I've never known a coach make such a difference

Quote: DaveO "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'"

I agree entirely. Amos Roberts stated in the match day programme that Madge has allowed him to come in field and play his game more rather then being stuck on the wing and being one dimensional. He also went on to say how important a good start was and how just playing at the end of the season wasn't good enough. I think that speaks volumes about the differences with the two coaches. Players have to be professional in what they say, but that was the clearest indication on how they must all be feeling about the two coaches. Have you ever seen Stuart Fielden look so happy?

That team last night was exactly the same team Brian Noble had whilst at Wigan (Deacon didn't play). What we saw was a dominant performance and a team playing with plenty of confidence and enthusiasm. We were much more clinical, inventive and thorough in our attack. Players knew where to be. We have even started to use the prop forwards in our attack close to the line! Last year we had players who would get the ball and then just stop and get closed down. We were too slow and too flat. MaGuire has made a massive change to the team and the way we play our game. Yes, the fitness of the players has played an important part to the way the team is performing, but Brian Noble could have changed things around had he wanted to.What was stopping him? Ian Lenagan publically disagreed with Noble after the St.helens match when BN came out with ficticious rubbish about 'the rugby gods weren't with us'. The 'rugby gods' don't exist and that was an awful analogy of the game and it was a frequent occurence of Brian Noble who used the same cliches all the time regarding our performances - 'bad day in the office' - and all that garbage. Lenagan was right when he said this team could do a whole lot better and so far he has been proven correct. He also publically criticised the condition of the players and said they needed to be a whole lot fitter and he was correct.

I stay quiet on this issue most of the time because either way it doesn't matter. I am just pleased to see us playing fantastic rugby and doing so well, but at times it irritates me how people bizarrely cannot see the difference in the two sides (or at least choose to ignore it) and what a monumental difference the coaching staff have made to the team. People who don't agree with their views or support their agendas get slated by the collective clique on this board and it is ridiculous. DaveO gets ridiculed if people don't agree with his views and yet people on this board are as bad if not worse!