WN83

Tickets flying out which is really good to see. I was planning on doing the usual Rugby League thing of waiting until a few days before but I've sorted our 6 seats out now because it's all reserved and the South Stand was getting pretty full aside from the outer blocks. It should be a great night.

Got to make sure tacklers are going in lower, you know where there is a greater chance of them catching a hip or an elbow to their head I think it'll take a couple of days of calming down before some rational thought can come through because currently I can't help but think the game is on a one way street to nowhere. I get the governing body are in a tough spot but this feels OTT. Also, I presume this is just a measure in the UK? We were playing to different rules than in the Southern Hemisphere already but it'll pretty much be a different sport if these changes aren't implemented across the board.

Fingers crossed it can be sorted out. If it could then I guess it would be worth an awful lot of money because as pointed out, it's in an area people want to live.

Piece Hall is a cracking place. We have a drive over from Wigan now and again and saw a couple of bands on during the summer. I've got tickets for the Lathums in Wigan but might try one of the gigs booked in for Halifax.

Sounds like Orrell has turned in to a bit of a dead weight for them. I think the hope was that the land could be sold for a fortune to housing developers but planning permission was turned down due to access problems. Not sure if that could change or not in the future.

The new training ground looks to be worth it's weight in gold. The training facilities are great for the players and it's been an excellent base for supporters on match days and now this. A few clubs look to be trying to get this sort of thing going now, which is really pleasing. I think an advantage for Wigan is that damage to the pitch won't be a major issue with it being on the training ground and not at the DW. They have a running track around it as well and at one end an area for Hammer/shot put/high jump etc and I presume they'll look to put the stage at that end, which should lessen any damage to the pitch. There is a full size all weather pitch on the site as well, away from the main area, so any training schedules shouldn't be massively impacted. Fingers crossed all goes well and it becomes a regular thing and then we start to see some positive financial results.

Really looking forward to it. It’ll be some challenge but you never know. Keeping everything crossed we face no further injury problems, especially in the prop/loose forward areas with Cooper and Havard already ruled out. It’ll be such a vital area for us to try and compete in, up against Fisher-Harris, Leota and Yeo.

Joe Burgess should've stayed at Wigan the first time. He went to the NRL too early for me and his career has never really recovered, or it hasn't hit the heights it should've done.

The thing that confuses me a bit with the changes is that defenders are usually the ones who get concussive head knocks and they'll now need to try and avoid accidental contact with an attackers head, so they're going to need to get lower but that is likely to put their own heads in more danger, as they'll be putting it in the firing line for elbows, hips and knees. It feels like we're trying to make the game 100% safe but it's literally impossible and I'm not sure this move does anything to make it safer and it actually could make it less so.

Hadn't realised it was that high. Leigh's following was understandably impacted by the cup final but in a season opener they'd go close to filling the North Stand. It feels a no brainer that fixture to me, especially with it being a loop fixture, so there is still another home and away fixture each after this one. The buzz is there for both clubs and as pointed it, we'd have cup winners verses league champions (we must have an old charity shield lying around they could play for) and that gives it another dimension. It seems an open goal to me but Matthew Shaw seemed to hint we'd get Catalans. You're probably talking a 5/6k drop off in crowd in that one. Catalans seem to have a crowd that is about as steady as anybody's in the league, around that 8k+ mark whoever they play and whenever in the season they play, so a home tie for them against anybody will get draw a good attendance but also one that isn't likely to be much higher/lower part way through the year.

That feels like a typical RFL strategy so I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s a huge risk that. I look at my suggestion of Wigan vs Leigh. I think it would get around 19,000-20,000 on. That same fixture in the middle of the season for us last year got around 13,000-14,000 from memory. Give Wigan Huddersfield at home this year for example and I think we’d get around that 13/14k mark again, so then you’re relying on circumstance at the time of the Leigh home game to get that 19/20k crowd you could’ve got. It would likely need to be a game between 1st and 2nd (along those lines) to get towards that 20k mark and I’d say that’s extremely unlikely. Wigan vs Leigh and the Hull derby are loop fixtures btw, so there are still 2 more to go at regardless. You have a possibility to use the loop fixtures for a positive purpose but I won’t hold my breath. I think your way of looking at it is likely how they’ll go.

I’d love to see the Hull Derby and Wigan vs Leigh on the opening weekend. Potential for two huge crowds and they have a loop fixture against each other, so get one done and dusted straight away, when you’ll likely get the biggest crowds possible. There should be plenty of optimism at Leeds and Wire as well, so I’d be looking to give them home ties. Try and start the season with a real bang.

