cow yeds wrote:Couldn't tackle a packed lunch. That's why he's been around the lower divisions for the past four years.
So what, not every player has to be a superstar tackler
I agree here, however we've removed barnacle bateman from the right hand side defence so we are going to be vulnerable down that side if we don't get a good 2nd row and centre covering the tackles Sammut misses.
Not sure who will play right centre next year but Sarge and Sammut would be a bad combo
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
widdenoldboy wrote:IIRC Cowie, Hall and McGinty weren't seen a big signings but they all improved into very good players but in a very good team. TBH Hall was probably the least well known and had the tougher position to fill but he made it.
Add Henderson Gill to that list signed from Rochdale.
All I can think is that we have had some signings who were not considered to be Wigan class who have gone on to be Favourites of the Wigan fans. Let's give the lad a chance he has not even pulled the Wigan shirt on for a game.
medlocke wrote:If true then please explain Martin Offiah
what about him? he could defend.
He couldn't tackle a roast dinner and he's famous for it
Not "the" best tackler maybe but he could defend. His pace always helped with that and was like having an extra man on the edge. He also pulled off enough important tackles to be fair that I never saw any aspect of his game as weak. Plenty good tacklers in RL have had weakness in defending because of lack of pace or poor reading.
Just for example Powel tackling is a massive plus when he's in the middle. When he was asked to defend out wide last season he was caught a little flat footed.
I always think Offiah is happy enough to play the can't tackle story character and he ran fast because he was scared card but I saw enough of him to realise he was not lacking in courage.
lucky 13, I couldn't agree more. Our worst defensive displays last year were with Powell#7 and Woods#6. It was far too easy for the opposing team to get outside them because of their lack of pace. Put Powell back in the middle as a#9 and he's a different player.
