Meaningless friendly

Quote: Cruncher "I'm not really missing the point. What this all boils down to is how do you get to the end of the season in the best 'state and form'?

Those who claim that league points don't matter so much are basically advocating that Wigan throw matches. Like it or not, that is what they are saying. You can spin it as 'rotating resources' - which all good clubs should do anyway - but if, by that, you mean playing lots of club juniors in fixtures that you earmark as easy, because you want to rest seniors, you are risking - as Shaun Wane did at Widnes last year - losing games that you would normally win. But then that doesn't matter because league fixtures are unimportant.

I can't agree.

There are other factors at play here. 'Getting on a roll' and 'losing can become a habit' are phrases we don't seem to hear very much these days, possibly because they pose a counterargument to this notion that league games are unimportant. Wigan have a very young side this year. Can we guarantee that if they lose a couple of matches it won't affect their confidence? That they won't lose a lot more matches? That they won't finish, not fourth or fifth, but out of the top eight altogether? (Please don't scoff at that notion - on paper Ian Millward's side was good enough to make the play-offs, but events conspired to send it to the bottom of the table).

It's a big assumption that Wigan failed to make Old Trafford because they tired themselves out trying to win every league fixture. What about Tommy Leuluai's injury? Was he ever the same for us again? What about Brett Finch and Jeff Lima? - as soon as they got their new deals sorted out, they were on the boat. That was three key players who were no-shows for us at the business end of the season. We also learned that both Hock and Sam Tomkins were carrying injuries.

People point to Warrington and level the same argument - high-flyers in the league but losers in the play-offs, must have been tired. And yet Wire have a long track record of choking in the play-offs. In addition, they've won the Challenge Cup three times in the last four years. We know from our own experience in 2011 that winning the Cup makes the play-offs seem a little less important.

It would be a very dangerous policy to assume that 'not trying to win certain games' - because that is what this boils down to - is the way to conserve energy for the play-offs. You might not even make the play-offs, or if you do you might be in the wrong state of mind. You might still have lost players to injury, because not trying very hard never equates to everyone staying fit and well.'"

There is an argument for the above. I disagree, but it's completely unrelated to the point I quoted.

Quote: Cruncher "Cruncher wrote

You are making a connection between league position and progress to the GF. Given I and others have argued that league position is less and less relevant, the point you are making is redundant.