trophy we won, so if those people want to remove all those from the tally, we'll only be in.......1st place https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ra ... up-triumph

Talking of honours, an interesting article has been published by Love Rugby League about trophies won by all the Superleague clubs. We're only 54 clear of second place! Plenty of Rugby League fans like to throw around the idea that from the late 80's to the mid 90's we bought every trophy we won, so if those people want to remove all those from the tally, we'll only be in.......1st place https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ra ... up-triumph