Surely Hastings and Smith have played together plenty of times before?

Yep, this left sided/right sided thing isn't as big of deal as people are making out. Both halfbacks used to play on both sides of the pitch back in the day.

times have changed from grass roots up

Yep, but I don't believe skills hsve regressed to the point that halves can't play on both sides anymore. They're having to pass, tackle and step just like they had to years ago.

skills have massively declined for me, kids cant have proper positions until they are 12 as thats when the teams go to 13 and have the full rules to play with (im sure weve had this conversation before

), I mean some kids will excel anyway no matte what happened but in general the standard is no where near what it was (my view anyway)

Late in the day, but I can't help think that clubs are missing a trick when it comes to not showing games on the out league app.

I can't get over to the game tonight, but I'd be happy to pay £5/£10 to watch it on the Our League app - something that I've really enjoyed over the last few months.

Am I right in saying that Sky haven't picked up a game for tonight?

yep, its crazy considering the game is being filmed and streamed that its not on offer

Drops Hanley who had a stormer last week in favour of Hastings who’s best position is in the halves in favour of playing Tommy and Smith together - a combination which doesn’t work.

Clueless.

You've just said what I was going to say. Why have your best half back paying at full back? Then drop the full back who's done pretty well considering......lam isn't fit for purpose. I just really think he has no idea. Is it any wonder we're struggling in attack and have no direction? Words fail me.

Honestly I don’t know what to say anymore. Broken record. The sooner he is gone the better.

Clubb starts again too WTF

I saw that and decided my temper wasn’t worth losing. The Hundred for me tonight

Rather watch BFUT

5,500 attendance?

Appalling for a club like Wigan, but what else can you expect when many supporters see a squad which is not up to the standard they expect to see at the club and continual rule changes which in many ways has made the game have less variety in play, especially the dropping of scrums which is part and parcel of Rugby.

And the getting rid of the clubs traditional badge and non cherry and white shirts has not helped the situation in the eye of many supporters!

Pretty sure all of that has very little to do with the low crowd - Covid is no doubt the main reason. High case rates, lack of confidence, changed habits and an ageing fan base. Those who declined season tickets this year due to the uncertainty likely won't buy match tickets.

IF the country has a better grip on Covid in the off season we will have to hope that many will be willing to come back. My guess is we'll end up with something like 25-30% less than our usual average.

I’ll take your first paragraph. In all honesty I agree fully.

But the badge? Really? If fans are staying away for the badge then they aren’t fans. What a ridiculous excuse.

Nowt to do with the badge.

A large % of our supporters are aged over 60 years old. It's this section of support that will be most nervous about milling around the concourses of a stadium. Covid cases are getting higher by the week and it must feel risky for then despite Boris feeding us with his 'Freedom Day'.

Also traditionally our attendances took a dip during kids school holidays. Granted not many going abroad these days but most will be having UK trips/campsites.

Things won't improve till next season (I hope assuming things improve) when the club advertise season tickets.

We have bigger issues though and that's bringing in younger support through. But that's always been the case.

Pre-covid, we had over a decade where the attendance for a regular season league fixture never dipped below 10K.

Now, its highly likely the attendances will only top 10K when Saints & Wire come to town.

I fear that we have now lost a generation of supporters, and not all of them have been lost due to Covid - many will have decided that watching a Wigan side which is, at best, only competitive with the likes of Wakefield & Huddersfield, whilst getting drubbed by Saints & Wire is not the best way to spend £30.

It’s a combination of a few things but it’s a huge worry. Covid is the main issue but not just from the point of people being nervous to come back, it’s also on the fact there was no certainty around selling season tickets. It’s tough for people to commit when you don’t know how many games you’re likely to be allowed to go to and people will only give up their money to the club in certain circumstances where you don’t see it coming. I also think people will have got out of the habit of going and that will take time to turn round. We then come to the real elephant in the room-the rugby is dire and has been in all the time Lam has been here but it’s gone to a whole new level this season. Even last night we played a bit better but it was a one man show really and without that individual brilliance from Hastings, I’m not sure where the points come from. We look devoid of ideas and totally at a loss of how we can break teams down.

The club really need to out in some hard yards to get people back. If we look at this season, we have 6 home fixtures left. Why haven’t we pushed half season tickets? Why not offer the 6 games for £100? I’d be in for that after not getting a season ticket this season. Further down the line they really need to try and create a buzz going in to 2022. I’m not holding my breath though as it feels a bit like Lenagan has given up trying to turn it around.

I said it yesterday, but why aren't the club trying to find a way to showcase games on Wigan TV? It p!sses me off that, if I wanted to, I can watch a stream of Latics playing in the 3rd Division against another generic footy club, but I can't do that for us.

Everyone points to us having an aging fan base and one that's going to be more Covid cautious than anything. Yes, it might have an impact on ticket sales, but I'm not sure how much? Those that have bought season tickets, will be accounted for and I'm sure there's more chance of getting casual or lapsed fans to pay £10 for a stream than, banking on them turning up. You could give it a primetime NFL feel, get cameras in the dressing rooms, interview with Lam at HT and a digital programme or golden gamble etc.

I get it's probably down to Sky, but there has to be new ways of thinking in what is a new world.

Sounds like Leeds had around 10-11k on last night (a guess from one of their fans, I can’t find anything official) which is probably a drop of 2-3k on a normal attendance against Salford. We were down about 5k on what you’d have expected for a game against Wakey pre Covid. That extra 2-3k we’ve lost is a sign of what is being served up on the field.

Apart from Hastings and a nice finish from Bibby the overall quality of the game was very poor.
I’m not sure how things are going to improve in the short term with a limited coach and bad luck on the injury front.

As worrying a time that I can recall since the late 70’s to early 80’s.
It took Uncle Mo and Co to drag us out of those depths but I’m uncertain if IL has the energy or resources to turn it around

The only reason I'm not going to games now we are able is, because of the cr*p standard of rugby where serving up, and I'd imagine there's many more with the same mindset

I don't know exactly what you mean by 'showcase', but I thought the club were unable to do more because of Sky. Is this not the case?

Are other SL clubs doing more in this regard for their fans than Wigan are?