Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 8:43 am  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

I’d take the Gang of Four era everyday of the week before say the 2016 and 2017 seasons when I literally gave my season ticket away. Two years when we played something that wasn’t rugby league and nearly finished my love of the game.

I terms of kicking there isn’t one player in the world of rugby league who can kick a ball effectively and efficiently in a single game let alone in a season. A game that expouses territorial advantage yet hasn’t got the nouse that a decent kicking game can outsmart bonehead well drilled defenders

Oh how long for the wrestle and middles who are tuff but didn’t have a clue about a rugby ball

Ps I didn’t pay once in at least 2 years at CP when I used to get in the ground at the back of St Mary’s. We we’re a totally shoite team then when we won nowt and didn’t beat Saints for literally years at a time. Good days tho as most days on reflection always seem to be. I should be barred from ever watching the team again for not paying and then having the gaul to reminisce on the greatest period in the clubs history

Sorry not a personal pop at you Grimmy but just the general demeanour on this site at the moment. Anyone who is different let’s just take the urine

Spot on, and personal and sarcastic comments at others who give a opinion they don't like does not help.

Sadly the drop in standards and respect for others apppears to be the norm in many things in our country now!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:40 am  

Of course we all preferred watching the side in that era because we literally had the best players in the world.

That however came at multiple costs.

As for the sport in general, I would say the pinnacle entertainment wise was the early 2000s but once we stopped the quality NRL imports it fell apart.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:19 am  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Of course we all preferred watching the side in that era because we literally had the best players in the world.

That however came at multiple costs.

As for the sport in general, I would say the pinnacle entertainment wise was the early 2000s but once we stopped the quality NRL imports it fell apart.

I agree with all three of those statements.

I think that the collapse of that Wigan era has funnily enough set the whole game back. I still think that, with a few smarter decisions, we could have maintained it for a lot longer. The fact we collapsed is now used as a stick to beat any club that wants to push the boat out at little.

I regards to NRL imports from the early 2000's, I remember many fans saying they were killing the game and stopping GB players progressing. How wrong that was and what I wouldn't give to get a few of those signings back.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:30 am  

Egg Chasing wrote:

Of course we all preferred watching the side in that era because we literally had the best players in the world.

That however came at multiple costs.

As for the sport in general, I would say the pinnacle entertainment wise was the early 2000s but once we stopped the quality NRL imports it fell apart.

I remember Wally Lewis signing for Wakefield and being gutted he hadn't come to us. Talk about being greedy!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 11:43 am  

MattyB wrote:

I remember Wally Lewis signing for Wakefield and being gutted he hadn't come to us. Talk about being greedy!

Prefect example. When it came to signing the best players, we became greedy and went too far.

I always use Offish ( a player I love btw) as a perfect example. We already had some quality wing options + Gene Miles in the centre. Guys like Myers were never on the level of Offiah, but he'd have still been successful outside of Miles. When you then factor in that we paid £440k for him, it's easy to see where it went wrong.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:01 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

I agree with all three of those statements.

I think that the collapse of that Wigan era has funnily enough set the whole game back. I still think that, with a few smarter decisions, we could have maintained it for a lot longer. The fact we collapsed is now used as a stick to beat any club that wants to push the boat out at little.

I regards to NRL imports from the early 2000's, I remember many fans saying they were killing the game and stopping GB players progressing. How wrong that was and what I wouldn't give to get a few of those signings back.

One of the main reasons of the Era collapse was the construction of the Billy Boston stand, which massively overspent and didn't even last ten years before being torn down. I don't actually blame Management for this as they were trying to improve Central Park at the time and probably had big dreams. When that stand was built I actually thought it was the first stage of a full upgrade of the ground (I'm sure everybody did at the time). It's just a pity the club didn't ride the crest of the wave of early SL. But then again I think there was a massive hangover for all things Wigan, from our own supporters but also the sport who were ready to see others rise.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:04 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Prefect example. When it came to signing the best players, we became greedy and went too far.

I always use Offish ( a player I love btw) as a perfect example. We already had some quality wing options + Gene Miles in the centre. Guys like Myers were never on the level of Offiah, but he'd have still been successful outside of Miles. When you then factor in that we paid £440k for him, it's easy to see where it went wrong.

Yeah agree, take away Offiahs signing and legendary status would all be about Mark Preston no doubt. He'd already scored two top class tries at Wembley v Wire.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:13 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

I agree with all three of those statements.

I think that the collapse of that Wigan era has funnily enough set the whole game back. I still think that, with a few smarter decisions, we could have maintained it for a lot longer. The fact we collapsed is now used as a stick to beat any club that wants to push the boat out at little.

I regards to NRL imports from the early 2000's, I remember many fans saying they were killing the game and stopping GB players progressing. How wrong that was and what I wouldn't give to get a few of those signings back.

I'd love to have some of those signings back, but I don't think they were wrong in terms of that stopping GB players progressing. Around that time GB were playing Pryce and Johnson out of position on the wings and various loose forwards at half back whilst all the best SL teams had antipodeans in those positions for the most part.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:23 pm  

The signing of Offiah and where we were going wrong is highlighted in the Up & Under documentary.

Maurice is told we have no money and the stand has overspent etc. 30 seconds later he phones Widnes and offers a world record fee for Offiah.

The whole entire setup was geared around winning the cup and when we lost to Salford it all fell apart. Scary to think what could have happened had we lost one of those near misses in that run like Hull away or the Saints game that we drew.

As fans it was great to see those players (I was a kid at the time so Wembley every year and league title wins was the norm) but it was a very risky game and we could have lost more than just Central Park.

Maurice tried the same thing when he came back but we always fell short in finals and his conplete lack of cap management set the club back again in 05-06 and is why it took IL 3 years to rectify.

IL is slated for not signing the top names or having 25 internationals, but the club is secure and competitive. There have been times these last few seasons where we have been missing 7 or 8 first team players but have still been competitive. No other side can do that IMO.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 05, 2021 12:32 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

IL is slated for not signing the top names or having 25 internationals, but the club is secure and competitive. There have been times these last few seasons where we have been missing 7 or 8 first team players but have still been competitive. No other side can do that IMO.

Very important to remember that IMO. We can all get carried away sometimes with signings but you’ve perfectly summed up why we do what we do