wiganwarriordave wrote:I have to laugh at this thread, or i'll cry... Seriously... Have you listened to yourselves?
Here are the facts as i see them.
We finished top of the league, made the CC semi-final and came less than a few minutes away from the GF at Old Trafford.... We stuffed Saints 3 out of 4 times, and the time we didn't we still gave them a damn good run for their money with 12 men. Why all the doldrums? We're hardly Widnes or Castleford are we!?!??
Because unless you are mad we missed out on the two major trophies getting beaten in two-semi finals and Wane's decisions had a big hand in both losses. Our record against our main rivals in the 2nd half of the season is poor. We lost to Leeds in two semi-finals and lost to Wire twice in the league. The fact we beat Saints 3 out of 4 times means diddly squat the end of the day. Beating teams below us by plenty just hides the failings.
The first half of the season, we were formidable, ruthless, and very impressive. Add to this some poor RFL disciplinary decisions, the farcical Exiles match in which we lost Tommy, and had to turn-around a lot of players in a short period. And we dropped form. Is this Wane's fault? No. Not in my opinion. He did the upmost with what he had.
It is very much Wane's fault. He made very poor use of what he had as people kept pointing out at the time. The way he dealt with the loss of one player was to shift people out of position and IMO this is a big reasons why the teams form did drop. Playing Lockers at 6 never works against the big sides. Wane was fooled by victories against poor opposition. I knew as soon as when we bought the cup-tied Smith and Lockers played at 6 in the run up to the semi-final that is how he would pick the team in the cup semi-final. He did and it failed as it always does against the top sides.
He had alternatives that would have been far less disruptive to the team - as he did in Friday's semi-final against Leeds.
Wane has appeased what Wigan fans have been wanting for many seasons in investing in youth. We've offered a few debuts, and IMO those individuals have performed well. The "rookies" of yesteryear (Charnley, Goulding etc) are now developing into solid experienced players who before long IMO will also become powerhouses of the next England RL generation, and for certain the foundations of the Wigan team for years to come.
He even managed to get this wrong. He made wholesale changes v Widnes and we lost to give players a rest who didn't need a rest. A loss which contributed to prolonging the race for top spot such that we were having to bust a gut v HKR two games before the play offs instead of resting players who were definitely ready for a test given his dumb full contact training regime. Compounded by going full tilt in the last game when the title was won. Micky Mac looked like he needed a rest for several weeks but Wane put a full strength side out and he ended up with a ban.
He also didn't give Murphy any other opportunities so he ended up in a semi-final with one SL appearance under his belt. Wane failed to give this lad any more opportunities which would have better prepared him for a semi-final.
He looked a good prospect in the one SL game he did play but instead of moving Sam to 6 when Tommy was out which would have left Lockers at 13 and giving Murphy a run in the side we had a very Noble-like musical chairs situation position-wise an no game time for Murphy. I said all this at the time so its not hindsight either.
As for the starting of this thread and the Leeds semi game. SW had a game plan, both in attack and defense. Swapping Pat to FB and dropping someone else in at wing puts players out of the positions they have trained for all week. Jack for Sam was a straight swap with less ramifications.
Less ramifications? You saw the ramifications on the night. An inexperienced player could not take the pressure. The idea moving Pat to FB when he is familiar with playing there and brining in a player on the wing would be as disruptive as you suggest is just nonsense.
In any case it is a total coaching no-no to bring in a rookie for a semi final. There is never any justification for doing it.
And as stated earlier in this thread, Jack has impressed, and shown his ability under the high ball and had earner this opportunity. As for his performance, i thought he played well. The balls he dropped were very tough calls. Unless you have ever played FB in an RL game, or attempted to catch a high ball (or in particular, a high ball while being charged by 13 other blokes), you can't comment... I have (and yes, i dropped em too!).
Now you are being ridiculous. There was no player anywhere near him for the last one. He wasn't being pressured at all and as a full back it is his job to catch them. Pat would have done so one handed. Murphy, quite understandably, caved in under pressure. These kicks were not impossible to deal with at all.
For those that are blaming Jack specifically. After watching the Wigan/Leeds game, did you go on to watch the Warrington/Saints semi and the Melbourne/Canterbury NRL final and see Brett Hodgson and Billy Slater fumble similar kicks??
No one is blaming Murphy. Wane yes for a dumb selection when he had alternatives is the one being blamed and rightly so.
e) Sinfield was pure world class and battered us all game. Lets take off our Cherry & White tinted glasses and applaud an opposition opponent when he plays a blinder.
I think you are the one who needs to take the cherry n white specks off given this post of yours. However by mentioning Sinfield you have highlighted exactly why Wane was at fault to pick Murphy. When you have someone who is such a threat with the boot the last thing you do is select a player who effectively has a big sign round his neck saying "kick at me, I am a rookie".
The fact is we were winning 12-11 so had he taken that kick we would be in the final. Had Pat been at full back not only would Sinfield have not been kicking at him all night Pat would have dealt with it no problem. Whatever else we did or did not do in that game can't alter the fact the winning score came directly as a result of a ball dropped my an inexperienced player who should not have been on the pitch.
The fact that we got within 2 points after going in at halftime against the current champions 11 points down is testament to Wigan. But those blaming SW, or JM are well out of order IMO.
Those blaming Wane are spot on. Wane had two years to see how it was done under Madge and instead of carrying on the same way with the odd minor tweak he chucked the baby out with the bathwater. He thought he knew better than Madge and the results ought to be telling him (and you) he didn't.
He won't be sacked this year but he won't get a new deal after next unless he learns his lessons. The trouble is he has made so many changes to how Madge did it he will have to basically eat humble pie to do that and I don't think he will. He will in my opinion carry on the same way because as he said recently he will keep doing it his way even if it is the wrong way!