I’d agree if we had generally been good in attack, and the Widnes game was a one off with Smith missing, but that isn’t the case. The Widnes game showed we are very poor in attack, and that Shorrocks isn’t able to step in and fix it (not that it should be expected!).

IMO our issues lie primarily with coaching, as the players at our disposal are good enough to score more than they have. We get the field position, yet they don’t seem to have a clue what to do in the opposition 20m. Whether the answer is to bring in an attacking coach or just replace Wane I don’t know. It would be ideal for Wane to stay as defensive coach to learn from someone more experienced but I’m sure he would rather leave to be head coach somewhere else.

Having said all that, I did say before the season kicked off that we lack spark at 7 and 9 compared with our biggest competitors, Tommy should prove a shrewd signing in that regard. Is Smith definitely on his way? It baffles me that Saints would consider him.

How much coaching is necessary? The players knew what to do in attack before this season (I know we weren't amazing in 2015 either but it was much better than this season) so I find it hard to believe that Wane's coaching has declined so much and that the players need constant reminding of what to do; perhaps you're overrating the quality of our players and they in fact are not as good as they once were?

It's a completely valid excuse. Cas are doing so well in the league as well aren't th- oh wait! They're currently 9 points off the top 4 and 11 behind us.

They are excellent to watch but I'd much rather be in our position than theirs.

Although we have been poor in many areas I believe our biggest problem to be last tackle kicking options, especially near the opponent line. We seem to love the old grubber into the corner. But look at Hull, in recent weeks I've seen them score quite a lot of tries from Sneyd simply kicking a high one to the corner and Fonua competing well in the air. We never seem to test the opponent wingers with high kicks to the corner, I can't remember the last time Charnley scored a try like this.

I'm convinced we haven't put a bomb into the corner all season. Manfredi's arguably the best under the high ball too and Charnley's not bad either.

But, we still see the tired, forced grubber to the corner. Every time (unless Bateman conjurs something out of nothing).

Positionally maybe - but if Wigan have become nothing more than a team that just grinds out wins playing awful rugby then it is a very sad state of affairs and getting to the positon we have says a lot about the state of the game as a whole.

In reality my point was that even with a lot of injuries some teams still maintain an attractive playing style - I would expect that a club like Wigan should be capable of doing that (more so that a club like Cas as we have greater resources on and off the pitch to call on - at the risk of upsetting Cas fans). With the exception of one or two games this season Wigan have not really shown any great flair or attacking skill even when most of the players have been fit early season.

Basic attacking skill should be something that players are capable of despite the team having players out (and yes I get that some of the players missing have been our main pivots) but the vast majority of the paltry number of tries scored this season have in the main been individual players creating something - not great team play.

Even against Hull - great defense but the scores were individual efforts - again not the result of good attacking team play.

Rugby like any sport is supposedly entertainment - something Wigan have been missing.

I'll wager most Cas fans are happier about their season than most Wigan fans, despite finishing well below us.

The rugby we played last season wasn't great, but it's a damn sight worse this year.

Can't agree with that. Yes we've been dire to watch but at least we've been able to grind out a lot of wins meaning we're still in the running at the business end of the season. Playing flashy attacking rugby but being inconsistent results wise meaning you've nothing to play for by the time the Super 8's comes round can hardly be called a successful season IMO.