No need to burden him yet imo.

He'll be Wigan captain one day though without question imo.

Glad Coley is in. I really feel something like this could kick him on a level.

They're the 5 I probably would have picked tbh with my only close choice being between Leuluai and Gleeson.

I see Captain material in joel. theres abit of the farrell in this lad hes always one of if not first to get stuck in and help his team mates.. i like that in a captain

I highly doubt it's "just a way of not demoting O'Loughlin from the captaincy role fully".

MM and SW are all about a tough culture etc. if they'd wanted to remove O'Loughlin from the captaincy and appoint someone else I'm sure they would have done without needing to tip-toe around.

From reading this thread I haven't seen much mentioned about the fact this was something which was discussed between MM and O'Loughlin. O'Loughlin likes the idea and if the players buy into it then I can't see what harm it can do.

It'll ease the pressure off of O'Loughlin and will encourage the other four selected to up their games when named as a captain for that game. The role of the captain is to convey the gameplan and ideas of the coach on the field and whilst the players might have differing styles in conveying this message, they should all be pulling in the same direction, which is the coach's direction.

IMO it won't cause any problems and if the correct players are selected it strengthens the presence of the Wigan ethos on the field.

I think people overate the amount of impact a captain can have really and people also forget that most of their influence will be every day. Therefore, surely having more than 1 captain can only be a good thing, as long as there is a 'go to man' on the field. This will probably still be Lockers. I'm pretty sure he will still lead the team out.

It had to end sometime.

Congratulations on being the one who's called it - three weeks before the first match of the season.

People on here really do talk sh*te. How the hell can not knowing who your captain is be a good thing for the other players or the so called leadership team? Lockers is captain on the opening day. We lose. The week after Lockers isn't captain. What effect does this have on Lockers? Granted it could see him raise his game, but it could also see him question himself and become less self confident.

Saying that - the new regime brought it in so it must be the next big thing.

I'm not sure the role of a captain is that important unless you have an Andy Farrell type leader of men. We don't have that at Wigan so this is something new. Will it work? Who knows but no harm in trying.

Course it will work. Maguire came up with it.

Congratulations on being the second one to openly panic - three weeks before we've even kicked a ball in anger.

Adam.....

Why don't you get back in your little box, pull the covers over your head, and wait patiently for the apocalyptic end to our season that you are seeing before we have even kicked a ball in a friendly, let alone in anger?

If it happens, then kudos to you for being one of the few who "knew" that MM's appointment spelled the end of Wigan RLFC.

If it doesn't, I hope that you'll be gracious enough to accept that some of his (and IFL's) ideas might have actually been good - As radical as they seem.

Until then - Take a

Like others, I think it's a way of working with what we've got. In the past, we've all seen times when on-field leadership and direction was lacking. IMO our players haven't always coped well when things don't go their way - on the scoreboard or with respect to penalties. I'm not saying these things were O'Loughlin's fault, they were persistent problems with the team.

So, perhaps it's a way of getting the senior players to step up leadership responsibilities - not just when they're acting as captain, but more importantly, the rest of time. The coach has also let the players choose so he's trying to do it in a way that promotes team-building. Or he could be trying to introduce a competitive aspect between senior players in order to settle on one captain in the long-term, but that sounds a bit like playing with fire to me.

I'm not 100% convinced, but let's see how it goes.

I'm not panicing, i'm not saying we're doomed or anything like that. I just refuse to get overly excited as a number of people are on here about the new setup. It's like I said about Sam last year. At the moment MM and SW could say that we've been playing cludeo in training and some on here would hail it as brilliant.

Let's be honest. We are taking a massive risk in appointing an in-experienced team that could blow up in our face, then again it could be a stroke of genius. Time will tell but as I say i'm refusing to get excited until we see what happens.

Read the post again. I'm saying if it goes wrong that will happen, not that it's already happened.

really? Well I hear they play monopoly regularly in Australia so perhaps he's just easing them in to the new techniques



Back on topic I don't think it really matters to be honest. Can't really see how anyone can get worked up about it one way or the other. May show signs of indecisiveness but don't think it will have a major impact on the field and nor should it.

What you actually appear to be doing is casting considerable doubt on the abilities of Michael Maguire before any of us have even seen his team in action. Which I think is odd even by Wigan fan standards.

Most posts on here are from people who are interested in this development and are prepared to see if it works out (presumably in the calm, non-rocket-science knowledge that he can quickly appoint a captain if it doesn't). The only one getting 'excited' is you.

Nope, I agree with Conroy.


This may turn out to be a stroke of genius, it may backfire, but one thing is for certain- half the people supporting it on here would be crucifying Noble and calling him insane if he had come up with it.

Don't Gold Coast have 3? Luke Bailey, Scott Prince and Matt Rogers/Preston Cambell.
Think a few teams do it in the NRL

Lol there is some MAJOR OTT going on!

The captains role isn't that important FFS! Mathers could come back and be the captain for all it matters.

All this new system allows is for us to have a greater nucleus of players guiding the culture at the club.

I couldnt really give one who leads the team out or who decides if we pick heads or tails as long as I know we've got leaders in the team.

I honestly can't see peoples obsession with the captain role. Maguire is the coach, the players follow his orders and the senior players pick up their game when it's needed- that's no diff than at ant other SL club

I'm not keen on the skysports info bar, thats states Lockers has been 'replaced' as captain.

That's irrelevant. Nobby's gone, get over it.

But anything even slightly unusual development at Wigan, and there are fans immediately questioning the new coach - despite him not having fielded a single team yet.

It's so predictable, and such a cliche.

I'm not questioning the coach or Shaun Wane or Lockers or Gordon Brown. I don't agree with this particular exercise but as i've said I'm not getting excited.

For every 10 people questioning the coach, there are 22 w@nking over everything he does and saying we'll finish in the top two before he's fielded a single team.

It's so predictable, and such a cliche.

It's very relevant.

I'm not sure I have anything to "get over" re Nobby.

As for questioning the new coach, isn't that what forums like this are for?

The only thing predictable in this thread is the almost zealot-like, unquestionable obedience to MM by some.

Bingo! He seems to be doing a lot right but that doesn't mean he has the midas touch that some are attributing to him.