Wigan peaked in May/June and were easily the best team in SL. Since then they have been less convincing. Injuries and suspensions haven't helped. None of this is due to the play off-system. Had Wigan been playing now like they did in May/June then we would be very happy tonight. However, they peaked too early. Wigan will learn from this.

Whilst it doesn't look good for Leeds to be playing poor for most of the season and then come good at the right time, you have to admit that they fully deserved to win tonight and beat a very good Warrington team.

Why not?

Leeds are very worthy champions. They played to the rules, largely ignored the regular season and peaked at the right time.

If Wane and Wigan were stupid enough not to appreciate that the regular season counts for nothing then more fool them.

In fact is so obvious that this is the case that I genuinely worry about their mental state if this is the case.

I would really love to listen to Wanes explanation of his strategy this season, as I genuinely cannot see it.

Deserved....Did it from 5th last year and people said last year it was a one off,,,this year repeated it,,beating the Minor premiers and Catalan away...Well,,,thats good enough eh?

It's bizarre that you think being average all season was part of some master plan.

Well I have heard the mantra that everyone knows the rules at the start of the season until I am sick of it. I want to watch a winning team but I also want us to win trophies. And next season I will select the games that I want to pay to see more cautiously than this season. I am not a season ticket holder but if I were I wouldn't be next season.

Is it?

What's bizzare about saving your energy/mental energy until the time when it actually matters?

What I find bizzare is wasting it when it doesn't.


Tell me genius, which do you prefer?

Well that accounts for the last few weeks, but even Warrington eased off then too so where's your edge (see the London game)? There is also no good reason to not try during the first half of the season, surely the players can recover in the second half of the season.

Lastly, at least I can spell bizarre, genius.

Apologies, but it IS Sat and I am slightly tipsy.......



I don't think for one minute that "being average" was ever part of the Leeds strategy, but I am damn sure peaking at the right time was.


I would have no issue (and indeed would love to see) Wigan win every game, IF, and only if, it meant that they could finish the season in their best form (or at least good enough to beat the next best team).

Any fool can see that SL is about a 3 or 4 game knockout competition in September and October.

I'd prefer to win the league, thanks.

Winning 50% of our games would make me cringe.

Which is what Leeds have done , no matter how you look at it they are Super League Champions , we won F*** All...the league leaders shield means absolutely nothing...however crap Leeds have been this season they have won when it matters, not us.
Please don't tell me the shield means more than the SL trophy

I know exactly where the OP is coming from with this thread (and likewise Bilko on the main site). This should have been a great season... excellent crowds, loads of home grown players in the 17 every week, tries coming from all angles, nice kit... we had all that, but I was bored to tears this year.

For me, the season peaked with the great trip to Montpellier in June, but off the back of that, I couldn't begin to feign interest in any of the games (even v Saints or Warrington), and remember driving to the CC semi v Leeds wondering why I was bothering when I could have just stayed at home and watched on TV.

I think it all stems from the fact that the intensity that surrounded the play-offs a decade ago when I started watching the game has been killed with this crazy top 8 system. Win half of your games... you make the play-offs... you have virtually the same chance as anyone else of winning the GF as long as you have the big game talent.

The Challenge Cup Final seems to be slipping further and further from the general public's consciousness every year. As a result, the games leading up to it seem to have little point, until the actual enjoyment of being there for the two respective clubs involved.

To cap it off, we have a truly pathetic dribble of minor internationals at crap grounds coming up (Lens excepted for the France v Wales game, and maybe not Salford if only it was credibly big enough to contest a supposed 'international final') - no-one seems to know they're taking place because the plans have been kept secret until the 11th hour and we know that the only competitive game will be the only one England aren't in. At least if we had another Four Nations - a nice warm up to the World Cup - I'd be genuinely keen to see those, as something inside of me always ludicrously assumes it's finally our year to beat the Aussies.

I've had a season ticket for virtually every season over the past decade and renew it without thinking, but since the mid point of the season - watching us walk to easy wins against unmemorable opposition - I've been thinking that someone will have to give me a good reason to renew, because at the moment I really can't be bothered and would rather pick and choose random games involving clubs my mates support for a change of scenery, rather than repeat the boredom of this year.

Personally I think Leeds can do that because they have plenty of experienced players who know how to win in the big games, not because they had some master plan to underperformance for most of the season. Wigan don't have that wealth of experience at the moment. And probably won't have for a few years, but we can play some entertaining stuff and defend well.

Well thats good then, sod the trophies , lets defend

I am also disillusioned though. Something is wrong with the system when players put their bodies on the line for 27 games which mean next to nothing.

Eh?

Leeds achievement of winning 6 titles in 9 years is outstanding and if they carry on with this wave of success they could end up overshadowing the achievements of the Wigan team of the late 80s and early 90s. To do that in a salary cap constrained era unlike Wigan did could be regarded as a bigger achievement and it may not be long before Leeds take Wigans title as the biggest and most historic club in rugby league.

sally must be really hurting tonight to put out dead maggots like that for bait.

Gutted Leeds have beaten Warrington in the Grand Final though, utterly disillusioned with the state of Rugby League at the minute. It's not so much about me as a Wigan fan being jealous of Leeds, I would have loved to have seen Warrington win it, a nice change to the same boring Leeds 'success story' every season. What's the point in the regular rounds now? What's the point at all now? Maybe we will feel different in a few month after being RL-free for a while.

Can't believe any Wigan fan would want Wire to win the league

If Leeds had finished top every time they had won the GF I would say fair play - but they are consistently average. Champions should be consistently brilliant. And that mean doing it from the first game to the last. They have won 5 from 6 but how many times have they finished top. Once. So really they have been the best team once. Not that great. and the fact that they are always underdogs means the pressure isn't on them. How many GF's have they actually gone into as favourites?

How strange. This is how we fans of other clubs felt during the late 80's and early 90's when Wigan dominated as no other club could afford to challenge them.

lets go through the motions until about June, then start to peak........finish 5th, even if it means blowing a few games (rhinos v wakey)...then finish the season with a bang.
easy game v 8th........away game v a team coming off a loss, ...away game v team out of sorts after a week off.........then 80 minutes effort..........result

Count again numpty!

Count again numpty!



PS You don't have to finish first. If you had been advocating the top team should be "Champions" in 2004 when we got 50 points from 28 games before having to 'play-off' against Bradford you'd have some credibility. You have none. If the RL had any balls you'd have been relegated so give it a rest,eh?

CHAMPIONES!

This