I did the full 80 mins of the Australia vs New Zealand WC semi with my legs off the ground, wedged up against the seat in front due to how little leg room there was. That was a tough ask but 3 games will be beyond me. Maybe I'll help the attendance and buy 4 seats and watch the games lied down.

Yeah, the same bloke owns the lot now, which is great and it certainly feels like the rugby club has more of an equal share of things. The clubs are working closer together than at any point I can remember and that can only be positive. The last lot who owned the football club were fools, which was as clear as day as soon as they started playing to the loud minority of Latics fans who wanted them to show who was boss. Savvy operators would not have done that and it was of littke surprise to see them make an absolute pigs ear of things. I support both clubs and I’m delighted they’re gone and we now have a successful Wiganer overseeing the lot.

Injuries/selections permitting, you will probably have regular access to Hampshire, Mago, Harvie Hill, Tiaki Chan and Junior Nsemba as well. I'd imagine Mike Cooper will do a spell with Wakefield as well when he is ready to return.

Easy to name the backs at Wigan but a bit more tricky to figure out the starting pack and bench. I'd imagine we'll look something like- 1-Field 2-Miski 3-Keighran 4-Wardle 5-Marshall 6-French 7-Smith 8-Byrne 9-O'Neill 10-Havard 11-Walters 12-Farrell 13-Thompson Subs 14-Ellis 15-Dupree 16-Isa 17-Leeming Back up coming from Hampshire, Cooper, Mago, Nsemba, Hill etc. I think we'll see debuts for both Jacob Douglas and Zach Eckersley in 2024 as well. They're 2 young outside backs and I think they'll both impress.

At Wigan hopefully we'll see Hill and Nsemba continue their progression. Outside of guys who have made their debuts, the two who we should see in 2024 are Jacob Douglas and Zach Eckersley. They've both moved up the pecking order with the exits of Thornley, Cust etc and they've both been extremely impressive in the reserves and out on loan. I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of them made a major impression in 2024 if any of the current backline goes down longer term.

Getting to play the Aussies would be a start. We threw away a great chance in that World Cup semi last year and without playing them on a regular basis, I don't have a clue if we're closer to them or further away then at any given point in my lifetime. It feels like we have as good a backline as I can remember in the last couple of decades but our forwards need the test the Aussies and Kiwis give you to build confidence and their reputations. It feels like we long for replacements those big name forwards we've had like Morley, Peacock, Fielden Graham etc but those lads built massively on their reputations in Ashes tests and none of our current lot have had a chance to do that. Even as good as somebody like Walmsley has been in the last 6 or 7 years, I've never felt he lives in the sort of company as Graham, Morley, Peacock etc because he's had very few chances to cement his reputation on the biggest stage.

He struggled for a lot of the season. I think the lack of a pre season hurt and he had to play through injury due to Cooper being out and Ellis and Havard taking it in turns in missing games. He got a rest around the time of the cup final and like Wigan, after that he just took off. It was his career best form without a doubt. Smashing the ball up and plain scary in defence. If he can find that form consistently, I would love to see him in an England shirt.

I wanted us to use him in the middle but he’s definitely been signed to play second row (he pretty much confirmed it in an interview on the Wigan website the other day). We’ll see how that plays out and if it works, he could be a very handy option in internationals.

Hopefully we’ll see some props step up. I’m not convinced Walmsley will continue with England tbh, so with Hill likely to be at the end as well, we’ll need some options to step up. I’ve got great hope for guys like Havard and Oledzki, so hopefully they can find fitness and form and the same goes for Luke Thompson (although he’s not the biggest). If he could find a level of consistency that matched his form in his last 6 weeks or so before injury, I’d also keep an eye on Liam Byrne. A big body and he was brutal in that spell. It’s early days but Delaney at Saints looks like who who could fast track through the system.

I think it was simply that there wasn’t an option available to him that he went to Currie. King out, Percival, Wardle and Farnworth all unavailable as well, so he’d have had to find somebody else outside the squad and there isn’t much to go at off the top of my head. It seemed a fair choice, especially up against a poor conditioned Hurrell.

Chuffed with how the series has gone. We had a mate in that WC semi and everything that went before was forgotten but it had been so enjoyable until that point. Glad we’ve got back on track this last few weeks.

Don’t think I’ve seen the Aussies outplayed like this before. It’s just a shame they seem to be getting the venues as badly wrong over there as we are here because this result is proving the international game can be as competitive as it’s ever been.

I've got a feeling we'll run away with this one. There seems to be a real hunger to win the series 3-0 and I don't think we'll see any complacency from England. On the flip side, Tonga have been away from home for about 4 or 5 weeks now and they look a bit short of direction on the field. There should be a bigger crowd and a better atmosphere on Saturday and I think things might run away from them if they start as slowly as last week. England by 20