The strange thing is Wigan are Saints bogey side, Saints are Wire's bogey side and Wire are Wigan's bogey side.

A kind of looping Wire>Wigan>Saints>Wire, infinitum.

Exactly.

What Im pointing out is that statements like "Wire WILL do the double" & "Smith IS a better coach than Wane" & "Wire have a better pack than ours" are statements made at a particular point in time and not based on the ups & downs of a whole season.

For instance

If youd asked who had the better pack in May/June I'm sure youd have got an overall different answer than your getting now (i.e 80% would say Wire but maybe 80% would have said Wigan back then).

The truth lies somewhere in between these 2 points and varies with Form etc
IMO there's not a great deal between the 2 and Wire may have the "Edge" at the moment but form is a funny thing and can come back as easily as it goes.
I thought there were a few promising aspects to our game over the last 2 games with the return of Tommy (We scored 7 of our 8 tries IIRC wilst he was on the field at HKR playing SH) and our right side attack seemed a bit more potent and was looking better on Friday until the "incident". I also thought our pack seemed to get a bit of fire (Cue the MM comments) back in them and Mossop looked better friday than he had for a couple of months as did Lima, Hansen picked his game up and looked back to the form of April/May and with guys like Hock & O'loughlin who have consistantly performed I'm not overly worried about our "pack".
With the return of Tommy L I believe it provides a more cohesive structure to our game at SH that allows the pack to perform better as a whole and takes pressure of Finch (Who gets a bit Headless chicken when he has too many things to do when Tommys' not there) to just control our left side attack.

End of the day, rightly or wrongly, what matters is being in that Final on 6th October and being the better team on that day.

Middle of June nearly every Wigan fan would have said that would be us and people warned that it would be a long hard season fluctuating with form etc.
I believe that 2/3 weeks down the line it's not unrealistic for us to be back somewhere near that level of performance and that would be more than enough to give us a chance of winning it.

Same applies to the Wolfs

I think soem people look at it and say if we were playing Wolfs today they'd win.
Thing is were not playing them today, we may be playing them in 3/4 weeks time and the whole landscape can change between now and then both ways based on form/fitness/injuries.

Smith is a better coach though, and i don't say that with Wire specs on

If he fell out with the club at the end of the season i'd bet your bottom dollar that Wigan would look to recruit him.

I agree that Smith is a better coach than Wane also he is a lot smarter than Wane as well in how he uses his players. This though he has done through necessity due to the age of certain players to keep them fit for the end of season games. He is by far the best coach in SL atm.

I doubt it if we would go and recruit him as if he becomes available Wane in his first season has done very well. If he is to leave Wire he will go to union. Read an article a week or 2 ago where John Bentley said that union clubs were thinking of approaching him. I am not attempting to troll Yed just read an article in either Sun or Star.

Mmmm
Comparing a guy with 10+ years of 1st grade experience to a guy with 10 months?
I'm sure we would look at him, Would Wire look at Wane in reverse? Possibly an even more interesting question "If" Wane went on to win the GF?

I don't doubt Smith's credentials but I'm also not going to go overboard and Hail him as the next messiah.
I'm sure he's done many great things and in a couple of instances he's overhauled a club from top to bottom and turned them into a much more successful unit/club.
There could however be arguments for saying at Leeds he put the icing on the cake and some of the groundwork had been laid for him years earlier and he finished it off.
In the Wolfs instance he's definately been a major player in the the turnaround however he has dropped lucky on the financial front to help him.

No1 coach in SL?
Probably - But he isn't infallable (sp)

Smith is also very good at getting the right people around him; he pretty much brought across the team he had at Leeds to fill positions from player development upwards. Not sure he would be able to replicate the same structure going to the NRL or the RFU.

True, but he's been lucky with injuries, where for most of the season we've not had the luxury of being able to rest players. Losing Roberts & Fielden for practically the whole season, plus Tommy, Pat and others for big chunks, meant the kids were forced in rather than introduced for odd games as Wire have been able to do.

We've probably got 2 games until the final (not saying we'll definitely get there), I just don't see us getting up to their level in the time left. We went to their place a month ago and they completely dominated us. They destroyed Leeds in The CC Final. Looking at form going into the play-offs I don't see anyone beating them. On our day of course we can do them, but they would have to be a bit off as well imo. I'm not all doom and gloom about our chances, I actually think we'll make the final, I just dont see us beating Warrington which we'll need to do to win the comp.

I'm not going to say i think we'll win it, sport is unpredictable, i think we have a great chance but things happen in games, twists and turns.

I'd love a Wigan v Wire final, i love intense games, lately they've been like a game of chess played by page 3 girls. Exciting and engaging, the only game i go in and can't predict one way or another.

And so he should be how many years has Smith been a first team coach?

It's Wanes first year at the top

I think if we do get what everybody wants.. a Wigan Wire final, we will see a completely different game to a few weeks ago. If both teams are firing on all cylinders it will make for an awesome game and I would be 50/50 as to which way it would go. Fingers crossed we get to see it happen . But for now, lets focus on getting over our first hurdle!

IF we were to play Wire in the final then our pack would have to be back to its best for 80 minutes or we'd get flogged.

Yeah I agree.. When we have played wire this year, we have been possibly at our worst and they have been at their best, particularly in the forwards. Wire would have to replicate this and be at their best to have a chance of beating us and we will have to be at our best to beat wire... if both are at their best then it will be a great advert for the game.. but like you say, there is a few IFs between then and now!

This was a good post Jukesays.