I know a lot of people have been talking about our possible new coach and this isn’t intended to be a do you think Noble should stay or go topic btw.

I keep hearing people say however that the Wigan coach’s job is now a poisoned chalice and any sensible coach should stay well clear or else they could end up with the same fate as Millward has had.

I’d love to know what other people thought about the head coaching role at Wigan. Is it all doom and gloom and will no one ever succeed again in THE hot seat of British RL? Certainly the fans expect the highest standards week in week out and aren’t the most patient bunch of people when things aren’t going right but are things really as bad as what some will have us believe? It’s a pressure job certainly but not an impossible task surely?

Imo I’d say the Wigan job would be the best one to go for if all the coaches jobs in SL were up for grabs. Look at the other teams in SL-

-Saints are at the top at the moment but are very close to heading into a transition period with aging players on the out and a new stadium on it’s way. Wigan have proved in the past how hard this period can be.
-If any coach was to go to Leeds they will find again a good team but will have to live with the expectation of running back to back SL champions which is never easy. Add to that the likes of Peacock, Lauiti, Leuleui & Senior are getting on it’s not all as straight forward as it seems.
-Bradford aren’t the power they once were and Wire have a good team waiting to bust out but you may have to ask questions if they could ever maintain success if they achieve it with the junior set ups they have. Clubs like Wigan, Leeds and Bradford all based their successes on producing new players like Radders, Faz, Cunningham, Graham, Wellens, Fielden, Peacock, Deacon, Burrow, McGuire etc. Have Warrington ever produced anyone as good as the above mentioned players?

Yes the Wigan job has major drawbacks which I mentioned at the start but when you look at it closely it’s an opportunity for someone with a big set of balls to achieve something special.

The current Wigan squad is far from perfect but one thing it certainly has imo is untapped talent. Every player in the current Wigan squad from Fielden and Riddell to Richards and Leuleui and everyone in between could play better than they have this season. A coach that can get that extra 10% out of the players and give them some organisation would see an instant improvement imo as most of the games we’ve lost this season have been by one or two tries and we’ve always been in contention. This is a small margin to change and a new coach could see an instant improvement on current table standings.

If you were to add a new leader prop into the squad and a organising HB again we’d see a marked improvement from what we’ve already got. They don’t have to be superstars sometimes and if you look at players available at the start of this season Fozzard and Dobson were both available but we didn’t have the thought or want to snap them up. Fozzard and Dobbo are what we currently need and have done so for a while but we didn’t go for them??

We’ve currently got some good youngsters in the team on par with any other kids we’ve brought through in the last twenty years-Ainscough and Sam are magnificent talents and players like Joel, O’Carroll, Mossop & Farrell all have the potential for great things. Add to that our reserves are about to go a YEAR without being beaten means we’ve got the talent coming through.

Also the facilities are 2nd to none for any coach to work with and if he had his own team of conditioners, trainers, coaches and dieticians etc they could have a field day with it.

All in all if a forward thinking coach with some drive and fresh ideas ever wanted a challenge where the possibilities were limitless then the Wigan job is crying out for them.

Sorry for the long post btw but all the doom and gloom is needless sometimes.

I must say I agree with what you say.

I do not think the job is all doom and gloom, it is the highest pressure job in rugby league IMO with such high expectations due to our former glories.

We are slightly like Newcastle United I guess.

I just think a time needs to come sooner rather than later when we have a massive change in something, when in a situation like this just one change can do everything for a club like Smith has done at Warrington. I am not saying we should get a new coach but we need change of something, players, staff, mentality, who knows.

What we cannot do is just keep plodding along and assume we will win something eventually just because we are Wigan RL.

I remember Noble when he took over saying how the job had become seen as abit of a poisened chalice within the game yet he knew that because it was such a challenge it meant that if he could achieve success it would make it all the sweeter.

The demands are high but at the end of the day a coach taking over here has plenty of advantages like-

Being able to spend up to the Full cap

The best training facilities in world rugby League

The best u21 and u18's teams in the league

A good squad of players(even though they do need wipping into shape)

A regular 13-14k+ backing from supporters

A club name that can still attract some of the best players in the game

It needs a strong person to take over but only somebody weak minded would see this job as too big a challenge.

For all those reasons we can still be optimistic for future seasons.
For all those reasons we are still a bigger club than warrington, not even mentioning our previous success

like you say it needs someone with big balls who knows how to get the best out of our current or future squad.

For sure, whatever Nobles methods are at getting the best out of players, with our current crop, he has failed. Barring a couple of the newer players coming from the junior set up, the rest including some big names are coasting, and should be putting in better performances on a regular basis than they have done this season.

I thought the speculated triumvirate of Kearney/Farrel/Pongia would be a good start at putting it straight, but maybe we need to look further afield now.

What we need is someone who is prepared to rule with an iron rod, using spells in the reserves and on loan as possible options for those terminally underperforming............ the phrase "Stuart, you are off to the lobby's on loan for a month" is never likely to come from Nobby's lips is it.

For the Manager who comes to Wigan and turns the situation around to the point where we go from dross to world champions there will be great kudos, for anyone else coming in who hasn't the ability to do this, like you say, it's a poison chalice

I don't think its a poisoned chalice.

I think this squad is capable of more than it has delivered under Noble. Not necessarily winning the GF but certainly far more consistent and thus ending higher up the league than it is likely to.

