What you are failing to appreciate is that it was the tactics that Madge brought to SL that had more to do with the 2010 GF than the playing personnel.

That's not, of course, to say that the players didn't perform, they did, and did it well, but imo the main difference between Wigan and the rest of SL then was the introduction of new "unusual" tactics......... Ask John Kear!

No but you also have to understand that there have been upgrades of contracts and the signing of twelve of the best U16 side I have ever seen. There is obviously still some money available (from Wanes comments) but it has to be spent wisely on the right player(s) and that depends on availability.

Nothing wrong with strengthening the depth of a side but every side needs gamebreakers. At the moment we have Sam............

Whereas all the other squads in SL are jam-packed with gamebreakers arent they...

Well, Cas have one...

<edit> wait... sorry, wasn't wearing my specs.. I thought you'd said "jawbreakers"

I wouldn't be at all worried about Jack Hughes at 4, Leeds have blagged two GF wins with Ablett at centre.

Quite, just get Hughes to run at Lee Briers.

This is very true. Madge got a virtually identical side to that which Noble had in his last season to go up several notches. Same personnel bar one and a transformation in terms of performances. If ever you wanted evidence of the impact and influence a coach has on a side Madge's arrival was it. You have more evidence of this based on our 2012 season. Wane inherited a CC winning side from Madge decided he knew better and proved he didn't (to everyone but himself I suspect).

All talk of the squad and the relatives merits of Green v Finch etc is just ignoring the coaching and how that will influence our chances.

I do honestly think most of the SC monies will now have been allocated.
Green, Taylor, Smith & Thornley in.
The way to stay under the cap is to provide an increase each year as players leave at the end of each season and their salaries can be re-allocated.
I am surmising that this practice goes on as players won't get their max payments from a deal until the last year or couple of years perhaps.
Having said that we won't be up to the max cap limit as suggestions have been made another signing may arrive for 2013.
IL has always said he will leave a small amount between our salary spend and the cap limit.

Wane lost four influential players in Hoffman, Coley, Deacon and Tomkins from that CC winning side. Therefore the comparison with Madge joining in 2010 is flawed to say the least.

What you suspect is neither here nor there, but this little bit of add-on mockery does you no credit.

You know nothing about Shaun Wane's state of mind, whether he's learned from his errors, whether he's now adjusting his training and tactics, whether he's reconsidering his team-selections, or whatever.

We're all disappointed that we didn't win a major trophy last season, but to completely discount the fact that Wigan finished first in the league shows a pretty selective memory. That isn't good enough for Wigan - I'd agree. But it isn't like Shaun Wane was an absolute disaster as a coach.

I don't recall where you stood when Wane was first appointed, but I can't help wondering if you'd have been part of the inevitable chorus of disapproval if IL had ignored a young Brit to appoint another unknown Aussie.

The bitching about Shaun Wane is interesting. He was far from perfect in his first season, that is true. Perhaps he was a little over ambitious in wanting to win everything (but isn't that what coaches are supposed to do?).
Still, we came top of the league, missed out on a trip to Old Trafford in a game that we really should have won...yet we lost a close home playoff game against Leeds under Maguire too, as well as a challenge cup game. Wane isn't the first coach to lose an important game to Leeds by a close margin.
We also got beaten by Leeds in the cup semi final where Shaun Wane definitely didn't drop Sinfield's kick, didn't let the ball roll out of play for a 40/20, didn't drop the ball under little pressure in his own half, didn't get outjumped for a kick despite being 6 foot 4.

Sure, it wasn't a great season when it came down to winning trophies but it's not like we were that far away. Of course the loss of several high profile players is great news for those that want to blame Wane for any sort of failure because they are much likely to get what they desire.

Add in winning the LLS which we hadn't done the year before, and getting just as far in the playoffs.

ETA: Note to self always read right to the end before saying the same as everyone else

You need to pay attention to what he says and you might gain an insight. He said during last season that he knew how he wanted to do things and he would keep doing it that way even if it was wrong - I paraphrase as I don't have the exact quote to hand but those were the words he used. On his recent trip to Australia he said what he saw convinced him Wigan were doing it right. He also moved away from how Madge did things so it doesn't take genius to work out he is going to do it his way come what may.

So before you get all sanctimonious perhaps you might ask what lies behind someone's opinion?



I don't give a stuff where coaches come from provided they can do the job and I will tell you exactly where I stood before Wane was given it.

I was all for it because I assumed we would get continuity from Madge to him. If you search back you will find me making this exact point as we all wondered who our new coach would be. I thought the silver cloud in the lining of Madge leaving was Wane would carry on where he left off having spent two years learning the ropes off the best coach we have had since John Monie. I never imagined he was going to decide he knew better though my suspicions were first aroused when he said pre-season he thought he could improve the side in certain ways as he gave the distinct impression he disagreed with what had gone before under Madge.

It's funny really because Wane was exactly the same after Noble left and before Madge joined. You could tell he was having to bite his lip in the interviews not to come out and basically say Noble was pants. I pointed that out at the time as well. He wasn't wrong either but there is a difference between disagreeing with a coach who was unsuccessful at the club and one who was.

So this says to me Wane has had his own ideas on how to do the main job for a long time. There is nothing wrong with that - if you are the one with the right ideas and are no too stubborn to learn from your mistakes but I am genuinely convinced Wane thinks he is 100% correct in his approach.

But you don't know it for a fact, so stop posting as if you do.

I'll say it again, we were all disappointed with the outcome of last season, but it wasn't so disastrous that most of us immediately decided to go head-hunting the coach after only one year in charge, during the course of which he was missing a couple of key players, and yet still managed to finish top of the league.