Versus Salford

[BriH]

For what it's worth, here is my take on the last 2 matches and the season in general.
Difficult first half of the season but then we improved ending at 2nd. I think that flattered us and realistically we should have been 5th or 6th if the likes of Wire, Cas and Hull had performed.
So our expectations in the play-offs were really unrealistic.
We were found out in the last 2 matches. I honestly think that the team as a whole is nackered and needs some R&R.
I also believe that some of our squad aren't good enough. Let's be honest, you can't have 'part-timers' in the fully professional game. That, I'm afraid sums up SoL these days. Others have singled out some players and I agree, for example, Tommy L: too old.
Finally, I'm not convinced AL is the Coach who will take us forward next Season! I have no doubt who was the better Coach last night. Please IL can you persuade him to come to Wigan?

What a load of rubbish saying we should have been 5th or 6th had Wire, Cas and Hull performed. The league table doesn’t lie. They started off well, they didn’t sustain it. We started off badly and finished strong.

It’s a long enough season to truly say that finish up where you deserve to.

You are entitled to your opinion just like I am. I object to your phrase "what a load of rubbish". Other commentators have said the same.

[Wigan_forever1985]

For what it's worth, here is my take on the last 2 matches and the season in general.
Difficult first half of the season but then we improved ending at 2nd. I think that flattered us and realistically we should have been 5th or 6th if the likes of Wire, Cas and Hull had performed.
So our expectations in the play-offs were really unrealistic.
We were found out in the last 2 matches. I honestly think that the team as a whole is nackered and needs some R&R.
I also believe that some of our squad aren't good enough. Let's be honest, you can't have 'part-timers' in the fully professional game. That, I'm afraid sums up SoL these days. Others have singled out some players and I agree, for example, Tommy L: too old.
Finally, I'm not convinced AL is the Coach who will take us forward next Season! I have no doubt who was the better Coach last night. Please IL can you persuade him to come to Wigan?

What a load of rubbish saying we should have been 5th or 6th had Wire, Cas and Hull performed. The league table doesn’t lie. They started off well, they didn’t sustain it. We started off badly and finished strong.

It’s a long enough season to truly say that finish up where you deserve to.

You are entitled to your opinion just like I am. I object to your phrase "what a load of rubbish". Other commentators have said the same.

Personally my take is this

it boils down to fitness, i don't think we were fit at the start of the year - i think we played ourselves fit during the season but because the underlying building blocks of the fitness regime wasn't there when injury's and layoffs occurred we lost the fitness at the end of the season and ultimately didn't have enough gas left in the tank

the way modern rugby league is, fitness is half the battle and im not sure we have in place what we need anymore. Cast your mind back to noble wigan followed a similar pattern, slow start better 2/3 then fade short of a GF.

To me the recruitment for next year has to include a Bitcon replacement - without that we may still struggle even with an improved team

[Firestarter]

What a load of rubbish saying we should have been 5th or 6th had Wire, Cas and Hull performed. The league table doesn’t lie. They started off well, they didn’t sustain it. We started off badly and finished strong.

It’s a long enough season to truly say that finish up where you deserve to.

You are entitled to your opinion just like I am. I object to your phrase "what a load of rubbish". Other commentators have said the same.

Personally my take is this

it boils down to fitness, i don't think we were fit at the start of the year - i think we played ourselves fit during the season but because the underlying building blocks of the fitness regime wasn't there when injury's and layoffs occurred we lost the fitness at the end of the season and ultimately didn't have enough gas left in the tank

the way modern rugby league is, fitness is half the battle and im not sure we have in place what we need anymore. Cast your mind back to noble wigan followed a similar pattern, slow start better 2/3 then fade short of a GF.

To me the recruitment for next year has to include a Bitcon replacement - without that we may still struggle even with an improved team

in one .....first time weve looked ahot at this time of season for a long time

[Wiganer Ted]

Don't agree with the fitness levels which I think have been as good as Bitcon's days.
Our fatigue in the play off games was due to us being three props short from half the season gone.
Bullock hasn't played since June then Hamlin and Tautai went due to disciplinary reasons.
Although Partington, Byrne and Smithies did far far better then any of us thought at some time they were going to run out of energy. Given that Flower and Clubb were plainly not fit with Navarette out of form our pack was pretty much shot for the play offs if not for some time prior to that.

Given the state of the pack Lam still insisted on playing up the middle with the backs doing a lot of the heavy lifting rather than using their pace out wide to get around teams.

There may be many reasons for the poor performance in the play offs but to me fitness wasn't one of them.

[Wigan_forever1985]

Don't agree with the fitness levels which I think have been as good as Bitcon's days.
Our fatigue in the play off games was due to us being three props short from half the season gone.
Bullock hasn't played since June then Hamlin and Tautai went due to disciplinary reasons.
Although Partington, Byrne and Smithies did far far better then any of us thought at some time they were going to run out of energy. Given that Flower and Clubb were plainly not fit with Navarette out of form our pack was pretty much shot for the play offs if not for some time prior to that.

Given the state of the pack Lam still insisted on playing up the middle with the backs doing a lot of the heavy lifting rather than using their pace out wide to get around teams.

There may be many reasons for the poor performance in the play offs but to me fitness wasn't one of them.

We were painfully unfit at the start of the season which is forgotten by the fact we had that purple patch, but long before the injuries happened we were unfit. The players play themselves fit through the season, this was what used to happen under noble. Madge took the same team and brought in a top class fitness man and we were a different team completely.

[fozzieskem]

That first dozen or so games in particular the fitness was terrible,blowing hard after 10 mins isn’t what you expect to see from a Wigan side,yes it improved but the loss of Bitcoin was felt throughout the season as he simply was not replaced like for like

[Exiled Wiganer]

One thing that I wonder about on the fitness front is whether we didn’t replace Bitcoin because Edwards intended to bring in his own back room staff. I think we just ran out of gas these last 2 games. We had to ask too much of our young lads, who produced performances far better than we could ever have expected.
I can’t wait for next season - if we can field a team of Hardaker manfredi Bibby oli Burgess Hastings French Burgess Powell bullock greenwood faz Smithies then we could have some wonderful entertainment.

[Caboosegg]

That first dozen or so games in particular the fitness was terrible,blowing hard after 10 mins isn’t what you expect to see from a Wigan side,yes it improved but the loss of Bitcoin was felt throughout the season as he simply was not replaced like for like

I would of expected it to take longer than a season to lose the fitness, bitcons replacement was his understudy so i presume same fitness regime.

Saying that we should try and poach the salford one.... he seems to have done wonders

[fozzieskem]

That first dozen or so games in particular the fitness was terrible,blowing hard after 10 mins isn’t what you expect to see from a Wigan side,yes it improved but the loss of Bitcoin was felt throughout the season as he simply was not replaced like for like

I would of expected it to take longer than a season to lose the fitness, bitcons replacement was his understudy so i presume same fitness regime.

Saying that we should try and poach the salford one.... he seems to have done wonders

My wife has said the exact same thing in regards to the miracle worker at Salford,his work alone with Mossop is something to be proud of