If I am right then I am sure any perspective new coaches can see the potential as well.

Whoever they are they need to read Rads book and re-instill some of the ethos he goes on about that has gone. That would go a long way to getting more out of the current squad.

It is any coach who could not do that which ought to view this job as a poisoned chalice because unless they can sort that aspect of this club out they won't be any more successful than Noble IMO

Dave

For all these reasons, I think it's a highly attractive job. But it's certainly been responsible for sorting out the men from the boys in recent years. Millward abjectly failed. Noble has more or less failed, though I suppose he's still got time to change the way history will view him.

Prior to that, only ill-health prevented Greg from rising fully to the challenge, while coaches like Endacott and Raper, who were pretty good, were lost to us prematurely by Whelan's impatient nature.

Prior to that, other nobodies got found out at Wigan - John Dorahy, Andy Goodway (as a coach, not a player).

The last really successful coaches we had were Monie and Lowe, who were totally full of NRL know-how, but also were excellent at discipline and man-management.

I'm quite pleased that this is the school of coaching we again seem to be examining.

quote... Clubs like Wigan, Leeds and Bradford all based their successes on producing new players like Radders, Faz, Cunningham, Graham, Wellens, Fielden, Peacock, Deacon, Burrow, McGuire etc. Have Warrington ever produced anyone as good as the above mentioned players?


Yes..Harris , Newton, Sculthorpe

I think we need at least one of these on our coaching staff.

Farrell
Radlinski
Edwards
Hanley

They all no what it takes to be part of a top team and will all be able to see the difference of the Wigan of a few years back and now, as Radlinski talks about in his book.

The most realistic would surely be Hanley or Radderz.

Got me there with that one.

I thought Harris was and Oldham product for some reason

Thing is all the other players above were kept by Wigan, Leeds, saints and Bradford for many years.

I think the most realistic coaching option at the minute would seem to be Adrian Lam and if he were to take over i'd imagine we'll find Rads moved higher up the coaching setup and possibly a job somewhere for Farrell dependant on what he's upto in Union.

If nothing else those lads would have the respect of everybody involved with Wigan Rugby league.

I think there we have to differ. In a very big way.

While these three know the Wigan culture, none have been adequately tested as coaches. There may be room for them at assistant level, but the new boss needs to be someone who really knows what he's doing.

Would Lam demand the same respect as Hanley/Farrell/Rads?? Plus he's still finding his feet as a coach.

I'm not advocating Lam as the best option for us but simply the most realistic. There seems to be a lack of experienced head coaches about of the right quality and that would actually come to us at the minute so we may have to take a punt on somebody like Lam.

Like i said he would have the head start on a few candidates in the fact that he has such respect from everybody around these parts and that could only help him,

Did you say Fielden? Enough said

I agree. Rads may well be able to identify a problem but it does not mean he is equipped with the man management skills to sort it out.

Dean Bell was one of the best and most dedicated pros I have ever seen but he was largely a failure as a coach and you could not say he was not well aware of the "Wigan way".

Lam is as you say inexperienced and as such we done't have any idea if he can instil the sort of discipline we seem to lack.

Dave

In an ideal world we would just bust the bank to get Edwards back at the club. We need someone like him in charge who has that certain aura about them, which commands the respect of the players.

Monie had it when he was in charge. Radders mentions in his book that Monie didn't say much, but then again didn't have to.

I'm led to believe he's turned us down also.

Without going off topic of who we want to sign Edwards ticks all the boxes imo.

-Respected character
-Driven
-New Ideas
-Man of action and few words (as Monie was apparently)
-Wigan born and bred and would bleed Cherry and White if in the position
-Can shoulder the pressure of ‘Wigan’
-No nonsense and strives for perfection in all aspects of life.

Would be utterly stupid to not at least put a mega star offer on his table regardless of if we think he’d accept or not.3

If you don’t try you will never succeed.

On side note could you imagine Edwards first session with some of our guys!!

You say it all really but he ticks one other box. The fans would be more patient with him. Edwards would be ideal but I just do not see untill around 15 years time maybe.

Some good positives there.
We definitely need a brilliant coach who can take us into the 'summer' era because Wigan still play 'winter' rugby.
Even though Saints are in a trasitional period, I feel that they will always be successful because of the style of rugby they play. Apart from new moves, they haven't changed their style in the 50 years I've been watching them.

??????

50 years they haven't changed their style? Wigan still play winter rugby?

This is the most bizarre post I've ever read.

I've always enjoyed the 'up the jumper' style used by Ken Gee and John Barton myself !!

Edwards would be fantsatic, people say he will be on a fortune at Wasps but coachs don't count on the cap same can be said for Farrell so why can't we afford them?

Both will be finiancially stable for the rest of their lives and could make a career in either code if things didn't work out for them at Wigan not that they wouldn't work out I honestly think with Edwards as Head Coach, Farrell as Assistant and maybe get John Monie/David Waite as a sort of advisor to Edwards if he requires it.

With Edwards and Farrell as coaches there is no reason we cant make offers for Wigan lads who don't play for Wigan anymore and would bite our hands off if given the oppurtunity to come back and play under Edwards and Farrell e.g. Briscoe, Wild, Newton, PJ on a low wage etc.

We aren't the Newcatle United of Rugby League we are the Real Madrid/ Manchester United.

Its Warrington who are the Newcastle/Man City of RL.