A successful season?

[warriorjon]

I see this season as very much a transitional year (aka leeds over the last few years) with the youth being brought through and some of the older heads being fazed out, what realistic goals do you think would make this a successfull season? Dont get me wrong ill support the team till the end of the season & by no means am I giving up on us but I feel a top 4 finish and the semi spot in the cup would be quite an achievement and give us a kick and confidence build upon in the coming years anything more than that would be a real bonus. I dont know why but even though we are going to be massive underdogs I just fancy us to turn the Bulls over, & i think Faz will definatley play.

[Conroy9]

For me, finishing in the playoffs because at the moment that doesn't look as secure as usual. Also i think that we have already been successful in the challenge cup as we've reached the semi (ok not played anybody) but we're ok.

[gheinz]

I agree that our place in the play offs does not look certain this season. Our performances so far have been shakey. The next few weeks are vital with big games against Hull,Bradford(twice),St Helens and Leeds. However i think that it is encouraging for the future that we have some talented youth players coming through. The futures bright,the futures cherry and white!

[wolftown warrior]

agree with conroy, top 6 would be, what i would class a decent season, if we get into the playoffs, anything can happen!

as for the powergen challenge cup, if we win next week, i think we will win it all..
even though they lost to saints i still think bradford have the best team in super league...
as in regards to player personnel etc..

[DaveO]

There is only one way to be a success in sport. Win trophies. Settings one sights lower is accepting mediocrity. Finishing in the playoffs is nothing special as that can mean 5th or 6th. Finishing 5th or 6th ought to be considered a poor season from a team paid as much as ours is.The only club who can claim success and not win a trophy this season is IMO Huddersfield if they don't go down again.

For the rest and for Wigan no trophy should be considered an unsucessful season by all concerned. If we have ended up in a position where we have no chance of success with too many young players too soon questions need to be asked why.

Patting ourselves on the back for mid table mediocrity is not the Wigan way and it needs to be sorted out and viewed as a problem not a success.

Dave

[Paul Howard]

There only seems to be Dave O and myself that can admit we are all set up for an absolutely terrible season. Lowering a teams targets doesn't make them play any better. I'm sounding scarilly like my boss here but we need to be constantly improving on previous results and not say, "we can afford to lose a couple more than last season". We need to be looking at why we are playing bad and how can we get back to the standards of previous years. I skived off work to make the journey to Hull last night and I saw a pretty mediocre side playing in Wigan shirts. Maybe a couple of exeptions, ie, Adrian Lam and to some degree Gareth Hock, but they were extremely sub-standard. Any ideas on whats going on ?

[wolftown warrior]

" If we have ended up in a position where we have no chance of success with too many young players too soon questions need to be asked why.
"

that is a question i have asked myself, as to why NOW, we have decided to go for the youth approach.
i would love ot hear the reasons why.

we were subpar last night, we have been sub par all season.
we still have to get behind the team no matter WHO wears the jersey, & i would love for us to win a trophy,
& as long was we make the playoff`s we can win the super league, yet we have to make realistic goals, & a top 6 finish with the side we have is a goal we have to make,

if we don`t then a lot of jobs are gonna be in jepordy come september.

[DaveO]

Well I am glad some people can smell the coffee. I would say most people on this board are less than pleased and can see problems at the moment which is a bit of relief because venturing this sort of opinion elsewhere seems to lead to being told to go and support another team!

I am a season ticket holder and travel about 45 miles each way to watch Wigan, never leave before the end and always support whoever is playing in the cherry and white.

That does not prevent me from seeing the failings of the team at the moment and to be honest I am quite concerned at the way things are at Wigan.

The lack of replacements for players out of the door is worrying. OK, Connolly and Furner were salary cap losses but O'Neil? Why no replacement for him given the lack of experience in the side?

I also find it hard to swallow that Bradford can have a squad like theirs within the salary cap and we are having to play too many kids. Something is not right at the moment that is for sure and its not just on the pitch.

Dave

[wolftown warrior]

yes mate, i think the one thing we all agree on here is that these are testing times for migan Rl. & obv. we are all gonna see different reasons for what we deem the problem.

it needs sorting & it needs sorting now,
i have never had a problem & i understand the salary cap, so if players are sold for us to come into line with it, then it is something we have to live with..
however we should have enough depth, ( like u point out with o`neil)
to cover anyone who is missing!

like our kicking game is terrible!! we all know how important the 2 point convo is in the modern game, it is the difference between win/lose in a lot of games!

& someone pointed out before that all they wanted to see was improvement every game,
& after concieding 22 ( giants ) 29 wakefield, & 34 london, i thought our defence stiffened to only conciede 20 at hull,,, yet we scored over 30 or more in all those other games, but on friday night we didn`t have a clue what we were doing going forward?
we arn`t clicking & for whatever reason, it has to be delt with!

were all a little worried bout the team, i am not concerned long term but there may even be a chance that we won`t make the play off`s if we don`t turn it around!

i read yesterday on superleague.co.uk that dallas is out for 4 weeks with a hamstring!!!
so you know when it rains it pours!
all we can do i guess is get behind the team & cheer em on!
we gotta show em we are backing em, playing to a half empty jjb is gonna do the teams confidence no good..

my question is, do u think lyndsey will be able to live with us not being a superleague top 4 team? ( will he have to).. cos we want success.. we are used to it, & i`m sure the players want success...

surely now, our cap situation is sorted & that teams like leeds & bradford should be looked into also?

[DaveO]

I am suspicious as to how Bradford canhave a squad like theirs and remainin the cap so yes Ireckon one or two clubs need to be looked at.

As to ML coping if we are not top 4 material, hes going to have to because its his decision to go with so much youth that is going to determine where we finish this year.

It's been pointed out that ML stated he has a three year plan to get Wigan back tothe top. Well this is year three.

So much for plans like that. He new plan is to go for youth and I reckon its not just down to the salary cap but down to a lack of cash all round. I reckon Whelan has shut the purse.

One thing I owuld like to see though ON the pitch is better organisation. Versus London several players were discussing shoulf they go for goal instead ot lam just making the decision. Raper should instruct his players to leave the captains job to the captain. It's just one small aspect of the gerneral problems on the pitch and I think we need to look to Raper t organise the team to sort it out.

Its little things like this that make me think Rapers job is not 100% secure despite the circumstances of having a weakened squad. ML may well turn on Raper if things continue going badly despite it being largely his fault Raper has a team full of kids IF Raper can't get more out of them.

Dave