You were saying...... not bad for someone who hasn't played for months. Watson needs to be Wigans coach long term.

Why should Watson be Wigan’s long term coach and not Lam?

Because Lam was never meant to be and will never be our long term coach. If he's successful then he'll be snapped up the NRL.

I know you're a Lam fan, but I just don't see what's sold you? We've had 18+ month mixed bag of performances and little structure.

Salford have had 1 good year...are currently the team that had fallen from Grace more than any other this year and are in a struggle to avoid finishing bottom.

I just don’t get the clamour for him to be some kind of saviour.

The first point you made is in my opinion very important.

Lam was never supposed to be our long term coach. What a job to step in to. Literally no win. It was no coincidence our form turned round when the Edwards fiasco ran its course.

Lam is in my opinion slowly building the squad he wants.

He has in my opinion earned the right to see this project through into next year with his team.

+1. I'm not saying Lam is or isn't great but he's doing well enough to see how it pans out

I’ve been a critic of Lam and last week doesn’t make up for the months of looking pretty clueless but it’s a starting point if hopefully turning things round. Turning things round isn’t scrapping enough wins to get in the plays offs or make a semi or final of the cup, it’s looking well coached, looking like we have a game plan, improving our discipline and our error count and when the acid tests come round we can’t afford to have no gears to go through like last years play offs. We can’t afford to be passive every time we face St Helens and just let ourselves be a sitting duck.

It’s a big day for Lammy tomorrow. I do have a good bit of hope that the HKR defeat was a line in the sand moment and the signs last week were extremely positive. I’d love nothing more than for him to be a success here but doubts still remain for me. If we go out tomorrow and out in a confident performance a few more may disappear.

Because i believe Watson is a far better man manager. He constantly has his best players taken with zero budget but he always manages to get the players to roll their sleeves up and perform (most) weeks whilst trying to replace players like for like. He seems to be able to make a Rolls Royce out of pig iron. I was a Lam fan and wanted to give him time but now after some dreadful performances he now needs to convince me he deserves to be here.

Once again, who does he consistently get the best out of?

Last year he had a very special player and man of steel. This year they are poor.

Last week despite numerous players missing and a pack made up of kids we absolutely dominated Catalans. Outplayed them in every department.

Salford have lost that player (to us) and have literally dropped like a stone down the league table.

Yesterday Salford beat Catalans in extra time and Watson is still regarded by some as some kind of super coach.

Personally don’t get it.

Nat saying he is a bad coach by the way just applying some common sense to the situation.

Dudson, Bibby, Jones, Welham, Mossop, Lolohea, Lui, Hastings, etc, etc. Pretty much all of them. Most of which are players who nobody else wanted. John i have been saying it since day 1. I really, really want Lam to succeed. He has got until the end of the season for me. We won nothing last year and if it's another barren year with this squad then he clearly isn't up to it. Just my opinion but i think Watson has earned the chance to coach at a bigger club with better players and a bigger budget. I don't think there is anyone better around.

I just think this mentality is wrong personally. Is Lam the right man? Honestly I’m not sure but I think he has earned the right to lead the club into 2021.

Ian Watson has coached a team at the bottom of the league for the majority of his time in SL and people make out he is performing miracles.

He coached a team that had finished in the bottom 2 for 3 out of his 5 years.

I do think people under appreciate how important to a team especially a struggling team a top half can be.

It reminds me of when Salford were coached by Karl Harrison, they finished near the top of the table and people were saying he has the next GB coach etc. they then sold Andrew Dunerman to Leeds and instantly became relegation fodder and he lost his job never to coach in SL again.

I personally don’t get the Lam criticism.

He is building his squad and his team. Individuals are improving and youth is flourishing.

Are we the finished article? No, but in my opinion he has earned the right to lead us into next year with “his team”.

Watson has resurrected the careers of plenty of players at Salford and looks a very good coach to me. If that quality of resurrecting careers is one needed at Wigan I’m not too sure. If we needed a new coach he’d certainly be in the running for me but you would still have those doubts as to how he’d go at a big club. Does he resurrect careers because it’s a low pressure environment? Could he adapt to being at a club where success is demanded? I personally think he would go really well but you can never be certain.

Putting Lam out of the equation for a min. If not Watson, then who? There's no other realistic option from SL imo. The other option would be an NRL assistant and that's just as much of a gamble.

The first sentence is kind of my point.

Why should we be looking at this stage to put Lam out of the equation?

Playing devils advocate though the NRL would be where any new coach comes in from should it be required in the foreseeable future.

Lam for me won't be here for another two seasons. I say that because if he's a success then he'll move back and if he isn't the he'll leave. I believe his family still live in Aus, which for me isn't sustainable.

Why would an NRL assistant be a better option than Watson? Someone like Woolford for example had a decent assistant CV, but was crap. Just because they talk with an Australian accent doesn't mean they are god's gift to coaching.

Not sure why SL fans are so quick to rubbish the achievements of Watson. To label it as "down to Hastings" is laughable. If that was the case then why isn't he waving his magic wand on our forwards. Another poster listed guys like Dudson & Mossop and how Watson had turned them around - wish we could say the same about Clarke or Flower.

There’s been many time’s I’d rather Noble than Lam. On the whole we’ve been poor to average lacking a sense of direction, leadership and ideas, notwithstanding the games v Catalans and Huddersfield I genuinely cannot think of another game where I’ve walked away going “that was really good” as opposed to “improvements needed but that try from X (generally French) was fantastic”. We’re winning games on individual talent rather than team talent. We look like a team of individuals who just so happen to play rugby thrown together hastily. Players playing out of position, players being selected who clearly aren’t good enough or fit enough, Lam praising poor performances as “encouraging” - where do I end?

He’ll be our coach in 2021, of that I have no doubt. I can’t see us sacking him off with the current pandemic. That being said if we were to get rid, I wouldn’t be fussed whether the coach had an Aussie accent or not. That matters little to me. What does matter is suitability for the job, something which Lam lacks in abundance.