11 replies to this topic

[Wendall]

Watching the Time of Our Lives show about Wigan which featured on Sky Sports last week with Hanley, Offiah and Edwards and just listening to their attitude and appetite for winning big games got me thinking how professional they are even compared to their modern day counterparts.

Even though Wigan were the only full time outfit of the time and could poach the best from RL and RU I think the special group of players still tops anything in SL at the moment. How many SL stars could go out on the weekend to a club and not drink?

For me the Wigan team of that generation wins hands down.

[Mumby Magic]

Who says they didn't drink? They were professional against amateurs practically every week. They had a classic line up with legendary stars but who were their competiton for signing the big names? Don't get me wrong I enjoyed watching them and the classic moments, players and tries but todays attitude and professionalism of most clubs far outways that of Wigan's "back in the day". Gregory and Edwards both liked a pint I can 100% assure you maybe Offiah and Hanley didn't but you're not telling me Gene Miles, Kelvin Skerrett, Shaun Wane et al were all shandy drinkers!

[Padge]

Even the semi-pro players in that "fully professional" team were extremely professional in their attitude.

They were fully professional in attitude even if not in employment by the club.

[Padge]

They were professional against amateurs practically every week.

that's bollards.

Edited by Padge, 07 October 2010 - 07:48 PM.

[Mumby Magic]

that's bollards.

Sorry semi-professionals I meant!! Only Leeds were near full time.

[Cherry and White]

Did Leeds not go full time first?

a question always asked when this subject comes up. Too much booze supped since that period for me to remember.

[giwildgo]

Even the semi-pro players in that "fully professional" team were extremely professional in their attitude.

They were fully professional in attitude even if not in employment by the club.

How many times will one of us Wigan fans have to correct the bitter historical rewrites about the late 80s / 90s, its been done to the point of tedium, but the same old made up lies keep being repeated ad nauseum.

I find it incredibly disrespectful to both the Wigan players and the other players of the time that this Harlem Globetrotters style professional super team fabrication is repeatedly trawled out as the truth. Four of the eight league titles (1989-90, 1990-91, 1992-93 and 1993-94) were won by Wigan in that period by the same or less points than Wigan won the league leadership in 2010 (4 points), including the latter two being on points difference. Wigan played a game less in the league at the time (until 93-94 - 30 games there onwards) and only managed to lose less games than in 2010 (5) on four occasions (1986-87 - 2, 1990-91 - 4, 1991-92 - 4, 1994-95 - 2) excluding the short 1995 season (20 games - 2 defeats).

So much for a one team dominance resulting from an advantage and lack of competition by Wigan buying all the best players. If that was the case I must have imagined that the talents of Davies, Ward, Schofield, Fox, Newlove, Noble, Crooks, Myler, Sorensen, Martyn, Joynt, Cunningham, Mike Gregory, etc, never played for Wigan, but were all around in the league during some of that period. I also must have imagined that Leeds bought the likes of Hanley, Goodway and Gregory during the early 90s from Wigan and didn't all substantially overlap with the Offiah, Robinson, Tuigamala, era.

Edited by giwildgo, 07 October 2010 - 08:23 PM.

[Mumby Magic]

How many times will one of us Wigan fans have to correct the bitter historical rewrites about the late 80s / 90s, its been done to the point of tedium, but the same old made up lies keep being repeated ad nauseum.

I find it incredibly disrespectful to both the Wigan players and the other players of the time that this Harlem Globetrotters style professional super team fabrication is repeatedly trawled out as the truth. Four of the eight league titles (1989-90, 1990-91, 1992-93 and 1993-94) were won by Wigan in that period by the same or less points than Wigan won the league leadership in 2010 (4 points), including the latter two being on points difference. Wigan played a game less in the league at the time (until 93-94 - 30 games there onwards) and only managed to lose less games than in 2010 (5) on three occasions (1990-91 - 4, 1991-92 - 4, 1994-95 - 2) excluding the short 1995 season (20 games - 2 defeats).

So much for a one team dominance resulting from an advantage and lack of competition by Wigan buying all the best players. If that was the case I must have imagined that the talents of Davies, Ward, Schofield, Fox, Newlove, Noble, Crooks, Myler, Sorensen, Martyn, Joynt, Cunningham, Mike Gregory, etc, never played for Wigan, but were all around in the league during some of that period. I also must have imagined that Leeds bought the likes of Hanley, Goodway and Gregory during the early 90s from Wigan.

All the best coaches then?

[giwildgo]

All the best coaches then?

I give up - its sad that I grew up watching RL during that period and remember the competitiveness / unpredictability of each game being similar to the modern day, something that others are so embittered that they choose to forget.

There were some very good teams of the time - the Hull sides of the mid 80s, the St. Helens nearly men of the late 80s / early 90s, Halifax in the late 80s, the league and world club championship winning Widnes team and others like Bradford / Warrington that were pipped at the post in the league and cup, not to mention the Leeds teams of the 90s that had as many stars as at Wigan but failed repeatedly and clubs such as Cas and Fev that gave Wigan frequent scares and the odd defeat.

Edited by giwildgo, 07 October 2010 - 08:30 PM.

[Mumby Magic]

I give up - its sad that I grew up watching RL during that period and remember the competitiveness / unpredictability of each game being similar to the modern day, something that others are so embittered that they choose to forget.

There were some very good teams of the time - the Hull sides of the mid 80s, the St. Helens nearly men of the late 80s / early 90s, Halifax in the late 80s, the league and world club championship winning Widnes team and others like Bradford / Warrington that were pipped at the post in the league and cup, not to mention the Leeds teams of the 90s that had as many stars as at Wigan but failed repeatedly and clubs such as Cas and Fev that gave Wigan frequent scares and the odd defeat.

Fair point, naive of me really despite watching the game for years. The case or examples you put forward are very good ones. Winning mentality is really the best way to sum it up.

[Steve May]

I find it incredibly disrespectful to both the Wigan players and the other players of the time that this Harlem Globetrotters style professional super team fabrication is repeatedly trawled out as the truth.

Why? Wigan did have the best players, and did have the most resources behind them, and were full timers against part timers for a lot of the time. None of that was cheating. They still had to win the games.

It was a massive achievement by the club. There's no disrespect in exploring why it happened.

[giwildgo]

Fair point, naive of me really despite watching the game for years. The case or examples you put forward are very good ones. Winning mentality is really the best way to sum it up.

It was the attitude of the club at the time that raised the performance of the team - Radlinski's book from the perspective of a young lad coming into the environment summarises it perfectly and also emphasises why the club went into a sharp decline when the attitude was lost.

People seem to think that Wigan were a team of superstars, but the squads included the likes of McGinty, Gildart, Byrne, Preston, Myers, Hall, Mather, etc, who played significant amounts of games and with all due respect were average or journeyman players that never raised their game to anywhere near the same level elsewhere. They had to perform at Wigan because certain players had such an immense will to win that they would not tolerate failure.

The attitude and culture of a club are a fundamental part of whether a team is successful or not, how else can the underperforming 2009 Wigan squad becoming the best team in 2010 despite only adding Deacon and a new coach / assistant.