There appears to be doubts over the long term future of CherryandWhite and I for one hope Bilko ditches it and this forum folds. Its severely worrying how so many Wigan fans are stuck in the success of the 80's & 90's. I lose the will live reading this forum sometimes its full of nothing but deluded argumentative morons, I've lost count of how many negative posts there are in match discussion threads and those are after the wins. I'm also fed up of genuine and serious threads that descend into 15 pages of nonsense about body fat percentage or such other similar garbage, Whats highly worrying is that i'd hazard a guess that those that spout said garbage are grown men who probably have families. Please either ditch CherryandWhite or just simply grow up join the normal genuine fans in 2012 and SUPPORT your club. One last thing the person/person's responsible for Big Aunties want locking up or the alternative is shooting.

An easy option for you is don't come on here.

Stupid thread based on someones interpretation of what wane said to the press... Ironically, something that most on here would agree with....

Another negative thread, gotta love this board

I was at yesterday's game and left in disgust when Hodgson went over to make it 36 points to 26 with about 15 minutes to go! We had just clawed our way back into the game to get within 4 points and an unlikely victory. I listened to it on Radio Humberside though and although relieved that we won I was still fuming at the inept attacking display and even more inept defence that were both shadows of our early season form. We were saved by the individual brilliance of a few players and the ability of one Tommy Leluai to open up our attacking options. To put a positive spin on it though we now have a bit of momentum and whilst it presents us with an opportunity to rest some players on Friday I think that we should put out a strong team to allow Pat and Tommy to get us back in the groove again and, hopefully, regain some of our early season supremacy in time for the playoffs.

I wouldn't be worried with what Wane said i'm more worried with how the team is playing



I wasn't going to post this cause it's going to get stick but sod it Finch over the last 6 weeks is a weak link in our team now i'm not saying he's crap or anything but something isn't right and it sticks out like a sore thumb, Mistake after mistake coming from his slow passing and taking the wrong option he needs to be rested on Friday



Micky Mac another one gone off the boil been awesome all season last few weeks mistakes creeping in and some of the old player coming back with brain farts,I spoke to a guy this morning whos view i respect highly and he thinks Logan t should play on friday instead of Micky but i disagree his plays from dummy half are too slow plus you get that agression with Micky



Mossop seems to have bottled it last couple of weeks he's been nothing short of outstanding all season and his game has dropped i dont know if he's tired or what but we need the guy from 2 months back



This is not a pop at any of these players we all know what they can do just not on the ball of late

I don't think we disagree about the flawed play-off format. The problem with the play-off format is that it makes it too easy for lower ranked teams to win the GF.



Since the SL trophy is officially the most important "league" trophy, this means that teams will be less concerned about topping the table and more concerned about entering the play-offs on top form. This devalues the weekly rounds and the LLS. I don't think I'm the only person who has said this.



Saying that the flawed play-off format means that people should value the LLS more than winning the GF ignores the reality (whether we like it or not) that the SL trophy is awarded to the winners of the GF and that the holders of the SL trophy are the champions.

Very few people will remember the winners of the LLS, sadly, but unfortunately that's the way our sport has gone. A decent playoff structure that rewards 1st place and gives them an easy passage to the final is what's required from it all. Not a system that allows 8th place to be in with a shout. It should be heavily stacked to favour the LLS winners with a good mixture of an easy playoff and some rest. The other finalists should come into the final the hard way, battered and bruised.

I agree. The old top five playoff system weighted in favour of the top two, hence why most Grand Finals were played by first v second. (With third getting the odd look in).

And that's exactly how it should be. 5th place shouldn't get anywhere near. I do wonder if Leeds would have finished 5th if they'd have been rewarded an easier route the higher up they finished. It looks to me like Warrington have cruised this season knowing that 2nd will get them a route every bit as easy as first but without the potential injuries of going full throttle, like us, for the full season.

Would a top 7 work?



wk1

game 1. 2nd v 3rd

game 2. 4th v 5th

game 3. 6th v 7th



wk2 semi final

winner game 1 v winner game 2

1st v winner game 3



wk3 final

semi final winners



It gives top spot a week off in the first round and also the easier semi final. I can't remember or work out how a top 5 would work.

Didn't mind either the top 5 or 6 system as it was weighted heavily to first and second. The top eight system is symptomatic of the leadership of the RFL and the rewarding of mediocrity or poor quality. It's obvious from the musings of people like McManus that there is a mood amongst some clubs for radical change on a host of issues including the play-offs.

Exactly.



"Negative thread?". You are damm right it is. It's deeply worrying if, given the fact pointed out above, a coach would value finishing top of the table after the regular rounds above actually winning the competition he entered on day 1. Worrying and disappointing.



