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.

The biggest error made in adopting the salary cap is in not understanding the effect it would have on the saleability of the devalued product to TV. That is a massive oversight and one that could well cause a seismic shift in our sport very soon. I'm not sure we have the time to turn it around either before the new contract is negotiated.

it wasn't a cheap shot mate , his problems started well before Wigan got near him, Inglis on the other hand is the arguably the best or been the best in the world , at the top of his sport and possibly couldn't do as well in any other sport and being paid very well. that wasn't my point , which was that if we had the players with the ability and high IQ/off feikd behaviour of a true pro then they probably wouldn't hang about in SL , there are just so many better options for them , unless they are the type of people who do something stupid and make bad choices in life , like ZH , Chase , Tomkins,Gleeson ,Newton, Johns. With the ability ZH has he would have been a top NRL player or made in big in RU but instead he's made some really bad choices career wise .If we did produce an Inglis he simply wouldn't stay in SL unless of course they where a bit dumb .

No doubt Manfredi/Williams/Bateman will be big targets for other teams/sports and who could blame them if they left ?

We do have other decent player like Lomax/Percival but they have probably worked out that they are getting as good a deal as they can get , o RU potential and not really up to NRL fro. what I've see n.

People keep saying that, but Hardaker didn't look NRL class when he was actually in the NRL.

Do you think 11 games is enough after travelling around the world and settling in with a new team at the highest level , even a homesick Sam played 37 games .

They are both up to NRL level , or at least Sam was when he was there , but it aint gona happen overnight. There is also a difference between being a world beater in the NRL and being upto the level , hes was never going to be a Jarryd Hayne but he certainly woudnt be a weak link.

Yes, frankly, I do. If he'd shown any promise, he'd have played more than 11 games. Youngsters come into the NRL having never played a senior game in their lives, and often look far more impressive than Hardaker. Sam at least shown he was NRL standard. But if he'd been as poor in his first 11 as Hardaker, I'm sure he'd have been on the plane home too.

He played at centre in an Average Penrith side, he had no chance to show off he best assets which are kick returns and one on one defence.

you don't know your rugby then, look at Pat Richards at Wigan , poor first season and then became a world beater . There's getting up to speed , game time , finding your feet and then showing what you can do , ain't gona be done in 11 games for most.