Well, it would seem that the Burgess experiment is now on its last legs. So where do we go next?


We are running out of plays in the coaching department.


promising coach from Australia (price) - FAIL
excellent English coach who never really got a chance at a big club (Powell) - FAIL
Up and coming you coach with a bit of x factor - FAIL


One things that's obvious is that the people doing the recruitment of our players should be removed straight away. We are truly dreadful in that department. 


So what do we need?


1. The coach probably needs to be Shaun Wane. Maybe he has had enough time being bored by international rugby now. Could we see him ever coach outside of Wigan though? We should certainly be testing that loyalty. if not.... McNamara is probably the leading candidate (as hard as that is to type).
2. Someone who can sign a half decent player. I dont know anything about who truly does this at our club, but they SUCK.


On the plus side we do have some excellent young players and seem to bring plenty through now. 


It's an absolute poop show again though isnt it.... fail after fail after fail.... its so tiresome.

It’s something more than the coaching. I am looking at what Powell is doing now at Wakefield and thinking hmm can’t wait to read that Autobiography. 

But looking at this club for a long time now it’s clear that a lot of the issues are behind the scenes. We have all posted our different thoughts on this and with so many saying the same thing there as to be some truth to it.


I have not hid my dislike of what Fitzpatrick does, he seems to think gimmicks get fans in the ground but it’s results that will keep them coming back and we have been far to inconsistent for far to many seasons now.


We are a club that is in a very good position that should make us consistent top four contenders but we just aren’t. Again culture as been mentioned a lot but again from our PoV it looks and feels like the owners turn a blind eye to this.


I have asked Matt Turner to try get an interview with Mr Moran and see if he can get an honest conversation. I am gettting old but not old enough to have seen us win the big prize, as it stands right now I’m not sure it will happen in my life time.

I am going to copy and paste with some tweaks, what I posted elsewhere last week.


These are all my personal opinions, as much as I would like to see this team stay together and rule the league, I don't see it happening so for me, this is what I would do:


1: Williams, great player, good kicker, has a voice on the pitch but if the rest of the team are not performing alongside him, then he struggles. (Keep but get him the support on the pitch he needs)


2: Vaughan, needs players to play with, needs players who are willing to run alongside him and show for the ball if he gets an arm free, most of the time he doesn't have that. He should be hitting harder I think but when he doesn't get much of a run up because no one in the team seems to want to use his size and strength I think he is being let down, not letting us down, I think he is being let down by the rest of the team. (Keep if we get players to support him, or him to support others with big runs etc)


He needs to stop with the Arm Drops into players faces when he has tackled them, stop trying to milk penalties and just get on with the game, just because other teams try to do it, doesn't mean we should copy it!


3: Ashton/Walker/Powell, I think they show a lot of "want" and "Skill" with desire to play and win, the issue is again, the players alongside them don't seem to support them fully, Powell needs to show more though at times but I do think he is a good player. (100% keep build a team around them 3)


4: Sneyd, keep for another season whilst looking for a permanent replacement kicker, he isn't getting any younger and we need to get a young kicker or two, have them alternate taking kicks so they both keep in form instead of relying on one kicker and when they get injured having no one really to rely on.


5: Dufty, sadly I think it's time to call it, he just doesn't appear to me to be putting in 100% each game, whether that is because he just isn't bothered or because of the rest of the team I don't know, but I think he needs to move on.


6: Philbin, I like him, I think he gives as much as he can, but I think like Vaughan he needs more from the surrounding players, I think he needs to move on to another club where they will utilise him better.


7: Currie, get's a lot of stick from people but he is a general work horse of sorts, but I think to many times you will see him with his hands on his hips or head looking like he is clueless of what is happening or what to do. He should go to another team after this season sadly.


8: Lindop, being used as a "Scape Goat" by a few fans for Wembley, but I think he needs more time to learn but I think it might be worth loaning him out to someone like Wakey, Hull FC or Leigh for a season, somewhere where he will be a starting player and get that experience I think he is missing.


9: Tai, personally I think he is a really good player, I think though he just doesn't get the support he needs and for that reason I think he needs to find another team, I suspect Wigan/Saints would snap him up and he would thrive!


10: Wood, Crowther, Harrison, move on to another club, they would I think be better off.


11: Yates, give him another season, he puts in effort and I think another season with a team built around Walker, Ashton and Powell would help him as he reminds me of Burrow in a way.




