Re: Ian Millward : Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:22 pm  

apollosghost wrote:

We were a far better team last season when Sammutt played than when he didn't.
So what if his defence wasn't the best, we scored points for fun when he started at HB and we actually had a kicking game.

Agree

Re: Ian Millward : Mon Apr 20, 2020 10:34 am  

Pieman wrote:

he was garbage considering we paid money and gave Newton for him

even after all these years the whole Newton/ Millward/ "one trick Mick" situation makes my p1$$ boil.....

Re: Ian Millward : Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:03 am  

100% Warrior wrote:

That not just a better Richie Myler?

Similar I’d say and at his best, in the right side, with players at 6,9 and 13 that complimented his style, even Myler would’ve been a good player for us. He’s not had a bad career at all but a loss of pace has really hindered him. I’d liken Myler to a young Danny Maguire. The difference was that once Maguire started to lose his pace, he played more with his head and evolved his game. Myler in comparison hasn’t been able to do that to the same level. One thing an early career Maguire had at Leeds though, which Moran didn’t have here and Myler didn’t have at points, was the likes of Sinfield, Diskin and Buderus to help organise the team. A support running, off the cuff half like Moran or a young Myler/Maguire would kill for a Kevin Sinfield alongside them. George Williams is another player who would’ve thrived having a partner like Sinfield.

Re: Ian Millward : Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:56 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Similar I’d say and at his best, in the right side, with players at 6,9 and 13 that complimented his style, even Myler would’ve been a good player for us. He’s not had a bad career at all but a loss of pace has really hindered him. I’d liken Myler to a young Danny Maguire. The difference was that once Maguire started to lose his pace, he played more with his head and evolved his game. Myler in comparison hasn’t been able to do that to the same level. One thing an early career Maguire had at Leeds though, which Moran didn’t have here and Myler didn’t have at points, was the likes of Sinfield, Diskin and Buderus to help organise the team. A support running, off the cuff half like Moran or a young Myler/Maguire would kill for a Kevin Sinfield alongside them. George Williams is another player who would’ve thrived having a partner like Sinfield.

Agree with all that Hate him or hate him, McGuire was twice the player Myler is/was. Buderus was all class. I think he was one of the best Aussies to play over here, in recent-ish years, anyway.

As it was from a time when I saw very little league on TV, I've actually seen next to nothing of Moran, although of course I have been amused reading your comments about him.

Re: Ian Millward : Tue Apr 21, 2020 10:50 am  

moto748 wrote:

Agree with all that Hate him or hate him, McGuire was twice the player Myler is/was. Buderus was all class. I think he was one of the best Aussies to play over here, in recent-ish years, anyway.

As it was from a time when I saw very little league on TV, I've actually seen next to nothing of Moran, although of course I have been amused reading your comments about him.

Moran was dreadful for us but he wasn’t on his own. He was a bit of a symbol of the terrible way in which the club was being ran at that time. No long term plan and a scattergun transfer policy, just getting anybody we could in regardless of their style of play or our own needs.

It was that period which made Ian Lenagans arrival a breath of fresh air. He’s the biggest single reason for our turnaround over this past decade and a bit.

Re: Ian Millward : Tue Apr 21, 2020 12:54 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Moran was dreadful for us but he wasn’t on his own. He was a bit of a symbol of the terrible way in which the club was being ran at that time. No long term plan and a scattergun transfer policy, just getting anybody we could in regardless of their style of play or our own needs.

It was that period which made Ian Lenagans arrival a breath of fresh air. He’s the biggest single reason for our turnaround over this past decade and a bit.

Yep, Wigan became the club that players signed for and rather than becoming better players they got worse.

I felt sorry for Moran when he played for us, he would have been great feeding off somebody like Dobson.

Re: Ian Millward : Tue Apr 21, 2020 1:50 pm  

dany1979 wrote:

Yep, Wigan became the club that players signed for and rather than becoming better players they got worse.

I felt sorry for Moran when he played for us, he would have been great feeding off somebody like Dobson.

I also thought Danny Orr suffered having to play off Moran

[DaveO]

Re: Ian Millward : Thu Apr 23, 2020 10:15 am  

Wigg'n wrote:

We replaced some incredible quality with bang average or youth players:
Lam - Moran
O'Connor - Seu Seu
Smith - Guisset/Hargreaves
Cassidy - Hansen/Allen/Wild
Connolly - Wild/Brown
Farrell - Beswick/Wild/Hansen

I think you are stretching it a bit with some of those match ups. Since when was Brown a recognised centre? Wild was also a mainly back row forward wasn't he? As to Hansen, he was a good player, a first team regular and played 243 games for us in a nine year career from 2004-13. If you meant he was a young player back then, 2006 was his third season in the first team.

