According to some of the scouse knuckle draggers on the Saints forum.

Pure bred jealousy for me, Wigan probably have the best talent in the game at fullback, the best LF in SL and possibly the two best wingers in SL. Blake Green and Matty Smith were written off by a lot of fans including Wigan fans before they had even pulled on a shirt simply because they were filling the boots of Leuluai and Finch. Add to that Lee Mossop who is NRL bound, the shrewd signings of Flower and Dudson repaying faith in Thorniley, Farrell and Hansen a massively deadly duo on their day the list goes on. A very balanced structure which deployed it's skill at the right time.

Credit to IL for these type of signings and youth development something other clubs especially Saints could learn from.

When they did the double in 2006, they played a lowly placed Huddersfield in the CC final and Hull in the GF. Wigan were crap back then also Leeds and Warrington didn't threaten. So what's their excuse?

All the green eyed monsters need to crawl back under the bridge or at least get back in the dole queue.

They also broke the salary cap......

its just another way to try and make them selves feel better about being crap for over 6 years.

Just let them keep believing that as they only finished one place below us in the league they are not too far off being double winners themselves. Deluded.

In a way, I can see their point, in that it's not exactly a star-studded lineup compared to our double winning sides of the 90's - I think if you select a side combined from any of the '90's double-winning squads and the current one, most players would come from the '90's one.

But, of course, the game's not played on paper!

A lot of them are probably still sulking over the fact that in 2006 us being poor and the three way relegation scrap that ended with the relegation decider between Wakey and Cas got all of the media attention rather than them chasing the double.

Worst challenge cup final ever

Worst team on paper to ever win the double

Worst "off season" ever for anybody who doesn't like Wigan



Whatever next? Our trophy cabinet has too much clutter?

We'll polish our two trophies whilst they polish their cladding.

Read it and weep.

Weren't they in the same competitions though? If we are so bad, why didn't they win them? Or anybody else? Seems strange to me that we won both competitions whilst seemingly, if you believe what's been said, we're no better than London or Salford. Bizarre.

This is just Saints fans still struggling to come to terms with the fact that Wigan are top dogs again in RL, and unfortunately for Saints they are some way behind us.

Of course, for those of us old enough to remember RL before the millenium, this is just the resumption of normal service.



There may well be something in the argument that standards in SL are slipping, and I'm no fan at all of the structures of SL which are undermining the game's long term future. If we are not careful Wigan could end up being a big fish in a small pond/the best of a bad bunch.

The problem for the pro-cap fanatics (most of whom are/were Saints fans) is that they have now got what they wished for. Given its unrivalled status as a hotbed of rugby Wigan was always going to do very well in the long term under a Salary Cap, once our management finally got their heads around the issue of backing our youth. With IL and SW in charge our plastic scouse pals from the wrong side of the hill (and the rest of SL) have got a lot to be worried about.

Said this at the time, and the legion of Saints trolls who used to spend most of their time on here back then (that would be the same legion notable by its absence since they stopped winning stuff) was absolutely spitting chips.

We got more attention at the bottom of the table than they did at the top.

There was no question the comment had touched a very, very raw nerve.

Worst team on paper ever to win the double? That's the worst attempt at an insult I've ever heard. It doesn't make sense

The way I read it, that's not the intended comparison - they're saying this team (on paper) is worse than the other sides that have ever done the double in the past - and as a "player for player" matchup, they might have a case. On paper.

Still, nice to see them clutching at whatever fragile straws they can!

Forever in our shadow..............enough said.

To be honest they might have a point. Look at the teams below. There are more from the 2003 / 2006 teams I would have in the side above the current players;

Paul Wellens Sam Tomkins
Ade Gardner Josh Charnley
Jamie Lyon Darrell Goulding
Willie Talau Iain Thornley
Francis Meli Pat Richards
Leon Pryce Blake Green
Sean Long Matty Smith
Paul Anderson Gil Dudson
Keiron Cunningham Micky McIlorum
Jason Cayless Lee Mossop
Lee Gilmour Harrison Hansen
Jon Wilkin Liam Farrell
Jason Hooper Sean O'Loughlin

James Roby Jack Hughes
James Graham Ben Flower
Mike Bennett Scott Taylor
Maurie Fa'asavalu Dom Cosby
10 7


Stuart Reardon Sam Tomkins
Tevita Vaikona Josh Charnley
Michael Withers Darrell Goulding
Shontayne Hape Iain Thornley
Lesley Vainakolo Pat Richards
Karl Pratt Blake Green
Paul Deacon Matty Smith
Joe Vangana Gil Dudson
James Lowes Micky McIlorum
Stuart Fielden Lee Mossop
Daniel Gartner Harrison Hansen
Jamie Peacock Liam Farrell
Mike Forshaw Sean O'Loughlin

Leon Pryce Jack Hughes
Robbie Paul Ben Flower
Lee Radford Scott Taylor
Paul Anderson Dom Cosby
9 8

The benches were far stronger back then too.

Let others look back, we are looking forward....

And their double winning side wasn't a patch on our all conquering sides of the 80's/90's but as they used to tell us 'why live in the past'.

We are the best side 'now' and that's all that matters!

Can we be the worst team in the history of sport to win the CC/GF/LLS in any combination

For what it's worth I think the Smith/Green combination is a great balance.
Hopefully the current crop of young fans will be talking about watching the great Smith/Green partnership, how a young Micky Mac would have graced any side. How the young wigan side that were written off at the start of the season beat Hull at wembley in atrocious weather. Ground down and negated the leagues most consist side in Huddersfield, we're streetwise and clever enough to win against the then most successfully team in SL history and went on to beat arguably the most consistent team of that era in Warrington in the GF going 14 points down then scoring 28 unanswered points.
I'm happy with that

Get it etched on a cup and shove it in the trophy cabinet...... If you can find room!!

Bit harsh on Jimmy Lowes, he was class!

Living in the past is fun though... especially when you're a supporter of the current champs AND the most successful British club in history!

Here's one of my favourite Wigan sides (including the pack that beat Australia in the Melbourne test and the best centre/wing partnership I've ever seen):

Hampson
Botica
Bell
Miles
Offiah
Botica
Edwards
Skerrett
Dermott
Platt
Betts
McGinty
Clarke

Just some potential subs

Myers
Panapa
Cowie
Lucas
Lydon
Forshaw

Good times!

Yeah but Offiah is no Ade Gardner and Mike Bennett would have walked a bench spot at least!

When Wigan won all those trophies in the 80s and 90s you still get fans from other clubs (not me though) that want to cheapen that achievement by saying Wigan just spent the most money, bought up all the big name players, the rest of the league was part time and so on. The implication is that Wigan had some sort of unfair advantage and it wasn't a fair playing field.

Nobody can say that this time though.

3 big problems for stains though:

1. We don't play on paper,
2. Stains, as a good team, have the record of losing 5 Grand Finals on the trot - they can't even get there nowadays to lose!
3. They have 'Disco Dave' in charge now, so only have a bad dress sense to look forward to.

Stains - the club where every cup has a saucer!

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