There is no way after all the cutting edge thinking, management and tactical thinking that Madge has brought to the club, that we are going to let John Kear anywhere near the club or its set up.

If we do, I fear IFL, will have lost the plot.

how can it only be your opinion? surely it would be a fact

A big step backwards for your club if Wane is named as Coach. Looking at Wigan, I see a fairly young side that has the potential to dominate for quite a while, I don't think Wane is the man to carry that on. We(wire) are an ageing side which we are paying for at this stage of the season. We have brought in Ratchford and Hill so are looking to get younger. But we have a very good coach that can paper over the odd crack.

A serious question here. You seem to speak with some authority, so what exactly do you base this on?

Are you in any way acquainted with Shaun Wane and his coaching methods?

And please also bear in mind that Wane brought these players through from junior level, and has worked with MM for nearly three years... Oh, and we have been telling your posters here that you have an ageing team for 18 months now, but you choose not to listen. Well, until now when it is starting to bite and you need to "paper over cracks".

I've read a lot of fans from Wire but especially Saints pinning their hopes on Wigan failing due to Wane being a poor choice as head coach. He's a 'thick ape' according to some on the saints board and he'll see us crash and burn over the next few years.

It sounds like a few people are a little worried about these next few seasons.

Also, he's neglected to recognise that in the 'young team' we have, most of them played under Waney in the academy.

and would run through brick walls for him.

Our choice of assistant will be important but Waney will drive us on without doubt.

Yups..... Still, our rivals never let facts get in the way of an opinion.

Like most of us, i'm not party to the relationship twixt Wane and MM, but they certainly seem to get on together. I would suspect that this is not the end of that relationship, and the two will still speak and exchange ideas.

There's a real sense of deja vu in Saints and Wire fans pinning their hopes on Wigan crashing and burning.

Great innit....

Pretty confident Wire can take of Wigan when needed in future games and next season based on our own talent rather then Wigan "crashing and burning"

Thats why I say it's mainly Saints fans that seem to be giving Wane plenty of stick because I believe they feel they're behind Wigan by a little way at the moment and they're losing one of their best 2 players in Graham at the end of the year.

As for Wire we've got what you want( though i'd use a line from Wires marketing team there) but I think your fans know that on any given day it's 50/50 between the 2 sides and your close enough to Wigan to just look after your own game.

you only have to watch the post match dressing room sing a long from wigan at the CC Semin Final game on the BBC the other week, Waney was very much part of that "camorardery" (typo) and SW is as much a part of the current successes on and off the pitch that wigan are enjoying as MM is.

if it wasn't for SW, MM wouldn't have half the players he does have at his disposal anyway.

Only my opinion. I think with Wigan being the glamour club of the comp, they need a big name to takeover the reigns. Wane may well go onto do a great job and good luck to him. I like the job Richard Marshall does at Wire, but I probably wouldn't want him as our next coach.

MM was only an assistant when we brought him in and hes doing ok isnt he? How was he a big name when he is doing a job hes never done before?



Dont you think Shaun Wane will of been watching Maguires every move this season and picking up tips on how to coach a successful team? In fact i cant see much changing next season apart from the guy in charge of the team and the assistant.

Agreed, but part of the reason MM has been so successful is he brought the latest techniques over from a champion club like Melbourne. The question is - will Wane be good enough to evolve Wigan's style of play once the game moves on (which it does, frequently and quickly, with the introduction of new coaches and new interpretations, together with other teams wising up to a certain style of play).

He may well be BTW, I haven't got a clue! But it's not a leap of faith to attribute your recent improvement to Maguire, nor is it a lepa of faith to suggest that you might suffer from losing what is obviously a tremendous head coach.

I like having British coaches though, so I grudgingly wish him well.

Judging by your logic then every assistant coach should go on and be as succesful as his predecessor then? Tell that to James Lowes, Iestyn Harris and McNamara then. DO you think Man United would be as succesful with Mike Phelan in charge? I don't. Lot's of things to take into consideration. Some cases it works, some it doesn't. IMO I think Wigan won't be as great with Wane in charge. Could well be better, just like you lot I'm a fan giving his views on a RL forum. Doesn't make any of us right or wrong.

Or alternatively you could quote the Liverpool bootroom as evidence that evolution from within works. It all depends on the people involved. In the end no-one knows whether Wane is the right man for the job, just as we didn't know if Maguire was. In fact I distinctly remember many opposition fans telling us we had taken a 'huge gamble' or even made a 'big mistake' prior to that appointment too! I think the one thing we CAN say for certain is that most good judges would accept that Ian Lenagan is far more likely to appraise the situation correctly than you or I.

THIS!

Just to add, there are other great coaches like Brian Noble who have won everything, thesedays they are well behind people like Smith and Maguire.

That's how I heard it too!

I would imagine it would be £10 tickets to try and get 1 supported club in SL because they (IL and the club) have always wanted to try and get 4 attandances over 20k and were very dissapointed when the BigOne3 didnt aceive this.

Surely then if MM had stayed at Wigan for his third year we would be start to become less successful due to his out of date techniques (three years old)?

So what's the solution (to be ahead of the pack)?

* Recruit every one / two years from the NRL to obtain latest techniques?
* Send current Head Coach to Aus for a few months to refresh techniques?
* Link up with NRL club and obtain latest techniques by video link?

Depends whether he was an integral part of developing the techniques at the forefront of top level RL (the NRL). If so, he's shown he has the nouse to think ahead of the game and could do so again.

If he's just nicked them from Bellamy then yes, you may be right. I suppose we will see as and when Wigan get to the play-offs whether his tactics are as dominant as they were last season, but you need to innovate to stay ahead longer term.

Wigan play a very structured style of rugby. Structure can lead to predictability if not contrantly updated. Wigan are fortunate in that within this structure, they have an "off the cuff" genius in Sam Tomkins.

Wigan show no signs of ending their domination any time soon, can Wane maintain the gap next year by adding his own take on the game and stopping the team stagnating? Or will they fall back to the pack by doing the "same old"?

Who knows, the "same old" may be good enough for years to come, provided Sam stays fit as he is proving the difference between Wigan and the best of the rest more often than not.

Of course, but there's a lot more to it than that, as Madge is the first to concede.

Certainly as far as tactics and motivation go, Madge deserves massive credit, but the bulk of the team was effectively created and developed by Waney, who must get the credit for the skill levels that brought us three consecutive Reserve GF wins...more than half our team came through in those 3 years.

Similarly, Mark Bitcon and the rest of the backroom staff had crucial input into our much improved fitness levels, which have been a huge factor, not only in our match fitness but also our relatively decent injury situation.

In my opinion, it's Ian Lenagan that has has the biggest effect, both in changing the "club culture" back to something that Rads then identified as a problem, and now approves of, and in choosing the right calibre of coaching and backroom staff, Madge included.