Hi Lammy

Can’t argue with most of this NK, hence as I said, I’m ready for a change. Still, I can’t help thinking we’re at a critical stage with recruitment / retention and we are in dire need of an injection of experienced forwards and quality backs for next season and beyond, regardless of who the coach is..

Go on I’ll humour you… do you think we can compete with Saints and Wire next season if we don’t bring in two experienced props and quality replacements for Hastings and Gildart?

Fully agree. We may have to temper our expectations in terms of big names but hopefully we can pick up a few savvy signings (a couple of George Carmonts would be nice) If Wane is involved I’ll feel far more confident that we’ll eeek out a trophy than I do at the minute but he’s not a miracle worker.

Fair enough. Either you didn’t clarify that or I didn’t understand so in that respect I’ll agree.

It depends on numerous factors. Saints couldnt live with us in 2014 but they won the league and we didn't. If we somehow play our best 17 every week and they have 9 or 10 missing all season then who knows what might happen?

A good coach can get a little extra out of players that leads them to achieve things they should never achieve.

Shaun Wane managed a side that quality wise got worse season after season but he pulled that extra 20% out of them when it mattered. I'm not his biggest fan in terms of his playing style, but he would have taken this side further than Lam has and I would back him to take 17 blokes out the pub further than he should do as well.

Cheers. For clarity, my comments on this thread were about next season with the potential of SW being involved. There’s no doubting his credentials as others have said, but I did feel it was time for him to move on when he did. I just can’t imagine him playing anything like second fiddle to Matty Peet or anyone else though!

Didn't they finish top of the league and it was 1 win each in the regular season?

Did you think they would win the GF?

The point is that under the rules of the comp, you have to win enough games to make the playoffs and then it's all about who turns up on the day and bits of luck here and there. A guy like SW is perfect in that scenario regardless of the players he has. Not to mention that good coaches change structures and systems to suit who they have in their team. Would you have suggested our 2009 side would dominate as it did 12 months later?

We haven't even announced any signings yet or who the coach is and people have us down as struggling and someone even said finishing bottom 4. Baffling.

Me either. So he has to have had a huge shift on attitude towards being second fiddle to make it work. It can’t and won’t work otherwise. My fear is that he may say it has changed but when he gets back into the club and gets the cherry and white juices flowing again he won’t be able to stop it.

I’m half/half. Another part of me thinks we should go completely fresh and have a full 1st team coaching staff clear out and bring in new people with new ideas. I don’t think there is an easy answer here in all honesty. Each has potential significant draw backs and potential significant up lifts too.

wow

Who has said we will finish bottom 4 next year?
We don’t know our squad yet

Exactly. We were within a whisker of winning the GF last year and we’re 7 wins from 8 league games this season without playing well and with significant disruption in our squad due to injuries. We’re not far off at all and a few quality signings and the right coaching appointments for next season could put us in a really strong position for years to come. That’s why our recruitment and retention is so important now.

There have been a couple of posters who one said we would be bottom half, and another who said we'd be bottom 4

Exactly, and yet we have talk about Trent Robinson struggling to come in and do anything (with over excessive defence of Adrian Lam) cries that we have no ambition and panic on a Mr Mainwaring scale.

I’ve been as frustrated as anybody these past two and a half years and certainly this year the glaring gap in quality in the front row is really hurting us and even then we’ve finished 2nd, 1st and now sit 3rd with 7 wins from 8. We’ve done that with a coach who IMO is out of his depth. We lose some quality players for next season but even ‘if’ the recruitment ends up being uninspiring, as long as we get a half decent coach we’ll knock out a top 6 place in our sleep. The league is dreadful at the minute and it’s what makes these past few seasons extra frustrating.

No chance.

Wait a minute, compete with us?

We're losing Hill if rumours are true. That leaves us with Cooper, Philbin, Mulhern, Butler and potentially Bullock who you guys dont want or rate as our props. We are in need of better props.

By all accounts we are having a mass clear out. Akuala, Inglis, Widdop, Austin, Mamo, and Lineham all going if correct. With Matautia, Holmes, Bullock and Williams coming in if rumours are true.

What it shows is, all clubs are unhappy with squads and want more quality. Saints are probably the only ones happy....

I think it is possible we could finish in the bottom half this season if we lose our next two games.
A poor coach, a lightweight workmanlike pack and lack of spontaneous players means every game becomes an arm wrestle where we have as much chance of losing as winning.
If we start poorly again tomorrow we could be in for another long night. Hopefully Hastings Farrell and Bateman will step up and drag us back to some sort of form.

I obviously missed the posts on next year but I’m quietly confident that a new coach and an improved and better balanced squad will be in place for a big push.

It’s interesting to see some of the quotes aimed at Lam are very reminiscent of Shaun Wane.

Yes he had some fantastic successes (which Lam clearly hasn’t had) but they both share criticism of style of play, some baffling losses and failure to provide bodies to give us a better go forward despite both identifying size as an issue.

For what it’s worth I was pleasantly surprised by our style of play under Lam
last year and at the start of this year, however something now doesn’t seem to be clicking and I wouldn’t be against a change.

Personally if what is being reported is true Wane may be coming back in a Director of Rugby role part time I wouldn’t be against it however I think if Lam were to go he would need to be replaced be someone with new ideas.

Having Wane come in to work with Peat and Locky concerns me because they know each other so well and have formed their rugby philosophies together, over years of working together.

I would hope we can bring in a strong strong headed innovative coach not afraid to shake things up.

I posted on Redvee back in October that I had been told by a Wigan employee that Peet was basically being groomed as the next head coach after Lam. Not heard anything to the contrary since.

I’d be happy with Matty Peet working alongside/under Shaun Wane. He’s been cutting his teeth in coaching for a long time and has experience here and in Union. It was no coincidence that our form picked up massively last season when he came back IMO. I’ve heard people talk in very good terms about him and he could have no finer support than having Shaun Wane there. It’s very unusual in Rugby League for a coach to have not had a top level playing career but in football we’ve seen the best managers in many cases didn’t have that, so I don’t see that as an issue.

Funny how people hear things differently. I heard the complete opposite from a few guys I know with connections to Sale. Let's just say they moved him on quite quickly.

Who knows either way. There will always be people who have good and bad opinions on people and their ability. I knew people who knew Shaun Wane years ago who thought it was hilarious when he got a job working with the juniors. Safe to say they’ll have been shocked with his progression.

Wonder what wane was thinking watching that??