Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:07 am  

Pie_Eyter wrote:

Dudson, Bibby, Jones, Welham, Mossop, Lolohea, Lui, Hastings, etc, etc. Pretty much all of them. Most of which are players who nobody else wanted. John i have been saying it since day 1. I really, really want Lam to succeed. He has got until the end of the season for me. We won nothing last year and if it's another barren year with this squad then he clearly isn't up to it. Just my opinion but i think Watson has earned the chance to coach at a bigger club with better players and a bigger budget. I don't think there is anyone better around.

I just think this mentality is wrong personally. Is Lam the right man? Honestly I’m not sure but I think he has earned the right to lead the club into 2021.

Ian Watson has coached a team at the bottom of the league for the majority of his time in SL and people make out he is performing miracles.

He coached a team that had finished in the bottom 2 for 3 out of his 5 years.

I do think people under appreciate how important to a team especially a struggling team a top half can be.

It reminds me of when Salford were coached by Karl Harrison, they finished near the top of the table and people were saying he has the next GB coach etc. they then sold Andrew Dunerman to Leeds and instantly became relegation fodder and he lost his job never to coach in SL again.

I personally don’t get the Lam criticism.

He is building his squad and his team. Individuals are improving and youth is flourishing.

Are we the finished article? No, but in my opinion he has earned the right to lead us into next year with “his team”.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:15 am  

Watson has resurrected the careers of plenty of players at Salford and looks a very good coach to me. If that quality of resurrecting careers is one needed at Wigan I’m not too sure. If we needed a new coach he’d certainly be in the running for me but you would still have those doubts as to how he’d go at a big club. Does he resurrect careers because it’s a low pressure environment? Could he adapt to being at a club where success is demanded? I personally think he would go really well but you can never be certain.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:21 am  

jonh wrote:

I just think this mentality is wrong personally. Is Lam the right man? Honestly I’m not sure but I think he has earned the right to lead the club into 2021.

Ian Watson has coached a team at the bottom of the league for the majority of his time in SL and people make out he is performing miracles.

He coached a team that had finished in the bottom 2 for 3 out of his 5 years.

I do think people under appreciate how important to a team especially a struggling team a top half can be.

It reminds me of when Salford were coached by Carl Harrison, they finished near the top of the table and people were saying he has the next GB coach etc. they then sold Andrew Dunerman to Leeds and instantly became relegation fodder and he lost his job never to coach in SL again.

I personally don’t get the Lam criticism.

He is building his squad and his team. Individuals are improving and you think is flourishing.

Are we the finished article? No, but on my opinion he has earned the right to lead us into next year with “his team”.

Putting Lam out of the equation for a min. If not Watson, then who? There's no other realistic option from SL imo. The other option would be an NRL assistant and that's just as much of a gamble.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:48 am  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Putting Lam out of the equation for a min. If not Watson, then who? There's no other realistic option from SL imo. The other option would be an NRL assistant and that's just as much of a gamble.

The first sentence is kind of my point.

Why should we be looking at this stage to put Lam out of the equation?

Playing devils advocate though the NRL would be where any new coach comes in from should it be required in the foreseeable future.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 10:04 am  

jonh wrote:

The first sentence is kind of my point.

Why should we be looking at this stage to put Lam out of the equation?

Playing devils advocate though the NRL would be where any new coach comes in from should it be required in the foreseeable future.

Lam for me won't be here for another two seasons. I say that because if he's a success then he'll move back and if he isn't the he'll leave. I believe his family still live in Aus, which for me isn't sustainable.

Why would an NRL assistant be a better option than Watson? Someone like Woolford for example had a decent assistant CV, but was crap. Just because they talk with an Australian accent doesn't mean they are god's gift to coaching.

Not sure why SL fans are so quick to rubbish the achievements of Watson. To label it as "down to Hastings" is laughable. If that was the case then why isn't he waving his magic wand on our forwards. Another poster listed guys like Dudson & Mossop and how Watson had turned them around - wish we could say the same about Clarke or Flower.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 10:42 am  

jonh wrote:

The first sentence is kind of my point.

Why should we be looking at this stage to put Lam out of the equation?

Playing devils advocate though the NRL would be where any new coach comes in from should it be required in the foreseeable future.

There’s been many time’s I’d rather Noble than Lam. On the whole we’ve been poor to average lacking a sense of direction, leadership and ideas, notwithstanding the games v Catalans and Huddersfield I genuinely cannot think of another game where I’ve walked away going “that was really good” as opposed to “improvements needed but that try from X (generally French) was fantastic”. We’re winning games on individual talent rather than team talent. We look like a team of individuals who just so happen to play rugby thrown together hastily. Players playing out of position, players being selected who clearly aren’t good enough or fit enough, Lam praising poor performances as “encouraging” - where do I end?

He’ll be our coach in 2021, of that I have no doubt. I can’t see us sacking him off with the current pandemic. That being said if we were to get rid, I wouldn’t be fussed whether the coach had an Aussie accent or not. That matters little to me. What does matter is suitability for the job, something which Lam lacks in abundance.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 10:56 am  

Noble over Lam? I wouldn't say things have gotten that bad yet (and I say this even though I will be forever grateful to Noble for saving us from relegation).

We just can't seem to piece together a strong team on a weekly basis due to bad luck with injuries as well as bad recruitment planning from management.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 2:48 pm  

MattyB wrote:

Noble over Lam? I wouldn't say things have gotten that bad yet (and I say this even though I will be forever grateful to Noble for saving us from relegation).

We just can't seem to piece together a strong team on a weekly basis due to bad luck with injuries as well as bad recruitment planning from management.

Poor writing from me, let me clarify; I don’t prefer Noble over Lam and you won’t find me shouting for him back either. There’s just been times where we’ve been so bad I’d have take nearly anybody (other than Agent Millward) to take charge. I’m all for being shown to be wrong, and perhaps if we play more like we did v Catalans I’ll come around but honestly I just don’t believe he’s the coach that’s going to take us forward and I haven’t since he was given the job FT after the Edwards fiasco.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 5:51 pm  

We are playing some cracking rugby, we are joint top of the league and into a Challenge Cup semi final.

We have some experienced players like Powell, Farrell, Hardaker and Tommy in particular who even at the stages of their careers have improved massively under him.

There are more kids getting significant game time in big games than I can ever remember.

He has been a key figure in bringing French and Hastings to the club.

I really don’t know what more Lam has to do to convince some he is doing a good job.

Re: Other Teams' Rumours And Signings For 2021 : Sat Sep 19, 2020 7:06 pm  

jonh wrote:

We are playing some cracking rugby, we are joint top of the league and into a Challenge Cup semi final.

We have some experienced players like Powell, Farrell, Hardaker and Tommy in particular who even at the stages of their careers have improved massively under him.

There are more kids getting significant game time in big games than I can ever remember.

He has been a key figure in bringing French and Hastings to the club.

I really don’t know what more Lam has to do to convince some he is doing a good job.

If we beat Leeds then Wire (or Salford) to lift the cup I'm sure even his biggest critic would give it up.