Exiled Wiganer

I read Rocket’s post with interest. I found it hard to recognise someone who “loves” our game, given that V’Landys has cut Australia away from international rugby league with a vicious disregard for every other country. He has treated us worse than he apparently treats the AFL. His vision is for the game to be played in West Sydney and South Queensland, and nowhere else. Which makes him the worst advocate for the game I can think of in my decades of watching it. Oh, and he’s a coward, as Simon Johnson said.

It will be close, much closer than the last time we played. I expect us to leave nothing out there, and home advantage will swing it.

I can’t help but think that this is bad news for the short, medium and long term future for Rugby League.

That’s a good win. I think Thursday’s game will be a good one, as I think we are better matched than the last result between us suggests. And after that, it only takes a couple of injuries to the top 2 teams and then it’s game on. There’s life in us yet.

It is a lot more than that - and I appreciate that the comms could have been clearer for the UK audience. At this stage when awarding World Cups, the organisers go out and work out who will host the games. That bid process has been ongoing for months (with each region having to guarantee payments to the organisers). As I understand it, there are substantial budgets at local level in France to plough into sporting events in the relevant town/city/region. The level of proposals, each meeting the financial criteria, has been through the roof. This is one of the most important steps in underpinning the World Cup over there - it’s like our own Government guarantee, but in slices (and the French Government has confirmed its support as well). In contrast, when the US were awarded this World Cup they simply could not get these underpinning commitments, and so had no business case. It is a huge achievement. Jeu a trieze revient a la maison...

The right to host the 2025 World Cup has been given to France. The extract above is an announcement of the towns and cities which have had bids accepted (and having to pay for the privilege) for the rights to host teams and games. The level of interest and buy in has been phenomenal.

There is another factor which has tipped the balance in the last few weeks. While we have played more league games than anyone else, we are now playing teams who haven’t been able to play the COVID card for a while, and that is showing as there are 2 equally fatigued sides playing. We have a very talented squad, despite the visual and statistical evidence otherwise (fewer points than everyone aside from Leigh, having played more games...).

They should bring in the QI scoring system - Wigan could have won by minus 30 to minus 40. Even Wigan’s ever chirpy twitter feed was bored...

I would be very happy to see him back over here. While the NRL is a parasitic leach on the game, someone with recent knowledge of training and recovery at the top level (and an address book) would clearly benefit us. If we go with Peet, we will clearly need some attacking input, and I would be delighted to get someone from the parasitic leach for that. He would inherit a squad with masses of potential - “all” that needs fixing is the spine - we need 2 play makers to play alongside Smith, be they at 9, 13, 6 or 1. It is possible that we might go into 2022 with a spine of Powell, Smithies, Smith, Field and French. That would be repeating the same mistake as we made in the mid noughties. If, instead, we let O’Neill develop as an attacking hooker, and sign an organising 6 then there is very little wrong with the squad (I am assuming in writing this that the NRL props solve the lack of experienced go forward).

Oh dear, Saints are doing fairly well, so they have not only got computers they are using them. Until they start losing and then we’ll be back to tumble weed “contributions”.

Reading around this subject, it looks like Paasi may well be playing again before Langi. I thought this was exactly the sort of thuggish head hunting the game was trying to rule out.

Watts would get 3 matches for walking on the cracks in the pavement.

Is Langi ok?

Any news on Langi? Paasi should be starting his off season by the end of Tuesday - nasty.

They just said that he was offered the biggest contract in the 149 year history of the club. (I rather doubt that can be true, given how much Offiah and Hanley were taking home decades ago, when our wage bill was higher than now). Williams told Wigan that he wanted a new challenge. Rads surmised he was offered more money by Wire, as well.

They are likely to put together a highlights package… just start watching at 75 minutes in.

Chapeau!

Thornley for Gildart is not an exciting swap, but against that we needed to spend money on some big lads, so the money was better spent on 2 NRL props. We are replacing Hastings with someone, as yet unknown and if we lose Hardaker we will be able to replace him. If Field is any good (and wasn’t he playing in the NRL last year?) and French comes back fit and well, then we will still have some players who can entertain. Tbh, if we lose Hardaker and sign an attacking hooker, that would really lift morale. If we had Maguire or Holgate coaching us, or someone else of that calibre, people would come out in bigger numbers again. Those coaches vastly improved the players available, and many of us believe there is a lot of talent in the existing squad,

There is two things that matters in a business like ours - can you pay the bills, and can you invest in the team and its coach to the maximum allowed? On both counts we are fine - the Lenaghans will write cheques until the billionaire takes over. It is an absurdly simple business - get the best possible coach and get entertaining players and the rest looks after itself.

That’s a cracking read. Good on them. I hadn’t quite appreciated how awful Latics have been, but that’s not surprising. Hopefully they’ll go bust again, Danson can spend some of his loose change on a new stadium and they can crash and burn. The key new bit of info for me was the succession planning - ie all will be well even if we have a few more years of taking a bath.

I think Wigan will win this, as we are beginning to play teams who have recently played as frequently as we have. Plus, Lam’s position has been clarified, and IL has confirmed that our part owner billionaire is ready and willing to step up once he has finished his stint. We have not instantly appointed Wane and Peet, which is encouraging, and have made it clear we are very much in the market for someone to replace Hastings... So, all in all a very good week for the club. It is a shame we will be watching Charnley and Williams (who was offered the most generous salary in the club’s history to re-sign for us) playing for the wrong side; they gave us a lot of good moments.

FFS, stop being so petty. It’s a perfectly reasonable suggestion. I appreciate that you might find it too confusing. But I am sure some grown up would be able to explain it to you.

A few things on that: - I am pleased he is in the position he is in, as he is sensible and loves our game; - I agree with 2 leagues of 10 (and have long thought this was the way to go) - I would make sure there were cross league games every year, so that we knew there would always be a Bulls-Leeds, Leigh-Wigan, Cas-Fev game every year; - I agree that the owners should talk up the game, even if many of us are as despondent as we have ever been, and agree with their dire warnings; and - you may as well go to the bank as go to PE: there is no magic, they simply loan cash so you get a short term sugar rush paid for from “efficiencies” and “magic” improvements which good companies could have sorted out themselves. And then you have to pay the fiddler.

I am not sure whether it matters what we write on TRL, given that it’s a local site for local leaugies. Of course we all know we are privileged to follow TGG, and that, say, the recent Hull derby was more entertaining than 1000 kick for touch games and 20 Premier League games. However, personally I feel very gloomy indeed for the NH game. It isn’t simply the decline in crowds, media interest and money among the English clubs, it is the threat to us that the NRL poses. If they continue on this path - taking control of the international game, and making it pretty much irrelevant, aside from possibly some games among themselves, then we could find ourselves a feeder league in which we can’t retain any big names, with the knock on effect for crowds, media interest and money. And the last is by far the most important. Talent always follows money, and unless we have the capacity to compete financially, we will continue on this slide to semi pro irrelevance.

Perhaps they can play some games in Wigan now?