What’s caused the slump?

[catman]

Seven weeks ago we had just completed a fine hat-trick of wins against Leigh, Saints and Wire and we were sitting almost on top of the super league playing a fine brand of football full of spirit, skill and determination.
Since then we have gone down hill rapidly we have had six abject performances three that we scraped through and the other three lost heavily.
What do you think has caused this?

[widdenoldboy]

Seven weeks ago we had just completed a fine hat-trick of wins against Leigh, Saints and Wire and we were sitting almost on top of the super league playing a fine brand of football full of spirit, skill and determination.
Since then we have gone down hill rapidly we have had six abject performances three that we scraped through and the other three lost heavily.
What do you think has caused this?

Started with the loss of key forwards from a pack that was already on the edge and how that was managed.
Some of our moves and tricks have been analysed by opposition coaches and heve been stopped.

[Blackpool_Pie]

Losing Cooper then Havard

That started it for me.

Two biggest forwards with a bit of go forward out for extended periods along with Singleton ( ), KPP and Isa.

Cooper and Havard are our two bigger props who can mix it up and don't get bullied. They don't always put us directly on the front foot but they're by far the best we have in that sense. Losing them two when our pack was already lightweight was and is very bad for us. Couple that with losing two second rows in Isa and KPP and having to shoehorn Shorrocks and Smithies there, with a teenager making his debut (albeit doing quite well) has really seen us struggle. Couple that with losing Field and Cust meaning we don't have a consistent partner for Smith in the halves.

But the main issue is the forwards for me. We can't get on the front foot in games and it really hurts us

[Charriots Offiah]

Some of the players we have got are simply not good enough yet are earning six figure salaries. We need to clear out most of our pack and also sign a centre and stand off.

[Blackpool_Pie]

Some of the players we have got are simply not good enough yet are earning six figure salaries. We need to clear out most of our pack and also sign a centre and stand off.

Ironic how just a few weeks ago people were fawning over King and Wardle saying this is the first time in years we've had two good centres

[Charriots Offiah]

Some of the players we have got are simply not good enough yet are earning six figure salaries. We need to clear out most of our pack and also sign a centre and stand off.

Ironic how just a few weeks ago people were fawning over King and Wardle saying this is the first time in years we've had two good centres

Not me mate.

[Charriots Offiah]

I think Sculthorpe and Clarke are bang on the money.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... e-27094124

[EagleEyePie]

As others have said, it's the loss of key forwards. Don't forget we had Ellis missing for a while too. When we were on our good run of form it was Havard and Ellis who were playing the best rugby. We finally had two props capable of making big metres regularly. If you add that to the experience of Cooper and then you have Farrell, Isa, Smithies, Shorrocks in reasonable form then we've got a capable team. Not a monster pack by any means but a competitive one.

As soon as you take players out of that team go backwards though. Havard injured means we lose a player capable of 100m+ per game and none of our other props bar Ellis can get near that. The loss of Cooper means the loss of a very smart defender. None of our other props can replace that defensive nous.
Losing Isa makes our right edge weaker and KPP also further affects that. It doesn't outright affect our ability down the middle but it limits our effectiveness in the back row. We'd often have big metres from Farrell and Bateman last year but with Farrell's performances noticeably down this year we've not got much from Smithies or Shorrocks in terms of metres on that edge.

I think we have to be honest and say when we beat both Saints and Wire earlier in the season neither side was at their best, both sides were missing key forwards that would have had an impact on the game.

Arguably it's not a slump, it's a regression to the mean. We weren't as strong as we thought we were early in the year, we just faced good teams at the right time and we had more players in good form that we can usually expect.

You can take it further and look back at previous seasons. Lam's last season seemed pretty disastrous but it was arguably an anomaly, we looked worse than we were due to circumstances like injuries. The seasons before showed where we were. Last season we had a bounce back that seemed somewhat inevitable, we did better than most people expected. Across all those seasons though we haven't really recruited a team that matches Saints, Catalans or arguably Warrington, so we're not likely to be better than them. only so much a coach can do.

If we can get the likes of Havard, Isa and KPP back it should give us a boost as injuries have definitely knocked our ability down a peg or two, but when they do come back it's likely that we'll be about the 3rd or 4th best side, but other teams have recruited aggressively and there are lots of teams of similar quality so who knows.

[southportcdm]

Our group of props have not been a match for those of the best teams in the league for several years and we've been fighting against the odds (with some success) for a while. As several fans have said, with all our players fit we can paper over the cracks but if one or two props are injured we're just no match for the bigger packs. Unless we get some kind of minor miracle next week against wire our ambitions this season will be reduced to having to fight to stay in the top six so I hope somebody is already planning for next year. There's lots to do. I'm convinced now that we need to replace Singleton, Mago and Ellis with better players (Walters replaces KPP) for our remaining squad to be able to compete next season. I'm only suggesting we keep Byrne because he's probably cheaper and still has time to develop but he has to improve soon. Matty Peet also has to decide who is our first choice at 6 (Field, French or Cust) before the end of the season so that we know what to do with Cust. If we have to replace KIng (Thornley won't do) that's another problem and one that means we probably won't be able to do anything about hookers other than shuffle what we already have but this may be worked out by the end of the year. Eckersley, Nsemba and Hill are all possible first team regulars but we shouldn't be in the position where they are first choices at the start of next season.

[Euclid]

For me the slump is not recent, it’s been going on for a good while. We have constantly played third fiddle to Saints and Leeds in Super League.
We have consistently signed crocks and re-signed players who have left and returned in a worse state than when they left.
Then we have signed players who are nowhere near the standard expected at Wigan. I’m not naming names here as it’s obvious who they are.
We have an inexperienced coach with inexperienced assistants. The club really should have appointed one experienced coach to the set up…..oh they did , but he’s gone to Australia.
I feel the club must drop this jobs for the boys ethic and get in some fresh hungry coaching talent.
It’s always going to be speculation when you’re looking from a distance, but there seems to be an air of chaos and panic both on and off the pitch.
As someone pointed out on another thread, it looks rather like everything is being done on the cheap.
I’m sure mr Radlinski and Mr Peet are splendid fellows but I have a feeling that they might be more suited to careers in social work than Rugby League.
I really hope I’ve misinterpreted what’s happening at Wigan, that this is a mere blip and we go on to win the Challenge Cup and Grand Final, but I’m not holding my breath.