Is it their year?!?!

[Old Frightful]

Just wondering…

[sam4731]

Have you not heard them? It always is.

[fieldofclothofgold]

They're looking good just now just as they did with Powell 

[fieldofclothofgold]

20 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Just wondering…

New brooms Sweep clean we're all waiting with baited breath for your announcement 

[Spidey]

No. Never

[Gomersall]

26 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Just wondering…

As long as they win the Challenge Cup

[Exiled Wiganer]

They have won the cup on multiple occasions recently and topped the league. They have had a lot of good years recently. 

[Eddie]

It would be good if the buzz around the club comes back, a strong Wire is good for the game. 

[daz39]

No, the process will eliminate them.

[The 4 of Us]

Halley’s comet will be back first. 

[The British Lion]

The seasons I thought it might be our year are gone now! Im happy with development currently happening, after the last few years. If it happens, it happens. But more importantly, can a good culture and foundation be built after a few really disappointing years.

[daz39]

I liked the interview with Sam where he said he has made the club feel humble again.

This says a lot to me about the state of the club and players, clearly there was a culture of they were a massive club so didn't need to put as much effort in, made them look at themselves in the proverbial mirror.

An attitude within a club can be more damaging than poor players in my opinion, he looks to have definitely changed that mentality where they now feel they have to get back to basics and actually perform as a club on and off the field, good work by him.

[fighting irish]

30 minutes ago, daz39 said:

I liked the interview with Sam where he said he has made the club feel humble again.

This says a lot to me about the state of the club and players, clearly there was a culture of they were a massive club so didn't need to put as much effort in, made them look at themselves in the proverbial mirror.

An attitude within a club can be more damaging than poor players in my opinion, he looks to have definitely changed that mentality where they now feel they have to get back to basics and actually perform as a club on and off the field, good work by him.

I thought that was a very interesting aspect of his approach too.

Anyway, what great weekend for exposure to the general public. Two great games. Very intense, highly skilled, loads of heavy bumps and perhaps the highlight of the weekend, Ashton's incredible acrobatic try in the corner!

Just a few words on Warrington - I didn't even recognise half the players, a collection of young fellas absolutely ''mad for it''.

Their dogged defense eventually undermined Saints confidence as their usual bullying/muscle tactics didn't seem to be enough. Add in the skill and pace of Warrington's back-line, marshalled by Walker and Williams who contributed to out smarting Saints at every turn and it all made for a very very entertaining match.

If those two games don't draw in some new committed fans, I'll eat my hat. 

[bamfordsbeans]

Despite yesterdays result and performance ,if the same sides meet in the play-offs I would back Saints.

Having said that it is encouraging to see the recent efforts by Warrington and Huddersfield.

[Just Browny]

16 minutes ago, bamfordsbeans said:

Despite yesterdays result and performance ,if the same sides meet in the play-offs I would back Saints.

Having said that it is encouraging to see the recent efforts by Warrington and Huddersfield.

I agree. As well as we played, there were two spells in the game yesterday where Saints could have taken the game away from us:

- Between about minutes 25 and 35, where only some dogged desperation tackling and a forward pass stopped Saints racking up 2-3 quick tries

- Early in the second half when Saints took two when they had us on the ropes. I was relieved that they kicked the goal and Lomax immediately made that daft error from the kick off.

Nevertheless, it was still very encouraging. What pleases you as a fan is seeing the team playing with adventure and desire, and being able to see what they are trying to do even if it is not always working. There was plenty of all that yesterday, combined with a few dreadful errors by Saints.

