Orfords try on the last tackle was as soft a try you will ever see. Wigan just switched off. Top teams dont concede try's like that. That said, im sure it wont happen again and I still stick by my top4, even top2 prediction for wigan.

Nobby was wrong then. And if he's still coming out with such idiocy, he's wrong now.

He was very wrong and basically used that line as a cover up for an obvious inabillity to get his sides motivated early on in seasons.

During Nobles time with us it was his biggest weakness imo and what eventually led to his downfall. We always finished the season well but come the final eliminator game we'd be out on our feet and it always proved to be a game to far. If we'd have started a season under Noble how we finished them we'd have been top 2 and more then likely have made a couple of finals.

I see no reason why this Wigan side can't start this season well, have a good middle and finish it strongly. We're a mobile side with a mobile pack that imo will get better as the pitces firm up.

We're bound to have a couple of blips at some point but i'd rather have them with points on the board then starting the season off with them.

Better Wigan had this wake up call versus Bradford.

Lets hope your players take it out on their next opponents

So in one corner we have the most successful coach in the SL era expressing his opinion.

In the other corner we have a faceless internet poster expressing his/hers.

Hmm....let me think for a second which opinion carries more weight with me...

Well after witnessing Nobles reign I would say Cruncher

Yeah, he did nothing did he?

no

Rubbish, as far as I was aware Rugby League in general is about entertainment and giving the fans value for money. Tickets aren't any cheaper for games earlier on in the season and therefore teams have a duty to the fans to provide that entertainment by performing on the pitch. Nobby's argument is also wrong in that the position you finish in the league is important when it comes to the playoffs, playing more games makes the players more likely to be tired and underperform in the matches that matter. If we had gone on to win the Grand Final or even got there the first part of my argument would be less important. Besides if the earlier games didn't matter why didn't he use them to get some young lads in and get some experience rather than risking injuries to the older players and having to rely on inexperienced ones when it mattered.

Nobby's was a tried and failed philosophy so I'll take the opinion of the 'faceless' posters above thanks very much.

ok.....who has won super league for the last 3 years?....how have they started for them years? fast or slow?

I wouldn't bother, Pedro.

I find it impossible to believe that anyone is still taken in by that nonsensical excuse for having a poor pre-season "the first part of the season doesn't matter".

In fact, I don't believe it.

Yeah I've been thinking along those lines
We had the "its not his team" excuse to by the very same people who come out with this argument. You can bet your bottom dollar it will be Nobby's team if we do well this year.

Then why bother posting on here? Just read interviews.

Not sure I follow your logic.

On this particular issue though, which is the relative importance of the early vs late part of the season, I think the evidence speaks for itself.

Sure everyone has an opinion, but to come out with such simplistic statements as "Nobby is wrong" when he clearly IS the most successful coach under the SL rules, is clearly nonsense.

It's great to see Wigan doing well early on, it's great to sense the enthusiasm that is running through the club at the moment, but we need to perform at the business end of the season. That is the key. I hope we do, there is nothing to suggest that we won't, let's see.

Nobby was (quite rightly in some circumstances) often criticised for not having a "plan B". I didn't see any plan B on Friday either, but the same people that berated Nobby were strangely silent.


For what it's worth (not much since I am another faceless internet poster), I actually like Madge as a person, (as much as I can do without actually knowing him)j He comes across as honest and knowledgable. I really do hope it all works out for him (and Wigan), but I will not fall into the same trap as some on here and not criticise where I feel it is needed.


It's like the Emperors new clothes on here sometimes.

It is possible for Nobby to be 'out of date' when it comes to modern thinking/tactics/coaching..etc, despite him being the most successful coach in SL.

Would the most successful coach in Rugby League history - John Monie, cut it today in SL? More than likely not.


Back in the 80's coaches like Murphy, Fox, Clarke, Bamford were hailed as top class coaches throughout the land and much sought after by First Division clubs (Wigan included) - within four years after Graham Lowe had gone and by the time John Monie had arrived these other coaches had been exposed for what they really were - dinosaurs with limited skills.

See Wembley 1989 for proof.

You keep quoting Nobby as "the most successful coach in SL" as if this was reason enough for us to have kept him.

He was far from the best coach in SL during the three and a half years he was at Wigan. Okay, we always finished strongly under him, but we never won anything. The teams that did win trophies, started strongly as well as finishing strongly. Doesn't that say anything to you at all?

And really ... do you expect fans to start getting on Maguire's back after we've played only 40 minutes of poor rugby (having just won the previous four matches, three of them at a canter)? Folk started getting twitchy about Nobby after three years of mostly indifferent performances, not to mention regular comments to the press indicating that neither he nor his team seemed to feel they were at fault.

I really think you need to get Nobby out of your system. If every time Wigan lose this season you're going to make posts implying that he wouldn't have lost, you're going to become very unpopular on here very quickly.

Nobby stabilised Wigan after our nightmare under Ian Millward. But he never kicked on from there. Compared to the likes of Saints and Leeds, his team lacked fitness, tactics and motivation. I don't know about you, but as a Wigan fan, that was unacceptable to me.

Who knows where Wigan will go from here - an awful lot now rides on Friday night - but personally I think we're playing a much better brand of football under Michael Maguire. It's frankly irrelevant what Nobby says from the sidelines. He had his chance, and he blew it.

Lot's of points without actually answering the points I made.

Where did I say we wouldn't have lost if Nobby had been in charge?

I'm not trying to answer your points, I'm just saying why I don't feel that that's Nobby's views on whatever did or didn't happen last Friday night have any relevance.

The guy had nearly four years at Wigan, and failed.