Why is it disgraceful? He's being totally honest.

I'll take a 1- 0 or 2-0 win over a 30 - 28 defeat.

Of course we'd like a great open game, but a WIN is what will go down in the record books, and what matters most.

Spot on Rogues. Every fan of the game wants a fast, exciting spectacle that will live long in the memories. The players probably want the same but like Sam, I'd much prefer a dull game and bring the trophy back than be on the wrong end of an exhilarating defeat!
Sam is saying it how it is and all this talk of being disrespectful to those who pay his wages is pure cack!!

Disgraceful is a bit far, and I don't really buy into this "We pay their wages" stuff. It's not like we have all clubbed together to give IL the money to pay him. We are just paying money to watch rugby games, that's a fair exchange, not something they owe us for.

I just think it's unwise for him to say things which are likely to irk supporters and put off potential new fans ahead of our showpiece event, even if he is just being honest. I think "I hope the fans enjoy the game, but the most important thing to me is to win the cup." comes across a lot better than "I want to the cup, I don't care what the fans think.", do the club not give them any sort of guidance about interviews? I can't imagine IL or the marketing team really wanting that to be the message we send out.

Because it's selfish? Why should I waste my weekend spending a few hundred quid to be bored for 80 minutes just for 20 minutes of celebration at the end? A win will go down in the record books but no one cares about boring finals. Like Jonh, I'd completely forgotten we even won the 2013 final, it was such a non event that I'd subconsciously wiped it from my memory.

Like I said, you can play nice rugby and win. It's the defeatist attitude that we can't do both that annoys me when we have some of the best talent in the league.

I get WHAT he's saying. He's a professional sportsperson, and his job is to win at all costs - as long as it's within the laws of the game.

I'm surprised that he's actually saying it. I thought he'd had media training, so I'd have expected him to be able to avoid foot-in-mouth comments like "I don't care what the fans think".

People shouldn't get confused between a good game and a high scoring game. I've seen great games that are 8-6 and dire games which finish 48-38. Ultimately we would like a low error, tight contest which the ref lets flow and tries need to be earned through good play rather then being given via errors. Many people rave about State of Origin and they're exactly that!

People are going back to 2013 a lot yet not mentioning the weather that day (as pointerd out above) which was abysmal. In the main our final wins and defeats have been pretty good games and I think we all know a big game Wigan team is a different animal to the one we see in the weekly rounds.

If both teams play on saturday as they did in the semi I think we're in for a treat but if it's a borefest and we win 7-0 then so be it!!

I'm pretty sure Sam wants the game to be exciting, same as we all do... But if it isn't and Wigan win, so f'ing what.

This.

And me. To tell people giving up their hard earned money that their views and opinions mean nothing to him - especially given how little he has given back since his return - is pretty poor IMO. Plenty of fans have been extremely patient with his injury situation, particularly the last one where the cause of the injury has been the subject of much speculation. I would have expected something a bit more diplomatic from him, to say the least.

When Sam got sin binned in the semi final v Salford a Wigan "fan" sat just behind us and just in front of Ian Lenagan shouted out "tomkins you're f*****g s**t.
Sam just look up up at him, shook his head and politely asked "Are you a Wigan supporter"?

I'll stick to what I have said, I'll take an ugly win over a glorious defeat any day.

It would be interesting to look back at some of the posts from 2012 when we played some fantastic rugby, won the League Leaders Shield but nothing else.

That Wigan fan is an idiot and should be banned from games but again, apparently we can't play fantastic rugby and win trophies? Why can these 2 things not go together?

Who has said we can't apart from you?

Funniest part of that is that Sam shouldn't have even been penalised let alone binned!

Andy Farrell used to get the same years back. There's certain players that reach a level of class that then leaves them open to abuse when things drop below anything but perfect.

Sam was bang out of order with his comments to Bilko last year but he's done nothing wrong here other then possibly put his words over in slightly the wrong way.

John Winder?

I think Sam is playing brilliantly and he has been since he came back. He must have made a mistake but I can't think of one.

