LOL.
They're losing Hastings, Gildart and potentially Hardaker and they're somehow signing players that are worse. Thornley hahaha. They will be reliant on the two props being good, but they have very little NRL experience so they could either be under tha radar signings or be poor. Apparently they're signing Jacob Miller too, who is a downgrade on Hastings. They will be desperate for French to come back fully fit and over his hamstring injury to provide any kind of spark.
If they have Winder as their coach it is the cheap option.
This is like the KC era for us, they're signing average players and go for the cheaper options. Good times
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
And yet Wigan finished 4th! What does that say about the state of the competition?
They have used a huge amount of money on a second row in Bateman. He will never be a loose forward so is very limited in his involvement. He & Farrell are well past their best, Isa never had a best.
They get very little from hooker & their best option, Powell has yet to sign an extension. Their young hooker is going to Salford, hopefully they will stick with Shorrocks.
The young forward clones are just that, clones of a hard working basic forward, in Partington's case prone to amazing brain farts. Who knows what the 2 incoming props will bring ?
If they are relying on a headless chicken of French, they are in real trouble. I don't bag young players but Harry Smith doesn't look anywhere near good enough yet, despite Phil Clarke's best efforts. Jai Field doesn't look as though he enjoys contact & the rumour of Jacob Miller fills me with joy. Their half backs look a complete bust again.
I do think that Hatdaker tries his hardest every game & looks their most dangerous player but they made a huge mistake in letting Ratboy go to get him.
If Wane goes back as Director of Rugby, the head coach's job will be a poison chalice, he won't be able to keep his oar out. Lee Briers could be well advised to stay away, it could get fraught next season & even an assistant coach can get tainted.
Williams could see the writing on the wall & a big pay cheque from Wire made his decision easier.
Jacob Miller?!
In fairness he's probably an upgrade on Harry Smith but not by much.
Wigan don’t have a front row. That’s their main problem, from what I can see. They have a bunch of young lads who each would be fine as your 4th choice prop, but making a whole front row out of those players and Singleton is asking for trouble. They’ve signed two aussie props whom nobody has heard of, so it’ll be interesting to see how that pans out next year.
What a terrible game. Wigan played like they were desperate for the season to end, which no doubt they were. Their reliance on immature (ie not fully developed) props has played a large part in their demise. They have probably ruined a few players in that process. I think KPP will be a very effective player in the future, surprisingly strong for such a “leggy” player.
I don’t think young Smith can be judged on this season, playing behind that pack and with a very dominant partner in Hastings.
Having said all that a decent coach could probably have got a bit more from them, look what Wane did on the back of 1 attacking move!
I’ll be amazed if they finish 4th or higher next season without significant spending, the and I can’t see that happening either.
A final thought, I raised how ineffective Bateman has been and someone made the point that it could be the after effects of Covid. I hadn’t actually thought about that affecting players performance but I guess it will in a proportion.
Wigan have slipped back drastically from last season, bateman has been very poor
They can't be as bad next year , well hopefully they can
They need to sort that pack out. Until they do that, they can forget it
Bateman has signed up for another year.
Wigan playing an appalling brand of "non rugby" and Leeds were determined to drop the ball, pass it forward or generally mess up at every important phase of play. At least Leeds were putting some plays on. Wigan were merely five drives and a kick, KC style. Only thing worse than the game was the SKY Muppets continually bigging up the "armwrestle". I don't think many people (except maybe in the USA) would pay to watch "armwrestling". To continually advertise the sport as an "armwrestle" may well be an accurate description of the boring dross these two served up, but it doesn't need to be pointed out and it doesn't help market the game. Then either Waldorf or Statler said a couple of times that "it doesn't have to be entertaining" and "they dont have to be enjoying themselves, it's about winning" (I'm paraphrasing the second "quote!.). I mean I know we've had endless hours of fun on this site with the "free flowing Harlem Globetrotters Saints style" versus the "Stonewall Jackson great defence crash over from five yards Saints pragmatic style" but with us it's all relative. We've seen both styles from Saints this season, employing either when required. That grabage last night was two teams who literally couldn't play any other style or indeed, or play any better than they did. To sell ita as "not entertainment" and to suggest players shouldn't enjoy it is beyond the pale from ex professionals. An appalling indictment of where the game is going from the people supposedly trying to sell it. On that display last night we don't need telling what we can see with our eyes! As for Pie eating fans leaving before the end, on the last game of the season at home? Unforgivable! fans? Nah, don't think so. Ancient and Foiled!
when you look at their pack, with Bullock & Singleton their best props it shows what a terrible state they have got themselves into. Kyle Amor and Joel Thompson would be their 2 best forwards if they were playing for them.
"If you're going to strive for a change then you have to keep going upwards,"
Keiron Cunningham, 2016
Bullock is going to wire as well isn't he ? Two unknowns coming in to carry the weight of expectation. If they don't start well, it could get a bit fraught at the pie dome. They lack a class hooker & a class half back as well. Gildart on his way to Wests so a centre short to add to their problems.
Happy days
I don't get the criticism of Bateman last night. He made more metres than any other forward (on either side), made forty tackles and five tackle busts (only Hardaker with ten on either side made more)
Only conceding eight points should be enough to win a game, but the attack is so blunt at the moment and teams know if they shut Hastings down Wigan struggle, we have really missed Bevan French as he could provide that spark and individual brilliance.
Harry Smith is getting a lot of criticism from Wigan fans but for me he's done o.k. considering he was meant to be a bench player this year. His match stats are pretty good for a young half, most attacking kicks up there for try assists. IF we can get the pack sorted out he'll be fine.
The biggest mistake we made was letting Tom Davies go.
Imagine seeing your props making 72m (Singleton), 47m (Partington), 55m (Byrne) and 73m (Havard) against a team as weak as Leeds and thinking your biggest mistake was the wrong winger. Jesus wept.
And it's no use Smith making a billion attacking kicks if they're all garbage - like they were from both him and Hastings.
FWIW I still think Smith has plenty of potential but he's been thrown under the bus by Lam putting so much pressure on him, your senior players not pulling their weight and Radlinkski/Leneghan's awful recruitment in the forwards.
To put that in perspective when Walmsley played Leeds he mustered 274 metres against Leeds about 20 metres more than the full total of Singleton-Partington-Byrne-Havard.
Smith is shot with his confidence, just doesn’t seem a good fit with any half back partner this season. If he is going to be paired with Field next season I can only see more of the same.
That Wigoons team looks very unbalanced and looks more of a struggle for next season.