Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:58 pm  

I wouldn’t touch Edwards now so to come up with a plan of a stop gap for 12 months before he takes over would seem like absolute madness to me.

Any talk of him coming in as an assistant at any point is even more bonkers. He would’ve been a shadow over an experienced head man like Wane so to be working under Winder or an NRL assistant would do nothing but heap on unbearable pressure.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:02 pm  

hatty wrote:

I don’t understand the attraction with having Edwards as coach,he’s been out of RL now for as long as he was in it. He needs to earn his stripes at a championship side first for a year or two before he comes anywhere near Wigan IMO

I’d be over the moon if we got Edwards. I don’t care how long he’s been out of the game, I’m 100% certain he still watches it. He has one of the best rugby brains I’ve ever seen in a man, regardless of code and he has bags of experience in managing players at club and international level. He’s regarded as one of the world’s best coaches in RU and with Lockers by his side, he’d put bums on seats at Wigan.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 4:40 am  

Bigredwarrior wrote:

I’d be over the moon if we got Edwards. I don’t care how long he’s been out of the game, I’m 100% certain he still watches it. He has one of the best rugby brains I’ve ever seen in a man, regardless of code and he has bags of experience in managing players at club and international level. He’s regarded as one of the world’s best coaches in RU and with Lockers by his side, he’d put bums on seats at Wigan.

I have to agree with this. It would be a bit of a gamble but then any coaching appointment is a bit of a gamble.

If he did come I’d like to see an experienced director of rugby appointed with him for at least the first year to help with the transition.

I find it intriguing that there’s nothing in the press about the next coach, something usually gets out if we are in negotiations with someone.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 5:38 am  

Ive heard Adrain Lamb as being the next possible coach.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:06 am  

Tricky Dicky wrote:

Ive heard Adrain Lamb as being the next possible coach.

With Bo Peep as his assistant?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:05 am  

Utter nonsense no way Edward's will come back is it only me who is worried about a new manager. If there has been an abundance of cvs been handed in surely 2 or 3 names would of slipped out to the public!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:23 am  

chip wrote:

Utter nonsense no way Edward's will come back is it only me who is worried about a new manager. If there has been an abundance of cvs been handed in surely 2 or 3 names would of slipped out to the public!

Don’t kid yourself. Had you heard of Michael Maguire before he was appointed? There were no rumours, no shortlist etc. IL is a very astute businessman and he’ll be doing everything he can for the benefit of the club.

In terms of CVs, Wigan is still one of the biggest names in the world of Rugby League and I suspect there’ll be no shortage of good quality applicants. Any up & coming assistant in the NRL would probably see it as an opportunity to develop and prove themselves for a few seasons before hoping to land a head coach job in Oz.

Nobody has said Edwards will come back, the debate was whether or not we’d want him back.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 7:42 am  

Bigredwarrior wrote:

Don’t kid yourself. Had you heard of Michael Maguire before he was appointed? There were no rumours, no shortlist etc. IL is a very astute businessman and he’ll be doing everything he can for the benefit of the club.

In terms of CVs, Wigan is still one of the biggest names in the world of Rugby League and I suspect there’ll be no shortage of good quality applicants. Any up & coming assistant in the NRL would probably see it as an opportunity to develop and prove themselves for a few seasons before hoping to land a head coach job in Oz.

Nobody has said Edwards will come back, the debate was whether or not we’d want him back.

True about Maguire, i well recal one prominant poster on here, being very unhappy about the appointment, before he even started work.. Not Wigan standard blah blah blah...

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:02 am  

Bigredwarrior wrote:

Don’t kid yourself. Had you heard of Michael Maguire before he was appointed? There were no rumours, no shortlist etc. IL is a very astute businessman and he’ll be doing everything he can for the benefit of the club.

In terms of CVs, Wigan is still one of the biggest names in the world of Rugby League and I suspect there’ll be no shortage of good quality applicants. Any up & coming assistant in the NRL would probably see it as an opportunity to develop and prove themselves for a few seasons before hoping to land a head coach job in Oz.

Nobody has said Edwards will come back, the debate was whether or not we’d want him back.

Couldn't agree more.

I think anyone who didn't want Shaun Edwards would need their head seeing to, frankly.

We say he's been out of the game, but that doesn't mean he doesn't follow and study it. And let's not kid ourselves, British RL is full of coaches who've never been out of the game and yet who we wouldn't want anywhere near Wigan. I can't think of one currently plying his trade in the UK who I'd be interested in, with the possible sole exception of Powell, though he still still strikes me as a typical chippie Yorkshireman who'd be spiritually lost were he to relocate to Lancashire. (The Saints guy would be good, but the only place he'll be going next is to a top job in Aus, I'm sure).

Surely this is an opportunity to get someone in who is way better than that. Someone who would break the mould again, the way Michael Maguire and Graham Lowe did. The top Aussies seem to be out of our reach, and I understand why. Most first grade NRL coaches are late 30s or 40s, a time of life when their families are settled, their kids in high school, doing exams etc. It's too much to ask those guys to shift around the world. So why wouldn't we consider someone like Edwards? It would be very different from the norm, and a risk ... but people said Maguire was a risk because he'd only ever been an assistant. People said Graham Lowe was a risk because he'd never played.

Also, I'm not sure why, whenever an ex-Union man is mentioned, the kneejerk response is 'dream on', 'no way will that happen' etc.

Why? Is RU really so appealing that it absorbs our guys for life?

Their domestic game is not in great shape financially. They have the international dimension, for sure, but it's hardly an all-year-round occupation. There is the money. That's always an obstacle, but RL coaches are not included in the salary cap, so the only thing causing problems there would be if we weren't prepared to pay the going rate, and if that was the case, it would be no-one's fault but our own. But if we were to get that part of it right, I'd be surprised if the likes of Edwards and Andy Farrell wouldn't at least consider returning to League should the jobs come along. (They also have a huge emotional link with us, which would have to exert some degree of influence).

In my lifetime as a fan, and I've been watching since the mid-1960s, we've always stagnated when we've gone for a 'safe pair of hands' type of coach. Okay, we've occasionally won trophies with them and finished first and second, but there's never been a feeling that we were the dominant force. That has only come when we've had visionaries at the helm like Maguire and Lowe, who have completely changed the ground rules and thought well outside the box. Granted, there's no guarantee that Shaun Edwards would do this, but there's a cast-iron guarantee that no-one else currently coaching in the UK will do it either, and unless the NRL has another really talented assistant hiding his immense talent under a bushel, like Maguire, I can't see the harm in looking to some illustrious former-son like Shaun Edwards.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:11 am  

Madge came with a strong CV, serving under a very successful head coach in Bellamy at Storm during a highly successful period in their history. Madge learnt a lot from Bellamy which is very visible in his tough attitude and demands for fitness etc. If you look a little further, Bellamy came from serving his time under Bennett over at the Broncos way back when. Both Bennett and Bellamy will go down as two of the best coaches ever.

All that Madge was missing from was a head coaching job, which he found at Wigan, was a very beneficial appointment for both parties.

Repeating this pattern could be promising, a fresh pair of eyes from a promising young coach looking to make his mark on a team driving us back to success with new strategies straight from the NRL.

However there is an issue with this, many could and will see the Wigan post as a stepping stone, a chance to add a head coaching role to their CV, prove themselves then seek employment as a head coach back in the NRL, I can see Holbrook over at Saints doing exactly the same.

For me I'd like to see another Madge/Holbrook, but take on a local up and comer as his second, perhaps Lockers etc, someone who then can go on and be a long term serving coach.