I always sense most people like Byrne bar the odd one or two. The sort who loved ripping in to him after the Hull cup game last season for one poor performance, even though for the first couple of months of the season he’d been probably our best prop.

I do agree with Wane here though. I watch Byrne and sometimes I just wish he’d let the handbrake go and really push himself to the limit. It’s not a criticism but more of a compliment, that whilst he’s still a good player as is, I think he’s got so much more in him. It’s all about mentality for these lads like Byrne and Havard. They have advantages physically that somebody like Partington doesn’t but do they have the drive and the fire to push on? One thing is for sure, Wane and Peet will do their upmost to drag it from them.

Perhaps I chose my words badly.
Maybe I should have said a much better player resides inside him.

Like yourself, of the current crop of youngsters I think that Byrne could be the best of them. I’ve only seen Nicholson once but wouldn’t be surprised if he ultimately could be the best youngster we’ve brought through the ranks in a generation.

I said in a previous post I think SW is probably using a bit of reverse psychology with Byrne. After watching the interview I’m even more convinced there is a few mind games going on.

Yip
What a career he's had with no coaching/man management skills

Anyone who thinks Wane is nothing more than a shouts at players bully really hasn't got a clue.

I'm a big Liam Byrne fan, any prop that can play open age at sixteen years of age has something about him. The first time I really saw him was in the Capital Challenge game down in London. His first carry was manic.

As others have said we forget how young he still is especially for a prop forward, he along with a few others probably had to play too much without having a couple of old heads in the pack, I do wish we'd have signed Chrill Hill for a season or two.

Going to watch the Wane interview now, should be fun.

Just finished watching that Wane interview, you get the impression that he wasn't happy with the discipline around the dressing room last season, timekeeping was continually referenced.

Bevan obviously should stay home as long as necessary - some things more important than throwing a rugby ball about. Sounds like his mum might be receiving end of life care so not sure how anyone would expect him to be back in those circumstances. I'm sure he'll be back in a Wigan shirt at some point.

You only have to listen to the podcasts he has been on to get the measure of the man. I have the upmost respect for him and his methods. Some of the things he says is worth a listen to any leader/manager and a lot of what he says I take into my job.

I have no doubt whatsoever he will drive the culture change alongside Peet. I haven’t watched this yet, hoping to soon but I am really, really encouraged by recent events and I for one cannot wait to get the season underway!

I am also going to take back what I said re Bevan and needing to be back. The circumstances he is under are impossible, circumstances we weren’t really aware of and in all fairness have no divine right to know. Thoughts are with him and his family.

Loved Wane when he was coaching. Thought of him as a Wigan man who loved the club and would get the message through to the players that they had to run through a brick wall to win.

Since he’s left and he’s starting these feature length interviews (Out of your league podcast, the high performance podcast, take flight podcast) I’ve seen a different side of him.

The level of detail he has and his mindset in life is amazing. He has constant improvement. Make good better.

Throwing Noble under the bus for not trying to improve Lockers because he was a good player. He wouldn’t have it.

No wonder big businesses pay him to do talks. What a bloke.

So confident we will see an improved performance next year.

Mentioned Noble a couple of times didn’t he?! Sounded like he’s not a fan.

Is it enough nowadays?

He’s worked wonders in the past, especially 2018 but with a much better pool of players and leaders on the pitch (EG OLauchlin) but it will take some building/rebuilding to be anywhere near 2018 levels when Wigan did a Leeds and turned it on for exactly the right few games at the end of the season and won it.

Genuinely want to see Wigan improve, both in results and performance to push the top teams but going back to Wane (especially when most in this forum wanted him out and weren’t enjoying watching the anti-rugby and wrestle) seems like a backward step.

For the love of the game, there needs to be a step up in skill and play, and Wane’s cry for “intensity” doesn’t sound like a step forward and upward to me.

As I said, if teams don’t improve and challenge the top teams, those teams don’t need to play as well and it’s a race to the bottom.

No-one wants to see St Helens cantering to easy trophies every season, even Saints fans! Everyone wants to see a ding-dong challenge on Good Friday and in the Grand Final or CC….


A victory hard fought tastes sweeter than a walkover.

I take it you don't get sarcasm???

The myth that shaun Wane is a coach who only screams at players to get the best out of them is that, an absolute myth

So no, it isn't enough, it hadn't been for 30plus years
But shaun Wane is far more than that

I hear Wane walked in to the training ground Monday and screamed ‘Fu*king smash everyone’ and walked out. He’s off now until the first league game, when he’s scheduled to go in the changing room just before kick off and shout the same.

While we was poor last year the interview gives some indications to why and how it will be fixed.
The other thing while some may think we have miles to improve to be competitive I don't think we do.
We finished top and came within a bounce of winning the GF in 20 and despite the now obvious drop in standards off field still got to playoffs 21.
It won't be to difficult to improve in many areas I'm optimistic and willing to give the team a fair chance.

Loved his reference to THEM.

I do wonder what those who were glad to see the back of Wane are currently thinking....

Its sounds like he is really making Lee Briers sound welcome .......

That would be me.

It's easy to rewrite history, especially after such a low point under our last fraud of a coach, but let's not make out that Wane was some kind of Bellamy super coach.

I've discussed this plenty of times before and admitted that I enjoyed the success he brought us, but there was also a lot that wasn't right too. Ultimately, a coach is there to win trophies and Wane was excellent at that, but for all his talk about "standards", I've seen plenty of regular season games under Wane i.e not one off matches, where it looked like the lads simply couldn't be d. You'd then get almost Lam levels of "training will be hard this week" comments etc.

Personally, I hope Peet brings that week to week consistency that Wane didn't really have.

Do you think Peet will really be in charge of the team or do you thing it will be Wane doing it all…?

The fact that anybody is even thinking about it Is not a great position for an incoming coach to be in with a previous (and successful) coach breathing over your shoulder.

But having said all that I think Wane will bring a short-term improvement immediately but the playing personnel aren’t good enough to challenge for trophies IMHO…. I still see you in the top 4 though, there’s definitely at least 6 teams worse than you.






Not like you to be obsessed with St Helens. You seem to spend more time over there than a lot of their fans, and what kind of grown man has a sig like yours?

He’ll demand that by shouting at them a lot

he didnt come across as a shouter more a straight talker

I can imagine he’s so wound up about St Helens success since he left that he can’t NOT shout at anything…..

At least you know he won’t nearly cry in front of the cameras like Lam did.

You can't re-write history!

Well said Juke. Waney epitomises what the club should be all about.

It's a well known fact that during the Maguire years that despite first impressions SW had a calming but focused effect on the players in the dressing room. Yet the publicly calm Maguire was the one giving the players the hairdryer treatment behind the scenes if things weren't going their way.

Well you can certainly change how you perceive it.

Many posters on here are quick to jump on others when they talk about the 80's & 90's at Wigan. Phrases like "rose tinted" are banded about to (rightly) remind people that it was rarely as black and white as they remember it being. But if you read the comments on here, Wane has suddenly developed into some kinda super Churchillian coach. He isn't and never was.

A lot of people, myself included, were happy to see him move on. I'm now ok to see him back, but I hope his new remit is one that plays to his strengths and that the management of the side is firmly left to others.