[Exiled Wiganer]

A few things on Wire, having re watched the second half: 

- they have the resources but seemingly not the culture/character; 

- they were inspired one year by having Andrew Johns on board. That presence of a world class talent made everyone else believe and fulfil their potential; 

- if you don’t have a work hard enough to win ethos in the club’s DNA, then you have to look elsewhere. I wonder whether 2 Sams could be key here: in Sam Burgess they have an Andrew Johns equivalent. He has the stardust and can inspire because he has been there, done that. It doesn’t matter so much that they follow the Wire way when they can follow the Sam B way of doing things. It inspires greater ambition and takes some pressure off. While he is a limited player, everyone connected to the club believes that Sam Powell was a central figure for us. In terms of always turning up, always working, always learning. I assume he was signed with that in mind. With Sam B inspiring and Sam P keeping everyone’s eyes on the prize then it comes down to talent and resources, and Wire have enough of those to be champions; and 

- it might though be a year or 2 too soon for this squad, as they have ground to make up. However, with no inspiration at 9 or coaching them they have the advantage of being far better placed relative to Saints than at any time in the SL era… 

 

[Exiled Wiganer]

1 hour ago, Just Browny said:

I agree. As well as we played, there were two spells in the game yesterday where Saints could have taken the game away from us:

- Between about minutes 25 and 35, where only some dogged desperation tackling and a forward pass stopped Saints racking up 2-3 quick tries

- Early in the second half when Saints took two when they had us on the ropes. I was relieved that they kicked the goal and Lomax immediately made that daft error from the kick off.

Nevertheless, it was still very encouraging. What pleases you as a fan is seeing the team playing with adventure and desire, and being able to see what they are trying to do even if it is not always working. There was plenty of all that yesterday, combined with a few dreadful errors by Saints.

But another way of looking at that is that those were moments where in the past they might have folded. This lot didn’t and the next time they will draw from that. 

[Just Browny]

11 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

While he is a limited player, everyone connected to the club believes that Sam Powell was a central figure for us. In terms of always turning up, always working, always learning. I assume he was signed with that in mind.  

 

I am not yet ready to attribute our upturn in fortunes to Wigan, but have admitted on another forum that I seriously underestimated what Powell would bring and he has been very good so far.

He and Hayes bring a tidiness and simplicity which is, in theory, what we signed Drinkwater for but hasn't much been in evidence.

[gillmeister]

The George Williams tackle on Lewis Dodd saving a try and forcing an error, Wire being first to every loose ball. To me it was those efforts that Burgess himself would have made that are marking this years team as being different from previous years

[Damien]

50 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

A few things on Wire, having re watched the second half: 

- they have the resources but seemingly not the culture/character; 

- they were inspired one year by having Andrew Johns on board. That presence of a world class talent made everyone else believe and fulfil their potential; 

- if you don’t have a work hard enough to win ethos in the club’s DNA, then you have to look elsewhere. I wonder whether 2 Sams could be key here: in Sam Burgess they have an Andrew Johns equivalent. He has the stardust and can inspire because he has been there, done that. It doesn’t matter so much that they follow the Wire way when they can follow the Sam B way of doing things. It inspires greater ambition and takes some pressure off. While he is a limited player, everyone connected to the club believes that Sam Powell was a central figure for us. In terms of always turning up, always working, always learning. I assume he was signed with that in mind. With Sam B inspiring and Sam P keeping everyone’s eyes on the prize then it comes down to talent and resources, and Wire have enough of those to be champions; and 

- it might though be a year or 2 too soon for this squad, as they have ground to make up. However, with no inspiration at 9 or coaching them they have the advantage of being far better placed relative to Saints than at any time in the SL era… 

John's only played 3 games and Warrington got battered in one of those by 40 points and knocked out of the play offs.

[Dave T]

I always make this challenge, and I feel I have to do it again. History has been rewritten with Wire and we are an easy target because we've never made that final step to win a Grand Final, but we have won LLS, Challenge Cups and appeared in a handful of Grand Finals. 

We haven't been the basket case that many claim. We were decent under Price, consistently a top 4 team, and even beat Saints at Wembley at their peak. We were falling just short and made the change to Powell in the hope that a more expansive style would see us over the line. 

