As a Warrington supporter just would say how much I respect what he has achieved, particularly this season. When he announced he was leaving I remember seeing a lot of people - even here - saying he should go at once. A measure of the man that he did not switch off, and as they said on the Sky interview, for a Super League coach to leave on his own timetable is very rare. Pi**ed us all of at times, as all opposition coaches do, but taking a step back, so impressive.

No sorry, that short snippet was an extract from the 30 min interview. I'll keep an eye out for it

It’s available on demand I believe

Been a heavy critic of his since around 2 years ago. The product we’ve been paying to watch has been drab, usually from February to September, at least.
However I cannot argue with Wanes record of achieving what it ultimately the aim - silverware.

Saturday was a real bitter sweet moment for me.
I believe we are due the change which is coming but it doesn’t half scare you the move away from a successful formula.
Only time will tell for the next few years.

For now though, thank you Waney. You’ve been a roaring success when we look back.

That’s my overall feeling on the situation. When this Wigan team plays at its best it is brutal and it gets results. Every team plays conservatively in the big games and then struggle to out do the experienced teams who have been doing it for years so that plays it to our hands. Wanes sides won’t have you jumping out your seat every five minutes but I’ve been totally entertained these past few weeks.

I smile at Saints fans saying they wouldn’t pay to watch the likes of Wigan and Warrington yet when it came to their biggest game of the year they played a more conservative brand of rugby then either would ever dream of. Going for drop goals at 2-2 and penalties at 9-6 was pathetic!!

Very good post. I too want to look forward to games, I want to feel like the players not only want to win, but there's a desire to entertain also.

That said, Wane has been successful in an era where you can't buy success, he's bred a culture of professionalism, structure and desire. Can't help but wonder what the future holds with the new regime. Nervous, but also exciting times ahead.

Has to be Wane , he knows how to peak for the end of season , gets it right , that's what a coach does.

He absolutely got it nailed on without having the best team on paper , defence was outstanding and they would grind anyone down , my only grips is that the CC final and GF certainly will not pull punters in anymore , it wasn't a spectacle by any means , we have aussie style defensive coaching and would say its pretty flawless in the SL , problem is that we don't have any creative half backs or people standing deep and running in at speed , I think this wigan team would need a few years in the NRL to start creeping up from the lower end of the table , but for most games against average to decent teams I think they would be competitive , get a run of 4-5 games against the big boys and they will be caught short week in week out . Really would love a 90's style world club challenge running mid season and that should be the title to win , would scrap the GF format and go back to regular season format and that would become would become like winning the CC as it is now and the CC would be like winning the old premiership . Bit like champions league in footy I suppose.

We just do not see the starts like we used to back in the 80s-early 2000s

Never just dont see players of the calibre like Schofield, Edwards, Greg, Hanley, Hamspon , tait Offiah , KFC /Martyn, Robbie Paul even though they are full time pro's
the only ones who I see being potential greats as it stands are

Manfredi, burgess,Bateman , Hardaker ( could walk in the hall of fame if his head was on right)

Just cant imagine how good SO would have been had he spent the last 12 years in the NRL , we need to scrap the cap now, its served its purpose , let clubs get bigger , take bigger risks, but just make sure they have good yout setups like Leeds did .

Hopefully edwards upsets a few people and reinvents the game again. we should be striving to e the best , not the best of the rest and holding ourselves back with the Sky dough , I don't think my interest in RL has ever been so low

I'm rather surprised that the posters who have constantly criticized Wane during his tenure, don't have the courage of their convictions and post just how happy they are that he'd gone.... Tell us how wonderful the future will be, now that Wane is not holding us back... What can we expect over the next five years in terms of entertainment and silverware... Educate those of us you have regarded as idiots .... Paint a picture of these sunlit uplands....

I think he should go. Left the team in a good place and a new input is required now. I would have moved him upstairs though.

Although completely agreeing with your sentiment I think the style of play is subjective and you can always argue (I wouldn't BTW) that he should have won more etc. Even though I have always defended Wane I can understand the reason for the fresh start etc.

