I've got sympathy for your situation, however if the league hasn't changed the dates (which it must do for next year) then your club has a responsibility to ensure that it can fulfill its fixtures as requested by our governing body. The RFL needs to realise that these are modern businesses who need to be able to plan events with as much notice as possible and not two weeks. That part is a shambles but it doesn't excuse not being able to comply with instructions that were clear from the beginning of the season. This is particularly important when the club is subservient to the commercial operations of its landlord.

It's only Wigan who have the problem playing before a football match. Don't pretend that this is about the scheduling of the challenge cup, which is a totally different debate.

ATOTED Wigan requested that they were not given a fixture for next week the request was refused. Live with it, RL > Wigan.

I think the only stupid thing the RFL have done is the fixture set up and I think it's the only valid point Lenagan made in his PR.

"We also feel that the RFL scheduling of Challenge Cup rounds has been poor, with three rounds in 30 days, followed by nine weeks before the semi-finals."

If there was a month between the quarters, semis and final, there would be no problem, i dont understand why there is such a big gap, you start to lose interest in it tbh, then all of a sudden its " oh yeah, we've a semi final this weekend"

basically, as of the first week in June, the nations sporting interest will be focused on the Euro championships for June into July; then Olympic fever will basically take over the entire country for July into August.

I know that Euro 2012 and the Olympics pale into insignificance when looking at the the titanic sporting occasion of Wigan Athletic versus Wolverhampton Wanderers, which the Wigan chairman thinks the RFL should reschedule the whole RL season for; but in reality there is going to be no sporting attention on anything else for 2 months.

m.skysports.com/article/rugbyleague//7740340 Strong words from rush but has he got the players to back his words?

m.skysports.com/article/rugbyleague//7740340 Strong words from rush but has he got the players to back his words?

The RFL have to contend with much bigger events that are happening this summer: the Euros and the Olympics are massive events and it would be stupid for us to even consider competing with them.

Well, he's the coach so he has to motivate them hasn't he?

I can just see Laffranchi, wilkin and co sat there thinking, well in rushie, just fire wane, hock, Lima and co up even more.

Well if thats what theyre thinking they might as well sit It out.

Obviously it was a joke but IMO we don't want to be getting them more fired up for this because we have the softest pack in super league.

I don't think we can match fire with fire as they will just blow us away.

Well I think we'll have to.I cant see us winning It any other way.

If they play like they did against leeds and wire, we'll have it won by 20 mins.

Problem is, weve no plays like that since.

indeed, but we are capable of it, so we can do it again, but will we?

I doubt it very much. That was mainly post-sacking reaction. And besides, Wigan could prepare for us by watching our previous two matches. They did their homework and got us where we are weak: in the forward pack. They'll do the same on Saturday.

By the way, we have yet to sell our initial allocation of 3500 tickets.

I had to go up to the stadium this morning just before lunch and there wasn't a soul about buying tickets.

It's his job prepare the team with a game plan and tactics but if the players can't get themselves motivated for a challenge cup derby with the lies then they shouldn't be playing rugby.

i'm not surprised. we play them again in three weeks and alot of peope (myself included) have allocated their months spare cash for the magic weekend

Oh I'm sorry. I thought you said often enough in times gone by that it is the job of the coach to motivate the players?

I've opted the other way around. I can't afford both so I've gone for the CC match.

No not me.

Obviously a coach will get you up for games the players should want to play for him but if a player can't get up for a game as big as this then he might as well pack in.

It definately is, in my opinion. Not just with a stirring pre match/half time speech, but also with the team spirit created, seeds of desire planted and confidence instilled in a squad over time.

You'll always have some players that are more easily motivated than others, but its going to be a variable in every player that the coach has a massive influence on.

Patience is the key for this match: Wigan will look to control the floor, the ruck area and keep a condensed defensive line. As we seen on GF they will bring this sort of tactic for at least the first half, but they won't be able to stick to it for 80mins especially at home.

The problem from GF was that we lost our shape after Lomax went off which is frustrating as we had a few decent opportunities to get back into the game and we didn't take them due to a lack of composure and structure.

Strong words? Give over.