noble is a good coach

[THE 18th Man]

you want stability. well Noble is leaving in 2010 anyway as IL has stated. so if he is leaving we should rebuild now and next season instead of wasting 12 month hoping something might go right for us.


Warrington have had a better squad than us since they bought matt king and michael monahan. as well as Morley and Carvell. all they needed was a coach like Tony Smith to put it together.

Huddersfield have a better squad than us but its our fault considering half of their starting 13 are ex Wigan players. im not saying keep hold of everybody but i never understood why we let go of Hodgson and Robinson and Brown 3 of there best players this season

[bikerharry]

But if we address the coaching problem CP, maybe our big name players will start to earn what they're being paid. I would rather see a change in the coaching staff, before any of our current squad is resigned to the scrapheap. Amos Roberts included, and I've made no bones about the fact I think his performance on the whole has been less than satisfactory.

[cpwigan]

You could well be right Harry. For me a major failing of Noble is he has to surround himself with yes men rather than the best people for the job. If both Pryce and Feka are so badly conditioned then it must be the conditioner. Feka has gone worse not better at Wigan. If you sign an impact prop you have to accept that is what he is.

Stuart Fielden is different because he has always been coached by Noble so clearly there is another issue.

I feel like a broken record at times but I have said since day 1. Noble has never built a team in his whole career. He has never been a coach that went the youth route so if that is what Wigan represents. It is a bad fit.

At the end of the day it is easier to sack a coach because you cannot get rid of 4 or 5 players is not an option and what Derrick Taylor was rightly trying to get across at the forum that it is pointless IL pretending we can sign players. We cannot. Our cap is fixed and the players are on long contracts. I can go and have a chat with Darren Lockyer but once we started talking salary I would have to end the conversation. So why pretend? Why waste your own and his time?

Whether Wigan always sign the right players becomes a debate if we change the coach and the same players still struggle.

[GeoffN]

For an example of good coaching, watch the Huddersfield v Saints game. Does anyone seriously think Nobby would have come up with anything resembling those tactics, especially the set move for their first try in the 2nd half? Their players overall are certainly no better than ours, and even more certainly no better than Saints.

A perfect lesson in how to identify and expose the opposition's weaknesses.

[cpwigan]

No Noble team would be allowed to kick first tackle from a scrum. However Huddersfield do and have scored several tries this season doing so.

[weststand-rich]

For me I I would settle for club consistency and rock solid direction. If we decide to stick with Brian Noble , fine, let's back him to the hilt and support his coaching choices. I might not like aspects of his coaching, but if the decision is made that he's our man I'll stick with him.

What worries me though is that our club is not consistent and you get the distinct impression that the club chairman and coach are operating like a push-me-pull-you in terms of overall direction.

Let's take for example, Youth Development. IL has publicly stated that it's insanity to pay top dollar for oversea stars that use up disproportionate salary cap at a rubbish AU$ exchange rate. That's a great strategy. I can see the genuine sense in that logic. In the shorter term we can reduce some aspects of the wage bill. Longer term, the overseas cap on quota players is reducing so now's the time to start blooding younger lads. If we're slightly at a disadvantage for a year or so, okay. A team with more home grown players will quiet the critics who call for more Wiganers in it, and we'll reep the longer term rewards compared to other teams more reliant on journeymen and older Aussies.

But while the chairman is publicly stating this defined club strategy, 3 months earlier he's off signing Martin Gleeson from Wire. A good player granted, but
what does this say? Hang on, are we buying players or growing players? We've just grown a young centre, number 3, Darryl Goulding? Which is it? Or is our strategy, mostly grow players, but buy at a whim and change direction whenever?

[WESTCUMBRIARIVERSIDER]

fans need to get off the back of our coach and support him, i know most do but there is a small majority who if we lose a match then the answer seems to sack the coach we dont live in the john monie years any more were we win week in week out this is 2009 were any team can turn up and beat wigan as for wigan can turn up and do the same thats the beauty of the competion. we need to give noble a new contract we need stability not another coach to start from square one then when wigan lose 3 matches in a row he gets sacked its a joke.

why not get on his back, this guy picked a team for a semi final and left a player out who has been great since he came back from huddersfield (lee mossop) and puts a guy in who hasnt played and what happens, the replacement gets injured, (not baileys fault) but come on, we play well till feka and fielden come on to replace 2 attacking props who were also defending well and what happens, we get walked over, sorry this is not the sign of a good coach, and i am sick and tired of excuses, when i am spending hard earned money to watch this team go to the wall, because the man hasnt guts to drop people in case he upsets them, lets face it he wont play ainscough because of errors but still plays a man who couldn't catch swine flu in a pig farm, so don't stick up for th man

[ellery 4 coach]

Harry you will not get any argument from me that the potential is there. SL in 2009 is weaker than ever at the top with both Saints and Leeds in transition. The overall standard is probably better with wins having to be earned BUT no club/no team is under achieving more than Wigan because as you rightly say we have the players and if you compared Wigan v Warrington many of the Wire players were poorer or no better than their Wigan counterpart.

Something has to change. If it is the coach and backroom staff (especially Forshaw) then so be it but for whatever reason the big name players are letting Wigan RLFC down. you cannot pay players so much and get so little from them.

why do you dislike forshaw

[pedro]

cos hes garbage

[bikerharry]

My point remains, salary cap aside, I don't believe we need to sign more players. The potential is there, let's use what we've got, coach them, and bring about the success we always seem to be on the verge of, but never achieve. The young players we've got coming through are fantastic, and there is the experience around them in the senior players, we just need to coach it out of them. Yes they might be professionals, and some may argue that they don't need coaching, but you tell me any team, made up of any players who don't need coaching? As for getting behind Noble for the sake of stability, it won't make any difference. With or without fans support, Noble has taken us as far as he can. Like I posted before, I have no axe to grind with mr Noble. I don't know him on a personal level so won't begin to judge him as a person, I don't want him publicly flogged and beheaded in Wigan town centre, I just think he's reached his level. I thank him for the positives he has brought to the club, stability being one of them, but I think it's time for him and Wigan to part company, and hopefully a new and more successful era to begin. For me, if you're looking for a coach to tap into potential, maybe we need someone like Shaun McRae? To me, he's someone who alway been able to coach the players he has availible to their full potential, and always prepares his side for the team they are playing that week. Not the same game plan week in week out.