Wigan dominated, as they never had a CONSISTENT rival from the start of their domination, which started (imo) the moment they poached Andy Gregory from us. The wheels were set in motion, a couple of years, previously. To think, they were MASSIVELY linked with Mike Greg, too.
Saints. Permanent bridesmaids. Showed promise, but never enough to keep regular pressure.
Bradford. Great season, then go off a bit. Come back again a year or so later, repeat.
Widnes. Great, from 88 till the money ran out, early-ish 90'sDavies, Morriarty, Devereaux, Hadley??, Tait, Offiah saw to that. Yes, the got £400,000+ for Offiah, but their wages killed them.
Leeds, a laughing stock. Threw money around like confetti, akin to Newcastle's football side. Like Newcastle, they won nowt.
Us. Gregory leaving stopped us in our tracks. We had the best pack in the league by miles. Yes, Keith Holden was class, but it's like comparing a 5 series BMW to a top of the range Bentley. It took our Welsh contingent from 1990, three years to FULLY adapt, and for us to start threatening seriously.

duckie you don't half change your tune....a few weeks ago your assessment was that our pack was the reason we lost those finals....even Patton couldn't play behind a beaten pack.

Would have been interesting to see how that Wigan side would have done had it been around at the same time as the McDermott Leeds side, or Anderson's Saints, or Noble's Bradford. I think Wigan would still have won the title over half the time, although they wouldn't have won the Challenge Cup every year.

You’re not as good as Wigan right now never mind better than the Wigan of the 80/90s

We wasn't in the GF for sure...however Wire have stepped another level and Wigan have Sammutt.
Wigan won't live with Wire. Your final this year is the Neu Camp...and Catalan will win that too.

Wigan will always be competitive and successful because they have it in their DNA now. Their supporters and board will ensure this remains the case.

It does undermine his admirable promotion of Patton.

Please tell me you’re on the the wind up? You might have the best stand off in the league but you’ve also got a donkey next to him, meanwhile we’ve got the best full back in the league and if Sammut doesn’t work then we can always revert to a 6/7/9 that went 10 games unbeaten and won the GF last seaso. We’ve heard this all before with your overseas signings, same with Sandow, then Roberts now Austin, meanwhile we’ve continually won trophies whilst bringing through youth after youth. Warrington will always be in Wigan’s shadow.

How does failing in 2 finals fall back on to Patton again?

I thought we had a new year white card understanding you'd back off the Patton bashing until at least into the start of the season.

I was careful not to bash anyone in that statement. I think you may be reading it with prejudice. Just commenting on your change of heart on pack or half backs being our weak point. It started with the pack not being good enough now you seem to imply the half backs as the case (as Sally said).

Rest assured I'll not be commenting Any more on the performances of Patton as it's a moot subject for 2020. The club clearly see Austin and Widdop as our half backs for the future and that's fine by me.

Only 1 League title and 3 challenge cups? I think you've a chance there.

Sorry to disappoint but Leeds will be the top team in the 2020’s. Still a bit off this year but by the time we get to next season and 2021 we’ve got a very good crop of youngsters to add to our marquee signings.

I'm sure Wire can offload another couple for you.

“Another couple”

I'd be wary about making too many predictions too far ahead.

10 years ago, January 2009, Warrington had James Lowes as coach. I wonder how many people would have called us as winning three Challenge Cups in the next four years, and making nine major finals over the next decade? People would laugh at the idea of Warrington winning a trophy.

What about 20 years ago, January 1999. Wigan had just won the Grand Final. They had been champions 8 of the last 10 years. Who would have called then, that they would not win another title in the next decade, and would only win one Challenge Cup? Bradford were also being hailed as the model of the club that had actually embraced summer rugby and Super League, and had the best marketing and management which is why Bullmania would go on to make Bradford dominate rugby. To an extent they did for the next few years, but they fell off a cliff after that. And also back then I don't think anyone would have predicted that Leeds would be the most consistent team over the next two decades....we all knew Leeds were a big club, would always splash money about and talk about their next great crop of youngsters, but two words you knew did not apply to Leeds back then were "consistent" and "winners". Well look what happened.

True and I’m only messing with my previous post. At best you can look at the next 3/4 years. Rubber Duckie at the start goes on about Elstone and introducing a 3rd marquee signing....that might happen but it won’t be without a fight from clubs who can’t afford one which is most SL clubs. Also the league structure and rules change every few years so god knows what we’ll have in 10 years time, how long will Elstone even be around?

....and I still don't think I'm cocksure.
We have to go way back to the early 70s of Claire Owen to see near agressive building like we have now.

Refreshing this topic to arouse out noisy neighbours.

Clarrie Owen it was.

Thank you pal.

Pal? you must be joking.

Offering an olive branch.

Or back to the early TS years when we signed Myler, Solomona, Hodgson, Joel Monaghan, Ratchford and Waterhouse.

Before that, in the late Cullen years we signed Morley, Michael Monaghan, King, Hicks and Louie Anderson plus Carvell and Higham under Lowes.

I would argue your example is one steady build over a decade.

Not really - Myler and Solomona joined in 2010, Hodgson and Joel Monaghan in 2011 and Ratchford and Waterhouse in 2012.

And in Cullen's era, Morley arrived 2007, Hicks, King and Michael Monaghan in 2008, and Carvell and Higham in 2009.


Those are three year periods similar to 2018 to 2020, when we have signed Charnley, Austin, Burrell and Widdop.