I was wondering this, it's all doom n gloom on here atm. We finished 2nd this year, 1 point behind top, only lost 4 times in the regular season all year to the same 2 teams, WON THE CHALLENGE CUP, via a very difficult route and eventually ran out of steam and couldn't quite get through the playoffs and give Madge a fairytale ending.



Fair enough there are some changes to the playing and coaching rosters next season but providing we can add a bit of quality and with returning players such as Fielden and a full pre season for Hock we shouldn't be much weaker than this year. Plus we'll have Finch and Richards from the off next season. I haven't seen anything from any of the other teams to suggest we are going to tumble down to anything below 3rd or 4th next season though. If we can add a decent centre and stand off I'd put money on us finishing in the top 2 again.

I agree with most of what you say ,but what concerns me is that once Madge said he was going he was not looking further than the end of this season. Hence playing the strongest team every game.

True transistion should be ongoing not saying we will start next season, which means by not blooding a couple of youngsters in matches late this season the decision may come back to haunt us next year.

They will be starting cold with an aging squad.

I agree you could always trust that gorilla/monkey thing, he or she was Wigan through and through.

Bloody hell, and I thought the inbred lowlives infesting redvee were bad when it came to kneejerk pessimism... You'll be absolutely fine next season and there or thereabouts come the trophy shakeup. With the quality and youth you already have and the new signings that will inevitably be on the way you'll make the top 4 without breaking sweat and that's all you need to do these days. Actually, top 8 is all you need in this fantatic playoff system and you could do that with me playing. Just chill, guys

Leave the tea lady out of this

If she wanted leaving out of it she should have announced the biscuit selection for next season.

It's rumoured we are going back to traditional, eg custard creams, morning coffee etc.









p.s. this is not an announcement.

Saints have made six Grand Finals in a row and I'm pretty sure at the start of at least three of those seasons we were heading into a transition season, including this year.



There are concerns you may have over your team but there are also youngsters who will be a year older so there's no reason to believe you won't be challenging for trophies. Even if your new coach isn't as effective as Madge the residuals of his culture will still be there and the players have had two years now knowing what it takes to compete. That doesn't evaporate overnight.

Bog off back to your own board.

That's two sensible posts from yourself an Billinge_Lump in the last week. Added to that some sensible comments on Saturday pre-match. I'm getting paranoid.



Come on Leeds





Tell Mark to check his pms

It's about an interesting conversation that I forgot to tell you both about.

i would much prefer getting to 1 gf and winning it in a hack canter.

In terms of recruitment there is not alot to fear. Most teams are now finding; with the rules for federation players that, damn we've got no youth set up.



Any team with a half decent youth set up has the advantage now. If you look at some of the signings for next year, tony tonks, chris hill, jamie ellis, teams are now raiding the championship like they haven't in years, because all the overseas loop holes are pretty much closed.



We've even seen Hull raiding Bradford for their number 1 player. Although it was hardly a raid, more like a ebay sale. Those cheap season ticket have to be paid for one way or another.



I can't see many big names coming from the NRL for the next few years with the factors of image rights going, £v$ and the huge NRL TV contract.



Basically it's going to be older players and dog molesters only until the SL can even up the cash.



So for wigan it could be as shallow a transition period as Saints have had with youth filling the gaps, left by the older elite. Finals are likely.

Thats a good post with a lot of sense in it. I just had the image of SL coaches typing dog molesters in google





Does that mean we think that the teams down the bottom with poor youth set ups are gonna get even worse? For me last season the gap between teams at the top and bottom seemed huge on quite a few occasions.