Ah yes, consistency. The holy grail of all sports teams and individuals.
As others have already noted, a major factor in any team's consistency level is usually directly related to the quality of their playing squad.
In Super League, the so called "big four" (Wigan, Wire, Leeds & Saints) each have a number of players with an ability to turn close games in their team's favour when the team as a whole aren't playing well as a unit. For example: Wigan this afternoon
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It has become a truism in modern sport (certainly in Football, Rugby League & Rugby Union) that genuine quality players tend to separate the wheat from the chaff over the course of a season. The clubs with the players who have an ability to turn possible defeat into hard fought victories tend to be the clubs who are there when the trophies are being handed out.
From our perspective, this is the biggest challenge/obstacle between where we stand in 2012 and where we want to be in 2013/14/15. How do we find and attract the players of game-changing ability in key positions (particulary at half back) that will turn us into a genuine top four side with genuine realistic ambitions of lifting the big prizes.
I would think most of us agree that in order to fulfill our hopes and dreams, the club needs an injection of high class match winning ability in a number of key areas. Hopefully the arrival of Gareth Ellis is the first step in this direction, but we need others with ability to match in order to disrupt the ordered heirachy at the game's summit.
Of course these players will not completely eradicate unexpected defeats, any side can have an off day (Wigan at Widnes and Warrington at Salford being two examples this season), but a significant increase in the quality of our playing squad will go a long way towards reducing the number of erratic performances throughout a season, which in turn should then see us move up from being mid table average to becoming one of those sides who the rest fear.
It won't be easy though, the available talent pool is thin on the ground and real genuine quality is hard to come by these days.
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