They do have some fantastic prospects though, it's certainly a transitional period for them which may pay off in a couple of seasons.

Funnily enough I was thinking along these lines last week. The OP wasn't saying that we are a team to be scared of rather than can we be. I hope that we can. I'm sure every team strives for that aura around them. Warrington annihilated teams last year and I remember reading on their opposition forums beforehand and they were 'frightened' in a sense at the prospect of getting a thorough battering at the hands of the Wolves. Unfortunately for Warrington they didn't win anything!

The last team I remember truly thinking 's--t we're in for a tough match here' was the Bradford side of 2003ish era. I'd look at their lineup and think we are in for a tough match. It was their pack that was intimidating. Stuart Fielden, Joe Vagana, Paul Anderson, Brian McDermott, Jamie Peacock, Lee Radford, Daniel Gartner etc they just dwarfed and crushed the opposition forwards. Then in the backs with Lesley Vianikolo, Tevita Viakona, Shontayne Hape, Paul Deacon, Robbie Paul, Leon Pryce etc class and power in the backs. A team that when we fell behind early doors I wondered how on earth we could beat them. That was the only team I have ever thought opposition teams were "scared" of. A trip to Bradford was such a daunting prospect at one time.

Back to Wigan and we certainly do have one of the biggest/meanest packs in the league. Lee Mossop, Mike McIlorum, Jeff Lima, Harrison Hansen, Gareth Hock and Sean O'loughlin - only Saints and Wire can match that IMO. The difference will be from the interchange/depth in the side - Stuart Fielden, Paul Prescott, Epalahame Lauaki, Liam Farrell, Chris Tuson, Ben Flower, Gil Dudson, Greg Burke, Jack Hughes etc Some big, powerful players in there.

Our backs have the class - Leuluai and Finch have been brilliant. Sam Tomkins is one of the best fullbacks in the world and is probably the best attacking fullback in the history of Super League. Josh Charnley is excellent on the wing and Pat Richards is always dangerous, but in a couple of years will need replacing. Carmont is on borrowed time, so we will need to do something about that at centre. Darrell Goulding it's early days, but so far the signs are promising.

If Wigan keep putting in THAT (Castleford) performance each week will Wigan scare teams?

Certainly. If we can do that next week to Catalans then I'm not sure many teams will fancy playing us! The reality is though that Castleford were pretty poor by the sounds of things and were with a make-shift coach. However you can only play what is in front of you and Wigan were certainly excellent last week. I guess consistency is what we must look to. If you can keep on winning and win by those type of scorelines then not many teams will look forward to playing you.

Or do they need to be ruthless for the full 80?

That is the aim for our lads. So far they've not been. It's difficult, but this team strives for perfection. At some point it's going to all click for 80 minutes and with some of the poor opposition in Super League at the moment, I feel a tonking for someone is inevitable with the team we have.

The thread should be taken with a pinch of salt as much as the "Will we struggle this season" style threads we saw after our defeat against Huddersfield.

I'd like to think we will be a top three side, the rest is down to luck on the day.

I don't think it's just a matter of luck, unless it's the sort that you make yourself.

The 'we will struggle this season' thread was totally ludicrous, based on nothing more than endemic negativity and blind panic, and it's noticeable that many of those who were active on it now seem to have vanished from the forum. To ask if we can be the top side this season, after three good wins, during which Wigan displayed good organisation, good fitness, good tactics and good skills, is far more reasonable.

The 'we have only played poor teams so far' attitude is quite similar to that we were exposed to early in 2010, when some people were just determined not to be impressed by the Maguire appointment. I'm not saying we'll go that well this year, but I think we've now seen plenty to be very encouraged by.

Agreed entirely.

Probably the most encouraging aspect for me is that after two consecutive annihilations of Yorkshire opposition, where we've posted over 100+ points in just two games, both the fans and the players/coaching staff have identified areas that we can improve even further on. No-one is saying we're invincible, we're going to win the league, we'll thrash every team, but instead there's a little bit of frustration to a very slight extent that we're not posting more points on certain teams. Excellent to hear - it's the mental approach to games after all that Wane/Madge have been getting at these last three years.

Except we have a world cup winner who apparently is a revelation at hooker.

