Havard

[w.thomas]

2 new Aus props stats are terrible see their profile

Have you watched either play this season? I have a couple of times and they both looked handy and made decent yards in contact in my opinion. I think they will both go well and are a massive improvement on our senior props. Mago in particular looks like the big tough unit we are lacking who can punch a few holes in defences. As another poster has mentioned before they boasted similar yards to Satae and sau when playing over in Aus and them 2 aren’t going too badly in SL.

[josie andrews]

that literally last night was men against boys

to expect a pack with 5 20 year olds (give or take a year) take on an experienced saints pack was bordering on criminal

where are the 4 senior props in our squad. Surely questions have to be asked about that. we had 1 of them on the bench who i think managed about 15 minutes of the 80. its an absolute disgrace that these young lads are being battered literally week in week out by seasoned pros. i would be ashamed of myself if i was one of Singleton, Bullock, Clubb or Clark. These are the guys who should be leading our pack, not any of the young lads who are currently standing up for our club at this moment in time. I appreciate that 3 may be on their way, but let all 4 go, as they have let their team mates and fans down big time this season

i have posted previously that Wigan used to know how and when to move players on, but not any more. we used to have a balance of experienced players and bring the young players in, to give them a good grounding with a senior team around them. now we have a team of young players with a senior player being looked after by the kids. i cant fault the effort of the young ones, but they shouldnt be in the position of having to play 80 mins against Walmsley, Roby, the cockey w***er, Paasi, etc. at best they should be on the bench and coming on as interchanges and being rotated on a weekly basis. This current crop are going to be battered by the time they are 21

Why should they be ashamed? It’s the team selectors who should be ashamed! The older players want to play but are not being selected for whatever reason! There should be no favouritism or loyalty to players by the coaches, they are employees of the club & should be playing every week unless injured.

The trouble as I see it is that we’ve given the young lads a starting position & are somehow scared of or whatever to take that starting place away from them as if they do rest them or use them from the bench it will somehow affect their performance!

Can they not see that playing them week in week out is doing exactly that!

[widdenoldboy]

2 new Aus props stats are terrible see their profile

Have you watched either play this season? I have a couple of times and they both looked handy and made decent yards in contact in my opinion. I think they will both go well and are a massive improvement on our senior props. Mago in particular looks like the big tough unit we are lacking who can punch a few holes in defences. As another poster has mentioned before they boasted similar yards to Satae and sau when playing over in Aus and them 2 aren’t going too badly in SL.

Caide Ellis is a big unit, he went OK v Panthers last week - not eye catching but he was off the bench and its one game.

[NICKYKISS]

The big questions with Ellis and Mago will be if they can produce the 10 metres a carry or so that the stats suggest they make down under when they play longer minutes here and not just the 20-30 minutes they seem to be given by St George and Souths. Make no bones about it, they’re bit part players for those clubs but they won’t be here. It’s no shame them not being starters at those clubs and plenty of guys with that profile have come to superleague and excelled.

[nathan_rugby]

The big questions with Ellis and Mago will be if they can produce the 10 metres a carry or so that the stats suggest they make down under when they play longer minutes here and not just the 20-30 minutes they seem to be given by St George and Souths. Make no bones about it, they’re bit part players for those clubs but they won’t be here. It’s no shame them not being starters at those clubs and plenty of guys with that profile have come to superleague and excelled.

Calculation of meters is done differently in Aus which makes it look more favourable. They count it from where they catch the ball whereas in super league it’s from the gain line.

[moto748]

Mago has certainly been good in his appearances for Souths.

[the pieman]

that literally last night was men against boys

to expect a pack with 5 20 year olds (give or take a year) take on an experienced saints pack was bordering on criminal

where are the 4 senior props in our squad. Surely questions have to be asked about that. we had 1 of them on the bench who i think managed about 15 minutes of the 80. its an absolute disgrace that these young lads are being battered literally week in week out by seasoned pros. i would be ashamed of myself if i was one of Singleton, Bullock, Clubb or Clark. These are the guys who should be leading our pack, not any of the young lads who are currently standing up for our club at this moment in time. I appreciate that 3 may be on their way, but let all 4 go, as they have let their team mates and fans down big time this season

i have posted previously that Wigan used to know how and when to move players on, but not any more. we used to have a balance of experienced players and bring the young players in, to give them a good grounding with a senior team around them. now we have a team of young players with a senior player being looked after by the kids. i cant fault the effort of the young ones, but they shouldnt be in the position of having to play 80 mins against Walmsley, Roby, the cockey w***er, Paasi, etc. at best they should be on the bench and coming on as interchanges and being rotated on a weekly basis. This current crop are going to be battered by the time they are 21

Why should they be ashamed? It’s the team selectors who should be ashamed! The older players want to play but are not being selected for whatever reason! There should be no favouritism or loyalty to players by the coaches, they are employees of the club & should be playing every week unless injured.

