Reflections on this season

[morley pie eater]

My reflections on this season.

It's mainly been a "proving the doubters wrong" season for my money.

Adrian Lam: must admit I was unsure about him. Not any more.

Sam Powell: it's become clear that he played to Wane's instructions and has had more freedom/better advice under Lam. He's still not the best hooker in SL, but his commitment, example, will to win and quiet leadership make him irreplaceable in the post-Lockers era.

Joe Burgess - unfortunately too late for us. I think his problem with fans may have been body language - he seems casual/languid, but he's a top lad. Wish him well at Salford.

Willie Isa - leading the line, hitting hard again and again. Not the silkiest most skilful player, but a heart of gold grafter. Every team needs one.

I've picked the above examples because they've had their detractors. Some are starting to realise, though I see the "Lam must go" posts have started already, so I guess we'll always have the know-all keyboard experts to tell us what's wrong. Harry Enfield "You don't wanna do it like that."

[fozzieskem]

I freely admit my doubts about Lam but I’d say he has proven me wrong and that’s great I do love to get things wrong.

Isa was always a big fan of his he’s just carried on as he does

Powell again always championed him easily the most improved player under Lam though.

French..wonderful to watch going forward of course but after Friday the doubts about his defensive work have been cleared he was outstanding.

Burgess (both of them) frustrating the pair of them to honest I wish Joe well at Salford though.

The season itself it went on too long after the restart once it became clear that fans couldn’t get back in then the season should have beeen cut short and the playoffs begun,sky contract had clearly more games than they where due so that wasn’t an issue,other than the derby too many poor games prior to the playoffs.

[CheshireWarrior]

I've always been an advocate of Lam at the wheel since his arrival. I must admit I did have doubts after the challenge cup exit to Leeds, but I think we turned this to our advantage. Is Lam worthy of a contract for 2021? Yes! I think he is building something at the club and I think it evident in the Grand Final performance.

Notable Players:

Bevan French - superb season can see why he himself believes he is best at FB.
Liam Marshall - originally down the pecking order but deserves his 2 shirt 100%.
Zak Hardaker - shown great maturity and professionalism accepting/adapting to centre.
Thomas Leuluai - for his age looks great and still has lethal shoulders.
Sam Powell - finally established himself as a 9 and is improving rapidly game by game.
Willie Isa - not always impressed by Isa but his Grand Final performance was immense.
Liam Farrell - Workhorse all season, rightly so a man of steel contender.
Oliver Partington - Worked hard at prop and loose, strong future prospect.

Others:

Chris Hankinson - needs to move on, always in the 21 but very rarely plays.
Joe Burgess - I've said many times, shadow of his former self.
Tony Clubb - looked better in the Grand Final, will be here in 2021 so it is what it is.
George Burgess - extremely concerning around his fitness and or injuries.
Mitch Clark - injured or just fell down the pecking order?

Congratulations:

Sean O'Loughlin 2002 - 2020 - the rest is history!

[keptinthedarkfans]

Can't argue with all above. I have always said lam not good enough. Although not fully convinced must admit seeing a different side to him. He also has the skill to attract and retain top players so they must believe in him so why not me too Powell was another oh how he as changed as a player. Isa for me another Cassidy unsung hero. Well done lockers wish you could have finished with that medal but memories are plenty well done Wigan onward and upwards for us.

[Forever Warrior]

Agree with much of the above but wish to highlight the emergence of some extremely promising young talent this season.
Harry Smith - a mature head on young shoulders. Learning all the time. Hope he isn’t sidelined with the signing of Jai Field
Ethan Havard - always looked the part at academy level. A great future ahead.
Liam Byrne - toughed it out when we were down on numbers earlier in the season. Can only get better.
Joe Shorrocks - Another tough young player. Never let us down and great to have in the squad.

I also think Joe Bullock deserves a mention as a “young” prop who has vastly improved as the season has progressed.

[morley pie eater]

Great posts and good to feel the 'positive vibe' as we look to next year.

I particularly agree with last comment about Bullock, and I'm excited about his partnership with Singo.

Hoping that Partington continues his upward trajectory, and I'm sure that he can develop the leadership and ball-handlibg skills he showed in the academy. We'll have a great replacement for Lockers if he does.

[southportcdm]

Looking forward to next season really helps to ease the pain of Friday at least temporarily. Although it does look promising for us I don't think it's a given that we'll catch saints next season. It worries me whem Lammy says that we could dominate (may have been misquoted) and many of our more positive fans assume we'll be the better side in 2021. Saints now have the knack of winning the big games and we don't. Like us, saints have a lot of talented youngsters who could improve next season. They've replaced three ageing members of their pack with players who may well improve their go forward and. like us they are retaining all of thier top play makers. Walmsey clearly played with an injury and Percival was a big miss. What we have today is not enough and more has to be done in the off season despite the financial problems presented by covid. We have to keep pushing for improvements and I think that we need to resolve the Burgess situation and sign another winger if we are to ovetake our biggest rivals next year.

[NICKYKISS]

I think my reflections are very positive, even as much as the whole club is hurting at the minute. I went in to this season still very fearful of being miles away from Saints and that was with me thinking we had a top prop in George Burgess. Had I been told at that point he would play 7 games of limited minutes and even less quality, I’d have been convinced that even if we’d made a GF against Saints, we’d have been absolutely walloped. As it turned out Saints spun a roulette wheel 6 or 7 times in that last ten minutes on Friday, put their money on black and landed the black each and every time. The chain of events to get them over the line was pretty staggering and to think they needed that to win the game leaves you feeling positive once the dust has settled. We will be a better side next year without any doubt and I don’t they they will be, so I’m positive this time next year, we’ll be sat here pretty happy with how 2021 went.

[jobo]

I think my reflections are very positive, even as much as the whole club is hurting at the minute. I went in to this season still very fearful of being miles away from Saints and that was with me thinking we had a top prop in George Burgess. Had I been told at that point he would play 7 games of limited minutes and even less quality, I’d have been convinced that even if we’d made a GF against Saints, we’d have been absolutely walloped. As it turned out Saints spun a roulette wheel 6 or 7 times in that last ten minutes on Friday, put their money on black and landed the black each and every time. The chain of events to get them over the line was pretty staggering and to think they needed that to win the game leaves you feeling positive once the dust has settled. We will be a better side next year without any doubt and I don’t they they will be, so I’m positive this time next year, we’ll be sat here pretty happy with how 2021 went.

Great post.

Saints did spin the wheel and next season we'll wallop them

[Exiled Wiganer]

Looking back, my positives:
- winning the LLS, because that shows we as fans have had more happy days and weeks than anyone else over the course of the most difficult year pretty much any of us can remember;
- Lam showing the attributes I thought he lacked, improving players, developing a style not just great to watch, but very effective;
- overtaking Saints when we looked so far behind them last year, with improvement to come;
- the development of Smith and Havard into players who will not only be at home but make a massive difference to the squad;
- (fingers crossed) retaining Gildart for another year, with the mouth watering prospect of a French, Manfredi, Hardaker, Gildart, Marshall, Jai, Hastings back line by next summer;
- the discipline, concentration and desire shown by the likes of Partington, Powell, Smithies, Faz, Isa... and they now all know that if they play to their potential they will win things.
I think my only concern of note is the same as everyone else’s - will we see the real George Burgess, and if not, can we replace him with another big lad?
Am looking forward to getting our season tickets as soon as the club releases them.