Waney et al

[weststand-rich]

Yep. I'll join the contrite bunch and give up credit were credit is due.

I was ambivalent about Waney's appointment and thought we would maybe hold on just about in the top four and sort of bobble about as a very good/decent club.

But with a slightly weaker squad Waney has added value to players on the cheap and apart from the early Huddersfied and Widnes wobble, we've just got stronger and stronger. I think we're currently playing the best rugby I've seen at Wigan in the 12 years I've had my season ticket at DW.

[cpwigan]

I do think it is quite staggering how so called average RL players have been transformed by the elite professional culture at Wigan. Yes, one could surmise the quality of player development at Crusaders would be inferior to Wigan BUT Hull are no better it seems. How many more?

We had the most successful British domestic RL coach of SL and he was poor. His then assistant is now a head coach?

It strikes me British RL was / perhaps largely still is behind in terms of sports science / winning culture which reflects our efforts internationally.

[Dobby]

It is certainly a team effort coaching wise. Madge & Waney transformed the attitude at the club and brought expertiser like Bitcom to the fore. The club now has the ability to transform overweight and/or raw players into first teamers. Look at Dudson prior to Wigan, far too much weight etc. He now looks like a very fit, athletic elite prop forward

If I remember correctly you weren't too keen on the signing of Dudson...

Hated it Cherry. He was a tub of lard lacking fitness and gave away penalties / made mistakes. He is currently none of the above which begs the question how many RL players are running around in SL significantly underperforming and playing nowhere near their potential. On the basis of Dudson, plenty! the majority! ?

I always liked the signing of Dudson and other players like that with potential. As I recall saying at the time of the rumoured Gareth Thomas signing (as a tool to sign young Welsh players) and the Soth Wales link up there are bags of very good young Welsh players who are made for RL. Also Wigan have always signed good prospects with potential from lower league clubs, the Cowie's and Hall's of this world, and it only in the last decade or so where we fell away from this.

[Kittwazzer]

I always liked the signing of Dudson and other players like that with potential. As I recall saying at the time of the rumoured Gareth Thomas signing (as a tool to sign young Welsh players) and the Soth Wales link up there are bags of very good young Welsh players who are made for RL. Also Wigan have always signed good prospects with potential from lower league clubs, the Cowie's and Hall's of this world, and it only in the last decade or so where we fell away from this.

Anyone know what happened to the Evans twins that Wire signed? Ben never made the first team but Rhys was a revelation when he first appeared at centre. Now he seems to have vanished!

[exile in Tiger country]

That's an excellent point about his U20 form, but he has been excellent in the first team, done what he has been told, run hard and straight and no silly offloads. Also what about Lauaki, another signing that was questioned on here. I was very impressed with him again last night.

I agree about Lauaki, excellent last night and he's been very good for quite a while.

I criticised him a bit when he first arrived and there were clearly areas he needed to work on. I was particularly frustrated with his technique into contact where he'd stop and try to push players away or charge full pelt at the line shoulder first only to get pushed back after the initial contact.

It seems to be something that has been worked on though because he's now hitting the defenders and spinning out of tackles and continuing to fight after contact has been made and it's made a big difference. He's now winning collisions and getting up play the ball quickly.

He's also improved his commitment to defend massively since he was at Hull. He now looks like he enjoys defending whereas at Hull he looked like he found it a chore.

In some ways I'd compare Lauaki to Bailey at Leeds. I know Bailey gets lots of stick and usually isn't rated by opposition fans but I do think he's a decent player who has plenty of aggression that can make him a handful when he's brought onto the pitch.

Lauaki is similar. His reputation as a hot head means players try to get one over on him during games but that attention provides more space for other players. He can be a real handful at times but despite being considered bruising, no nonsense props they are both decent ball players.
Of course the difference between Lauaki and Bailey is that Lauaki's discipline has actually been very good after his stupid mistakes against Wire. Lauaki is also much more consistent.

I am far from Luaki's biggest fan, but this comparison surely borders on libellous?
Bailey wouldn't even get a place in our reserve team, he is an out and out thug, and is there purely to rough up smaller players.
I know Luaki has/had a reputation as a bit of a penalty machine, but nothing like the cowardly Bailey. At least Luaki will stand toe to toe if it kicks off, Bailey runs and hides.
As for his rugby playing, he is nowhere near as good as Luaki is for Wigan.

[DaveO]

I freely admit I was very wrong in my early season criticism, especially after the Widnes game.
I apologise wholeheartedly.

Why were you wrong after the Widnes game? Wane screwed that one up. It would be/is to his credit he hasn't made the same mistake again and I don't expect him to.

[yokozuna]

Wigan can (and hopefully will) win the treble this season. We're favourites in all competitions, but of course it's possible to lose a one-off game - although at the moment we're performing head and shoulders above everyone else and it'd be great if that can continue until the end of the grand final!

The question is, how long will we be as far ahead of the other sides in terms of fitness, our approach in defence, and the lines we're running in attack? Just this season, a few seasons, or longer?

There's nothing we're doing that can't be copied, and surely that means that the other sides will be able to close the gap over time. We've got a strong youth system bringing players through and that's certainly an advantage that can't be mimicked as easily by others without having something similar in place already. So is it the start of a new dynasty at Wigan, and a period of dominance - or is it going to be a good few seasons and then the gap will be closed?

[ancientnloyal]

We are quite bad fans at times, like Widnes some were claling for heads and some saw it coming not respecting Widnes... and the classic Wigan fan speak came out then. I made comments to regarding Widnes but I am glad that Wane hasn't made the mistake again and he shouldn't do.

With Maguire he named a kid on the bench and kept him there whereas with Wane, we saw with Leeds that he isn't afraid to put them on even if there is no choice but to put them on.

Maguire built up this winning mentality from a team of potentials to a team of winners. Wane has simply taken that, got the controls and instilled some vintage Wigan in the team. Like Edwards said, it was permissable to miss training only with a broken leg (or something similar) or else you had to be there. The club has grit and it seems that we dont have a team of senior regular first team players and some new kids - we have a team of senior players. It's like they are scared to death of losing and god only knows how Gelling is feeling after every match with his errors!

Harris hasn't had to do anything with the media why should he, what will that do? He's there to assist Wane not be the face of the club. Yes, there'll be a time when Harris will say it's time he can do it alone again and he will just for now I'm sure he's benefitting greatly from his current role.

This is all until Wigan lose to Castleford (or again).

[exile in Tiger country]

Some very interesting and inciteful comments on this bit of RedVee, and I'm not being sarcastic, there is a lot of praise for what Shaun Wane has done.

http://www.redvee.net/forums/showthread ... hind-wigan