Put a hard rule in place, no new recruit can be over the age of 24, cannot be injured at the time of signing and must be willing to sign a contract with the clause for players from Australia etc "if you go home due to being home sick, you cannot play in the NRL for 1 season" let's see how many are truly homesick!


All the rest would be told to have their agents or be looking themselves for other clubs.



Coaching staff, completely get rid of them all, start with a new coach, new training team etc.


Then because it will take sometime for the team to get to know each other properly and get to grips with playing with each other in a team etc, make the target for the first season or two, top 6, don't worry about the challenge cup, grand final, league leaders etc, go for Top 6 and anything extra is a bonus.


The problem is finding players and coaching staff etc that would want to come here, because frankly at the moment I cannot see us attracting many players or coaches.

What concerns me is that we have directors & investors & a good sponsorship base which the directors must surely want to keep delivering income. The main income is the game on the pitch & the reason the club exists. Apart from the team performances ,the directors will be conducting the business of attracting off field revenue. 
Surely ,you would expect the money people to be tearing their hair out at the results & the effect on attendances.
Today's gate was poor considering there were special offer to flog tickets. They should be asking questions as to why fans are drifting away.

yea i get this... i mean, i certainly wont be giving them any of my money again this season.


if they aren't trying, im not paying.

Is it not trying or is it not good enough? So strange, we get a GF winning and stick him on the wing, whom I might add looks as immobile as this old man writing the post.

The dummy half passes were woeful today and Williams passing choices at the line were predictable as best.

Honest i get why we keep missing out on props for years now, since the Times we had Morley and Carvell, we seem to run with one quality prop and the rest are average.
So good big hard hitting props must look at us and realise we run with one quality prop, so they'll have most of the work load to carry.
We currently have Vaughan, big powerful aggressive hard hitting props that gets us moving forward, paired with Yates... good engine and defends well, but not a prop and doesn't have the size.
Harrison good engine, defends well.
Philbin aggressive attacking based game, has 1-2 great games then is average the rest of the time.
Wood, Decent, skillfull, good engine....same size as philbin.
Thomas, watching him today he's smaller than i remember and looks lighter than Wood and Philbin.
Crowther, good engine, aggressive, average in any position he plays.
We are WEAK in the forwards and can never seem to attract them.
Burgess is obsessed with athletic props and i find it bizzarre. We need punch and we need it 10 years ago.
Vaughan carries the team when he plays, and we drop off when he comes off. We lose the forward battle all the time, and we literally rely on the our backs to take us forward. King literally gets us moving forward and off our line more than anyone.
My Dad was born in 1955 so has gone his entire life never seeing us win the league. I'm 41 now and have a feeling of dread i could literally never see us win in my entire life.
We've been in this average to poor, with the occasional really good year, for 10+ years.
And coach after coach can't change or progress us, so i completely agree that it points to behind the scenes, especially since Powell was in charge it's amplified this feeling.


I'm absolutely the same in that i believe only someone like Wane (with full control) Will change this club.
I would LOVE to be proved wrong though, but my confidence in us changing and winning gets less every single year.
It's hard being a wire fan.

Hi Damienc,


Let me make sure I understand you correctly; you'd keep Tai and Powell but let Currie go?  Have you considered a role in our recruitment team?


Williams, incidentally, is not a great player.  He's a very good one when he chooses to be - but that has been seldom in his Wire career.   The last decent performance from a Wire halfback was v Saints.  A certain Mr Currie.


In 2025 we have regressed to 2005.  Same lack of professionalism, same lack of backbone and same chance of winning the GF - none.


Sack the coach by all means, then sack his assistants, the recruitment team and the CEO.  Anything else is deckchairs/Titanic.

We won a hell of a lot more games in 2005, we had better players who put in shed loads more effort, and 10 times more backbone with pride in the club and just got on with it all. We're currently NOTHING like we were in 2005.........unfortunately.

We looked a pretty sorry outfit today. Powell should be way down the list of players to build a team around - no zip with ball in hand and some absolutely woeful distribution.  Williams is really miles off it at the moment, not sure if it is a fitness thing but he isn't really offering any more than Ratchford was.

To be brutally honest we keep hold of Ashton, Thewlis and Walker. Bin the rest, who either have the talent but can't be bothered, or work dilligently but have no natural skill to speak of.

you're not far off there to be honest.