MR HANLEY COMING BACK

[lucky 13]

Hanley was a one off you can not compare any one else with him he was a natural rugby talent . I have seen some great players at wigan but if we could sign a young Hanley now he would without doubt be the best one any team could make.

[DaveO]

Matthew posted:
I think that the problem with Lockers is that because he is Farrells brother-in-law, everyone expects him to steer Wigan around the field and be a similar "captain fantastic" type figure.

Well I think he should steer Wigan around the field because I consider it part of a captains job to do it. Not because he is related to Farrell.

If Lockers was nothing to do with Farrell, wasn't captain and we hadn't had our recent slump in form then this would not even be a topic for discussion. I don't remember anywhere near as many comparisons between Ellsion and Offiah or Robinson and Dallas.

It certainly would be a topic for discussion and ever since Millward appointed him captain I have been saying it was a mistake. He came off a very bad injury into the captains job and form day one I was saying that was too much pressure to put on the player. I think the way he captained the team last season proved me right but this is nothing to do with Farrell at all.

I also don't get the connection between comparisons of various wingers fits in. Everyone knows Offiah was freakishly fast and so I don't recall people slagging off our more recent wingers because they don't match up to him. Most people judge each player in their own right and are not forever mentioning things like "Richards is no good because he isn't as fast as Offiah".

There are odd exceptions where comparison is inevitable when you have controversial signings like Millard in favour of Godwin but that doesn't apply to Lockers who was not brought in to replace Farrell as such.

Because of these factors comparisons were inevitable and Lockers carries a lot of expectation on his shoulders to be the player Farrell was - and he must be more than aware of this; something that cannot make things any easier for him.

I don't think its got anything to do with it. If he does feel any pressure of expectation due to his illustrious relative then that is of his own making IMO.

At the end of the day Lockers is not (and may never be as good as) Farrell - this is not to say that he isn't or won't be a good player in his own right. How many other loose forwards (Hanley aside) were in the same category as Farrell? How many currently in SL? Not many.

Lockers will get judged over his career at Wigan for what he does not what Hanley or Farrell did. Lockers was great two seasons ago but I think was affected last season by coming back from injury and the pressure of captaincy (not because he was related to Farrell).

[quoye]One other plus for Lockers - I would imagine that he is a fair bit cheaper to employ than Farrell was; and I can't see him defecting to union any time soon either!
[/quote]

The most important factor is not cost but do you get value for money. Farrell was in my opinion value for his money. As we all know a certain DV isn't considered so just now and is at the other end of the spectrum. Is Lockers value for his undoubtedly cheaper wage than either of them? I would say so but that doesn't mean he is that good a captain or could not do with regaining his form of two seasons ago.

Dave

[Matthew]

Towards the end of his reign at the club it could be argued that Farrell was terrible value - he didn't play, was injured, had signed for Saracens and still counted on our cap - DV aside; it doesn't get much worse than that!

Well Offiah was freakishly fast, was not Farrell freakishly talented? Apart from Hanley there has not been anyone of recent times in the same category of loose forward as Farrell - the nearest comparison would be sculthorpe and I would say that there is clear blue water between them. Farrell was a complete footballer - even going so far as being one of the best goal kickers in the Superleague era. The man that had to fill his shoes was always going to be compared to him - and I think that the brother-in-law link just makes the comparison more obvious for lazy journalists. If it is OK to compare captains and loose forwards - then why not wingers? Or any other position for that matter?

Whenever Wigan play on the BBC (and occasionally on Sky too) it doesn't take long for the commentators to mention Lockers as the brother in law of ex-GB and Wigan captain Andy Farrell; cue further comments about hard act to follow etc - so comparison is always raised in the media. Likewise Farrell is used as an identification tool for Lockers in the papers in the same way. Few people outside of RL know Lockers - but most sports fans know Farrell. After all Lockers was being sited as heir apparent to Farrell when Farrell was still at the club.

I personally don't think that Lockers is the best captain - I've said as much in the debate on here last season. In my opinion Millward almost used it as a PR exercise with the Wigan fans "look I've chosen a local lad" - you need only look at the grin on his face when it was announced to the press. Fletcher would be my choice due to his experience. However I don't think that Lockers is a bad player and he may yet grow into the role of captain.

However I think that if he had no ties to his predecessor then he would be under less scrutiny than he currently finds himself.

On these very pages several fans have described Lockers as "crap" within the last couple of days. Whilst he did not play as well as did in his previous season - he was still certainly in the upper half of the squad performance wise last year - despite returning after a very serious injury; so I find it interesting that he is singled out for criticism so often.

At the end of the day; Lockers is a decent player - and a local one at that; you would think that as a home town home grown player; some fans would have a little more support for him.

[waterside glens]

hanley was the george best of rugby league ,you don't copare mere mortals to these guys

[lucky 13]

Hanley was a great but so was Kenny ,Lewis the list would be long but just these 2 that you mention

,Kenny the most naturally gifted player ,not my words but John Monie I only had the privilege to see him in a Wigan shirt for one season but would still say he was the best standoff I have seen ,

If we had seen him Kenny or Lewis in a Wigan shirt for any great length of time we would rate them just as highly ,

Hanley was the best naturally gifted runner and i can not remember him missing to many tackles either, he didn't posses a great passing game in my opinion but his will to win was his greatest attribute a inner self belief that all greats posses .

Was he the greatest player ,he would be up their best British player I have seen but although he was a player who you would put somewhere in your team I think players like lewis and kenny would be in your team just as quickly .

The only problem with Hanley is he wont be playing for us again :doz:

[Wigan Watcher]

Doug Stand posted:
You can compare other players to Hanley as he has set the benchmark in being the almost perfect rugby league player.
I say almost as if you measured Hanley in all the skills of RL he would score 10/10 on everything except odly enough passing the ball... then again my argument to this was, when Hanley got the ball, you didn't want him to pass it as often enough there was no need.

As I say, you can compare players of any era and of any skill level. One thing for sure though is that anyone compared to Hanley would fall well short of his standard. I know there are many Farrell fans on here, but really Faz as good as he was wouldn't come close to Hanley.
Ray Pryce, Wayne Pearce, Steve Norton, Wally Lewis, Laurie Daly, Brad Fittler and even the great Brett Kenny all of these greats IMO fall short when measured against Hanley. They could probably beat him in certain areas, eg Kenny's ability to take an interception, or his passing... but overall Hanley would come out on top.
Of course O'Loughlin will never get this standard, that doesn't make him a bad player, he has a lot of work to do to become great, but the potential is there...
Unfortunatley though, there will only ever be one Ellery Hanley. For those fortunate enough to have seen him and for all Wigan fans we should count our blessings his was at Central Park when he was.

I have never agreed more with a posting like I do with this one.

The guy was the legend of legends