The Club, IL/KR and Adrian Lam

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
Charriots Offiah
Posts: 4127
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2020 1:14 pm

Re: The Club, IL/KR and Adrian Lam

Post by Charriots Offiah »

Caboosegg wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:39 am
Charriots Offiah wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:18 pm
Caboosegg wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:12 pm Recruitment hasn't finished and nothing has even been confirmed yet, we are nowhere near panic stations, if we are still left with no idea of the squad next year in August, then maybe post like this have some weight.

The centre comment amuses me.

Gildart/Bibby are both centres
Hardaker has played centre alot

Then amount of injuries have meant our to main centres and back up haven't had much chance to play centre this year.
Only one of those is a good centre though!
Hardaker is very good at centre and we have mainly seen Bibby on the wing due to injuries so I reserve my judgement.
Zak isn't a good centre.
User avatar
Wigan_forever1985
Posts: 6560
Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:50 pm

Re: The Club, IL/KR and Adrian Lam

Post by Wigan_forever1985 »

Id say the squad is patchy but i look at the spine of the team for next year on the info we have now

1. Hardaker (when his head is straight one of the best in the league
6. Jai Field (a complete unknown atm)
7. Harry Smith (talented but young cant expect much)
9. Powell (should of been replaced a long time ago needs someone to spell with and Amir is not the answer)
13. Unknown seems to be between Harvard, Partington or Smithies


so in the most crucial positions i feel like we only have 1 in which weve got a top player - thats worrying
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
DaveO
Posts: 15880
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:32 pm

Re: The Club, IL/KR and Adrian Lam

Post by DaveO »

Mike wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:21 am We're only unbalanced at the moment because of unbalanced injuries, nothing fundamental in the squad IMO.
How do you conclude that? All the recruitment focus has been on the backs while in the pack senior players have left or been let go and not replaced.

Lam doesn’t know what back line to pick when everyone is fit particularly with respect to French and Hardaker and the club went and signed Field to add to his confusion. When they all get fit again he’s got 10 pick from (Hastings, TL, Smith, Gildart, Bibby, Manfredi, Marshall, French, Field and Hardaker). Chuck in Hankinson who is out on loan and we have backs coming out of our ears.

In the pack from the squad that finished last season G Burgess, Flower and Greenwood are gone (all big men) and in return we got Bateman who isn’t the biggest and our most experienced forward is Clubb who is past it.

The team is only balanced in that each week he picks six forwards and seven backs to start.
User avatar
Mike
Site Admin
Posts: 7402
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2018 6:54 pm
Contact:

Re: The Club, IL/KR and Adrian Lam

Post by Mike »

DaveO wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:20 am
Mike wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:21 am We're only unbalanced at the moment because of unbalanced injuries, nothing fundamental in the squad IMO.
How do you conclude that? All the recruitment focus has been on the backs while in the pack senior players have left or been let go and not replaced.

Lam doesn’t know what back line to pick when everyone is fit particularly with respect to French and Hardaker and the club went and signed Field to add to his confusion. When they all get fit again he’s got 10 pick from (Hastings, TL, Smith, Gildart, Bibby, Manfredi, Marshall, French, Field and Hardaker). Chuck in Hankinson who is out on loan and we have backs coming out of our ears.

In the pack from the squad that finished last season G Burgess, Flower and Greenwood are gone (all big men) and in return we got Bateman who isn’t the biggest and our most experienced forward is Clubb who is past it.

The team is only balanced in that each week he picks six forwards and seven backs to start.
What a great problem to have if they were all fit. Our pack is young and will improve especially with one or two experienced players like Singleton being brought in on shorter deals and longer term players like Farrell. Seems like we've got good cover in the backs and forwards right now, but due to injuries being unbalanced in the backs even with 10 players were affecting the pack by drafting them in to cover.

G Burgess didn't play for us so I struggle to count him as a loss over last season. Nor Greenwood. Flower is a loss, but Singleton arrived. And complaining about bringing in Bateman seems a stretch to me.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
DaveO
Posts: 15880
Joined: Mon Sep 30, 2002 5:32 pm

Re: The Club, IL/KR and Adrian Lam

Post by DaveO »

Mike wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:38 am
DaveO wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:20 am
Mike wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:21 am We're only unbalanced at the moment because of unbalanced injuries, nothing fundamental in the squad IMO.
How do you conclude that? All the recruitment focus has been on the backs while in the pack senior players have left or been let go and not replaced.

Lam doesn’t know what back line to pick when everyone is fit particularly with respect to French and Hardaker and the club went and signed Field to add to his confusion. When they all get fit again he’s got 10 pick from (Hastings, TL, Smith, Gildart, Bibby, Manfredi, Marshall, French, Field and Hardaker). Chuck in Hankinson who is out on loan and we have backs coming out of our ears.

In the pack from the squad that finished last season G Burgess, Flower and Greenwood are gone (all big men) and in return we got Bateman who isn’t the biggest and our most experienced forward is Clubb who is past it.

The team is only balanced in that each week he picks six forwards and seven backs to start.
What a great problem to have if they were all fit. Our pack is young and will improve especially with one or two experienced players like Singleton being brought in on shorter deals and longer term players like Farrell. Seems like we've got good cover in the backs and forwards right now, but due to injuries being unbalanced in the backs even with 10 players were affecting the pack by drafting them in to cover.

G Burgess didn't play for us so I struggle to count him as a loss over last season. Nor Greenwood. Flower is a loss, but Singleton arrived. And complaining about bringing in Bateman seems a stretch to me.
I have seen this "G Burgess didn't play for us so I struggle to count him as a loss over last season" point raised on Facebook and elsewhere and sorry but it's ridiculous. He was recruited to address the obvious problem of lack of experience, size and grunt in the front row and when he was most fans were very positive something was being done about this issue. The fact it didn't work out does not mean his departure isn't a loss. It just means the problem has not been fixed.

The best back row I have seen in recent years was the one in the last GF win in 2018 where Greenwood and Bateman were the two second rows. Faz was on the bench and this worked really well. Greenwood is over a stone heavier than either of Bateman and Faz so there you have another reason why our pack is getting bullied. He was great in last years GF as well. Singleton and Flower wer part of the team last year so I also don't see how the former is the replacement for the latter.

As "What a great problem to have if they were all fit." what's your answer to that because I am sure Lam would love to know as he obviously has no idea who to play where? We are supposedly strapped for cash and yet we went off and recruited Field despite having TL, Hastings, Smith and in theory French for two half back spots. Maybe French is supposed to be full back but I don't know of another SL club that has two first choice full backs who both don't want to play in other positions (see Hardaker's comments about being the best full back and French falling out with his former club for sticking him on the wing).

The clubs recruitment is all over the place and the coach must breathe a sigh of relief when half his squad aren't fit as he's no idea who to pick where when they aren't.
Post Reply