“I'm not too sure where that is at the moment. I'm just trying to drive this club forward. I'm sure you'll hear something about George in the next week.”

Lam admits it's not a great thought that a Wigan junior could go to Warrington over a return, but says they'll cross that bridge when it happens.

Maybe not heard was the wrong phrase, maybe unable to see a different opinion & being too defensive, or at least that's certainly the case on here. Yesterday is a good example, i spoke about different players who chose loyalty over cash. Cam Smith retiring instead of playing on somewhere else, Bellamy reportedly sticking with the Storm instead of moving home to the broncos (for more cash too). SOL sticking with Wigan and going into the HOF etc. You listen to some posters on here and it's like that doesn't happen and we're just blinkered fans who aren't in the real world.

I agree the stadium won't happen. That's fine, I'm talking more about the simple "stadiums don't work, look at Saints" approach and an inability to be challenged when people say they do. Maybe it's me who just wants to chew the fat on it and others can't be ar$£ed.

Talking about "on the pitch", we've undoubtedly played the game better than most - especially when Wane was here. You said earlier about "short changing" the Wigan public and I wouldn't go as far as saying that's what I meant, but it is right to a certain degree.

Funnily you should mention being entertained. I've said a million times that it's dangerous ground for coaches to go into. Entertainment is subjective and like you, I prefer the hard stuff to the flashy stuff. What coaches can and should do imo is be consistent. That's what Madge did and that's what kept me coming back. No Jekyll and Hyde type stuff, just 100% every week.

A new coach is needed (even though some still think he's the dogs b's). Madge and Holbrook are the examples of not needing a squad refit if the coach is right.

Well isn't that a shock.

Its a long time ago now, and ill check with the lad who i was sat with at the time (believe it or not wigans current kit man) but it was basically a slight or a dig at Leeds and their "Thuggery".
My opinion was that they were bloody hard to beat, tough and exactly the type of pack we needed.
You have to remember we had, a bit like now, just come out of a period of dominance and culture that had lasted 10 years (ok the dorahay blip of 6months was in there) but through lowe/monie and west we had an identity.
And for all the star names we were bloody tough and hard to beat

97, some good results but some absolutely awful ones and more over we were soft, easy to play against.

Leeds on the other hand had gone from being also rans, easy beats, to a team that fought for every inch on the field, mostly legally, sometimes they had to do what they had to do. I admired them for that.

Although one or two of the old guard, cowie, o'connor, farrell were in there we weren't as tough as we used to be. That will to win that Betts/Bell/skerrett/platt etc brought to the team was eroding. Wed been dishing it out for years, we started to have to learn how to take it.

Now with virtually the same players and a couple of astute signings not on mega bucks Monie turned that around in 98. It probably forced a false dawn if I'm honest as I think the management (whelan/mo) thought we were only 1 signing or a new coach away from dominating and that attitude meant we didn't have a stable environment for the next 10 years or so.

I'm always reminded of Cunnighams response when asked about why Saints became the dominant side of the late 90s and early 00s
His reply was that Hanley taught the club and its players how to win, how to be tough when things weren't going their way and still win.

Thats what we had under Maguire and then Wane
I'm not convinced, in fact I'm sure, we don't have it now.

Interesting read, thanks for that!

What Williams should consider is that had he picked up a bad injury in Australia Wigan would probably have stood by a returning son and resigned him, when others probably wouldn’t have taken the risk . Loyalty is shown in so many different ways . Just a thought

Obviously a lot to go through in both of our responses/posts
But on the being challenged bit, and this is were forums and to an even greater extent twitter and FB don't work

I'm old school, put me in a pub with a pint and we can talk for hours, and I find that most peoples opinions aren't a million miles away from each other.

Put it into this world and most people, and its certainly true of the younger generation (and by the way the younger generation get a raw deal on a lot of things imo so I'm not picking on them or giving it a "back in my day"icon_wink.gif want to discuss things in soundbites, gifs, 3 word slogans, put downs or can't be d explaining what they fully mean.