Re: Ian Millward : Thu Apr 23, 2020 10:51 am  

DaveO wrote:

I think you are stretching it a bit with some of those match ups. Since when was Brown a recognised centre? Wild was also a mainly back row forward wasn't he? As to Hansen, he was a good player, a first team regular and played 243 games for us in a nine year career from 2004-13. If you meant he was a young player back then, 2006 was his third season in the first team.

I agree that his mismatches arent correct, it was FAR FAR WORSE than portrayed above. I'm not going to make those comparisons as I cant bring myself to type some of the names involved.

PS Brown played centre the majority of 04/05

What is correct is this

NickyKiss wrote:

Moran was dreadful for us but he wasn’t on his own. He was a bit of a symbol of the terrible way in which the club was being ran at that time. No long term plan and a scattergun transfer policy, just getting anybody we could in regardless of their style of play or our own needs.

It was that period which made Ian Lenagans arrival a breath of fresh air. He’s the biggest single reason for our turnaround over this past decade and a bit.

Even when we were slightly more successful a few years earlier the transfer policy still seemed to be let's get who can as quick as we can, which was ok when we had the Rads, Connolly,Cassidy,Farrell,o'Connors/Betts of the world to back them up.

When we lost those players circa 2003 thru end of 2004 it was a disaster waiting to happen.
And the transfer policy coupled with the alarming lack of an organised pathway for youth development was exposed.

Now then, there was some bad luck couple dwith that in terms of injuries etc.

But it took until 2008 (and anyone who was at the Deanery high school fans forum can probably vouch for this) for the whole thing to be unpicked and new systems, processes, youth development pathways and probably as importantly as anything else the salary cap distribution between the top players evened out better and co tracts run down and renegotiated for it all to turn round.

The mess of 2005/6/7 was turned around in 2008/9 and was paramount to the fortunes and success of 2010 onwards.

Best thing to happen to Wigan RLFC in 30 years at that point.

Re: Ian Millward : Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:35 am  

Jukesays wrote:

I agree that his mismatches arent correct, it was FAR FAR WORSE than portrayed above. I'm not going to make those comparisons as I cant bring myself to type some of the names involved.

PS Brown played centre the majority of 04/05

What is correct is this

Even when we were slightly more successful a few years earlier the transfer policy still seemed to be let's get who can as quick as we can, which was ok when we had the Rads, Connolly,Cassidy,Farrell,o'Connors/Betts of the world to back them up.

When we lost those players circa 2003 thru end of 2004 it was a disaster waiting to happen.
And the transfer policy coupled with the alarming lack of an organised pathway for youth development was exposed.

Now then, there was some bad luck couple dwith that in terms of injuries etc.

But it took until 2008 (and anyone who was at the Deanery high school fans forum can probably vouch for this) for the whole thing to be unpicked and new systems, processes, youth development pathways and probably as importantly as anything else the salary cap distribution between the top players evened out better and co tracts run down and renegotiated for it all to turn round.

The mess of 2005/6/7 was turned around in 2008/9 and was paramount to the fortunes and success of 2010 onwards.

Best thing to happen to Wigan RLFC in 30 years at that point.

I was at the Deanery that night and whilst I can’t remember the exact ins and outs, I remember sitting there in disbelief at how badly the club had been run over those previous years.

I mentioned last year that I was worried Lenagans legacy could be tainted should we have continued down the path of seemingly cutting playing costs (although in fairness they denied that but I still can’t buy it) and said if he couldn’t afford to back the club financially to the level it needed, then I’d hope he’d actively encourage owners who could but he seemed to change his stance and he brought in some expensive signings for this year.

I have Ian Lenagan down as a legend of this club and I’d hate for that to slip. He’s not perfect but my word he’s done some job these past 10+ years and brought us back the success the fans craved. I do wonder if he thinks it’s worth it sometimes. He gets criticised for not spending money on big signings and people use it as an excuse for not attending games. He then spends big on 3 or 4 signings and season ticket sales (for adults by all accounts) go down. When this current situation eases and fans can go back to attending games, I hope there’s a few people realise just what going watching this club means to them. The club will need them but hopefully it’s made people realise they need the club. To get out and watch a live game with your mates and feel that buzz is something I’ve taken for granted but I won’t again. Who knows where people will stand financially and physically after this but I’d imagine if people can back the club and get to games, then they will want to. Watching games on a tv screen can be done at anytime. I’ve had enough of watching re-runs now.