any one of MM, Smith or Noble would be a worthy winner, but Wigan are a different team with the same roster. To make such a drastic improvement without signing anyone, and in your first ever year as head coach shows what a fantastic job he has done. I personally think Mcguire should get the award, and i would probably be accused of being biased but nobody would have expected wigan to have done this after finishing 6th last year and being so inconsistent

What about Deacon?
Smith signed 3 (1 on a free transfer) & got rid of 6

The guys a bloody legend.

Under him I have seen things that I didn't even dream of happening

You can't argue... he's a great coach.. but MM is something special aswell.

Are you seriously offering Deacon as the reason Wigan have improved so much?

He's barely played all season.

Ok, Warrington can have the Challenge Cup and Coach of the Year and we'll have the League Leaders Shield and the Grand Final. Sounds fair to me

Tony smith good coach got plenty of super league pedigree ,MM 1 st coaching job 1 st, season in super league with a team what he knew nothing about

Shaun Wane. Shoe-in for Coach of the year.
The only 100% win/loss record in SL.
Top that!

No lothlorian wrote:that Wigan had not signed any players. I would say that Deacon was a bad signing due to the amount of games that he has played.

One could argue Tony Smith should have won "Coach of the Year" last year for getting an underachieving team to Wembley and winning the Cup, having taken over when they were in such disarray.

True, Warrington are much more consistent this year and have done far better in the League, but Wigan's improvement has been more dramatic - especially as it was with the same players as last year's relatively underachieving squad. Deacon has not made such a significant contribution and cannot be regarded as the reason behind Wigan's success.

Maybe the Grand Final Winners will get the Coach of the Year!

I'd give it John Kear. Watching Wigan has been like watching paint dry, whereas Wakey have been superb.

I would agree that the coach of the year will come from Smith, Noble and Madge.

At this stage in the season there is no doubt that Wigan have improved.

The question as to whether they have improved in terms of the overall competition can only be answered in the playoffs, and the measure of that will be a GF appearance.

No doubt this last sentence will be jumped upon by those who can't see the bigger picture, but in this competition, the LL shield counts for nothing. It's no good finishing top if you cannot convert that into performances in the playoffs.