Oh come on Ruddy if we were bottom of the league making those mistakes it’d be the coaches fault. How’s it any different because we’re towards the top? If anything that makes it more inexcusable. Lam is ultimately at fault for our errors. Attitude is down to the coach, if it’s not right; out they go no matter who they are. The coach is supposed to drive forward standards and from where I can see, and many others, he’s lacking woefully in that area. It’s the same old talk from him, both after a scrappy win and a disgraceful loss. There doesn’t tend to be anything in between other than the odd excellent game (Huddersfield away for example). It’s always “we’ll learn”, “we’re getting better”, “we trained well” or “we had a poor attitude”. How many times is he going to roll out those excuses and be let off the hook? When are we actually going to improve to a standard where we’re producing week in week out consistently?

I suspect never. Lam isn’t a good enough as a Head Coach. He may make a brilliant assistant but a head coach he is not. The sooner IL realised that the better. He should be sounding out a new Head Coach in 2021 now IMO.

I can see your point but I would rather have kept Sarginson than Bibby AND Hankinson.

Lam played a forwards game and it back fired and not for the first time, we didn’t use our backs correctly, I had almost forgotten Manfredi was playing.

Last night it had everything to do with tactics and the signs have been evident throughout last season and this.

How Burgess keeps getting selected is beyond me.

It's haunted us since Madge left & funnily enough it was him and his methods who instilled it in us.

A coach doesn't miss tackles, but he definitely sets the standards & deals with it when those standards aren't met.

I think last night showed how paper-thin our cover at centre actually is.

Gildart will presumably return at some point (though how long we'll then have him for before he scoots off for his much anticipated adventure in Australia is anyone's guess, and whether he even bothers trying is also a question), but then Hardaker tweaks a hamstring or whatever, and suddenly we're down to two men who offer absolutely nothing.

Let's be honest, while Bibby and Hankinson may work hard, there is no attack threat from either of them. They are less than average in that department, and having them on the field both at the same time is a recipe for disaster.

Watson game plan was to keep Hastings and French out of the game and it worked, shroud coaching.

I’d be ok with Sarginson as cover for centre and FB but for me he is too limited as a first choice centre
Hankinson has a decent boot but offers very little else.
Bibby seems underpowered for a centre and so far a bit disappointing

A pity that Worthington didn’t kick on

And so it begins...

Good player decides that he wants to try his hand in the best league in the world and the Wigan fans then start to turn on him.

Gildart has been excellent for us and IF he decides to move on then it will be a well deserved shot at the top. Also notice the IF - nothing has been said or decided and I for one won't be bagging him either way.

He might as well just leave now tho as whatever he does from now on won't be good enough.

+1

Yes, agree about Gildart, he always gives 100% and I'm looking forward to getting him back. If we still have a comp by then, which looks doubtful.

You can have the best tactics in the world but if you have not got the right balance in the squad as a result of the club not getting better players from outside to complement the best young players from the Academy, you end up in situation like Leeds have been in in recent seasons but appears to now have been corrected with better signings.

A few weeks ago, I questioned the signings of Bibby and especially forwards like Burgess and Clarke, but was shouted down by others when I said they were poor signings and not up to Wigan Standard.

Add to them, Navarrete, Nuuaussala, Pettybourne,Tautai in the last few seasons and you have got to questioned who makes the decisions on who we sign from outside, especially when the players I have mentioned have been signed under two different Head Coaches.

The only time that a Coach seemed to have his own way on signings was when Maguire was the Coach and the reason for that may have been a condition of his contract to come to Wigan. From the time he left and with the odd exception or so, the quality of players signed from outside the club, especially forwards has gone downhill.

Unless Wigan sign some better and more top class forwards, especially from down under, the club will continue to have inconsistent performances and poor results like Friday.

Lam may go, but will it be any different for any new Head Coach at Wigan when we do not have the right balance of experience and youth in the present squad.

Especially, when they inherit what is already at the club and may not have any say on who the club sign?

You do raise a good point Ruddy. IIRC Wane didn’t want Hardaker and a few weeks later Wane was resigning at seasons end, perhaps reading too much into that but it certainly fits into your theories.

At the minute, though I don’t have any complaints about any of our youngsters, I think we risk being too youthful in the pack and that’s showing in games where we’re being beaten by more experienced packs. In the long run it might just benefit us but equally it could go the other way.

Can't say I was arguing with Wane over a lack of enthusiasm for Hardaker, but fortunately he has been very good so far and a credit to the team. We certainly haven't been served well in recent years by forwards especially from the NRL, though.