Congratulations Adrian Lam.

Well deserved. A team that is improving in every department under his leadership in my opinion. We probably and rightfully go into the Final as underdogs but the way he has us playing who knows?

Had to deal with the Edwards situation in season 1 and Covid in year too still players are improving and our style of play is more fan friendly which was a big part of his initial remit.

I hope he is rewarded with a 2 year deal in the coming weeks as I think he is building a great squad.

Huge congratulations from me. Makes it more special as it was voted for by his peers. He’s had to deal with a lot of adversity after the Edwards fiasco, a shocking injury toll last year and along with everyone else a global pandemic.

Well done Lammy, you have done both the club and town proud!

Great player for us and now proving that is also a good coach in a difficult and exceptional season.

Now that new contract signed as the majority of supporters are behind you.

Well done, Lam. I can see improvement in a number of players, especially Powell who has been a revelation!
I like the fact that Wigan is the team that makes most passes. I like to be entertained.

I actually said on here right at the beginning of his tenure that I thought he was the right man for the job but we had such a distinctly average (being kind) season last year that I lost that conviction.

I think this year has been excellent. CC semi aside I think we've performed really well in trying circumstances building and improving as the season got to the business end. We're one game away from being champions and, whatever happens Friday, I think he's shown enough to suggest we'll be a real force next year.

Well done coach.

No real complaints on this award. I think a case can be made for Watson and Agar also.

Does it go off just Super League or the coaches' performance as a whole? Reason I ask is if you take CC into account I'd go for Watson for taking Salford to another final despite losing important parts of his previous over-performing squad, but obviously 9th out of 11 in SL is nothing to shout about.

After Watson I'd go Agar - Leeds had a couple of years outside the play offs following losing all their top players at once, he has now delivered on the rebuilding job by winning the challenge cup and taking them back into the play offs. All without many stars IMO.

Lam - 3rd for me. Not got the same adversity as the two above as he has more stars to work with and a brilliant academy. Poor way to exit the CC but consistent in the league (albeit over a shortened season). A lot hinges on Friday to be honest. If we come away from this season with no silverware then it's a big opportunity missed IMO. We need to make the remaining years when we have French, Gildart, Hastings and Farrell count.

I wondered that with the cup. In superleague terms only it has to be Lam for me but if it took the cup in to the thinking, then Watson or Agar could’ve got it.

Should’ve been Watson by a mile.

Well clearly not on league form, in fact he wouldn’t be in the top 5 or 6.

So do you know if the cup counts? If not then you know as much as we do and let’s presume the cup doesn’t count and that means you’re wrong. If it does then I agree with you (bar maybe the ‘by a mile’ comment),

Carney said it is voted for by SL coaches.

Everything should be counted as it's down to votes by other SL coaches (according to Carney)
My opinion is based on Watson's ability to get the best out of his team of 'average' players, not a coach like Lam who has infinitely more resources.

Everything should be but is it? Without knowing that neither of us know which is correct. Let’s face it there is absolutely no way somebody is getting coach of the year for guiding a side to 5 wins from 18 games and a 9th place finish. I think his lack of resources in terms of playing staff at Salford has been over egged somewhat as well. Lads like Sarginson, Watkins, Lolohea, Lussick, Inu, Mossop, Brown etc are no mugs and some will be on very reasonable money. Salford like to throw this ‘we do it on a shoestring’ line out and as an all round package (training facilities, having an academy, squad depth etc) maybe they do but that first team squad has enough money spent on it to expect more than 5 wins in 18 games IMO. There are some really good players going in to Salford next year as well, so I doubt I’ll be starting a whip round anytime soon.

If the cup is counted then my choice for coach of the year would be-

1-Agar
2-Watson
3-Lam

If not

1-Lam


Watson 7th or 8th.

I still struggle with the Watson love in. He is undoubtedly doing a good job but some looking at the evidence of this year he shouldn’t be near it even if you include the Cup.

In 2020 he took Salford from Grand Finalists to strugglers in the League.

Yes he got to the final of the cup basically winning 2 games to get there.

They turned over a Catalans side who were on a real dip in form at the time and a Wire side who on the day were as bad as we were in the semi.

