The best word that sums up Wigan's situation at the moment is 'crisis'.
The ship is sinking and everyone is all hands to the pumps to try and bail it out. In times of adversity sometimes you sack a coach and hopefully that sparks the players into life.
 Millward was sacked less than a year into his three-year contract |
Sometimes players only get the message when someone like that goes.
There are a lot of young guys at Wigan who are not just playing to stay in Super League, but also playing for their careers as well.
As Ian Millward had not been there long, I thought the club would have given him most of the season to pull things around.
I hope the Wigan directors have made a plan for the future before sacking him and that this isn't a knee-jerk reaction.
Who would have thought that Wigan would be bottom of the table after eight rounds?
Sometimes it just doesn't always work out for a coach.
I heard my old team-mate Phil Clarke saying recently that sometimes coaches get too much credit when a team does well and too much stick when it does badly.
When John Monie was at Wigan first time around, he was winning everything and considered a super coach.
But he didn't have the same success at London or in his second spell at the Warriors.
 | MILLWARD FACTFILE 1960: Born in Wollongong, New South Wales, on 22 August 1982: Joins Illawarra Steelers after representing New South Wales schoolboys 1983: Retires as a player after breaking his neck in a match against North Sydney 1998: Joins Leigh in September with the club bottom of the First Division 2000: Appointed coach at St Helens on 13 March. Wins Super League Grand Final 2002: Signs a new five-year deal with Saints after rejecting an offer from Wests Tigers 2005: Suspended on full pay by Saints on 4 May 2005: Sacked by St Helens on 10 May 2005: Appointed coach of Wigan on 22 May 2006: Agrees to drop compensation claim against St Helens in January 2006: Sacked by Wigan on 11 April after losing seven of the opening eight games in Super League |
The same goes for Millward. He inherited a great team at St Helens and made it even better by bringing in the players that he wanted.
His hands have been tied at Wigan to a certain degree.
He tried to bring players in but I don't think, if he is being honest, he had the team he really wanted.
But no coach is too big to get the chop because this is a results industry and if you don't get results you go, no matter who you are.
Ian was on top of the world at St Helens and if he can get the sack when he was a success, he can certainly get the sack at Wigan where things are not going well.
Some might say Wigan's demise has been coming since 1996 and the start of the summer era.
That year marked the end of their real dominance and that great team has been slowly dismantled.
The last player from that era was Kris Radlinski and it is ironic that he has just retired.
As for Millward's replacement, I imagine it will be an Australian.
I can't see anybody over here in a position to take on such a huge job that demands success.
 Offiah scored 186 tries in 158 appearances in his five years at Wigan |
I don't think Shaun Edwards would come back from Wasps - I speak to him regularly and I don't think Wigan is his focus at present. He realises that there aren't many jobs out there in a full-time capacity at a big club, so if you get the sack you can be waiting a while before you get another chance.
The lack of opportunities is why some of our best coaches, such as Shaun, have gone to rugby union.
Wigan look to be in serious trouble because by about 10 weeks into the season the Super League table has a shape to it.
You get the teams at the top, the teams fighting for the play-off places and the teams fighting relegation.
Once the table gets a shape, it does not change that much.
Now Wigan have to concentrate on their next game, which is against St Helens - it just doesn't get any easier.
There is nothing that Saints are going to like more than sticking it to Wigan when they are down...
MMIX
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