No, he said "Don't be frightened to be boring" that's not the same. His comments were about the Catalan game away. I didn't think that was boring, did you?

As I said a boring win is better than exciting loss, particularly in a BIG game.

ATEOTD, this is correct. Finals may be enjoyed or they may be endured but the win is absolutely everything. IMO turgid, low quality performances now blight the entire sport but that's another issue. In a final, it's win at all costs (except the open criticism of your own fan base

).

Not sure in what context ST said this but I am assuming it is as a hard nosed professional which means that he is there to win irrespective of opponent or style of play.
My worry would be that he said it as part of "us against the world" which has a lot going for it but unfortunately it is a self fulfilling premonition in that eventually it will literally be only the players against everyone.
As I say though I am more than happy to assume it is a hard nose professional response.

On to the original question for me and for all my pontificating a win is a win in final and how you get it is to some degree is irrelevant.
Don't get me wrong I want us to win with style but ultimately I want us to win finals.
My favourite final was 1985 for 2 reasons firstly our first win for 20 years and is was a fantastic match. if we had won 2-0 it would probably still be my favourite because the intervening 20 years were mainly years of false dawns and at times pretty poor rugby.

What I do hope is that the players play with some freedom and that they enjoy it.

I've got a feeling that tomorrow's game is going to be a cracker with Hull wanting to retain the trophy and we appear to relaxed and probably happy to be 2nd favourites in a 2 horse race.

I agree a boring final win is better than a loss but purposely going into games being 'boring' is a sure fire way to ensure you're lifting trophies in front of only 8,000 fans.

I looked at the odds on a betting site and Hull had 2 start.
They were 11/10 and Wigan were 10/11.
C'mon Wigan!

A boring 'win' regularly is not the Wigan way. With my late Dad and his dad before him my family, we go back to the time of Queen Victoria watching an exciting Wigan. It is that which made us the biggest fanbase in the history of Rugby League.

Just on our coach from Hull, sun is shining. Have a safe journey guys, thoigh ultimately I hope you lose!

Firstly I thoroughly enjoyed the game yesterday. The atmosphere was fantastic despite the stadium not being full and the game was exciting even if it at times lacked quality particularly from us.

Despite us still being in it and having opportunities to win it the best team won it and rightfully so the real touches of quality came from Hull when it counted and we couldn't cope with certain aspects of their play particularly the kicking masterclass from Snyd.

My frustration is however fully levelled once again at our style of play. We were pretty much on the back foot for the entire match even with ball in hand. We attempted to grind out a result until we had to start chasing the game. The last 10-15 minutes we started running shapes and lines had option runners and Hull started to struggle.

It was almost like watching us under Brian Noble again who seemed to shackle us and Trent Barrett and only let him off the leash when the game was lost.

Tactically we just look very very poor. That is not just levelled at the coach, our spine on the field has to take responsibility for that also. Could t understand why after the first kick leading to a try we peppered the very solid left side for Hull for the rest of the half. Switch to the second half we start to kick to the right despite the left winger being stood in the only area of the field with the sun in his eyes.

I have absolutely no doubt we have the players and talent in the squad to be consistently challenging for honours year in year out, however I am also in no doubt that our style of play is holding us back and preventing us from reaching our potential as a team.

That's about where I'm at really, speaking as a neutral.
That game had dull written all over it though right from the off, and so it was, but it takes 2 to make a game, the codheads will shoulder some of that blame also.
Both teams are relentless grinders, their games are played out in line contact, its all about fannying about in the tackle and at pob, both sides playing for penalties because nobody was gonna take a chance at making a line break, without penalties its a 20 yd gain after 5 tackles and a boot down field.
This strategy might yield marginally greater success over a season, but f*** its boring to watch.

The game livened up a bit towards the end when the pies started chucking it about, but by then it was long too late, they were out of gas and tbh, its not their game these days.
I don't see a personnel issue, they're just following orders, sometimes its enough and sometimes it isn't.