I think that's a fair assessment.

Your right that no coach is perfect and it's fanciful to think otherwise. Even Madge who is a truly world class coach, an obviously strewed tactician and excellent motivator did at times fail to put faith in some of the younger players. Wane has obviously done this in his short time at Wigan and it's a massive tick in the box.

I'm happy that we've got Wane and the points that irk me about him could potentially be changed or at least curbed by a word in his ear by IL. I'm sure IL, like many of us, has the odd grimace on his face when he hears some of the stuff that comes out of Wane's mouth. Lets face it IL is the master at keeping things in house and keeping those cards as close to his chest as possible.

And what has that got to do with a coach going the other way?

Who was the last British coach to get a job in the NRL or even the ARL for that matter?!

Interesting. You bite within a minute and claim it as a victory. Oh, well......

I infuriate you more now by signing out.

I was referring to today's game.... And oh yes, i'm beside myself with ire

I don't give a toss about Wanes' (or any coach's) media skills. What matters is what they do at their club in terms of performances, and structural issues such as development of young players, "club culture" and suchlike, and Wane has done a terrific job given all the problems already outlined.

I do wonder, though, whether many of his qualities would readily transfer to another club. Here, he's built on his familiarity with the existing youth setup, and the fact that he's a Wiganer through and through. He knows intimately the strengths and weaknesses of his existing squad, how they best fit into the system and how best to motivate them. I'm not sure he'd have the same success, at least not straight away, with a bunch of strangers.

I hope he stays for a good few years yet.

The other issue is, if he has - as some people say - communication issues, won't those become even more apparent in a foreign land where the accents and culture are radically different?

Don't think it would be the best move for him. Or for us.

I think given how well he's doing with our youth a club like New Zealand Warriors would be ideal for him, incredible potential there being wasted by Elliot.

We have not won a major trophy yet under Wane. Hence why he has put himself 'into the shop window...'


And also why he might not get another contract from Mr Lenegan.

It is expected that he/we, will lift a trophy. That is why 'Nobby' was sacked.

It is no good bragging, when we have become a second second class competition and with all the defections 'downunder', we are getting weaker all the time.

We will see the standard of our game come Autumn.

IMHO our standards have fallen. And that is why 'Sam' will go to pastures new.

The UK game has NOT fought to keep Sam.

I do agree that the game has major problems, which is why I'm glad to see a major structural review in progress, though I fear that is a little like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

But it frustrates me to increasingly see this opinion that 'Shaun Wane is only winning each week because the rest of the competition is so dire'. That's a very contrived and spurious position to take, IMO. We could just as easily apply it to the time when Madge was in charge - that was only two years ago. Wane can only beat what's in front of him, and in most cases he does that very convincingly. I agree that he really needs to claim some major silverware now, but it's wrong to keep dissing the guy before this year's main cup competitions have even got going.

Shaun Wane will appeal to the NZW due to him getting Wigan to the top of the league and keeping them there. He has lost senior players, replaced them and still Wigan are top of the League.
His pack is now very big and will get bigger when A Powell joins the club. They are also aggressive without being illdisciplined yet skillful. Wigan has a good youth structure yet is nothing compared to number of players available in NZ.
It won't have gone un noticed either that his team are playing very fast, skillfull, entertaining and best of all winning Rugby.
After SW's comments about having the desire to coach in the NRL I'm sure a guy as smart as Shaun won't have come out with all that if it wasn't already a done deal. NZW are joint bottom of the NRL and the chances of Elliot being there next years are probably minus zero.
If he goes good luck and good fortune to him.

Would be very shocked if that happened, has gone on record numerous times saying he is 'a control freak' and in this months Forty-Twenty said he hated being an assistant coach to Maguire.

That would surely be Mal Reilly, When he successfully coached the Newcastle Knights to the ARL GF final trophy in 1997, i think he coached them from 1995 to 1998

I have read his interview in 40/20 and it was a very good read and he does say that he is a control freak and I would therefor be very surprised if Wane left Wigan to accept an assistant coaches role in the NRL, But if he did how would that portray the Wigan club as being one of the worlds biggest clubs?

As there are only 16 head coaching jobs available in the NRL i believe that he would find one hard to come by although it's not an impossibility, very interesting times ahead

They may have noticed all that (apart from being top of the league which they won't care about) but to give him a head coaches role on the back of 18 months as a first grade coach here would be a shock. What they will also have noticed is we didn't win anything of note last year losing two games in the CC and play-offs where arguably his selections were a big factor.

He is an unproven coach and while we are top of the league what will show us how good he is (and how good our team is) is what happens in this next half of the season. While as Cruncher says he can only play what is in front of him its still a fact most of it is rubbish and that can't be lost on the NZ'ers either.



As I said it would be a shock for such an inexperienced coach to get a head coaches job in the NRL but if he does go then even if he picks a trophy up this year he won't have proved himself as a great Wigan coach like Monie and I always thought he wanted to do that. To bail out so soon would seem very strange.

Maybe IL has already told him he's off!

I can't believe that this is a thread at all.

Shaun Wane is Wigan through and through and will not be going anywhere unless pushed. He has confounded his critics this season and is producing a side that has played superb rugby. Finch, Lulu, Lima, George and Hock have NOT been missed at all. He has conjured up a developing half back combination that whilst not exactly Gregory and Edwards is functioning pretty well. Faz has become a world class performer and Thornley is looking better every game. The young forwards have confounded everyone's expectations. I'm so impressed with Scott Taylor and Ben Flower and on Sunday he could even afford to spell Gil Dudson who has been exceptional. Added to that is my vote for young player of the year Greg Burke, who is a future GB captain never mind Wigan.

We may not even win anything this year, although I believe that Leeds and Warrington are weaker than last year. I think Huddersfield have a formidable pack and probably the best kicking half back in Super League at the moment and could be our strongest challengers. Shaun is building a dynasty at Wigan that will last for a long time.

No more talk of the NRL. He is here to stay for a good few years yet.

Conveniently ignoring that they beat Catalans (4th), us (1st) and Warrington (2nd) in consecutive weeks in knock out games. IMO Leeds would have won last year under any play off system, and I think a champion team should be the one that beats the best in all or nothing games, not the one that is best at beating poor opposition week after week.


It makes absolute sense under this system. The problem is Noble's teams didn't manage to peak at the end of the season like Leeds do, they got beat in the semis. Having said that I think of Noble very highly, he took us from being nailed-on for relegation halfway through '06 to semi finals in '07-'09. We were only 4 points off the final too in the latter two seasons. Do others really have such a poor view of him?

And aren't you conveniently forgetting that whilst Leeds had a warm up game at home to wakey Catalan had all the fight smashed out of them at the DW. Just reward for being a better league team than Leeds?

Swings and roundabouts. We easily mauled Les Cats at home, had a week off, then still got beat by Leeds who had beat Wakey then won a real tough close game away at Les Cats back to back in the same time. The only way Leeds wouldn't have won the league last year is if there were no form of play offs at all. They won the big knock out games against the top teams three weeks in a row, which is what it would always come down to.