OUR COACH. IT'S OFFICIAL.

Quote: JLM23 "Wigan havent been that far off a trophy this season, but for some 50/50 decisions going our way it might have been Wigan in the final this weekend, what's to see if MM is as good as people think he cant give them that little bit more of a push to win something?

However, there are a couple of questions that I have. Cruncher, I see you have replied, to Cartman and usually arent short of an opinion anyway
I think others have answered these questions already, but ...

1) If Wigan had won the GF, there's no doubt it would have been difficult for those who have advocated that Noble's time was up. Interestingly, IL said at the conference that Nobby may well have been retained had we won the CC, but he didn't mention the GF. I'm guessing that's because the MM deal was already sewn up by the time of the GF. And that may be the way we have to look at it - that it was a matter of practicalities at that stage. As you rightly say, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and that's the tack we would have had to take - that all contracts were signed by the end of the season, out of necessity, and there'd have been nothing that any of us could do about it.

How would I personally have felt? Well, I think that, if we'd won the GF, it would have been an emotional wrench to then have to say goodbye to Nobby. But the reality, IMO, is that Wigan have not improved adequately under his stewardship. There've been some highs, but there've been a lot of lows, and what lies in between - i.e. average mediocrity - was on show for the rest of the time. In the semi at Saints, for example, Wigan didn't play well. They were brave and there was lots of effort, but they still lacked organisation, technique, tactical thinking, incisiveness, etc. Saints won because they were better in all these areas. And that's pretty well been the story of Wigan under Brian Noble. That, for me, would have carried more weight in the long run than winning the GF.

2) There is undoubtedly a gamble factor with MM. But I don't think we, as Wigan fans, can ask for more than that the new coach be imported from the very fulcrum of cutting-edge RL thinking, which is Melbourne. I hear the view expressed a lot that being an assistant coach is no preparation for being a head-coach. But that's clearly nonsensical, because that's exactly what it is - and the proof is that nearly all the top coaches in the world were assistant coaches at one time or other. I also would say - and I hate admitting this - that I think being an assistant coach at the very top end of the NRL is probably at least as challenging as being a head coach in SL. He'll have been surrounded by far more abrasive and demanding characters. He'll have been judged far more ruthlessly, by the press, by his employers, by players, by fans, etc, than they ever would be over here. He's far more likely to have been whizzed the first time he fouled up than he would ever be in the UK.

Will he know the Wigan players, the ethos, the town etc? No, he won't. But that, I'm sure is where the likes of Shaun Wane and Kris Radlinski come in. As you say, those lads were baptised with cherry and white water, and blooded as a players at a time when the Wigan ethos was a towering force. What more could you want as a Wigan fan?

All in all, I think the Wigan fans are right to be very happy with this development. Having lived through the Graham Lowe appointment, and having witnessed at first hand the shock caused by the sacking of the very popular multi-trophy winning 'Wigan through-and-through' coach that was Colin Clarke, and then having seen the RL revolution that Lowe brought in, not just at Wigan but all through British RL in my opinion - the dissenting voices had been silenced in less than a month - I'm very hopeful that we could be on the cusp of something special.