This became a whole "the culture needs changing" thing which didn't appear to have much basis when you look at our results and many performances. Powell was an absolute car crash and it was a dire 2 years. We now look to be approaching what we were doing pre-Powell and that's a good starter for 10. The next step is progressing to become champions. 

The biggest mistake was key people believing the whole 'culture' thing as the issue when we were one of the best teams in the country. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

2 hours ago, Just Browny said:

I am not yet ready to attribute our upturn in fortunes to Wigan, but have admitted on another forum that I seriously underestimated what Powell would bring and he has been very good so far.

He and Hayes bring a tidiness and simplicity which is, in theory, what we signed Drinkwater for but hasn't much been in evidence.

I didn’t mean to claim any credit on Wigan’s behalf - you weren’t forced to sign him: this was good judgment on your part. Wigan have had a surfeit of good pros - Willie Isa being another case in point - and so the cultural upside was arguably less significant for us. My father - to our eternal shame as a family - was on Saints’ coaching staff for a while (and Wigan’s shortly after) and he made the point that the levels of dedication and professionalism pros like KC and Roby brought to every training session were light years ahead of Wigan’s efforts at that time. All the indications are that Peet has put that right.

A result like Saturday’s suggests Wire are doing a lot right all day, every day. That was built on months of commitment. I would be very buoyant if I were you. 

Edited April 15 by Exiled Wiganer

[Exiled Wiganer]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

I always make this challenge, and I feel I have to do it again. History has been rewritten with Wire and we are an easy target because we've never made that final step to win a Grand Final, but we have won LLS, Challenge Cups and appeared in a handful of Grand Finals. 

We haven't been the basket case that many claim. We were decent under Price, consistently a top 4 team, and even beat Saints at Wembley at their peak. We were falling just short and made the change to Powell in the hope that a more expansive style would see us over the line. 

This became a whole "the culture needs changing" thing which didn't appear to have much basis when you look at our results and many performances. Powell was an absolute car crash and it was a dire 2 years. We now look to be approaching what we were doing pre-Powell and that's a good starter for 10. The next step is progressing to become champions. 

The biggest mistake was key people believing the whole 'culture' thing as the issue when we were one of the best teams in the country. 

“Culture” though may be something more subtle than not having 20 pints, but be around what does it take to become a serial winner. I absolutely take your point that, over the last 15 years, you have won plenty of big games and done so in style. 

[Just Browny]

43 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

I didn’t mean to claim any credit on Wigan’s behalf - you weren’t forced to sign him: this was good judgment on your part. Wigan have had a surfeit of good pros - Willie Isa being another case in point - and so the cultural upside was arguably less significant for us. My father - to our eternal shame as a family - was on Saints’ coaching staff for a while (and Wigan’s shortly after) and he made the point that the levels of dedication and professionalism pros like KC and Roby brought to every training session were light years ahead of Wigan’s efforts at that time. All the indications are that Peet has put that right.

A result like Saturday’s suggests Wire are doing a lot right all day, every day. That was built on months of commitment. I would be very buoyant if I were you. 

I am mate; tongue was firmly in cheek. 

[Dave T]

39 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

“Culture” though may be something more subtle than not having 20 pints, but be around what does it take to become a serial winner. I absolutely take your point that, over the last 15 years, you have won plenty of big games and done so in style. 

Yes, I agree with that interpretation - and that can always be thrown at a club that has often been the best team over 12m but then fallen at the last hurdle - my personal view on that is that we have always been very competitive in our Grand Finals and each of them could have been Wire wins - hence my point that I'm not sure it's cultural. 

I think sometimes it is a claim that is thrown about lazily, often by fans when they are frustrated. They didn't complain about culture when we beat Saints at Wembley, but it became an issue when we lost in the playoffs to Cas a month later. 

I do think the culture point is lazily used in the way you describe, and I do think that was the interpretation that Powell had when he came in and treated long-serving players like a piece of s***, many who have gone on to to a good job at other clubs since.