I can see a good shout for Agar as they have improved massively since he came in but still at times really struggled in SL.

I know we've been through this before, but I don't understand the slight negativity towards him.

He's obviously not coming to Wigan anymore, but I never understood the reluctance to give him a shot when most people would take an NRL assistant with no coaching experience.

Watson - I just think it's really impressive taking that side to two finals in a row with such a lack of resources. Massive gulf in quality on paper between that Salford side and the Wire and Catalans sides they turned over. Only two big games granted but that's how it is this season and our system is all about winning the big knockout games anyway.

I tend to think what should you expect v what was achieved when looking at a coach

Wigan I expected to go as far as they faced Saints. Therefore under achieved in the CC, and at least achieved as expected in the SL. Beating Saints in the GF would be overachieving in SL IMO but we haven't done that yet.

Leeds finished about where they would have expected. I don't think they would expect a trophy, so overacheived.

Salford with all the players they lost and financial issues I had down as in a relegation battle. Making a final is well over achieving this year IMO. Of course don't know whether they would have been dragged into the relegation battle if Toronto had stayed in and a full season been played.

I’m reserving judgement on Watson and waiting to see what he does with Hudds. Rumours are Ken Davies is willing to invest further in the team, he has a decent starting squad and a youth system to develop.

There’s no doubt he did very well with Salford last year, as previously mentioned they won 2 games to make the CC final. Time will tell, I think it is a good move and a step up for him. Next up will either be Wigan/St Helens/ Warrington/Leeds or a championship club.

It may be slightly controversial but I don’t see how Lam wins it at all. Other than 6wks at the end we’ve been average to alright at best. I’m glad he’s won it, don’t get me wrong, but struggling to understand how.

I wouldn’t have chosen Watson either, he’s done well with what he has but it’s not been a particularly grand season in the SL for Salford.

To be totally honest I’m not 100% sure who does deserve it. No team or coach has been particularly outstanding so on that basis I’d lean slightly towards Agar who seems to have turned Leeds around and building a stable base for a re emergence.

Not sure about this. Leeds ended up mid-table and won the Challenge Cup after winning only three games.

Let's not forget that Wigan didn't play any games at the DW post lock down 1. I've no arguments about the decision, yes we've had a strong end to the season but thats what SW aimed for every year,last season we ran out of steam.

Are you ignoring the fact that we went into lockdown in 1st place? That means over the whole course of the season, from start to finish, he's been the best coach and therefore rightly coach of the year.

I know what you're saying but finishing top doesn't necessarily make you the best coach. If he had been in charge at Hull KR do you think they would have finished top?

That could be said of any coach. Would any coach have finished top coaching HKR? Would he have improved them? Well, he's improved us over the course of the season so it would be a reasonable assumption to say he would although, clearly, there's no way to say definitively.

Coaches are judged alongside the teams they're coaching. There's no other way to do it. In the same way as Woolf is generally thought to have taken Saints backwards this year, regardless of any possible GF win, Lam is thought to have taken us forward from 4th placed also-rans to finishing top and in the Grand Final.

The finishing top pre lockdown was in direct response to 100% Warrior only giving credit for the last 6 weeks. That wasn't the case. No coach performed better either pre or post lockdown.

I thought we finished 2nd in the table? We also lost in the elimination playoff, which puts us 3rd.

Technically we were the champs when Lam took over too.

No.

We were distinctly average then. Hence why I said “6wks at the end”. Just because we were top then doesn’t mean we were good. We weren’t. We were all over the place during games, see sawing between playing well and poorly over 80mins. It was discussed in depth on here after most games with the general feeling of “we were alright and did just enough. Something to build on”.

My thoughts exactly, but we did the same thing under Wane.

Performances would go from good to bad to awful (see Widnes in 2016) but then we flicked a switch and usually came good at the end.

Usually I would say that us finishing top or top two is the least we expect and achieving that isnt necessarily a success compared to Salford making a final or this Leeds team winning a comp for example, but given the hurdles this season of being on the road, midweek fixtures, losing players, fixtures changing at short notice etc etc to finish top should be applauded.

Fans will say that this year carries an asterisk, but you can also argue that this season has been the toughest to win given the issues above.