It isn't just Madge. Its SW and the fitness side that are playing a big part in this. The whole culture of the club needed to change and whether you say its a new culture under Madge or a return to the old Wigan standards epitomised by SW, things have changed at Wigan. It is fantastic. The rest of RL is worried and they are right to be worried - Wigan is rising again and the club that sits on the greatest hotbed of rugby talent in the world is actually well placed under the SC system (though I still hate it - you won't see me doing about an about face like the scousers a few weeks ago when Hull thrashed them calling on their board for the SC to be raised massively so that they could bolster their ageing squad with expensive recruits (you couldn't make it up!

) - and I'm sure the RL mafia will try to move the goalposts once we starting winning trophies again!)

Totally agree.

Players got away with murder under noble and it looks like mm aint taking any **** and backs up what he means and it's good to see

Last season we were third highest try scores in Superleague and our wingers were (combined) top try scorers.
The five drives and a kick is myth.

However, we do seem to be quicker moving the ball this season and it's good to watch.

I'm not a pessimist, but will wait until after Easter when the league has settled a little before getting over optimistic. but so far so good.
8.5 / 10

oh rogues thats a mean score it a deffo 8.9 from me

MM seems to have brought the winning mentality and the attitude of a winner with him and instilled that into the squad. Apparently he was non too pleased about the 2 late tries we conceded last night when the players got back in the changing room. It would be very easy to pat everyone on the back and congratulate them for a sterling win but the performance wasn't up to what he expects so they got it off him, good to see and something thats been missing at our club since the days of Lowe and then Monie.

Its a 8/10 from me because although our defensive pattern is good I think we are conceding too many points overall and may come unstuck against the likes of Saints and Leeds.

We have changed our style

Smith has added a new dimension to our attack for us this season we offload alot more hes getting our players play off the cuff more not seen us play like that.

The Warrington offloads nearly did for us in that first half at the Haliwell Jones.

It was a real clash of styles that Wigan and Wire game. I thought on one side(Wire) you had a team that looked like they want to be the new St Helens and by that I mean keeping the ball alive and playing entertaining off the cuff rugby and on the other hand you had a team(Wigan) that look very professional and well drilled both in attack and defence. We're also good to watch with the ball but in a more structured way.

It's early days but i'd be suprised if both sides aren't top 4 come the end of the season.

Well you know what they say about statistics. You can argue the toss all day over whether the stats mean it was five drives and kick or not but the fact is the style of Rugby played under Noble for three seasons never mind last year was just downright poor for the majority of the time. That's not a myth.

I dread to think it would have been like had we not had Barrett when we did.



There is A LOT more too it then being quicker to move the ball wide. The attack has been transformed with things like a staggered attacking line and players like Roberts having the confidence to take players on and players like Sam having the inclination to try stuff like chips over the top.

The notion I see developing in this thread that Wigan can now do the things we tried to do under Noble simply because the team is fitter is way off the mark IMO.

Dave

No point in auguring with you DaveO as you think your right all the time. Its just most of us on here know better

Yet another "disagree with me and you're wrong" post from Dave!

I think the point about statistics is a good one.

They seemed to be used an awfull lot to try and prove a point about players but they don't tell you everything.

Stuart Rapers comments about statistics when he was at Wigan are correct.

In our game against Crusaders there were times I thought we played in attack abit like Saints, be interesting to see how we play against Bradford tonight.

But the players are stepping up the stats prove it.

Paul Wood

2009 games 21 offloads 15
2010 games 5 offloads 15

To be fair, there are a few on here with that 'attitude'.

One stat hardly proves anything.

I would agree you have improved massively but to say you are playing like saints would suggest to me their running style. Are you playing really deep with loads of dummy runners?

Very much like the current NRL style, (obviously from Maguires up to date experience) Deep attacking lines and spreading the ball wide quickly with dummy runners. Thats how Australia always seem to kill us in attack in internationals.

All of us fans spoke for years about how the mentality and work ethic at the club wasn't right, and by addressing that we've been able to take a giant leap forward in the way a Wigan team takes to the field.

For me I always though we'd have a brilliant coaching team in McGuire and Wane, on the one hand we have a coach who comes over with the most up to date techniques and methods, and on the other a former player who recognizes what at the club need's to change to once again allow us to challenge at the top.

I was personally ready to right this season off in some respects purely because I thought we were lacking in certain areas, however the coaching staff have remedied those weak spots, and I honestly believe were on the way to something good in the short and longterm.

I remember going to Barrow in the cup last year and saying to may mate, "Even Barrow play better rugby than Wigan."

I don't see how anyone can argue with that, despite Noble defenders attempting to on this thread.





The style of rugby was poor, end of story.

I think it proves what he said about them playing off the cuff rugby and an offloading game doesn't it?

When a guy makes the same amount of offloads in 5 games as he did in the whole of the season before that to me says he's under instruction to keep the ball alive. Like them or Loathe them Wire are playing some super stuff this year and i'm enjoying watching them.

I shall be cheering the Bulls on after mind

NickyKiss answered that pretty well.

Second bit I wouldn't say we are playing like Saints in that way more in the way of keeping the ball alive offloading in the tackle etc.

I agree entirely. Amos Roberts stated in the match day programme that Madge has allowed him to come in field and play his game more rather then being stuck on the wing and being one dimensional. He also went on to say how important a good start was and how just playing at the end of the season wasn't good enough. I think that speaks volumes about the differences with the two coaches. Players have to be professional in what they say, but that was the clearest indication on how they must all be feeling about the two coaches. Have you ever seen Stuart Fielden look so happy?

That team last night was exactly the same team Brian Noble had whilst at Wigan (Deacon didn't play). What we saw was a dominant performance and a team playing with plenty of confidence and enthusiasm. We were much more clinical, inventive and thorough in our attack. Players knew where to be. We have even started to use the prop forwards in our attack close to the line! Last year we had players who would get the ball and then just stop and get closed down. We were too slow and too flat. MaGuire has made a massive change to the team and the way we play our game. Yes, the fitness of the players has played an important part to the way the team is performing, but Brian Noble could have changed things around had he wanted to.What was stopping him? Ian Lenagan publically disagreed with Noble after the St.helens match when BN came out with ficticious rubbish about 'the rugby gods weren't with us'. The 'rugby gods' don't exist and that was an awful analogy of the game and it was a frequent occurence of Brian Noble who used the same cliches all the time regarding our performances - 'bad day in the office' - and all that garbage. Lenagan was right when he said this team could do a whole lot better and so far he has been proven correct. He also publically criticised the condition of the players and said they needed to be a whole lot fitter and he was correct.

I stay quiet on this issue most of the time because either way it doesn't matter. I am just pleased to see us playing fantastic rugby and doing so well, but at times it irritates me how people bizarrely cannot see the difference in the two sides (or at least choose to ignore it) and what a monumental difference the coaching staff have made to the team. People who don't agree with their views or support their agendas get slated by the collective clique on this board and it is ridiculous. DaveO gets ridiculed if people don't agree with his views and yet people on this board are as bad if not worse!

Got to agree there Dave. The difference is WAY too marked to be attributed soley to fitness.

Really? Still following the thread are we?



Turning the debate personal is always a sure sign of a lost argument.



Some free advice for you. Next time wait for the bandwagon to start rolling before you jump on.



Honestly, to the pair of you picking on a post of mine that basically said the brand of Rugby played under Noble was poor despite the stats and improved fitness wasn't the only reason for the difference in order to have a go at me wasn't a smart move was it?

I am sure I will give you plenty of better ammunition than that during the course of the season



Dave