What I cannot accept are those that deliberately tried to undermine Wane by stating he'd lost the dressing room, players were against him etc. and in some instances (Around the Hock time) that he was involved in some kind of underworld Skull-doggery

I think if one thing that has come through in the last couple of Months or so is the Esteem that Wane is held in by Players and Staff.
You don't get that if things are the way some people have tried to depict Wane and his tenure over the last couple of years.

I still like my Kickers from the 1980s and the minidisc but time moves on...

Even during the Hanley / Edwards era, there were malcontents for whom the team, the performances, the coaching, the running of the club etc just weren't good enough. So, it's no surprise that we get them now, though at present most seem to congregate on the other site. Even now, one of them is only lukewarm in his celebration of Wigan's Grand Final victory.

Last year, I was very worried that the 'ongoing decline' we had heard so much about online during the Wane era had finally caught up with us, and maybe SW was nothing more than a conman after all, who'd inherited Michael McGuire's team and was incapable of fixing things on his own. All of that now has been put to bed. Wane's team might not have played basketball - like Cas did last year and Saints did this year - but entertaining though that was, it didn't win either of them very much in the end, and so maybe his way was the better way.

I agree that the entertainment factor is subjective anyway. Long-range tries and fancy passing moves are great, but I don't see how any true RL fan could not have enjoyed last Saturday's game. It was a low-scoring, but still a blood and thunder epic, with bags of tension and excitement.

I'm just glad for the guy that now the vast majority of fans will remember him very fondly.

I’ll remember Wane fondly, even though I was a part of the “Wane Out” brigade. I thought he brought an attitude, work ethic and attitude that simply could not be bought. The style of play left a lot to be desired IMHO but you can not argue with the plaudits being given to him by the media, players and coaches alike across a broad spectrum of sports too.

Now we find out if the grass is greener.

As a true rugby fan of 38+ years it was a dire game , as a wigan fan caught up the moment with it being a tight game you will have felt this more than a neutral , the whole game was 1 dimensional , slow and unentertaining. The game is not going to expand or appeal to new fans if they have to sit through that . If the British game was the best rugby in the world I think people could accept more that that's what it take to win at the highest level , but the Aussie teams manage this level of defence whilst playing more expansive rugby. The game has never been more televised and promoted and uninteresting. We only get to find out once per year how far we are behind against a team thats using the WCC as a warm up before there season starts , we need a champions league format , better competition and adjust accordingly , Yes people will see straight away that the cap is holding us back so lets get rid , have communisn/socialism in the game and you'll pull everyone down rather than up.

I was a fan of the cap when it was introduced but we are now seeing the unintended consequences , which is being the best of a bad/average bunch. we have lost a lot of players who have left to play union /NRL and then theres also the kids we dont see who choose other careers or sports rather than play RL because its a short and not very lucrative sport (compared to others)

As it stands we will never be capable of producing a player like Hayne/Inglis/slater because they simply wouldn't be playing rugby in the UK , if they are dumb enough to play rugby in the UK then they would probably be banned for taking coke or drink driving.

I'm not having it that last Saturday wasn't tense and exciting. Also, Inglis has been banned for drink-driving down in Aus - so it's a cheap shot suggesting that this kind of behaviour is a typical unprofessional British issue.

However, I take your point about the Salary Cap.

I long feared that would have the effect of turning us into a Poverty Row sport, with fewer great players wanting to join us and our own starlets looking overseas for their future. All of that has come to pass. Even then, for a time, I accepted the thesis that as long as only some of the SL clubs could afford to pay wages as high as the current cap, there was no point even raising it. But now I think there is a bigger picture. We simply can't go on being a seedbed for the NRL and England RU. Yes, our crowds are down (direly so) and the playing standards across the game are perceptively lower than they were even 10 years ago, let alone 30 years ago. Somehow or other, we have to turn this situation around - and that won't happen by allowing minor dispensations here and there, like club-trained players on their 10th year of service, or whatever. We need drastic action.

We've already taken the first step by sidelining the RFL, who seem permanently wedded to the idea that British RL is all about the Featherstones and Batleys of this world. I hear that the Hearns reckon we should ditch the Cap straight away, because British RL is in desperate need of stars. So, lots of influential people are saying it.

Whether Elstone and co will be bold enough to make that move, I don't know. But I'm cautiously optimistic that more big changes are just around the corner.