Exiled Wiganer

I would be fascinated to see the report provided to the clubs which formed the basis on which they decided to award Salford a licence this year. They were after all assessed by appropriately qualified (?) professionals chosen and paid to advise the clubs. Was there a material risks section, was anything highlighted to them? Most people who pay professionals to advise them receive some advice. Presumably there will be a report prepared when the professional assessment is prepared for SL in 26. And on the basis of that report and the associated scoring the clubs will make their decision. Some advisers would consider it part of their role to advise properly, especially in relation to a material risk. I have never come across one who would consider their job done while blithely watching their clients drive themselves off a cliff.

A good win. I have also noticed that Peet does have a habit of focussing on Wigan rugby league and seems obsessed with banging on about Wigan matches, the club and its players in interviews. That must be infuriating.

In a different context, I was in a discussion yesterday as to the official international records. The Aussies (or, at least the ARL) may not count the SL one as an international. But the IRL do. I think I was at all of these, annd the Oz - NZ ones aside from the first 95 World Cup one.

I like having players the Aussie won’t know or bother to find out about, and so would be more than happy to see Ashton and Johnstone on the wings. They will all know how to make Young’s life as difficult as possible.

It is worth repeating: nothing has happened to SRD which was not entirely predictable last autumn. They had insufficient income to pay their debts from their ongoing business and no one in a position to pay them on their behalf. No sponsors have withdrawn, nobody has defaulted on their debts to SRD, no sugar daddy has walked away. In 2025, for the first time year we selected the line up of SL on the understanding that those 12 teams were the 12 best teams after an evaluation process. Somebody prepared a report on SRD, including its financial position, and presented it to the clubs. In years gone by, we would be in “such is life” mode, but here we had the chance to do something about it. We all deserve to see the report and recommendation that was presented to the clubs, because on the basis of the decision taken by the clubs after reviewing that report, the RFL and the game may shortly be faced with a choice between bankrupting itself having to bail Salford out, or breaching the Sky contract, which may lead to the same outcome.

O’Neill has the chance to prove whether or not he is worth his place. My instinct is to go with more of a maverick/runner at 9, but from what I have seen O’Neill would not let us down. Nicholson showing the world his potential is really handy for us as he gives us much more than this version of Bateman. At prop potentially 3 of Wigan’s squad - Thompson, Harvard and Walters - could be good enough to do a job, giving us more strength in depth than we might have feared. That’s not to discount others, simply to say that to my mind they may cower the hurdle of being good enough. So far so good as far as England players are looking this year.

If you are constantly pinned and under pressure, and behind on the scoreboard, errors happen. Especially in those conditions. They were induced by Wigan’s control and discipline. They flowed from Wigan’s excellent play. Once we had the ball we put on beautiful moves for 2 of the tries. Saints’ 2 tries also stemmed from Wigan mistakes, but again they were the result of Saints pressure and the first in particular was well executed.

Is it correct when it states that entering into administration would mean they would drop down a division next year under IMG’s gradings? (I didn’t call them IMG’s gradings, they did, so those who characterise them as the clubs’ gradings can seek a retraction from the Sun).

LOL - 3 sports and a pastime.

I am not sure this is an attendance thread point, but I was wondering whether the extent to which a ground looks fullish for TV is as (or more) important in TV revenue terms than the absolute figures. So, a full house of 8k at Trinity may be more important/valuable to us oddly than 10k at Huddersfield? While there are fewer than half the number of people at Leigh than at the Piedome, it looks and sounds terrific. And for the casual viewer there may be little difference in the impact it makes…

I agree. He is developing into a class forward. This win highlighted the brilliance of Peet’s coaching in a couple of ways. The 2 Field tries were perfectly executed complicated trick shot moves, and Walters’ improvement another example that players just get better and better under him.

Burgess is a good left winger. He doesn’t want to be. But he is.

Or perhaps you are. It isn’t me who ascribes any slither of good news regardless of context to the people who gave us the assessment system that lead to SL25 featuring an exciting new “Which Salford this week?” quiz game

Maybe. Or, according to the article above, Vegas. Brought to us by the initiative of 2 world class clubs, one of whom is marketing the world record breaking Ashes series. Though I notice that the sun was shining when I was out earlier, and I don’t remember it doing so before IMG came along…

I think we have played a blinder. I have a v v slight annoyance that, if we had locked in the weekends and a rough plan (London weekend 1, north west weekend 2, Yorkshire weekend 3) even before finalising the details, that could have increased the prospects of getting more Aussies over.

England only played in 3 of those. But we will be up to 4 soon enough. It does show how huge the Everton crowd is though.

You legend.

Am looking forward to this. I am really interested to see how our pack goes, and whether Walters will continue his development into a class act in the middle. Lots can happen during the game, but I think our best level is higher than Saints’ just now.

I have decided not to delete my Everton Sold Out email. In April! Hats off to Moran and the team. Next step: do what they have done so far, and Wembley will be bigger than big. I think we will beat the British record aggregate this time, with 70 something k on. With a fair wind the all time Ashes record could go. I have a pet peev which is that we are constantly portrayed as a “small” sport, confined to the north - so much so that we even believe our own press. We watch the greatest game and our reach, and our audience is the equal and more of any sport after football, cricket and the fatties. If one byproduct of the imminent massive crowds is to make us all believe in ourselves more then we could be feeling the benefits for decades to come.

Yes they are very different indeed. Go to Beirut and work it out for yourself.

Pretty close, Damien… It’s fascinating to go back to the start of this thread. If you had told the posters then where we are today, they’d have been a pretty happy lot!

I was at that game 10 years ago. They should feel free to use that in their marketing.

These are great days. One minor gripe - the England coach was on TV wearing a Wigan top. Ffs, surely he must have England kit he can wear. Attention to detail will be everything. Wembley will be fine. The south remembers. Let’s now get some merchandise out there - we have 10s of thousands of willing buyers.

…

Really? I could certainly see it happening if they had a couple of injuries to their 6s. Time will tell. Or not.