but which teams have we played in the semi finals?

The latest, against St Helens, no we probably shouldn't have won that on paper. They are the stronger team over the season and were at home, but we still didn't play well.

The others, warrington this year, they finished outside of the playoffs, we should beat them if we play to our potential. Cas a couple of years ago.

Warrington are nowhere near as good a team as leeds or saints, but TS got them up for a semi-final and they performed and then won it.

Physically yes, tactically debatable, mentally no. There just aren't enough "winners" in this team.

Personally I think Wire have a better squad than us, they have just been missing a good coach. Big games tend to be won in the pack, hence our defeats to Wire and Cats IMO, can't stress the IMO enough though.

True, but if you get Fielden back playing to what he can, get Feka playing to what he can, Prescott is a good super league player, and Coley is a very good 4th choice prop, not leading the line as he is at the minute.

Big if IMO. Hopefully the new coaches can do it, I'm just hoping people don't think the new guys are going to be miracle workers. The prop department is still a big concern for me. People are talking about Coley being off contract next year, he was off contract this year and we chose to re-sign him rather than use his salary and the money freed up from Hock's release to sign a world class prop.

If the Graham rumours are true then I would be really excited about next year. As it is I don't think just replacing the coach will be enough.

The problem was though i don't think that there was a) a true world class prop available, and b) that Coleys wage [ignoring Smiths because of juniors upgrades) would be able to cover a world class player. So why not add Coley to the list of players coming off season in 2010 when there are some true world class players available as well as the cap space being free to sign them rather than adding a decent aussie prop that will then take up a quota spot for 3/4 years instead of being patient.

I'd actually forgot about Smith's money. The prop doesn't have to be an Aussie. Burgess has just gone down under. Would Coley's salary plus Smith's plus a bit of the money freed up from Hock's salary been enough to tempt him?

I'm only speculating here of course. Burgess may have wanted to go to Oz regardless and I am aware some of Hock's money has been used to upgrade some of the youngsters salaries.

Also Burgess isn't the only one out there, just using him as an example.

underperforming, but even so i haven't seen many props going to other clubs that i think we've mnissed out on, exception of the guy who's gone to wakefield, forget his name.

Couldn't agree more. Although Fielden and Coley aren't as bad as they're made out to be they are just steady, solid players and aren't fierce enough for me. Basically in wigan speyk we need a sh*thouse

Absolutely, we had that in Hock in a way but we were far too over-reliant on him which made our attack far too one-sided. Other than that, get a cattle-prod up feka's ar$e just before he comes on perhaps?

tbh i don't even feel we've missed out on tronc, not from reading the NRL boards of his own club, they feel he didn't give them much and aren't sad to see him go.

And yes, they mostly want to see somebody take webb off their hands to, feel like we dodged a bullet there.

All the things you've said though can be coached. That's why i don't understand that we're not good enough (in terms of the bodies in the team) for another coach to progress us beyond a semi final.

It depends whose responsibility you think it is to get players up for a semi final. I tend to sway on the side that if a player can't get himself up for a big game without needing someone to motivate him he shouldn't be playing.

I said tactically - debatable. Again I don't think tactics were a problem in our defeats but can perfectly understand if people think they were.

I think it's the coaches responsibility to motivate and prepare the team so that they are firing at their best in a Semi final. Look at Neil Cowie, he was great for us, but hardly a world beater before getting the right coaching and being part of the correct setup.