Calderwood on FC radar

[DaveO]

The thing is with calderwood is since his injury he has lost the one thing that made him a good winger - his speed.

How can you tell when he never gets the ball?

I am not sure what people expect in this regard. It was a serious injury and people seem to expect him to make a complete recovery this season.

We did the same thing with David Hodgdon who had a bad Achilles injury. When he wasn't up to scratch when he came after he was labelled rubbish with no account taken of this.

While he isn't as good as Calders he regained his speed after leaving us and he was fully recovered. I have no doubt Calderwood will do the same.

If we had judged Pat Richards form on half a season when he first came he would not be here now.

So given Calders is a proven try scorer I think the least he deserves is the full season to regain his pace.

That said reading the quotes I am not surprised he has instructed his agent to find him a new club because Nobby either does not know how or won't use him properly at Wigan.

He needs to find a club with a decent centre and a coach who will set up a plan of attack to make best use of his talents not one where the only player with pace never gets the ball.

Dave

[Nine]

I admire Calders' enthusiasm and effort but I think his error rate is a worry.

Also, I saw him recently during the day(long after he returned from injury)and he was hobbling. Could just have been a knock in training, of course, but his injury was a bad one and it may be that the joint hasn't properly healed to what it was before and he's still having trouble with it, which would affect his number 1 selling point, speed.

His contract is up, there's no obligation on him to stay after this year or the club to keep him. If the club thinks it can get better or as good and cheaper elsewhere, that's just life in professional sport.

[El Bobbers]

I think to be fair to Colbon his stats do compare to those of Calderwood, I think he makes more yards and scores a try pretty much 1 in every 2 games which compares to Calderwood.

I can't help thinking though that Calderwood would probably score more with a center like Carmont along side him.

But then they have both played alongside Goulding and Bailey or DV who have all been guilty of not supplying good ball to their wingers.

What is going to be interesting is where Phelps and Mathers are going to fit in? Richards is obviously a given as our best winger and fullback.

Calderwood would be a very handy player next year as long as it is a reasonable contract.

[nathan_rugby]

Inbetween joining wigan from leeds calderwood suffered a hamstring injury which affected his pace.
He then had the broken ankle last year which has probably effected it even more.

If he had a good centre then i suppose he would be scoring a few more.

But to be honest, paired with goulding, he isnt going to get the best service. Goulding doesnt get the ball outwide much in very good positions, so never has the chance to give it to calderwood.

Calderwood may aswell go if our game plan is not to attack to that side.
Maybe goulding would develop into a better centre and form a good partnership with calderwood if he got the ball often enough.

[mano]

NOV 08 there are 4 wingers who deals run out calderwood/ainscough/colbon/stanton
was told a few weeks back that colbon as signed for next season the other have not been offer anything yet [ iam not saying that the young player will be leaveing as dont know that]

[DaveO]

What is going to be interesting is where Phelps and Mathers are going to fit in? Richards is obviously a given as our best winger and fullback.

Calderwood would be a very handy player next year as long as it is a reasonable contract.

You have to factor Pryce into the equation as well.

Richards on one wing and Pryce on the other with Calderwood here as well would give us competition for places and cover for injures (and despite the stats Cobon comes 4th down the list in pecking order of that lot IMO).

I suspect Calderwood will choose to leave Wigan rather then Wigan get rid, as I reckon with Pryce and Richards in the squad he will see them as Nobby's favoured type of winger and so he will struggle to start a game.

If that happens then whether it gives us a the "incisive and pacey" backs IL mentioned in his interview after the Leeds game I don't know.

Lets also not forget Pryce is coming back from serious injury so he may not be the fastest man in the backs himself. So in an ideal world I 'd start Calders and use Pryce from the bench for the best part of a season but it won't happen as Calders will be leaving.

As to Phelps and Mathers they could be vying for the full back slot and Phelps could also be vying for a centre slot with Goulding.

Not sure about Phepls long term future here. We will have to see how he goes and I am looking forward to see him play but ee is only 5 foot 10 tall which is short for a full back these days and at 14 stone he isn't a blockbusting centre either.

Mathers is another player who cops a lot of stick and he is also in his first season back from a serious injury.

I think the moral of the story is make sure you don't just have a year to run on your contract when you come back from a long lay-off, you won't be given the time to recover.

Dave

[Lil Feka's Dad]

I for one am not Calderwood’s biggest fan.

When he first arrived he was recovering from injury. Having watched him up close in Orrell I thought he was lazy, and played as if his reputation deserved better that a reserve game.

Over time his attitude and work rate improved. His pace returned but unfortunately I don’t believe the confidence returned. He always seems reluctant to trust his pace to take his opposite number on the outside, and prefers to cut back inside. This is more frustrating when it’s clear he has plenty of pace when defending.

Having said that, against Bradford last year we finally saw what he is capable of, and he was desperately unfortunate to pick up another serious injury. Without that injury I believe he could have had a good season this year and justified a renewed contract. Instead he missed the early season, and was limping badly after the Hull KR & Wakefield games in March. I also noticed him limping again during the Warrington game but don’t know if this was related to the previous ankle injury.

Maybe Noble’s reluctance to select him may have something to do with Calderwood’s uncertainty to last the full 80 minutes. If that is the case then it’s understandable that Noble may see him as an expensive luxury next season.

Noble has to decide if his current form is worthy of a contract next season, but personally I think Pryce is being groomed as Calderwood’s replacement.

[josie andrews]

The thing is with calderwood is since his injury he has lost the one thing that made him a good winger - his speed.

How can you tell when he never gets the ball?

I am not sure what people expect in this regard. It was a serious injury and people seem to expect him to make a complete recovery this season.

We did the same thing with David Hodgdon who had a bad Achilles injury. When he wasn't up to scratch when he came after he was labelled rubbish with no account taken of this.

While he isn't as good as Calders he regained his speed after leaving us and he was fully recovered. I have no doubt Calderwood will do the same.

If we had judged Pat Richards form on half a season when he first came he would not be here now.

So given Calders is a proven try scorer I think the least he deserves is the full season to regain his pace.

That said reading the quotes I am not surprised he has instructed his agent to find him a new club because Nobby either does not know how or won't use him properly at Wigan.

He needs to find a club with a decent centre and a coach who will set up a plan of attack to make best use of his talents not one where the only player with pace never gets the ball.

Dave

I completely agree with you Dave, Hodgson and now Calderwood, both have had serious injury, and even Dallas never got any ball and who was faster than him? I think the number 2 shirt has suffered these last few years as they have never had a good centre to provide the ball.

[cpwigan]

There's a winger called Matt Utai plays wing in the NRL. He is built like KC at Saints. He makes great yards/runs scooting infield. As a winger I think he is very mediocre. I often think he would be the ideal Nobby winger.

[KOOCH]

lets be blatantly honest about calderwoods dilema.Stay with a team who's coach does not give him game time,or move on to pastures new.I know what i would do!Calderwood is not the problem is he?it's the bloody coach nobby.Tacics! what tactics? this is a man who inherited a winning team and a winning mentality.I travel down from the midlands to watch what can only be described as mediocre performances.Long gone is my belief that we will win a game.Rather the opposite.I always say to myself that i hope we win this game.Get real Ian and Joe Nobby is not the man for wigan!We can get better and must get better than this coaching crap!why do we support this current team?or any team for that matter?Because we are ancient and loyal.And they know it.