I'm sure Wigan fans said we were weaker last year than the year before and yet, with a bucketload of injuries and a resulting team made up largely of 19/20 year olds for chunks of the season, we ended up being just one league place weaker than the previous two years.

Last year we started the season being unable to attack. This year we have started the season being unable to defend. There is a theme here. Last year we started the season without our first choice halfbacks. This year we have started it without two of our keenest defenders (James Graham and Scott Moore) and, in James Graham, a leader on the field.

defence wins championships i'm afraid

As excuses go, this is a bit weak.

Your logic would apply if Scott Moore and James Graham were both unexpectedly absent through injury, but they're not - they aren't Saints players any more. The fact that your coach hasn't taken adequate action to try and counter this loss doesn't reflect well.

I'm pleased that Wigan seem to be able to carry on where Maguire left off. The more genuinely good teams in SL the better for everyone. IMO the standard of the game at the top end is improving. From what I've seen the attacking play has come on a long way in recent years, with the better teams starting to show good structure and motion in attack.

The problem is the massive gap between top and bottom. There are far too many scoreline blowouts, which reflects both low standards from some teams and - IMO - a real mental softness compared to the NRL. I've seen plenty of NRL games where one side has been all over the other one, but real hammerings (particularly early season) are rare as sides defend with intensity for the full 80, and are usually followed by much better performances the following week.

I don't think there's any doubt that Wane wants is to be feared as a team, after all he scares the bejesus out of me. He also talks about playing th e full 80 and being ruthless, something we didn't quite manage last year. I'm sure there was a few games last year where at half time I'd be thinking we could run up a big score here, but in the end it didn't quite happen. As has been said we've posted 100 points in the last two games and still Wane demands more. If he gets it, someone is in for a real tonking.

All that said, the standard of those outside the top 5/6 is really poor and is a real concern for the sport in this country.

Potentially yes, realistically we'll have to wait until after the weekend for a better indication or maybe after the Easter period to see. Apart from the Broncos we had the toughest start to this season we got beat by Hudds (who I think will win one of the trophies this season) where we didn't show up. We dominated Leeds the following week, which could be argued that they had one eye on the WCC if that is so more fool them. The other two were sides you would have expected us to beat.

After St Helens on Good Friday we would have played Hudds, Leeds, Cats, Wolves and Stains if we come away with another two wins at least and four excellent performances then we could be considered a team to be scared of.

its like you say, until we have played the other so called big 3 from the top 6 we wont have a full picture to where we are in comparison. Saying that, we do look solid in defence and not allowing the opposition to score many tries is a bonus. Perhaps in hindsight our last friendly game should have been the starting 17 to get the "rusty" performance out the way and have been ready for the Huddersfield game.

you could probably say widnes are a team that other teams don't want to play - because of their iPitch!

probably half of the league would have concerns over playing other teams int he league and for me 4 games in is too early to tell, not just for wigan but for all of the league. leeds won it from 5th last year. it how you finish just as much as how you start.

concentrating on the wigan aspect, we have an excellent defence so far, with the least points conceded so far after 4 games. i'd like this to be the case after the half way stage and see what people think then

it's certainly looking good though, but unfortunately catalans, wire, leeds and hudds can rightfully sa so as well, i'm sure saints will be thinking the same again after a few good results in the coming weeks.

The thing is Leeds won it from 5th because they are a good team. All the people that were saying for years that teams cant win it from outside the top 2 etc were completely ignoring the fact that it had only never happened because the best teams have never finished that low. If Wigan, Leeds, Saints or Warrington finished 8th then they could all easily win it imo. That is why I think the play offs, and much of the season, is just a bit of a farce.

Wigan do certainly look good i must admit as do Wire again. As for Saints we were shocking early doors last year with defeats at home (widnes ) against Quinns. "Youre gonna miss Cunningham"was the thread last year. Now after one defeat "youre gonna miss Jammer" is this years thread. Dont get me wrong Jammer is a huge loss not only for work rate but leadership skills aswell. However, squad as a whole is much more experienced than year with likes of Gaskell, Lomax, Makinson having more game time under the belt. Add to that the experience Hohia, LaFrannchi will bring only a fool would write saints off again. Wigan and Wire may set the bench mark again but we wont be a million miles away come business end of season.