Stu M wrote:Was a much more dominant performance than I expected. Wigan looked comfortable and never looked like losing. Worryingly for the rest of SL they are only just getting started. This team now has that big game Finals experience and the stars are tied down to long-term contracts. They have a mixture of youth complemented by experience and to be fair recruited very well.
Thompson has been way better than I envisaged and its a sign of their depth that Walters can't make the 17. Nsemba is a superstar in the making and then of course there's Field and French and Smith now learning how to manage games and kicking teams into submission.
There's going to be a real lack of competition for Wigan soon bar maybe Warrington continuing to improve. Catalan have gone backwards so there's a real onus on Saints getting injured players back. Given that we are set for a couple of transition seasons there is a real chance Wigan will do what we did and win consecutive GF's for 3-4 years.
I said to my eldest lad a couple of years ago to enjoy the period we were in and to make the most of getting one over his Wigan supporting mates at his school in Wigan. I didn't expect Wigan to improve as quickly as they have but in Peet and a good coaching team, they are now the standard bearers and the rest of us need to chase them.
I think the problem with predicting 3 or 4 year dynasties is that in sport, and particularly one like ours, there are just too many variables. Injuries, suspensions and even refereeing decisions now, more than ever, have the potential to completely alter the course of a season. If it was a 'first past the post' system we played I'd be more confident in predicting a dynasty but essentially all our trophies, apart from the LLS, are decided by cup finals and, as we know, anything can happen in a one-off game. Saints own dynasty would probably never have happened had Hardaker made that kick or even punted the ball up field in the 2020 final. Even then it needed a freak bounce of the ball for that win to happen.
I think the club are doing all the right things and putting itself in the best position for success going forward and the rest are definitely in a position of catch up now as the clean sweep of trophies attests. This is already a special team that knows how to win the big games and, as you said about your own success, we should just enjoy it while we can.
Having said all that I hope I can post in 3 more years and say "well Stu, it turns out you were right"