In tonight's MEN there is a rather interesting article about Williams, Manfredi and Hampshire , and I cant really make up my mind who penned it, it wants putting up on here for you fans to make your own minds up.
It starts off by saying Williams will be back at standoff tomorrow after playing as backup hooker against Hull, it goes on to say that Wane knows he needs games alongside Smith. This statement is just a statement with no inverted commas "if you know what I mean".
Then a statement by Wane about Manfredi says "Dom is a tough kid because I have wrestled against him -and I had to fight dirty".
Then the article says that Wane will delay his final selection for the Headingly clash and hinted that Rocky Hampshire could come into his plans, the 20 year old came up through junior ranks with Williams and the home grown pair are both tipped for big things.

Like I have tried to day it is a bit confusing which is Wane talk and which is paper talk.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ut-8859206

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ut-8859206

Should a coach be "wrestling" with his players? Do they have to prove how "tough" they are to Wane in this respect? And could Rocky's problem be he is not a good enough wrestler?

Seems flippant, but a serious point: does Wane attach too much importance to defensive stability rather than pure attacking ability, which for me is the number one priority of a 6?

I personally think Wigan are in danger of following the Bradford coaching fall from grace.

Bring in a great coach then dilute his message until we are left with poor copies in an game that has moved on.

Looking at the team Wane is totally out of his depth.

Agree. We have Hampshire, Williams, Powell, Tomkins and Tierney who are either in and out of the team every other week, playing a random position or running around on a dodgy Workington pitch with seemingly no real plan for them to develop or any knowledge of what their best positions are (with the exception of Logan who just gets dropped randomly).

We have to cut that bunch down to 2 or 3 max in my opinion and then look towards bringing Shorrocks in to the first team.

2010 GF replay is on Sky now. What a great team that was. So much experience with only a little bit of youth. Apart from their halves and bench, the Saints squad on paper was immense but we dicked them for almost 80 minutes.

Last time I said something similar about wane I was lynched, let's see if you are pal

The MEN article is mostly just what was reported on Wigan TV in the "press conference" with Wane. Nothing new from Wane as such that wasn't said in the press conference, maybe a bit of journalistic supposition to fill out the article

The next few weeks are going to be crucial for Wane. If we lose against Leeds, Wakefield and Saints (or only just scrape a win against Wakefield and lose the other 2 convincingly), the wheels may have been deemed to come off the wagon and the knives will be out!
O/T, but Vea looked very good for Saints again tonight. According to a poster on here last week, Wigan apparently offered him a deal but he chose Saints because they offered him more! I don't know how much more, but IL should perhaps be asking himself a few questions about recruitment. Vea is 28 and has size and physical maturity. He was also a former Broncos player - with whom Wigan are supposed to have good links with still. ( Clubb and Sarginson signings). Don't know how much more Saints offered ( £10K/20K?), but he is a player Wigan should have signed. Maybe Larne Patrick will improve once the pitches get firmer, but Wigan's next player in line in the second row seems to be Conor Farrell. A good-hearted player, who undoubtedly "plays above his weight", but he is simply not big enough or physically mature enough at the moment - and probably never will be a big enough unit to be a top class/Wigan class second row - if, that is, Wigan are going to be winning GFs and CCs.

Who would you replace him with?
MMs message didn't work in the last few months of his tenure when we played very conservatively and lost twice to an average saints team with a far far better squad than we have today.
This looks like our year of transition which arguably is overdue. I know our performances are poor at the moment and any defeat literally ruins my weekend but we just need and try to be patient and at least give SW the opportunity to turn it around. We have got to give him a season not five or six rounds.
If we fail to qualify for the top 8 then he will go.
Failure to achieve the top 4 he will be on thin ice.

I would love a certain Wales RU coach whose contract is apparently up this month to be the next Wigan coach. Come home Mr Edwards, the time is right, in my humble opinion! And I think he would soon sort out Hampshire's best position and get him playing at 6!

Why should we be in a season of transition? I don't really get that.

Please clarify.

In relation to who should replace Wane I dint think the time is right for Edwards, for me Walters or Kearney would be great choices.

Can we afford Edwards? If he would come back would probably be my hearts choice of a replacement.
What has Walters achieved?
What has Kearney achieved managing a club?
Transition equals new 6, exit of two props with no direct replacements, Sarginson 2nd season at centre - ain't played a full season there yet, SOL a year older and will play fewer matches, still haven't replaced Carmont, Burgess having "second season" syndrome, Tomkins back but played out of position more times than not, trying to play as if we still have Sam. Is that enough?
What transition did MM have? Strengthening of the squad in year 2 and our play after the CC final was pretty dismal.
We have an inexperienced squad that needs a bit of luck, hard graft and time. If we fail to make the 8 even with all the changes SW will go.

We can afford Edwards if IL "splashes the cash". I am pretty certain there is no limit on what you pay your coach and backroom staff. The salary cap only applies to playing staff.