Whilst I want us to finish top because I hate losing, due to it meaning nothing in the grand scheme of things I don't actually care. I'll be annoyed and grumpy for a day or so, but if it leads to seeing [url=http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Sean+O+Loughlin+St+Helens+v+Wigan+Warriors+FZPkQg_Nqg-l.jpgthis[/url on October 6th then I couldn't care less whether we finished 1st, 2nd or after a points deduction 8th.

Part of the reason I wasn't so sad to see Maguire leave.

Obviously he did a great job here and turned the club round - with Wane simply acting on the foundation Maguire left. Unfortunately (and it was clear as day) Maguire didn't blood any youngsters last season and went with his strongest squad each week. By the time the playoffs rolled around we were shot.

This year we look much fresher.

End the day the HKR could win the GF if they get on a good roll. Also we could win all the regular season matches and lose two matches in the play offs and be out!

In my eyes you win the league now/in September.
You become champions at OT.

Whether you "win" the league is debatable.

I would argue that under the current structure, a team does not win the league, rather it "finishes" top.

At the start of the season all the coaches understand that the competition is all about the GF and not about finishing top. They then formulate their plans and strategy around this.

Correctamundo

Yep and it's the number of teams that qualify for the playoffs together with the current structure that allow this. It basically means you have to have one consistent period throughout the season and still be in with a shot. This results in teams being able to have a great start then drop off (eg Hudds and Hull this season) or start poorly then find form later in the season (Leeds) and still be guaranteed a playoff place. The league would be much more exciting if we currently had 3 or 4 teams trying to scrap to get in the top 5 rather than teams going through huge losing periods and still being sat comfortably in the playoff places.

A simple tweak of the playoff structure would force teams in to becoming more consistent throughout the full season and this strategy of holding back for the playoffs would become obsolete because there would be a genuine risk of missing out completely.

I'm sorry we are the best team in the comp who cares who we play if we want to win the gf we have got to beat the best left in

The semi v Leeds we showed up with injuries and players not 100% they played the best they have all season we a few calls going against us and they won by 11 points i think that says it all

Wigan with a full strength side are unstoppable

I want Wigan to win the league. We deserve it and have been the best team in the competition this season. In the grand scheme of things it may mean nothing, but it's nice thing to have which recognises and reward a season of hard work.

so, whom was missing from this line up then?

5. Pat Richards
3. Darrell Goulding
4. George Carmont
2. Josh Charnley
1. Sam Tomkins
7. Thomas Leuluai
6. Brett Finch
13. Sean O'Loughlin
12. Gareth Hock
21. Epalahame Lauaki
8. Paul Prescott
11. Harrison Hansen
9. Michael Mcllorum

23. Ben Flower
17. Chris Tuson
16. Liam Farrell
14. Jeff Lima

Mossop.

and Gelling, of course.

Richards, Leuluai & Prescott, but the one most missed was Tommy.

Its not full strength as Lee Mossop is missing!

i think thats the team we played them with, and lost with, earlier in the season.

well we certainly wont have richards at full back, goulding on the wing, charnley at centre, tomkins on the wing, o'loughlin at prop, gaz hock at hooker, paul prescott in the second row and mcilorum at loose forward on saturday thats for sure

I thought it was very strange in the way the team was written out! We were unlucky to lose against Warrington earlier in the season and if it wasn't for a few funny decision and Luauki's brainfarts we could have won.

Wigan should play to win every game....the Wire fans were annoying last year after winning the title, can you imagine how bad they'd be if they won back to back titles?

Especially if they won the Challenge Cup as well and all Wigan were left to play for was the end of season premiership knock out which doesn't matter anyway as we saw last year when Wigan slacked off and got beaten twice by Saints.

terrible attempt

obviously finishing 1st in the league at the end of the weekly rounds is a great achievement and one i want as much as Waney & the players but our play-off form last year wasn't up to much at all. we've largely had the better of saints in the weekly rounds for a few years now but when it comes to play off rugby i'm not as confident, against saints or any other team. take last year for instance when we tonked them in the weekly rounds but were ont he back end of 2 reverses come the playoffs.

our first big MUST WIN game this year was the leeds game in the CC semi and we bottled it, whereas we tonked them at their gaff in june in the league and i find it hard to believe that, with little changes to the personnel other than tommy being injured, that it is anything other than mentality and attitude. i also think that despite Wanes fantasically loyal support of his side it can sometimes be too overbearing and puts too much pressure on the players whether they/we like to agree or not. i cant help but feel we'll take the same attitude into the playoffs whether we finish 1st or 2nd but of course i hope i'm wrong!

we still have a LOT of work to do in my opinion but even if wire win on saturday, which i think they will, i think we can still just nick top spot.

Surely our first must win game was Saints in the cup!

The regular season is ruined, less and less people will go to games now really it doesn't matter. Its a waste of money.

I want to finish 1st no question about it, it is a trophy in the cabinet and adds to our already glittering history!

I agree finishing top is not the priority now. We will have a home game on the first game we play in the play-offs now barring a major disaster. Its better if we have a fully fit squad for that game now than finishing top. Wether its Saints, Leeds or Catalan it will be a hard game regardless. If we are top for of SL before we play Saints then we should send out a weakened side and not risk any of our players. Saints might have to win it to be in the top 4 and i would rather play them than Leeds if we finished 2nd. Not saying we should throw the game but not to risk our main players in pursuit of finishing top and then losing players before we get into the play offs.

Our next must win game is not tomorrow but the 1st play off game we play. Hub cap is a great achievement but in the bigger picture it means very little and that for me weakness Rugby League. We need a new structure that rewards finishing top.

in recent threads people have talked about leeds being happy to finish in the 5-8 slots and take the easier 1st round while the top 4 beat each other up.
well the way things are going tonight, they are putting real pressure on catalans, and the way they scrapped for the win last week, shows that they really do want a top 4 place.
i think that shows the power of momentum, and coming into the play-offs in form. last season we dipped after the cup final and so hit the play-offs in poor shape.
this year i want us to finish top by winning all of the remaining fixtures.
momentum and confidence is going to be key for us, so lets keep the pressure on and take the LLS

didnt we lose to saints warrington and leeds at the end of the 2010 season/beginning of the play offs.

We definitely lost to Saints and Warrington in June/July and also to Huddersfield in August(?) (when Mason stamped on Fielden's ankle!). All at the DW. Then lost to Leeds in first round of play offs.

Amazing that we were unbeaten away all season in 2010 apart from Bradford (when we were 20 points up at half time) and Leeds in the CC.

If we get all our stars back, especially Tommy and Pat, and the pack plays like it was playing in May/June, we will get to Old Trafford.