Come on, he’s getting one over him playing a series in England with English crowds and English conditions.

Play this series in Aus/NZ on a dry track and with Fifita and Tamalolu playing (probably spelt that wrong) and it could easily be a different story.

In a couple of years time Woolf will be an NRL Head coach, something Wane has coveted for a while so let’s not try and play Billy big bollox

I think Tonga are pretty poor. Zero sparkle irrespective of conditions. I suspect coached to within an inch of their lives.
Very little pace if any and think that they are Billy big bollox. A team of little if any heart. A motivated team goes into the lions den and attacks not whimpers. A poor team coached poorly.
We haven’t been brilliant but totally out muscled the muscle men. Not an instinctive player in squad. If they had one Woolf wouldn’t pick him.
If Woolf gets a gig I’d be surprised but maybe Dolphins are are a bit lazy in their recruitment. His time has been and gone.
Hope we shove 30:points up them on a firmer pitch at Headingly.

He's a 2nd rate Jean/LeBron/Rob and thats saying something

Im scratching my head as to why you are having a pop at the England coach (whose team, I assume, you support) and his tactics of trying to win a test series. Im guessing you would have no problem with said tactics if the coach(es) of the opposition had no connection to the glorious St Helens team???

I’m not sure he’s the most appropriate coach to get the best out of that England team. He’ll always have them playing tough but I’m not sure he has the smarts to come up with a game plan to beat Australia.

Of course I support England. I just feel he’s making it too personal with Woolf. I know they don’t get on and I know what he’s said in private about Woolf so this has probably been a powderkeg waiting to happen.

For what it’s worth I’d love to see Peet given a go with England. He’s a breath of fresh air and I think he’d get the best out of the talented players we have. I’m not sure Wane will

It feels ‘almost’ as though some Saints fans would actually prefer Kristian Woolf to win this series. The offence you guys have taken at Wane calling him out is ridiculous. He has used some usual Woolf whinging to help give his players a mentality of us against them and good on him for it. You’re English, so why it offends you so much is a mystery (well it’s not) You’re saying Wane looks an idiot, which just blows my mind. He’ll be the coach who’ll be sat with a series win and likely a whitewash victory come next week. He’s missing loads of players, has seen more players pull out mid series but he just cracks on with no excuses.

If we want to make it a Wigan and Saints thing, I would say a major difference between the clubs in recent years is one club has a ‘no excuses’ policy and one does not. I think this series has given a real insight in to where that stems from.

There you go again Billy Big Bollox

Sorry but you’ve twisted my words here. At no point have I wanted Tonga to win. I’m English and they are my country.

I’ve explained why I’ve taken exception to Wane’s comments. How am I making it Wigan v Saints when I’ve suggested Peet as a coach?

Maybe Wane and Woolf are doing a bit of WWE and trying to sell a few tickets

It’s a fair point and something we don’t do enough in Rugby League. Why not have a dig at each other?! I certainly am looking forward to a dead runner more next week than I would be usually because of all this.

Quote ="NickyKiss"It’s a fair point and something we don’t do enough in Rugby League. Why not have a dig at each other?! I certainly am looking forward to a dead runner more next week than I would be usually because of all this.'" Something Sam Tomkins mentions in this podcast near the end https://youtu.be/xt6FuKarlEc?si=NA-Z-1ulQsCnMsjW

Quote ="NickyKiss"It’s a fair point and something we don’t do enough in Rugby League. Why not have a dig at each other?! I certainly am looking forward to a dead runner more next week than I would be usually because of all this.'" Something Sam Tomkins mentions in this podcast near the end https://youtu.be/xt6FuKarlEc?si=NA-Z-1ulQsCnMsjW

You are correct on both counts but Redvee is so funny, it makes me smile. It is littered with individuals who know nothing about rugby league which makes it even funnier.

Quote ="Jukesays"Something Sam Tomkins mentions in this podcast near the end https://youtu.be/xt6FuKarlEc?si=NA-Z-1ulQsCnMsjW'" I recall watching that and he’s right. Why do we pussy foot around things? It doesn’t do us any favours. Wane clearly doesn’t think much of Woolf, so why hide it? Especially when he can build a narrative to motivate his team. Woolf has spent the last few years actively trying to pull his players out of working for Wane and England, so why would he be all matey? As I say, I’m looking forward to the 3rd test solely on the basis that this Wane/Woolf stuff is bubbling under the surface. I hope he goes in again during the week.

Quote ="Jukesays"Something Sam Tomkins mentions in this podcast near the end https://youtu.be/xt6FuKarlEc?si=NA-Z-1ulQsCnMsjW'" I recall watching that and he’s right. Why do we pussy foot around things? It doesn’t do us any favours. Wane clearly doesn’t think much of Woolf, so why hide it? Especially when he can build a narrative to motivate his team. Woolf has spent the last few years actively trying to pull his players out of working for Wane and England, so why would he be all matey? As I say, I’m looking forward to the 3rd test solely on the basis that this Wane/Woolf stuff is bubbling under the surface. I hope he goes in again during the week.