Irrespective of what you consider to be the greater achievement, the rules of the competition ensure that finishing top of the league is a clear second best to winning the GF.



I am shocked that anyone in an official capacity with Wigan RL thinks otherwise.

Yep.

Me thinks theres a bit of wilful misreading of the quote here.

What Wane ACTUALLY said was



"If I was lucky to win three trophies, this one would have meant everything," he said.



ie not that if he had to pick one, this the LLS was it, but that if we won ALL 3, this one would be the nicest.



talk about not reading the quote and making a mountain out of a mole hill

If that was the extent of his statement then PERHAPS (and it is a big perhaps), you would have a point.



However, he then goes on to say



"For us to end up first means [ueverything [/uto me because the one thing I wanted to bring to the team and the club was consistency."



Kinda suggests that the priority was the LLS does it not?



Now actually I think that in the cold light of day, Wane would have chosen his words a little more carefully (at least that's what I hope).



However, adding up all the evidence, the alleged "flogging" of players in training, the excellent early season form coupled with the dire recent form, Wanes words....



It all is a touch worrying imo.

How terrible would that be. The best two teams paying off to be champions more often than not, giving 3rd,4th and 5th outside chance.



I may be in a minority but to me that's the wait should be.

It is IMO so bad it doesn't provide a worthy way of determining the champions and my point is I think many fans take that view.







I know you are not the only one who says this but what interests me is are you happy that it does? It just seems a bit perverse to me to spend an entire season supporting the team possibly home and away in a competition you are probably better off finishing 5th in.







The reality is someone made the decision to adopt a play-off system to decide the champions yet provided a very poor competition to do so. That is leading to plenty of fans expressing the sentiment the LLS should mean more IMO. You can't polish a **** and so just because the like of Nigel Woods or Stevo will prattle on about how Leeds winning it from 5th was some mighty achievement anyone with any common sense can see that its easier to do that than win a challenge cup never mind top the league.



They can of course have the best of both worlds and revert to the top 5 system where finishing top is very worthwhile and the idea you can just enter the play-offs on top form doesn't cut it. At the moment we rely on the teams playing league games as if finishing top IS important. Otherwise we are being conned out of our season ticket money and may as well save everyone the bother and start the season next week.

That would get my vote because it means the idea the league is unimportant just does not cut it under that system.



I sometimes think the other formats that have been tried and have been adopted are favoured because it means there is a much greater chance of a side outside the top 2 winning it. Well to me that is like the "prizes for everybody" approach to school sports so derided in the press. "Your not that good but we will give you a second chance" is not the way to improve standards in the sport which was one of the major justifications of adopting the system.

Top 6 is IMHO the best.

Top 2 have to win 1 to get to the GF, but conversely have to lose 2 on the bounce to be out

1) the champions should go straight to the final -simple as that - a real reward for winning over the season.



why would you not want the best team of that season in the final?



2) 2nd place gets a semi-final spot already



3) everyone else has to fight straightforward knockout to get the final semi final spot



This way there is real reward for finishing top, some reward for finishing 2nd, and hard work for those in however many places they decide to go down -



if they go down to 8th place then;



8vs7, winner then goes on to play 6th, winner goes on to play 5th etc all the way up to the semi final spot with the 2nd place team. Real reward for where you finish. You can start from 6th or 5th place to speed the process up.



There would also be no rubbish repeat fixtures where we end up playing saints 3 times, etc.



Problem solved!

one massive problem with the above...if you had only top 5 the the league winner would not play until week 4...... probably too long to go without a competitive match

Pie Warrior,using the system below the league leaders would play in Week 3.



League Leaders to go straight into the final.



Wk 1 Preliminary Semi Finals,-- Match 1---2nd play 5th, Match 2---3rd play 4th.

Wk 2 Preliminary Final,-- Winner Match 1 plays Winner Match 2.



Wk 3 Major Final,-- League Leaders to play the Winner of the Preliminary Final at Old Trafford.



This would give the League leaders a three week break and make the other four teams who finished below them in the league play for the right to play at Old Trafford.



This way the League leaders would be rewarded for a consistant season.

No, I am not happy at all about the current play-off format, which is yet another massive error by the people supposed to be running RL.



I would be happy with reverting to the previous top 5 system.

Play off's have ruined the sport altogether. Finishing 5th and being champions wouldn't even make sense to an Irishman.



Scrap the ridiculous play off system and let the champions be the team that finishes top then have the Challenge Cup final the week after the season is over.



My old granddad won't watch rugby after the regular season as he says it is over when they have all played each other and the team who finished top were champions. Watches it all year and then switches off come September.





Also on another note. I would like to see us back in blue and white hoops for next years away strip. I miss it.