Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:13 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

Most definitely Phuzzy
I make no excuses for the poor yield from my town.
However we are the only town in the history of RL to have an NRL Immortal at halback.

Really showing your ignorance again here? Do you even watch rugby league?

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:43 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

Most definitely Phuzzy
I make no excuses for the poor yield from my town.
However we are the only town in the history of RL to have an NRL Immortal at halback.

You’ve actually had two and Wakefield one.
So your wrong. Again.

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 6:50 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

I don’t buy the “more to lose” thing. Wigan fans are talking like anything is a bonus now but you’re still the reigning champions. You’ve therefore got your super league title to lose. So I don’t buy into this argument from some Wigan fans that you’ve somehow already overachieved this season and you’ve done well just to make the playoffs. Yes you started slowly but nobody bar Saints has been consistent so you’ve hardly had to hit amazing heights to climb the table.

As for being nervous, if we meet again I’ll be no more of less nervous than any other Saints v Wigan final I’ve been to. Is there more pressure on us to deliver something after the dominance we’ve had in the league? Yes. But if we play to our potential then it’s highly likely we’d win, so in that sense I’d still be confident.

You’re right though that Wigan have proven they can do it when it counts so I wouldn’t pick you as a GF opponent given the choice, I don’t mind admitting that.

It won’t matter if you’re nervous, it will matter how the players feel and with their highly dubious record in these knock out games/finals, I’m sure they will feel plenty of pressure and dare I say even more so against Wigan then then they would against other teams (probably Wire aside now).

As for us, when we were near the foot of the table three months ago we certainly didn’t expect to be in the position we’re now in. We were flat, lacking confidence and looked to be going nowhere. You can believe it or not and again like you not feeling nervous, it’s a fan thing and I’m sure the players don’t think ‘anything would be a bonus’ but I do. We’ve gone from 10th/11th three months back to 2nd now, via injuries/departures we’ve had the chance to develop three excellent young forwards in Smithies, Partington and Byrne who’ll be part of this team for years now and we’ve seen an exciting recruitment drive for 2020 that gives us great hope past this season. Dare I say we also had more good news for 2020, with the best run of the mill game coach in the league deciding to head back to the NRL. If we get anything in 2019 it’s a bonus as I say but when a few months back people were genuinely worried about our future plans, with star players leaving, no coach in place, crowds dwindling, young players having not really burst through for a while to any great degree of success (couple of good wingers aside)and an owner who seemed to be losing interest, then we can be nothing but happy with how things look going forward.

A Grand Final win would be the icing on the cake but I’ve honestly never felt as easy about us winning it or not. We would like to win it whereas Saints really have to win it.

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 7:42 am  

Smalls wrote:

You’ve actually had two and Wakefield one.
So your wrong. Again.

Thanks.

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 8:07 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

It won’t matter if you’re nervous, it will matter how the players feel and with their highly dubious record in these knock out games/finals, I’m sure they will feel plenty of pressure and dare I say even more so against Wigan then then they would against other teams (probably Wire aside now).

As for us, when we were near the foot of the table three months ago we certainly didn’t expect to be in the position we’re now in. We were flat, lacking confidence and looked to be going nowhere. You can believe it or not and again like you not feeling nervous, it’s a fan thing and I’m sure the players don’t think ‘anything would be a bonus’ but I do. We’ve gone from 10th/11th three months back to 2nd now, via injuries/departures we’ve had the chance to develop three excellent young forwards in Smithies, Partington and Byrne who’ll be part of this team for years now and we’ve seen an exciting recruitment drive for 2020 that gives us great hope past this season. Dare I say we also had more good news for 2020, with the best run of the mill game coach in the league deciding to head back to the NRL. If we get anything in 2019 it’s a bonus as I say but when a few months back people were genuinely worried about our future plans, with star players leaving, no coach in place, crowds dwindling, young players having not really burst through for a while to any great degree of success (couple of good wingers aside)and an owner who seemed to be losing interest, then we can be nothing but happy with how things look going forward.

A Grand Final win would be the icing on the cake but I’ve honestly never felt as easy about us winning it or not. We would like to win it whereas Saints really have to win it.

Your last sentence is bang on mate. If Saints don’t win it then it’s another season of failure I’m afraid and Holbrook will be remembered as a coach who flopped on the big stage.

As for Wigan, if you don’t win it then I’d also say your season has been a failure too. A season without a trophy should always be seen as a failure for clubs like ours, regardless of the fact you started slow and were struggling a few months ago.

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:31 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

Your last sentence is bang on mate. If Saints don’t win it then it’s another season of failure I’m afraid and Holbrook will be remembered as a coach who flopped on the big stage.

As for Wigan, if you don’t win it then I’d also say your season has been a failure too. A season without a trophy should always be seen as a failure for clubs like ours, regardless of the fact you started slow and were struggling a few months ago.

On the contrary...Wigan have dragged themselves off the floor punching...Lam was dealt a terrible hand with a semi decimated team. This season is very much Lammies finest hour whether Wigan get to a GF or not.

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:35 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

On the contrary...Wigan have dragged themselves off the floor punching...Lam was dealt a terrible hand with a semi decimated team. This season is very much Lammies finest hour whether Wigan get to a GF or not.

This season will always go down as a season of transition regardless of us winning anything or not.

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:49 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

Your last sentence is bang on mate. If Saints don’t win it then it’s another season of failure I’m afraid and Holbrook will be remembered as a coach who flopped on the big stage.

As for Wigan, if you don’t win it then I’d also say your season has been a failure too. A season without a trophy should always be seen as a failure for clubs like ours, regardless of the fact you started slow and were struggling a few months ago.

I'm pretty sympathetic to that in fairness. We can't go round calling ourselves the biggest club in world rugby and be happy to come away with no pots.

Having said that, sometimes you have to make allowances for circumstances, look at direction of travel of the team, and adjust expectations accordingly. Having to cope with playing 2-3 kids in the pack for big minutes all season, coming to terms with a new way of playing after years of a very rigid style under Wane and dealing with the instability of earlier in the year were all big challenges that have been dealt with as well as we could've hoped for. Most of us are pleasantly surprised that we're well in with a shout, so if it turns out to be a failure it will be a pretty glorious one.

Push comes to shove, we lose a final/semi final we're not going to go around crowing about how good the season has been, but there are plenty of factors which make this a particularly challenging year for Wigan to come out on top. Next season will be different.

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 9:55 am  

Cherry_&_White wrote:

I'm pretty sympathetic to that in fairness. We can't go round calling ourselves the biggest club in world rugby and be happy to come away with no pots.

Having said that, sometimes you have to make allowances for circumstances, look at direction of travel of the team, and adjust expectations accordingly. Having to cope with playing 2-3 kids in the pack for big minutes all season, coming to terms with a new way of playing after years of a very rigid style under Wane and dealing with the instability of earlier in the year were all big challenges that have been dealt with as well as we could've hoped for. Most of us are pleasantly surprised that we're well in with a shout, so if it turns out to be a failure it will be a pretty glorious one.

Push comes to shove, we lose a final/semi final we're not going to go around crowing about how good the season has been, but there are plenty of factors which make this a particularly challenging year for Wigan to come out on top. Next season will be different.

All fair points

Re: Let Me Be The First To Say..... : Tue Sep 03, 2019 11:41 am  

Smalls wrote:

You’ve actually had two and Wakefield one.
So your wrong. Again.

And Hull FC had one.