No. you're getting mixed up with Whelan & Lindsay.
They didn't win anything, true to their word they walked.

Oh, ok my mistake.

Do you lot think noble has done a good job in his time he been in charge?

I'm not taking pi$$ or looking for heated debate. It's a gen question.

This is my view on the matter.

The money I pay for my and my sons season ticket covers me for league games and if we are lucky with the draw the odd cup game.

And the teams performance in the league, what I am paying my money to watch, has been very poor for the last two seasons and despite the Saints result this one as well so far.

Now no doubt someone will say Noble gets his teams to peak at the right time as if this was some sort of master plan and the poor performances during the season are in fact deliberate

Well even if it was a master plan it isn't and never will be good enough.

You CAN win trophies by playing good RL all season as well as when it matters as Saints and Leeds have proved in recent seasons.

If Noble can get us doing that then he can stay for me. If we are forever hoping we "peak at the right time" after yet another dross league season he really has got to go.

Dave

I was full of praise for nobby after saturday and he fully deserves that praise, he masterminded one of the best wigan performances for years and watching the team perform so well on saturday was like seeing the return of the good old days.

that game should give us the world of confidence to go on and put on a streak, after all if any team puts a good run together they will easily be in the top 4 the league is that inconsistant.

we're playing the best attacking rugby we have for years and if we continue to improve our defense we are going to be difficult to stop!

Id like to see lenegan continuing to be unusure around the contract because it will lead to noble striving to get the best out of the lads.

who out there who we could realistically get is better than noble?

No one at the moment

One thing is for sure - there's no point getting rid of a man if you can't replace him with someone better. And that isn't easily done.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't try, but it does mean you may need to be patient.

Noble like the game to be played in a cautious way

We have a group of players who like to play with abit of risk(Gleeson, Leuluai, Feka, Hock etc)

Maybe the fact that he now has plenty of natural flair at his disposal will help Noble because theres only so far he can reign them in. If he wants them to play it up the middle but the players want to throw it about maybe we'll naturally find an ideal middle ground.

The defeats this year have been hard to take and some of his team selections have baffled at times but i've said for a long time that Noble(and Lenagan) should always be judged in the main in season 2010 because thats when Lindsays poor salary cap managment will be behind us. He should have a top squad at his disposal and hopefully can produce the goods.

There defo isn't a stand out candidate to take over.

Take your pick. Noble wasn't out of contract when we signed him. It was right out of the blue.

Dave

so what would you suggest? offering noble a 1 year contract or for longer?

A one year deal with an option of another year is probably the way i'd go if the level of preformence remains reasonably consistant.

Thats not what i hear from the players he has been trying all year to get the expansive game to stick and you can see over the last few games its coming together

what message would it send to noble though?
[i'ok, we'll keep you on, but we don't think you're worth a 2 year contract'[/i

You will see mid august what he gets

He only got a one year extension last year and took it so a years deal with another years option wouldn't seem too bad.

Alot will depend on how the rest of this season goes though i suppose.

We have to find consistancy yet.

Why not offer him a four months contract next season - (July to October)?

My view is that it's still too early to offer him either. We need to go on a prolonged winning run - playing regularly at full capacity - before we can definitively say that we've turned that all-important corner.

Unfortunately, I'd imagine that if you're going to replace your head-coach with someone good, you start looking early. This doesn't mean to say that someone else is already coming, but the search may be on - which would certainly give IL a headache if Noble now proves that he's worth another deal. Though I suppose it would be a nice headache to have compared to other types I could name.

Agreed. His future is in his hands. Saturday is a huge test.

Why do people think 2010 will see some big transformation of the side player-wise? Now TL has been given a new deal there are not that many players out of contract at the end of 2009 who will be on a significant wage.

Bailey, Phelps, Smith and Carmont are the most senior players out of contract. That will not IMO give a huge wadge of cash to play with. The quota also goes down so I do not see what the significance of 2010 is.

The team won't change that much IMO and so given it is already "his" team as near as should make no difference (not that they odd player not being his signing should anyway) Noble needs to be judged at the end of this season at the latest because that is when his contract is up.

Otherwise it will always be "next" year when Fielden's contract is up or Feka's or Hansens etc.

Three and a half years is long enough to form an opinion based on his record if he deserves a new deal or we may end up with Cullen MkII.



Any coach from the top half of the NRL would be a prime candidate IMO. Getting one depends on if IL's persuasive powers are up to Mo's.

Dave

Im speculating, but Tommy & Bailey are supposed to be on huge ££££, I imagine Tommy has resigned for more realistic terms and Bailey/Coley going should free up the money to recruit the prop we are desperate for.

I would expect to see some movement in terms of a halves/hooker as we need to balance the playing roster in those positions.

The squad might not improve in terms of numbers etc, but the quality should spread a little further around which will improve us.

That depends on what sticking with him means. Another one year deal and another year of dross performances would IMO be too high a price to pay just because no one else was available. He would also have another contract IL would have to pay-up if things did not improve. Sometimes you just have to let people go and then search for a replacement.

There being no one else available better if the current employee is judged sub-standard is just about the worst reason I can think of for giving someone a new deal.

Dave

No one is saying keep him if he is substandard, but if we truely have turned a corner and the side are now developing the ability to play with the style we have for 3 weeks on a consistant basis, why would we remove Noble?

Cullen won nothing and is never likely to Noble has won everything and is very likely to again

We will have to wait and see but I doubt TL will have signed for peanuts being a world cup winning international. It may be less than before bug significantly so? I have my doubts.

As to Bailey he was hardly top drawer but of course he was a Mo signing so who knows.

I just don't think there is any radical change going to happen that should be an excuse to give Noble another year. His contract is up and so he should be judged on what will be the last 3 1/2 seasons come the end of the 2009 campaign.

Dave

Dave, I sometimes think you argue to convenience. How can you possibly say that the odd player makes no difference when you, yourself have argued the opposite on many occassions. Next season we are problably looking at 2 or possibly 3 new signings. Depending on who they are that could make the world of difference to this team! However I do agree with you that there is enough playing personel showing that they are of the right quality for Noble to be judged from here on in. Why do I say 'from here on in', in effect wiping out the poor start? Because I think it has taken the signing of Gleeson, plus the 'settling in' periods of Smith and Phelps, not to mention our front row finally starting to show they can match it with the rest of SL in order for us to start playing how Noble wants us to.

Im not suggesting Tommy will have resigned for peanuts though am i? It was announced Richards had resigned for less, I merely put the point across that Tommy is likely to have been offered a similar fair but more resonable deal.

Bailey I would suspect is over paid for the calibre of player he is given he was a Maurice signing.



There wont. But if the team can continue with its current form, and who knows, won a trophy, then he will rightly be judged on that and given a new contract.