The response to you saying GW should think about his legacy is a fair point
But the people who have the opposite view are making the same mistake

Its your opinion, its their opinion

And all that matters is GWs and his families opinion

Roby or Lockers not going to NRL isnt a right or wrong decision from our perspective, its only right our wrong from their perspective.
I had long chats with Budgies family before he want to the roosters, they both asked me why I hadn't been mithering them asking what I thought, and it was simple, it doesn't matter what I think, it only matters what he/they think and what their goals/aspirations and life choices are.

Every single person will have their own thoughts on what is important to them and their families at any point in time.

People are too quick to make judgements on things like that basednon their own perspectives.

As soon as you go into lengthy replies (which i am well know for) people get bored and don't want to know, debating through written words is difficult, hence why I'd rather go for a pint and chat.

But both sides have to remember that written responses tend to be back and white were your real feelings are more nuanced.

Would we hell. (Unless we got the same person to do the medical who did George Burgess's)

My thoughts are if the new coach ie Powell would be better to work with than Mr lam.........I honestly don't really rate either as a coach. They've both had chances, but I don't think either are that great....... They've both lost grand finals but then the following year the teams have looked lost. I include Wigan of course. I didn't care about the record of not losing. Wigan looked really really poor and then the truth came out in Catalan. I don't feel either coach could really improve on George so it's got to come down to money. Honestly if it's me I'm taking the big money from who ever is paying because I'm not going to be improved by either coach......... If it was about coaches then I would go with Lam as I feel he was a great player in the same position and I feel I would learn a lot from him........ Rugby in this country is not that entertaining anymore though and I feel rugby Union is teaching us a lesson at the moment, all learned from rugby League legends of how the game should be played. Wigan have lost all our home grown talent to Union and everybody else. Wigan is the compost of rugby greatness but why doesn't anybody want to grow here?

We have history Grimmy

Mossop
Tomkins
Burgess

2 of them weren't injured when they came back?

Oh without a shadow of a doubt, it's opinions and ultimately all that counts is what GW thinks.

Also agree that when you break down an argument, people's views are aren't too dissimilar. I always try to think that we're all fans and ultimately want the best for the club, we just disagree slightly on how to get that.

Wire saying Widdop's going nowhere, the plot thickens

This season.

Austin to Leeds was been going on in the background. Assumed it was for next year but looks like it will be this year now.

I wonder if the air raid siren might go off again at half time tonight?

Or GI to retire

Club statement confirming Williams is NOT coming back to Wigan

Wigan Warriors confirm that George Williams will not be returning to join them after agreeing to join another Betfred Super League club.
Chairman, Ian Lenagan, commented: “Wigan had a signed agreement in place for George Williams to return to Wigan once his stint in the NRL had finished. During our discussions to bring him back following his decision to leave Canberra, George made it clear personally to me and to Kris Radlinski that he had had discussions with another club and, even though he appreciated what Wigan had done for him, he preferred a new challenge and hence did not want to return to Wigan.

“Wigan could have forced the issue legally but that’s not how we operate. If a player is emotionally absent, then there is no point in him being at Wigan.

“We wish George well in his career and also in life, as he embarks on life’s greatest journey as a father.”

George Williams said: “Wigan acted professionally and honourably throughout and tried their very hardest to retain me such that finance was not an issue. I thank them for agreeing not to take legal action against me, even though their signed option allowed that course of action, in the spirit of allowing me to commence playing quickly again with a World Cup place for England in prospect.”
[uhttps://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2021/06/18/club-statement-george-williams/ [/u

Disappointing, massively disappointing but like I said earlier; we’ll move on. He’s achieved everything with Wigan. I don’t see what else he has to achieve here. For once, I can’t see how the club is at fault for him not coming back.

Our main problem is our coach. Not our half backs.

We sign contracts that aren’t worth the effort to get the paper printed.

The ‘buy back clause’?

I never understood that anyway. If a player doesn’t want to come back here, why force it? Surely if he does want to come back he’d just sign? Smacks of desperation to me and we’re right in not legally pursuing it.

So we announce we’re not signing a player for next season but we can’t announce we’ve actually signed two players for next season. (Thornley and Mason) couldn’t make it up.

That’s hardly gonna get people excited.

Looks like they only announced Williams officially leaving on there web site after the match tonight.