Always frustrated the hell out of me, this attitude which seems to imply there's some kind of virtue in being a less well-off club. There's no such thing in the world of professional sport, and a broad failure to grasp that has played its part in holding the British game back for so long.

Poverty row clubs don't deserve any more special consideration than anyone else. If they can't compete because a rival has better facilities or a more expensive playing roster, that's their problem. Don't come shouting the odds and shouldering your way in among the big boys and then complain because they've all got better gear than you. All that means is you shouldn't be there. And that is especially the case in the age of the Salary Cap, which was a blatant attempt to defy natural selection and contrive a level playing field - though even that, it seems, isn't good enough for some people.

Think a bit less of Lammy after hearing pre-match excuses like these.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/10/ ... emi-final/ I'd imagine Miski for Eckersley will be the only change assuming that knee niggle is ok

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/10/ ... emi-final/ I'd imagine Miski for Eckersley will be the only change assuming that knee niggle is ok

Blimey! Stop being so tetchy.

When do the club release the details for the GF, don't they usually have an announcement to say if we win on Saturday then tickets go on sale on this date etc. etc.

Off the top of my head it feels like it's a day or two before the semi, so it could be anytime. We go to the Final every year anyway and have bought from the RFL again to save the hassle. Wigan or Leigh have the Stretford end. If Leigh win on Saturday, I'm off down to Leigh market for a Leopard print tank top ready for the final! It should be a cracking final this year, regardless of which two sides make it.

However many tickets are "sold", I'll bet there're well under 15k people actually in the stadium.

Lam has always been an excuse man, 2019 he kept blaming the departures of Tomkins, Bateman and Sutton even though we’d signed a few players. Always blaming injuries and the ref.

He even mentioned this week, how they “controversially” lost to us in the last game of last season (because of an disallowed try 30 minutes before the end of the game)

how come?

There are no season ticket holders included in this game so any tickets sold are actual tickets, unless you are maybe referring to freebies that may not turn up but not sure if they can do that for the play off games

I agree with all of the above but have more of a mixed view on Lam's time as Wigan coach.

Pros

- Was hired to a tricky position as a temporary coach and dealt with that very professionally
- Generally maintained the defensive grit we had under Shaun Wane
- Recruited French and Field (and had very bad luck in 2021 when they both got injured)
- Won a League Leaders and can feel very unlucky not to win that Grand Final

Cons

- The 2nd half of 2020 aside - we never developed a cohesive attack under Lam
- Looked a little lost and confused at times - I remember several times when he publicly stated he couldn't understand what had gone wrong as we'd trained well etc.
- I think we saw a fragile ego emerge in 2021 when he started making bizarre, defensive statements - the biggest one being when he insisted we had the best attacking shape in the competition despite us being nilled three times in the space of a few weeks. I think the ego still rears its head now and again at Leigh.
- Generally team morale and togetherness had eroded in 2021 - e.g. player fallouts and a general lack of standards/accountability as Kris Rads and Shaun Wane alluded to in a post season interview

Great player and I'm pleased he's doing so well at Leigh but he left Wigan at the right time (particularly given who replaced him!)

We are literally a day or two before the semi final, I just hope isn't not going to be one of those situations where they go straight on release after the game has finished, so those at the game on Saturday will not really know about it until later on, but thanks for the info NK, it should be a good and hopefully well attended final this year.

Yeah that's what I mean, it's usually a day or two before the semi, so it should be due. Hopefully the ticket site can cope if we do win on Saturday. The RFL has said it's pretty much guaranteed to be the biggest final crowd in 7 or 8 years. All the clubs left will take a good support.

Yes, fair enough. A perennial complaint, tacked onto the wrong game, arguably.

19k now, great effort from both sets of fans, place should be bouncing tomorrow and thankfully forecast dry all day

Leigh love to hate us and we love to act as though they're irrelevant sometimes but it's been a breath of fresh air having them back in Superleague and doing well. Give me tomorrow and the home and away games we've had against them any day over a trip to Huddersfield, Wakey etc.

Please Wigan though, don't lose this one

I live in Atherton and have family and friends from Leigh.

I feel your pain
The WhatsApps this week between Family Members has been very interesting
in fact your post highlighting Lams press conference kicked off a belter of a discussion

Looks like the crowd is going to sail past 20k - what a great effort. Not a knock but I imagine its been a few decades since Leigh played in front of a crowd this big.

Glad to be of service



It's always nice to throw a grenade in when it's the week of a big game. I'm a man who always thinks about law of averages and they say Leigh beat us at some point but it can't be this week, it just can't! The thought of being in a sea of Leopard print at Old Trafford next week terrifies me, especially on the back of a week of pi*s taking.

If we forget about the challenge cup win yeah.

Yeah you've got me there.

HKR probably deserve to make the final on the balance of the whole season, hopefully it is 1st vs 2nd next week. Warrington should've won that but their execution was poor and they probably feel robbed by that Burgess try. HKR are very well drilled though, they'll be very tough to beat for anyone, especially with an extra day rest.

I would be gutted if i was a Wire fan seeing that HKR try being allowed. Something has to change, especially in such big games.

Onto tomorrow, a great occasion and a real 'David and Goliath' feel to it but anything can happen in 80 mins. The last game of the League last season was a tense cracker and it really does depend on which Leigh team wants to turn up as tghey simply have not performed against the best Wigan side I have seen since the Hanley, Edwards and Offiah days. It really is a wonderful squad.

Hoping that the ref doesnt spoil it with a silly call, silly yellow or a silly red card and we see two committed team and two Towns with tonnes of history creating an atmosphere worth drooling over.

Good luck to Leigh. I want us to win but if they don't, I don't want us to lose on a squib of a performance. To be a realist and true RL fan though, its Wigan all the way, and to clean up at that !!

David vs Golieth where both teams spend the same salary cap.

Wigan are not the hated club they used to be in my eyes , they have a good side , likeable coach and the players that I’ve seen and spoke to when out and about have always been polite and had the crack , pretty much the opposite of what it was like in the late 90s. There are far more dislikable teams than Wigan .


Leigh could be back in the championship in a year or two and just happy to have some success while it lasts .

Think this next rotation of players is key for Leigh. I do think lam will identify the right people to bring in and give him his due Beaumont has put his money in. Hopefully a more youthful side is on the horizon competing year on year. I do think Leigh would benefit from a further investor coming in. Reign Derrick in and hopefully put more money into the club