Alarmingly Poor

[x-laura-lvz-calderwood-x]

It's a well known fact that Wigan are rubbish at the start of the season then they peak right at the end. It shouldn't be like that but it is. I thought Barrett showed the signs that in months to come he is going to be the superstar and show how its done. I also think Lockers was a load of rubbish. The captain should be best in the team and he's far from it.

[Matthew]

Wigan Watcher posted:
Terrible comes to mind

We lost by 6 points in terrible conditions with a stand off that missed all of warm up matches - in a team that has only just be assembled. The conditions were terrible, the referee unpredictable and we were playing a team that have been tipped for the top 4 - we lost by 6 points and could have stolen a draw at the death. If you want terrible watch some of the games from the start of last season with Millward in charge.

Wigan Watcher posted:
Positives: Hock and Bailey played well and I thought Lockers was solid.

Agree

Wigan Watcher posted:
Negatives: The rest played poorly, the worst being Richards, Barrett did not create, Leuluai
was a big problem for me and I already have doubts over his ability. Fielden was poor along with the rest of the pack bar one. I can go on about everyone but I think I have said my piece.

The half back pairing had never played a match together before - what were you expecting? I think that Leuluai tried too hard. Barrett nearly scored in the first half and seem to show more enthusiasm in one match then Moran did in his entire time here.

Fielden was heavily marked and didn't have a great game - however I thought that young O'Carroll played very well considering his years

Wigan Watcher posted:
O yes and Millard! What are we doing buying him. Out of shape and way too slow.

He took the ball up and once the team get used to his style I think that he and Higham will offer a nice variation.

At the end of the day it is the first game of the season. Last year we lost 10 of the first 12 (I think) - it isn't time to start panicking yet!

[right cross]

i agree with most of what as been said on this post but we have to remember over the last 3 or 4 years wigan have had 5 coaches all with there own way of doing things .anybody with half rugby brain knows that as been wigans problem .

imo 70% distruption 30% buying the wrong players hasbeens is one of the biggest [little mo]

what do others think [with half a rugby brain ,no affence mind]

[Panchitta Marra]

This team will get better. Barrett, although didnt create much in this match showed he is willing to graft for the team. He got stuck in, dived on loose balls etc, on that strength I dont think he has come over for the ride. He will improve as will Thomas. In my opinion we do have problems in both Richards & Millard. Richards does not know where he is going, cant take a man on and proven poor defence again. Why is he the chosen goal kicker, surely Ashton would have been a better choice as kicker. Millard - OAP status, too slow in mind & body.

[waterside glens]

we will get alot better ,by the time we play at the jjb again we will be ready to tank a few teams.i don't get that some people are saying we where terrible,yes we made alot of silly mistakes but wire are one of the better teams we'll meet and they where lucky to get the points

[DaveO]

right cross posted:
i agree with most of what as been said on this post but we have to remember over the last 3 or 4 years wigan have had 5 coaches all with there own way of doing things .anybody with half rugby brain knows that as been wigans problem .

I think a bigger problem is not the turnover in coaches but the turnover in players in key positions particularly half back.

People are saying the performance was understandable because the team had not played together much and the half backs not at all as if this makes it all right. Well what a great situation to be in for yet another season. When will the club learn you need a settled side from one season to the next and not operate an annual clear out?

This ideas its almost traditional we have a slow start is no good. Slow starts ultimately cost you position in the league. When was the last time we finished in the top two to get an easier play off run in? Even when we were a good side a slow start ultimately led to us getting to GF's the long way round.

Slow starts are to be avoided and not something dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders. Slow starts show a lack of preparation and too many changes in personnel.

Dave

[Cruncher]

Glad to see people are cooling off now and starting to see some positives.

That result was unbearably frustrating, but I forced myself to watch the match again later on, and Wigan weren't as bad as I'd thought at the time. All the things that have been said - half-backs not clicking, forwards on the backfoot, three-quarters ineffective - were true, but we still held a superior (on the day) side to two tries and, for all that we lacked a cutting edge, managed to score the same number ourselves.

We know we need another prop, though the young lad did well against big opposition on what was an ideal night for them. The halfbacks need time together, as has been said. For me, the most worrying aspect is the threequarters, Pat Richards especially, whose period of 'nervous readjustment' to playing in SL seems to be dragging on forever. If someone had told me before the game that we'd drop the first ball of the night, I'd have put my mortgage on him being the culprit. The kicking is also a worry. Whether he can actually kick or not, is irrelevant - to me, he seems to lack the temperament for it. His touchliners were so far off, he might as well not have bothered.

So it goes on. We're still paying the price for our poor recruitment policy of the last few years. We're seemingly stuck with Richards and DV for the time being. That's certainly worthy of annoyance, but I don't think it serves any purpose for us to keep mulling over it endlessly and getting angrier and angrier with Whelan and Mo.

There were good things to be taken from Friday night as well as bad. The main thing now is that Noble makes sure the lads' heads don't drop. That's what happened last year, and near-disaster followed.

[GeoffN]

DaveO posted:

right cross posted:
i agree with most of what as been said on this post but we have to remember over the last 3 or 4 years wigan have had 5 coaches all with there own way of doing things .anybody with half rugby brain knows that as been wigans problem .

I think a bigger problem is not the turnover in coaches but the turnover in players in key positions particularly half back.

People are saying the performance was understandable because the team had not played together much and the half backs not at all as if this makes it all right. Well what a great situation to be in for yet another season. When will the club learn you need a settled side from one season to the next and not operate an annual clear out?

This ideas its almost traditional we have a slow start is no good. Slow starts ultimately cost you position in the league. When was the last time we finished in the top two to get an easier play off run in? Even when we were a good side a slow start ultimately led to us getting to GF's the long way round.

Slow starts are to be avoided and not something dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders. Slow starts show a lack of preparation and too many changes in personnel.

Dave

Maurice makes exactly that point in the match day programme:

"We have spent the last year trying to build some permanency and stability to the club. We now have a settled coaching team headed by Brian Noble and we spent the off-season securing our best young players on long-term contracts. We want to see the team form a familiar look so that new season signings are reduced to a mimimum and even then only players of the highest quality."

Time will tell, of course, whether he means what he says.

[Fraggle]

GeoffN posted:
Time will tell, of course, whether he means what he says.

There's a first time for everything, I suppose...

[right cross]

i just hope we don't have to rely on little morris to get us up there. if he was a player relying on performence to get him in the first team ,he would be sub for adlingtons 3rd team