Low aspirations

[cpwigan]

I accept

[DaveO]

The last time wigan were really dominant i think iam right in saying they were the only full time team in the league and had a near endless pot of money to buy players.I agree they were true pros and played with a desire i think they sometimes lack today and iam not trying to detract from their achievments because i love this club,but i just feel now the league is a lot more competative cp and i think it is better for the game.

Wigan went full time in 91/92. The successful era began in 1985. By the time Wigan decided every player should be professional there were already plenty of professional players throughout the league at clubs like Leeds and Saints. The semi-pro player was on the way out and the idea Wigan were full time and the opposition was completely semi-pro with all their players having an ordinary job as well as playing RL is a myth.

The league back then was also very competitive. One season we won the championship on points difference from Bradford and also (I think) Wire.

We dominated the challenge cup but we never dominated the league.

I think people saying the salary cap has made the game more competitive have a very selective view of RL history.

Dave

[shaunedwardsfanclub]

The last time wigan were really dominant i think iam right in saying they were the only full time team in the league and had a near endless pot of money to buy players.I agree they were true pros and played with a desire i think they sometimes lack today and iam not trying to detract from their achievments because i love this club,but i just feel now the league is a lot more competative cp and i think it is better for the game.

It did help that we had money, but we also had the vision and desire to make that investment work in the 80s and 90s. But let's not forget, we were still the greatest club in the game prior to the success of that era - a period that ranged from the inception of the sport to the 80s when there was no salary cap etc. We were successful because we had great players, great coaches and great administrators. We, like the people who came before us, should settle for nothing less than being the best, second simply isn't good enough! Anybody involved in professional sport who thinks that coming close is satisfactory should be looking for another job. Anyone at Wigan who thinks that it is acceptable to be second best should be shown the door.

[DaveO]

OK lets all look at a few facts since Brian noble came
2006
Wigan were in dire straits,facing relegation and a team that lacked commitment,motivation and the will to compete
Ian Millward sacked enter Brian noble
in the season he arrived, he got rid of the dead wood and signed two players who you must admit steered us away from the drop zone and not only that we were only two points off a play-off place at the end of the season

Milllward was a disaster there is no two ways about it but you have to wonder if he had been allowed to get rid of the dead wood and sign Fielden and Dobson instead of the likes of Wilkes what would have happened.

My view is there wasn't a lot wrong with the team we had and with the addition of two players it showed what it was capable of. This IMO set expectations for the next season.

2007
one challenge cup semi final and one final eliminator from 6th place in the league in his first full year which after the turmoil of the previous year isn,t too bad
the best comeback in rugby league history, to win 31-30 after being 30points to six down with 25 minutes to go against a full strength Bradford team isn,t bad either

2007 was a massive disappointment. Yes we won that epic 31-30 game but we were a busted flush afterwards because earlier on in the season we failed to build on 2006 so left ourselves with having to win games like that. That win was probably more than we could expect given where we finished in the regular season and given the way we played all season (inconsistently) but at the end of the day it isn't any achievement at all because we were knocked out and won nothing. That win won't be included in any Wigan roll of honour will it?

As to the cup well there is an example of a raw statistic that hides the truth. The way we capitulated in the semi final is not something I want to remember so IMO it is the last statistics anyone should point to as something positive about 2007.

2008
another final eliminator and again losing to the eventual champions from 4th position in the league is not a complete washout is it?

Of course it is. We lost! We also didn't get as far in the cup as the previous season. It was very similar to 2007. Inconsistent play led to a low league finish so we left ourselves too much to do in the playoffs for second season running.

2009
ok not so good in the league but again we are within reach of another major final
just ask the Salford, castleford or hull fans would they have liked to be a similar position or even the wires fans who,s club motive is to spend spend spend and get sweet fa back
overall i don,t think Brian noble has done too bad of a job although this year i must admit i would like to see more improvement in our consistency

Well in 2009 for the third season in a row unless we have a run as we did in 2006 we will have left ourselves too much to do in the playoffs for three seasons running. That is why Noble has done a bad job.

The fact we have ended up in two season and look like doing the same three seasons running, down the bottom end of the playoff qualifiers isn't good enough.

We may well get to Wembley and we may even win it but just as with Clarke and McInnes after 1985 that ought to be Noble's swan song because on the evidence of the past three and a half season if he stays it will be another 7 years before another trophy IMO.

Dave

[GeoffN]

Wigan RLFC represents a culture, a winning culture one that was ultra professional whether it was FT or not. Does anybody think Jim Sullivan, Ken Gee, Joe Egan, Brian McTigue, Billy B, Erica Ashton et al were any different than Ellery Hanley, Shaun Edwards, Andy Gregory, Dean Bell, Andy Farrell. Of course not. The club had a culture. When it loses that culture it becomes an also ran club with mediocre teams / poor players and even worse fans accepting mediocrity.

That comes across very clearly in a certain best-selling book that was recently published...

[cpwigan]

The last time wigan were really dominant i think iam right in saying they were the only full time team in the league and had a near endless pot of money to buy players.I agree they were true pros and played with a desire i think they sometimes lack today and iam not trying to detract from their achievments because i love this club,but i just feel now the league is a lot more competative cp and i think it is better for the game.

It did help that we had money, but we also had the vision and desire to make that investment work in the 80s and 90s. But let's not forget, we were still the greatest club in the game prior to the success of that era - a period that ranged from the inception of the sport to the 80s when there was no salary cap etc. We were successful because we had great players, great coaches and great administrators. We, like the people who came before us, should settle for nothing less than being the best, second simply isn't good enough! Anybody involved in professional sport who thinks that coming close is satisfactory should be looking for another job. Anyone at Wigan who thinks that it is acceptable to be second best should be shown the door.

Well said SEFC

Wigan RLFC has always been a visionary club. Look at the overseas players, union players we signed in the last 100 years. We have had fantastic administrators, we were the first club to have an Australian CEO and that was 50+ years ago. True RL fans used to describe Wigan RLFC and Central Park as the Mecca of RL. This club did not start/end with the 80/90's. It was built from day 1 to be what it represents.

Never forget when the St Heleners give you grief. Without Wigan RLFC there would be no St helens. St Helens were the poor relations in that town to St Helens Recs and the takings from the games v Wigan and Recs kept them in business. They frittered with death from season to season. WWII saved them and thereafter they recovered but Wigan kept Saints in business. St Helens even admit on their club history DVD.

[highland convert]

Don't you think we are reading too much into what is a common sense statement. A final is a trapdoor game. 17 will decide the outcome. The coaches job is done. It is great taht the coach has got us there. It is now up to the players. The team were down due to injury before Millward arrived. Noble is not doing so bad a job. Please note that the playoffs are a different format this year with 8 so should be an easier format for the lower teams.
Jim

[gpartin]

Don't you think we are reading too much into what is a common sense statement. A final is a trapdoor game. 17 will decide the outcome. The coaches job is done. It is great taht the coach has got us there. It is now up to the players. The team were down due to injury before Millward arrived. Noble is not doing so bad a job. Please note that the playoffs are a different format this year with 8 so should be an easier format for the lower teams.
Jim

semi finals in the cup and playoffs are trapdoor games, we consistently lose them.. the 17 on the pitch argument goes out the window when we are clearly good enough to beat good teams when it doesnt matter but lose on almost every occasion when it really does.

[num lock]

lets be honest ........... you dont give a stuff who is in charge ......you just like having a bloody good moan.

[cpwigan]

lets be honest ........... you dont give a stuff who is in charge ......you just like having a bloody good moan.

WRONG we want Wigan RLFC to be Wigan RLFC