I got back from the Vegas trip yesterday and thought I'd post a few thoughts and also interested to see what others who went thought too.
Overall - an amazing trip. I have been to Vegas before but was incredible to see RL take the place over. Couldn't move for seeing rugby shirts from all clubs. One of the most expensive places I've ever been to though!
4 games was as I think most people thought it would be - was too many. Should be 3 matches only for future events.
The women's match killed the momentum a bit and also meant you weren't leaving the stadium until 10.30pm.
But NRL did a really good job of promoting and making it an event with the Fan Hub at the Resorts hotel and I didn't land into LV until Thursday evening so missed the Fremont Street event which looked great.
Have to say I'm very disappointed with the way the club engaged with the fans on this trip. Outside of the centrally organised events (Fan Hub appearance and Fremont St. event) the only thing they did was charge £50 to meet the players at Brewdog which would have meant missing the Penrith game.
In contrast Wigan did the following:Organised an official bar for fans to go to all week and where there would be Wigan legend appearances etcFree pre-match event at the bar across from the stadium for Wigan fans - Q and A with Denis Betts etc.Arranged a deal with Hakkasan nightclub (one of the most exclusive ones in LV) for anyone showing the tweet from the Wigan X account to get free entry before 1am after the match
Leigh did more free fan events (pub meeting, arranged a bus to take their fans to view their game against Cats and ran a competition to go to a pool party with Degsy!) in Vegas than we did and they weren't even playing!
Then to top if all off we had the performance on the pitch and I heard that some of the players were well oiled already at the fan event (the one people had been charged £50 for) and then we have the depressing spectacle of Burgess' antics at the club after the match. As many people have said - could you imagine Matt Peet doing that after a defeat like that?
To me the whole thing was utterly unprofessional from the visa cock up (how could that have been left so late to sort?) to not arranging anything for the fans than trying to fleece them some more.
A club that means business would be having a serious word with Burgess about the example he's setting - he's not one of the lads any more.
Matt Shaw has done a great article about spending the matchday with Wigan - as a Wire fan it makes depressing reading - some key excerpts:"I didn't go in the Warrington dressing room, but I can tell you there was major contrasts between theirs and Wigan's. The Warriors' dressing room was quiet. Players did their strapping, had their massages and did their stretches. Players had mini-meetings between themselves; Adam Keighran and Abbas Miski spoke about how they would fix up the error that saw them exposed by Hull FC last week. Harry Smith and Jai Field talked through some plays. Matt Peet pulled some of the forwards to explain how they intended to roll their interchanges, and what he wanted them to do during their stints on the field.There was no music. But there certainly was in Warrington camp. It could be heard blurting through the hallways and through the walls of the Wigan dressing room.
It made Peet's address at a team meeting hours earlier make much more sense. Two hours before the game, Peet didn't discuss tactics. He asked for a show of hands, who was nervous and who was excited. He praised their preparation and focus through the week and Wigan were compared to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Warrington Connor McGregor. Of course, it was the Russian, straight-faced and low-key, who beat the brazen, extravagant McGregor.
Peet made a prediction that if Wigan did what they needed to do in the first quarter of the game, Warrington's gameplan would dissolve in front of everyone's eyes.With the players all sat down, he asked them for their thoughts. Liam Farrell and Kruise Leeming both spoke about some details that could be sorted, Tommy Leuluai and Sean O'Loughlin both gave their inputs. Peet, silently, listened. When everyone stopped, he paused for a few moments, the room silent.Then, he let rip. He questioned how much they wanted to demolish Warrington. Whether they were satisfied to just win or determined to pile on the misery. He spoke about not only making history by proving they were the most connected team in the world. About making sure whenever Warrington recalled their Vegas experience, making sure they quivered."
And that folks is why Wigan have every trophy going and we are light years away - instead after being humiliated on a global stage we have our coach cavorting with cuddly leopards and prancing around a nightclub DJ box.
So great trip but depressing insight into how utterly unprofessional our club is and how far we are away from having the standards required to over turn Wigan.
