If only we could defend like that..

He is becoming a great player in the opposition 20, unfortunately for Wigan he is anonymous in the other 80

Also, it took a few months but Im back to hating Sam Tomkins again, ridiculously self-aggrandising piece before kickoff, and was constantly praised throughout the game for anything he did half decent, but everyone failed to mention everything he did wrong in what was a below average game
Have I time travelled to 2013?

Tomkins is sh-te. Hardaker is 10 times better. Hardaker could retire now and Tomkins would never finish with the honours Zak has.

I love saying this all the time.

Most of the Pie fans on the Wigan board demanding the Apes head on a plate. CC semi and touching distance of top spot is not good enough for them it seems. wonder what the reaction would have been to bottom of the table with a few games to go and middle 8s rugby?

Particularly enjoyed the Talanoa try.They tried to rule it out every which way.Then they went to Billy Boston's mobile phone in the crowd and it showed that Talanoa was a mile onside.

indeed. they ignored his pathetic attempt to take the grubber and his cheap shot as michaels scored in the corner

If they finish a third season in a row trophyless then I think it's a fair view to question Wane's future.

I could understand that view if they had a load of star studded buys but to be fair to Wane, he has overseen the loss of pretty much all his big names since he took charge. He has given youth a chance and plenty of them too, he has had to, to cover the loss of the big names. Basically he has a load of youth plus journey men type buys like Tauitai and Isa to work with plus the usual stalwarts of SOL, MM (when fit) and Tomkins, who is not quite the player he was. All this whilst winning the double in 2013, and making the final the last two years as well (and they would have won 2014 imo if it wasn't for Flower being a tool).

For me, and i'm certainly not a big fan of the man as a person, but Wane has done remarkably well to keep Wigan competing on all fronts ever since he took charge and i doubt there are too many coaches out there could have done the same with the players he has had to work with.

True on the points above. It goes back to the discussion about style/tactics and why Wigan can still challenge when they have injuries and we struggled so badly. Their style allows for players to come in and do a job so absences are as badly felt whilst we rely on the ability of key first teamers.

Interestingly on the Wigan board they talk about a 'jobs for the boys' attitude over there during Wane's reign and put a lot of the blame on that. Their recruitment policy just seems to be to bring back former players who have struggled after leaving and you feel Wane is key in taking that direction. It's one thing to bring through youngsters but you need to bring in some good and experienced players too go with that.....the likes of Furner, Dunnemann, Bai etc. around 2003/2004 for us and also Cuthbertson, Moon, Briscoe for us in recent seasons. Arguably the only real quality 'out-sider' signing they've made during Wane's spell is Bateman. Also one reason he has to give youngsters a chance is because he keeps losing first teamers, Sarginson and Charnley the next two to depart whereas we've been better at keeping our squad together.

Whilst he did do the double in 2013 it was an extremely easy route to the trophy (70-0 vs London in the SF) and on the flip side to Flower costing them in 2014 (which you can link back to Wane's firing them up approach so has to take his share of the blame) they were very fortunate Warrington lost a number of backs during the 2013 GF. He also fell short in both competitions at the SF stage in 2012 to us both times.

looks like the RFL wanted a wigan v warrington final. given the amount of decisions wigan gotlast night, and warrington are getting today, that knock on was blatant

If they wanted Wire to get through why would the ref give a knock on against Ratchford that gave Wakey the good field position for their try?

Totally agree. But that is where i think Wane deserves credit. The Wigan fans want to be destroying teams with attacking Rugby whilst winning silverware, but that isn't possible with the playing roster Wane has at his disposal so he has a formula his whole group buys into to get results, which he pretty much has gotten over his tenure although they haven't perhaps won what they might have done.

It doesn't look like Lenergan will be throwing any cash around for the big names, he hasn't of late anyway, so i don't see what a new coach would bring them. i reckon they would go backwards at a rate of knots if they axed 'Mr Wigan' Wane.

Don't know about that, but the decision was a shocker and possibly a game breaker. Wakey score from that and 12-0 up, Wire go down bottom end and score and now look like moving out of sight.

Well I suppose it depends on who is involved in the recruitment process and how heavily. Like I said apart from Bateman theirs not much to write home about in terms of recruitment if you take out ex-Wigan players returning which is a lottery depending on whether they were successful or not elsewhere, what would their team look like next year if Tomkins, Mossop, Burgess were all a success in the NRL? If Joel had decided to stick with RU? Nobody would be surprised to see Charnley or Sarginson back in a Wigan shirt in the next year or two.

Just seem very lazy in their recruitment, obviously Lenegan involved but how much is it on Wane and his affinity with past players and their Wigan connection. A non Wigan guy coming in could actually be the breath of fresh air they need.

Wakey getting humped by Wire the team who finished in the top 8 on merit & went much further than us in the CC another reminder to GH this should be unacceptable & changes are needed on & off the pitch.

Question is though, can you really beat the big teams when they are playing well, when you use such a structured attack. In 2013 they got a bit lucky as they got an easy challenge cup draw and Wire fell apart in the final after a couple of players got injured.
Whilst they will pretty much always be consistent enough for the top 4, I think they will struggle if one of the top teams play their best against them.

Having said that, they are currently missing a couple of players who can score out of nothing in Farrel and Gelling

Wakey didnt finish in the top 8 on merit. It was down to Salford's point deduction.

I was absolutely Gutted that Wigan lost in the semi final



The Wigan fans aren't very happy with the Fat Ape, It looks like the vultures are now circling and baying for his blood

Salford cheated & got what they deserved simple as Wakey earned their points tally & their top 8 place.

Hate to be this picky but this group of Salford players also abided by the rules for their points.

Not saying that Salford shouldn't have been punished, but I felt sorry for the players who worked hard this year to get them where they were.

I don't think a CC result between other teams has any bearing on us. Think that's using any excuse to just have a dig at the club.

They ought to get some endangered species animal protection service thingy mabob involved.

Theres an ancient neanderthal gorilla ape thing currently residing in wigan about to go extinct.

It has a bearing in that the team that got destroyed still got a lot further than us in the CC & finished higher than us in the SL reinforcing A.How poor we've been & B.Highlighting the need for changes simple as that.

,

... and C. How bad our injuries have been and D. How we didn't replace our stand off and main playmaker etc etc. All been said many times before.

.......and D. Flood defenses