If we'd played Richards at fullback he'd probably have bombed it to one of the wings instead tbf

I can only remember the Warrington home game where he didn't get much of a run. He was regularly playing 25mins+ the rest of the season when fit. I agree with the point that Powell/Murphy should have had more of a run during the regular season, especially Powell who had the perfect opportunity when Tommy was injured.

But Powell broke his leg early in the season and wasn't match fit until late July.

I think that few are arguing that Wane should be given the sack on account of his choice of player in the Semi, that's a foolish thing to say.

What is apparent though is that he really does need to learn to adapt his coaching style and approach to games to match the rules of the competition.

Simply saying "I want to win every game" will just not do. There has to be a bit more strategic thinking involved.

I also think that no-one is arguing that we should aim to finish 5th, rather we shouldn't aim to finish 1st at any cost.

I hadn't realised that, all the more reason to give Murphy some game time against the lesser sides though, he could have come off the bench at 1 with Sam slotting in at 6, it's not like we don't know whether Sam would tear it up in the halves!

Ps I've noticed a few comments about sacking Wane creeping in. I just want to make it clear that I don't advocate sacking him unless something catastrophic happens, renewing his contract is another story. He has only had one season after all and hasn't been terrible, I'm just not confident that he is the man to guide us to trophies (MINOR premiership excluded)

I think I missed the bit where saying "I want to win every game" was reality and a bad thing? Would anyone complain if Wigan had won every game?

So what's the target? To almost finish top, but only if finishing less than top results in a CC or GF final and/or win? What happens if the CC is a loss, does a team hedge their bets and try and win the league and the GF or just forget the league in the hope that the GF will just be delivered as a result of not being top?

Better still

Wane could come out and tell us that he was not d about the result or performance at all. This would let us supporters know that he is looking to the back end of the season.

Obviously whatever Wane says to the press leading up to a game, is EXACTLY the same thing he says to the troops in the sheds. In fact he probably does not event conduct a team talk. There is no need as it is all in the Observer

This much is obvious, otherwise it would not allows us all to formulate an opinion Wane and the teams strategy throughout the season, whilst retrospectively sniping him even though we nearly contested both finals and were arguably the most entertaining consistent and efficient team in the comp.

It is so easy to read any lines spun to the press and turn them verbatim into his entire coaching ethos.

Wane has excellent in the film 'Congo'.

Is that really the best you can come up with ?

Laura Linney's hair is much longer.

If you are suggesting what Wane says to the press can be disregarded because its spin I think you are well wide of the mark. He isn't a professional liar cleverly manipulating the press and fans by telling them what they want to hear.

I have seen this kind of argument put forward before. Whenever anyone quotes a club official such as IL or the coach to back up a point I have seen comments suggesting these quotes are not to be believed.

I think its the other way around. They are basically honest and straightforward people who say what they mean. To suggest what they say is for the most part spin implies they are just a bunch of conniving liars who treat the press and fans with contempt. I really do not think that is true.

Of course it isn't true. Tbh I didn't reply as the post didn't deserve it.

One of the things that makes Wane likeable imo is his honesty.

Quality post.

Oh, and once more for the record:

[size=200NEITHER TEAM SELECTION NOR JACK MURPHY COST US THE SEMI FINAL AGAINST LEEDS[/size

Oh, and once more for the record:

[size=200:1r1lsu92NEITHER TEAM SELECTION NOR JACK MURPHY COST US THE SEMI FINAL AGAINST LEEDS[/size

Your statement should have the prefix of “I think” as it is an opinion, yours, and can’t be proved as fact. The only fact is we’ll never know!

Stop shouting I've got a headache

Never can as innocent a comment as "I want to win every game" have undergone as much pointless analysis.

Seriously, would anyone expect a professional sports coach to say anything else?

More to the point, do people really think that's the whole story?

Do Wigan have no other plans, no other strategies other than going all-out to win every match - simply because Shaun Wane didn't elaborate on them in a newspaper interview, which has probably been trimmed, edited for length etc by the subs?

Some people should just get real.

agree. lack of ball control and kicking game did. as did sinfield who turned in one of the best 40 mins ive seen in a long time.

Correct. Kn0bbing about with fancy plays when leading by a point with 3 mins to go being the final straw.

If it was just that comment there wouldn't be an issue.

It's the actions that suggested the comment was to be taken literally that are the issue.

So which of last season's matches do you think he should have tactically lost?

The Saints game at the end of the regular season, and the first play off against Les Catalans wouldn't have been bad games to lose. Having said that I think the point is that he should have rotated the squad and not pushed the lads as hard as he did, which may have resulted in a couple more losses, rather than him tactically losing specific games.

We did lose that Saints game - so clearly that didn't help us much. And it's difficult to see how losing to the Cats first round would have helped us, given that it was an easy romp which wasn't likely to tire anyone.

But that aside, I'm actually astounded to learn that anyone thinks a professional sports team should go out INTENDING to under-perform to such an extent that there is a good chance they'll lose, and can only shudder to imagine the calumny that certain posters on here would heap on Shaun Wane's head if he was ever foolish enough to admit that this had been his plan.

As a fan and former player of many years, I have never known a situation where losing matches, or dicing with defeat by turning out a non-competitive team, helped you. You can be more knackered after a heavy beating than you can after an easy win. Defeat is bad for morale as well, and can become a habit.

Great coaches like Graham Lowe and John Monie never believed in wrapping their best players in cotton wool to preserve them for big matches. That Wigan side would compete just as hard the week before Wembley as it did at the start of the season.

But that is a completely different point. Monie and Lowe did not have to contend with the current playoff system. They also didn't have the hamstring that is the Communist Cap, meaning that your best players may well need to be rotated as the "cover" is of a much lower quality.

It's not about deliberately setting out to "under perform" or "lose" games [iper se[/i, it's about realising that the ABSOLUTE AIM in the season is to get the team firing on all cylinders come September. Now of course that means finishing in the top "x" but given the state of SL that should be a given for the top 4 teams.

Okay ... so we're not going to deliberately under-perform mid-season, we're not going to deliberately lose matches mid-season, we're just going to sit our best players on the bench mid-season.

And that doesn't amount to much the same thing?

Well we have tried doing it by 'winning all the matches'.................and that doesn't work.

Wane probably only knows the win every game mentality, and that is, or was, usually fine.

So what is the endgame now ?

The answer nowadays is to win at OT.

So therefore to plan that, is to do what Leeds have been doing ?

Lose 50% of all the seasons games like Leeds have done ?

Shocking.