SACK SW NOW

[Wandering Warrior]

I'd rather somebody kept their mouth shut than blurt rubbish out that deflects from their own inadequacies. You are obviously happy with his actions, let's hope I, and more importantly IL, are come the end of the season, otherwise it's bye bye I think.

[Southern Softy]

I never like attacking a coach but that's one of the dumbest interviews that I've ever seen.
It reads like an invitation for a club to come and offer silly money to take Sam away as Wigan are expecting him to leave. As Sam is essentially signed up for two years until he is free (IF HE WISHES) to speak to Union clubs, it follows that he will be the first-choice full-back till then. And Wigan should be looking to keep him here after his current contract expires.
It's as silly as saying that because Lockers won't go on forever we have to see what it will be like with a different loose-forward and/or a different captain.
You put together a team on the pitch that represents your best set of players who can play together, so you need to give them game time on the field and that's what warm-up matches are for. Training is for assessing which players may be able to slot in to cover for injury/loss of form/whatever.
Hope Waney speaks out again and clarifies that Sam is a Wigan player and the club will be making every effort to ensure he stays that way.

[si_bax]

My main issue with SW is his control of the team away from rugby, the drinking culture within the team got out of hand last year, many all nighters in the boars head, this has to have a negative impact on the team, professional sportsman cant go out drinking to that extent 2/3 times a week without it affecting their performance on the pitch.

SW needs to cut that down next year but I think he likes the idea of being one of the lads, he needs to be a lot stronger with how he deals with the team

[DaveO]

Cow Yeds
Another fine example I'm afraid how SW lacks "savvy". The season hasn't started, season tickets still to be sold and he creates a great piece of negativity by stating the blatantly obvious!IMHO he lacks basic intelligence and that shows in his interviews, very worrying.

If it's blatantly obvious, Wane hasn't created anything. What he has done is what most fans want, been honest.
One of the biggest criticisms of Wigan RL as a business is their "keep quiet, say nothing" attitude towards the fans. This is a refreshing change.

What is wrong with a coach having a plan to replace the best player in the country when it is blatantly obvious he will be moving on?

Would you rather we had the usual situation of rumour and conjecture, and a player leaving before the club look for his replacement?

There is a time and place and saying this now is as Cow Yeds said lacking in "savvy". The club keeps quiet when the fans are begging for information - that is what fans complain about.

Here Wane has just come out with a hugely negative bit of publicity that no one really wants to hear!

I actually think he doesn't think before he speaks. He didn't need to mention Sam leaving at all. He could have given any number of reasons for having a look at others in the full back slot. It makes perfect sense to do so but our coach has managed to put a negative stance on it.

[DaveO]

He's only stating the blatantly obvious.

That is not the point. He just didn't need to say it at all!

I agree with Southern Softie when they say it "reads like an invitation for a club to come and offer silly money to take Sam away"

Why on earth mention it at all at this juncture? Far too premature.

If you aint got anything good to say, better say nothin' at all.

There's little that rugby league clubs can do to keep a player that is ambitious and already curious about what the NRL or rugby union have to offer. The nature of the deal that Tomkins signed was enough of a giveaway that he would want out after three years.

We know he's a Wigan player up until that point. The quotes don't suggest otherwise.

No one suggest they did but Wane has put his foot in it big time here. In contrast what is most pressing on fans minds at this point is the Hock situation. Wane's reaction to that? - "No comment".

As for pre-season, it's about assessing and preparing the squad as best as possible. There's no reason why a coach should give every player a pre-season game and there's no reason why a coach should play a full strength side in all of those games. Wigan have a big squad and a lot of players who need to be looked at before they are sent on loan.

Tomkins isn't going to gain anything from facing Wire in a pre-season game whereas Murphy just might.

The team might! It's a team game and Green won't have had a game with Tomkins in the side.

Wane has to deal with a lot of changes to the team for 2013. It's a pretty new entity and not one with just the odd change from last season where everyone knows everyone else's game. Given these are the circumstances I expected Wane to have the 1st team out far more often in the friendlies.

[cpwigan]

FWIIW I think the timing was stupid. Waney should restrict when / how he speaks to the press.

[Wes]

Fwiw Dave I think your right however every rumour is negative and your the 1st to spout on here that we should come out in public with statements so forgive me for thinking your a bit hypocritical.

Wane is a RL coach not a media man or jour no let's hope he can prove that with some silverware this year because I have a feeling the lls on its own won't be enough for a new contract this year.

[DaveO]

Fwiw Dave I think your right however every rumour is negative and your the 1st to spout on here that we should come out in public with statements so forgive me for thinking your a bit hypocritical.

There is a huge difference between the club coming out with a statement about a pressing issue and Wane putting his foot in it as he has done here. The suggestion put forward that what Wane has done here is keeping us informed is scraping the barrel of weak excuses.

He may well believe it to be the case Sam won't be here for the rest of his career and he may want to try other fullbacks but he could simply have said what he did about the teams he put out earlier i.e. he knew what Smith and Green could do so he wanted to look a the young players.

Could have said the same about the full back slot but instead we end up with a headline of "Wigan coach Shaun Wane prepares for Sam Tomkins exit". What a Muppet!

Wane is a RL coach not a media man or jour no let's hope he can prove that with some silverware this year because I have a feeling the lls on its own won't be enough for a new contract this year.

Coaches have to deal with the media all the time. It's part of the job and Wane seems to drop clangers a bit too often.

[old hooker]

Unfortunately Wane does not know when to keep his mouth shut.I dont think he will get another contract at Wigan as he does not seem to think he is doing anything wrong when making silly statements.

[cpwigan]

The sooner Wane goes the better. Bite the bulet and offer it to Edwards OR get another quality Australian coach.