Perspective : Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:09 pm  

A lot of anger and vitriol about on social media again (predictably) – definitely think a bit of perspective is needed. I personally don't worry too much about our results at the moment for four main reasons.

1. We're still in a pandemic and there are far bigger things to worry about in life at the moment.

2. I'm far more concerned at the moment about the sport as a whole getting through the crisis and then getting its act together to address the issues that pre-dated Covid. A lot of sympathy too for the stress that club directors are under so a pile on for a few bad results doesn't feel particularly tactful at the moment.

3. The club has won 10 trophies in the last decade with 4 other final appearances. I've seen Wigan win everything several times over and maybe as fans we're lucky to support a club that is almost always in the mix. We've had a great run under Ian Lenagan so some support and patience during a difficult period is warranted.

4. The foundations of the club are still strong and it won't necessarily take that long to fix the obvious issues with the return of players some smart and targeted recruitment. I suspect the best we can hope for this year is a 5th-6th place finish and a good crack at the playoffs but no reason to think we can’t be competing right at the top again next year – its hardly crisis territory. We've been missing our main line breakers in French, Field, Manfredi, Marshall and Gildart for pretty much the whole year and now we're missing Zak for a stretch. If we knew at the start of the year that we'd be missing these players for so long, everyone would have predicted we would struggle without seeing us kick a ball. Get some line breakers back in and things will be a lot easier.

We know some strong recruitment in the front row is needed and this is the main area where the club has frustrated me a little. Its been a problem for 5+ years – very confusing why this hasn’t been addressed with more urgency. Difficult not to feel sympathy for Wigan's young forwards for the pressure they’re under in the absence of some more experienced quality.

I think we now know with near certainty that the coach will change and with that will come an opportunity to move in a fresh direction. I feel for Lam in some ways - I don't think he's had a lot of luck with availability of big name players and he's clearly desperate for the team to do well. But a fresh outlook is needed, particularly with our attacking structures. If we can get lucky with a Maguire/Holbrook candidate then we know how quickly that can turn a previously average team into a very good one.

Final point - there is absolutely nothing wrong with the players attitude and they deserve praise for that. Their defensive commitment is clear to see - the fact that they were pushing Saints' players back in the tackle towards the end of the game despite the game being gone is extremely impressive in my opinion. I see no reason or value in criticising players who are giving everything, are low on confidence and struggling for reasons outside of their control.

Re: Perspective : Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:05 pm  

1 and 2 no arguement. Point 2 is a grave concern going forward.

3. Yes we have won a lot but that was different teams and a different coach, a lot of quality has left the club since then and the current team and coach especially are a world away from a winning team, the seven wins at the start of the season hid a lot of issues. wigan won those games by narrow margins and struggled against Leigh and York .Whilst some patientce is required recent seasons have shown a lot of poor decision making (GB, the Edwards debarcle) and going forward things need to improve. We will lose more talent at the end of this season yet again.Injuries have hit us hard ,no doubt, but other clubs seem able to manage things better.

4.The foundation maybe be reasonably strong but top talents keeps leaving and I for one am worried about recruitment, given we will need a centre, stand-off and at least one and probably two prop forwards and maybe a winger although that may have been taken care of. Wigans recuitement especially for prop forwards is shockingly bad in recent years - who was the last good prop the club signed who stayed for any length of time? Probably Flower and he was not a world beater before him Lima?. The over reliance of bringing young players through has hidden some deficiencies but not all.A good coach can make a difference but recruitment for next season is paramount and current indications are not promising.

I do not for one question most players attitude - sometimes some are obviously trying too much. I do question if some are good enough for a team challenging for trophies and watching the last year or two for me has shown we have too many similar players who give 100% effort but are not quite at the level required and the team as a whole is struggling due to a lack of leadership/higher level players in the squad. Sometimes we have relied too much on one or two players digging us out of bad situations.(French, Hastings). The team do not look well coached at all.

I suspect some of the younger player would show up better if they had more experienced / better quality around them and better coaching but that remians to be seen. I am deeply worried about the direction of the club at present (rumoured recruitment looks underwhelming) but things can change. My feeling is that we need not only a new head coach but a shake up below that level as well to freshen things up and try and add some spark that appears to be missing. Wigan are a dreadful watch at present and even last season a lot of games were not great.

I think we are going through a cycle where WIgan fade a bit and others are improving ( a bit like when SL first started when Bradford and Leeds were dominant) the danger is if we do not get things right for next season it could set us back even further and we end up drifiting even further away.

The next few months I think are hugely important for the next few years - I hope we will get it right.

Re: Perspective : Mon Jul 05, 2021 4:35 pm  

Agree with all that!! Up the pies!!