The trouble as I see it is that we’ve given the young lads a starting position & are somehow scared of or whatever to take that starting place away from them as if they do rest them or use them from the bench it will somehow affect their performance!

Can they not see that playing them week in week out is doing exactly that!

Thats fair enough Josie. I dont speak to any of the players, so dont know what / how they are feeling etc, i am forging my opinion on not seeing them start week in week out and performances on the pitch. i would however, question whether they are doing enough in training / when playing to warrant their 1st team places, unless as you say the team selection is just baffling

our starting pack should look very different if the recognised 1st choice players were being selected and performing

Singleton, Powell, Bullock, Isa, Faz, Bateman

Subs
Clark, Clubb, any of the young lads

the worst case there should be 3 of the 1st choice 4 props in the starting line up (subject to injuries) and that way all the young lads get game time and as we all know arent going to be burnt out by the time they hit 21-22

nothing was more evident on Friday night, than you need seasoned props to help you control the game. i cant fault the effort being put in, but you cannot replace the size and experience that the older props bring to the team. Men v boys was literally the scenario on Friday night and it showed in how Saints controlled the game completely

[Wigan_forever1985]

I find something really uneasy about what is happening at the moment

I cant actually believe that Lam is so inept as a coach in correlation with the decisions both in team selection and tactics we are seeing. I mean quite frankly it almost feels like someone is purposely making bad decisions , im obviously not suggesting this is the case but its that bad at present you almost feel like it has to be purposeful. Bullock 10min cameos, playing shorrocks at 9, mitch clark playing actually well to be dropped, starting all the young forwards in one go, taking 2 when your 6 down 10m from the opponents line, hastings at FB etc etc Lam wasn't this bad the previous 2 seasons, im not saying he was great but a lot of the decisions at the moment are literally comical they are so bad and i just really dont understand what is happening

[widdenoldboy]

I find something really uneasy about what is happening at the moment

I cant actually believe that Lam is so inept as a coach in correlation with the decisions both in team selection and tactics we are seeing. I mean quite frankly it almost feels like someone is purposely making bad decisions , im obviously not suggesting this is the case but its that bad at present you almost feel like it has to be purposeful. Bullock 10min cameos, playing shorrocks at 9, mitch clark playing actually well to be dropped, starting all the young forwards in one go, taking 2 when your 6 down 10m from the opponents line, hastings at FB etc etc Lam wasn't this bad the previous 2 seasons, im not saying he was great but a lot of the decisions at the moment are literally comical they are so bad and i just really dont understand what is happening

Agreed, great summary.

[the pieman]

I find something really uneasy about what is happening at the moment

I cant actually believe that Lam is so inept as a coach in correlation with the decisions both in team selection and tactics we are seeing. I mean quite frankly it almost feels like someone is purposely making bad decisions , im obviously not suggesting this is the case but its that bad at present you almost feel like it has to be purposeful. Bullock 10min cameos, playing shorrocks at 9, mitch clark playing actually well to be dropped, starting all the young forwards in one go, taking 2 when your 6 down 10m from the opponents line, hastings at FB etc etc Lam wasn't this bad the previous 2 seasons, im not saying he was great but a lot of the decisions at the moment are literally comical they are so bad and i just really dont understand what is happening

Agreed, great summary.

I think the majority of us are coming from the same place but expressing it differently.

But i also think we are seeing some of the frustration/ uncertainty coming out in the players actions on the pitch, if we as fans are perplexed by what is going on

we've had 2 players banned for headbutt type actions, bateman binned for mouthing off at the ref on Friday, Isa just losing the plot completely. as a fan i can accept a ban for backing your team mates up if there is some biff, but some of the bans we are picking up are just baffling and appear to be purely out of frustration.

We all know the pack with 6 young lads in isnt good enough, but he persists with it (that isnt knocking the young lads but they shouldnt be in that position). They cant dominate other teams (and certainly not Saints pack), which leaves our backs with no ball, no platform and with players out of position, seemingly no idea at times and we wonder why there is frustration