MM seems to have brought the winning mentality and the attitude of a winner with him and instilled that into the squad. Apparently he was non too pleased about the 2 late tries we conceded last night when the players got back in the changing room. It would be very easy to pat everyone on the back and congratulate them for a sterling win but the performance wasn't up to what he expects so they got it off him, good to see and something thats been missing at our club since the days of Lowe and then Monie.

Its a 8/10 from me because although our defensive pattern is good I think we are conceding too many points overall and may come unstuck against the likes of Saints and Leeds.

We have changed our style

Smith has added a new dimension to our attack for us this season we offload alot more hes getting our players play off the cuff more not seen us play like that.

The Warrington offloads nearly did for us in that first half at the Haliwell Jones.

It was a real clash of styles that Wigan and Wire game. I thought on one side(Wire) you had a team that looked like they want to be the new St Helens and by that I mean keeping the ball alive and playing entertaining off the cuff rugby and on the other hand you had a team(Wigan) that look very professional and well drilled both in attack and defence. We're also good to watch with the ball but in a more structured way.

It's early days but i'd be suprised if both sides aren't top 4 come the end of the season.

Well you know what they say about statistics. You can argue the toss all day over whether the stats mean it was five drives and kick or not but the fact is the style of Rugby played under Noble for three seasons never mind last year was just downright poor for the majority of the time. That's not a myth.

I dread to think it would have been like had we not had Barrett when we did.



There is A LOT more too it then being quicker to move the ball wide. The attack has been transformed with things like a staggered attacking line and players like Roberts having the confidence to take players on and players like Sam having the inclination to try stuff like chips over the top.

The notion I see developing in this thread that Wigan can now do the things we tried to do under Noble simply because the team is fitter is way off the mark IMO.

Dave

No point in auguring with you DaveO as you think your right all the time. Its just most of us on here know better

Yet another "disagree with me and you're wrong" post from Dave!

In our game against Crusaders there were times I thought we played in attack abit like Saints, be interesting to see how we play against Bradford tonight.

But the players are stepping up the stats prove it.

Paul Wood

2009 games 21 offloads 15
2010 games 5 offloads 15

To be fair, there are a few on here with that 'attitude'.

One stat hardly proves anything.

I would agree you have improved massively but to say you are playing like saints would suggest to me their running style. Are you playing really deep with loads of dummy runners?

Very much like the current NRL style, (obviously from Maguires up to date experience) Deep attacking lines and spreading the ball wide quickly with dummy runners. Thats how Australia always seem to kill us in attack in internationals.

All of us fans spoke for years about how the mentality and work ethic at the club wasn't right, and by addressing that we've been able to take a giant leap forward in the way a Wigan team takes to the field.

For me I always though we'd have a brilliant coaching team in McGuire and Wane, on the one hand we have a coach who comes over with the most up to date techniques and methods, and on the other a former player who recognizes what at the club need's to change to once again allow us to challenge at the top.

I was personally ready to right this season off in some respects purely because I thought we were lacking in certain areas, however the coaching staff have remedied those weak spots, and I honestly believe were on the way to something good in the short and longterm.

I remember going to Barrow in the cup last year and saying to may mate, "Even Barrow play better rugby than Wigan."

I don't see how anyone can argue with that, despite Noble defenders attempting to on this thread.

The style of rugby was poor, end of story.