I agree, but surely Edwards would have assistants to guide him and help him, just as Wane has. In all honesty, what does Wane ( a prop forward from the 1980's) understand about half back play in 2015?
Or is this the crux of the problem - he does think he knows what makes a good half back combination and in his eyes Smith and Powell are that - primarily because of the old mantra that they are "solid" in defence).....!

Shaun Edwards contract with Wales is up at the end of the present 6 nations and according to the Union press he is not expected to renew, maybe this is the reason that Wane is getting a bit tetchy this last few weeks.

That's interesting. If Wigan's indifferent form continues and they lose their next few matches, including Saints on Good Friday, the knives may well be out. If that happens, IL should "splash the cash" and get Edwards on board. I believe I am right in thinking there is no salary cap limit on what a club spends on its coaching and backroom staff. I remember Edwards saying quite a few years ago he wouldn't come "home" until his son had finished his schooling in London. Presume that day must be very close now.

SW may know or may not know much about half back play - I don't know which it is - but I'd be very surprised if Paul Deacon doesn't know a thing or two about it and so at the very least he can advise on that area. Many a good coach once plied their trade in the front row so it doesn't follow that any former prop turned coach would be too tactically naïve.

As far as the choice of Smith and Powell in the halves goes maybe, just maybe the selection of a second steady Eddie beside Smith was seen as the best thing right now for the team. In previous weeks we had been hindered by (and criticised for) two things, poor discipline and a lack of composure/slickness in attack (leading to poor completion rates and a lack of pressure on opponents defences).

Much as I like many others would like to see Hampshire get a chance in the halves maybe the coaches thought that a misfiring team that is not at its best cohesively in attack would benefit more right now from a more back to basics approach and that a couple of steady Eddies at half back could better execute a more safety first game plan. This approach could then be employed whilst the rest of the team get into the groove of the attacking combinations which should happen sooner with fewer flamboyant/risky moves being attempted. By the same token a disjointed error ridden attacking side wouldn't exactly be the best place to utilise the talents of an explosive half like Hampshire or Williams. Once the rest of the team start to click and the passes start to stick (and go backwards) then may be the time when we see Williams back into the halves for a sustained run and hopefully Hampshire getting a run of games there too.

Sorry about taking the thread a bit O/T.

I was derided for suggesting we replace Noble on here never mind Radio Manchester stating the very reasons 99% people will now give you it was right he was given the push. It was obvious to me from the end of 2007 after he had had a full season in charge and had signed players like Millard and Withers (who both had to retire due to injury and were past their sell by dates anyway) how he was going to manage the team and it turned out just like that, with senior players picked come what may, Barrett wasted and forced to play to a set pattern and young players hardly getting a chance. If I now question Wane its because of what I see wrong with what [ihe[/i is doing which tactically is to try and play a game he has not got the players for and also his reaction to defeat is to "flog" the players in training which seems out of date. His comments to the press are also good motivation for the opposition as he is always good for a quote and doesn't seem to know when to stop speaking.



As with Noble (who signed and stuck with older players like Withers) with Wane you have to ask how much of the squad he has is out of necessity because IL won't splash the cash and how much if it is his choice? For example going with Williams at 6 as first choice is a huge call following Green's departure but so was gong with a set of inexperienced centres one of whom is out injured and another, Gelling, who for all his heart can't pass to save his life and just isn't a centre. I think Wane believes his own propaganda at times. It's why IMO when a couple of seasons ago despite putting out a very young side he seemed genuinely surprised we lost to Widnes away.



Who'd have thought we'd have replaced a dinosaur like Noble with Maguire? I am sure Wane thinks he will be out one day. The usual fate of all coaches at any club. I hope he can turn it around as I certainly don't like watching what is on offer right now. I also think IL will not sack him if say we lose to both Leeds and Saints. A win against either would take a lot of pressure off Wane. Lose both and we will soon see how good a coach he is. It's easy to coach when you're winning which I think he has said himself in the past.

Say the worst comes to the worst and we lose against Leeds and Saints and potentially Wakey in between it'll be very interesting to see how Waney copes. He's done nothing but win on a consistent basis in his time at Wigan, right from the juniors up to being the assistant in the first team and then on to head coach. We've list some big games in that time but as a whole we've been very consistent and never really faced 'crisis' talk.

Lose on Friday and against Saints and that starts to rear it's head. I've never got the feeling Wane and Lenagan are the best of friends but Lenagan wouldn't pay compensation.

Take your point, Mike, but the 2 "steady Eddies" approach didn't work on Friday against Hull. Powell's injury has rendered impossible a continuation of this combination for the next month at least, so the question now is does Wane revert to Williams at 6 and bring in Logan as bench 9, which is mentioned on the official club website. A very strange comment to post on the club website at this juncture (another deliberate snub to Hampshire?) when the previous week Wane said that Williams was going to be used as a bench 9 for the foreseeable future as that was his best position!

The 2 steady Eddies approach did work against Hull though it wasn't pretty by any means but it did work. We still made some errors (that problem was never going to disappear totally between the Cas debacle and last Friday) but we built pressure and forced some dropouts and repeat sets, something we hadn't been doing prior to that game. We also should have won more comfortably than we did but bombed a few tries with dropped passes and a forward pass (just as we have done in previous games). We should have won that game by 3 or 4 tries but for the last pass foul-ups (I said as much to those around me at the game prior to Hull getting their second try) and the finish needn't have been so nervy. As I said though you can't expect us to go from error strewn to flawless overnight and we were better though not at our best (or close to it). We may not have enough improvement to trouble Leeds or Saints in the next few weeks as both look good (Wakey may be a struggle too to be honest) but we are having to climb a long way from a very substandard base performance wise so defeat to Saints and Leeds may not necessarily mean we aren't getting better than we were.

Obviously the injury to Powell means as you say that either Williams or Hampshire should be in the halves now so we won't know whether there was or wasn't a plan to steady the ship as it were with Powell alongside Smith but I wouldn't be surprised to see a continuation of the less risky play we saw last Friday (despite this not playing to the strengths of either Williams or Hampshire) until the rest of the side get in the habit of catching rather than dropping passes.

I agree that the mention of Williams to 6 and Logan on the bench is an odd thing to do on the official site particularly when the squad isn't announced until tomorrow. The seeming contradiction of what was said about moving Williams out of the halves too doesn't look good either. Either he is better at 6 or better at 9 and should be kept in one or the other, switching constantly won't help him or the team. It's a shame really that Wane seems so willing to say what he thinks to the media on any subject when asked. The more tight lipped approach we had from Maguire may have frustrated people looking for more detail but it didn't provide so many proverbial sticks for critics to beat the coach with.

Excellent post, Mike. You have certainly explained the whole situation intelligently and succinctly.
I agree totally about the need for Wane to be less effusive in his comments to the press as he starts to lose credibility when he seemingly changes his mind from one week to the next about a player's best position.

This is such a daft question, how the hell am I ment to know who is available, I'm not a chairman or agent.

But personally I'd like a maguire type coach when he was an up and coming assistant to take over, bring some fresh ideas over from the nrl.

Like say Peter Gentle or Craig Sandercock. Or maybe Steve McNamara is more to your taste. And before you mention it Stephen Kearney isn't interested.

We got lucky with Madge. Doesn't mean to say lightening will strike twice.

Anyway it's academic SW is going nowhere. Get used to it. Or go watch Leigh.

Some posters went into fits of hysteria when Madge was appointed as he was an "Unknown"...