Not twisting any words, not even mentioned you when I said ‘some’ Saints fans seem to be actively backing Woolf and Tonga in this series. I just can’t understand why Wane going at Woolf is a problem for any England fan. He’s 2-0 up in the series and that’s what we all want isn’t it?

I’m sick of seeing Wane bagged (other than battering him for his treatment of Farrell yesterday, which was disgraceful) for his time with England. We absolutely made a pigs ear of the WC semi but everyone forgot how good we’d been until that point. We were absolutely outstanding until that semi and played a brand of rugby that was great to watch. He’s won his first proper series now and we’re building. The desperation I see across social media and other platforms to see Wane fall flat on his face is pretty pathetic. I saw a comment before that said ‘he’s only interested in Wigan’…wtf is all that about?! He picks a Wiganer and he’s biased, he leaves one out and he’s resting them for Wigan. He treated a Wigan legend and the countries best second rower like an absolute mug yesterday and no doubt somebody will find a narrative that it was all about doing what’s best for Wigan.

Every time England win a game against a Southern hemisphere team whether that be in the WCC, or at test level, we always make excuses for them why they lost. 'the ruck was slow', 'it was raining', 'x players were missing' etc. But the conditions are the same for both teams, and we had players missing, so if the gap was really as wide as we're constantly told it is, then surely, they'd win easily? However, to me, put Williams, Young, and Farnworth into this team on a dry track, we win by 20+ points in both games.

The narrative is that he only put his mate Faz on in the last few minutes so he wouldn't be exposed and found wanting against the big Tongan pack who would have, apparently, ripped him a new one. Oh...and to add another cap to his CV.

Redvee really is a source of joy at the moment

Moving on from Wane v Woolf..

Was talking to Jack Smith yesterday at my lads football. He was saying it was a difficult game to referee on Saturday.

I had no idea he was from Wigan, I thought he was from Yorkshire but he’s from Standish.

He was saying that if they hadn’t changed the rules with where a ref is from they would be knackered. There’s 3 SL refs now from Wigan- him and the Moore brothers.

No wonder Wigan won the comp

They’re a special breed. This line that Farrell isn’t big enough has been trotted out forever. He’s a nightmare for big forwards and I can’t recall a single game where he’s struggled against a big pack. I find it astonishing that we as a country have wasted a player as good as Faz.

Southern Hemisphere teams are so much better than us lot, what with them playing in the NRL that in reality we will never win a series against any of them,HOLD on a minute looks like we can win,now it is down to the weather,ruck speed,pitch etc etc why we win.Give me a break, in this series we are a better team and better coached.
Am sick of so called fans putting our RL down.

They've been telling us for years how our forwards aren't big enough. Now they have the smallest prop rotation in the League apparently it's not a problem any more. They're still the best 1-17 in the comp despite having no pace, misfiring halves and a prop rotation with little go forward.

They won it because they were better than anyone else.

Just goes to show that rugby league IS Wigan

I don't think he's done particularly well as England coach anyway tbf. Massively underperformed at the World Cup with some baffling selections along the way. We've seen off Tonga fairly comfortably this week, but it's a team we should be beating comfortably anyway. I get the conditions didn't help, but playing these 2 friendlies as a knockout game with boring, grind rugby and kicking penalties etc and then talking up like winning the game is some massive achievement because of what Woolf said is just embarrassing. Wane just sums up every stereotype that everybody has about RL and it's community, horrible seeing him being interviewed after a game on the BBC in front of a bigger viewing audience than usual spouting that crap

There goes another one, just writing off everyone that went before the Semi in that World Cup.

Nothing is more ‘typical RL’ than Saints fans going against their own country because a Wiganer is in charge.

I couldn't really care less where he's from or who he's managed, I just don't think much of him as a coach or a personality. I want England to win, but I can't say I've enjoyed watching either of the games so far, and probably won't bother with the 3rd as it's been nothing but dour, slow, dull rugby. That's from both teams btw, as I know Woolf isn't any better on that front. I find it pretty embarrassing that they're choosing to play safety first, grind rugby in what is a series of 3 friendlies designed to grow the international game. Winning is hardly the most important thing as the series itself means nothing. Though Wane is acting as though it IS some kind of World Cup. Suppose he's got to make himself feel better about what happened in the real one somehow. Problem is, nobody else gives a and the crowds show that too.

I don't really agree about us being great up until the semi. We were great in the first match against Samoa, that really was a great performance and occasion. After that we played absolute dross and then choked against the next semi decent team we faced when the result actually mattered. All well and good beating Samoa in game one, but couldn't do it when it mattered. I don't think you can really gage anything from us putting 90 points on a team full of postmen

I'm not entirely sure what you're arguing for though. Do you seriously think Wane is the coach that's going to win us a world cup or give us any kind of chance against the Aussies? Do you think he's the best coach we could have? To me he's very one dimensional and when his tactic of "gerrin em up for it" doesn't work, he has nothing.