Fujiman wrote:Agree with you re Tomkins.Re Riddell though how do you know he won't sign another deal and be here longer?
How old will he be then? I am assuming he is over to end his career with a stint in the UK. He may get a short extension but it won't come close to giving us the stability the top two clubs have enjoyed at no. 9
Also if we had got him on a longer deal and he was a flop in the first season there would have been an outcry. Its a no win situation with that one i think
The way around this is to not take the risk in the first place. I am getting fed up of so called star overseas players coming here and failing to perform.
If you "grow your own" you know (or should know) their capabilities before you sign them up on a deal. Recently we have had Logan and now Barrett fail to see out their full contracts. We have DV flop and Bailey isn't exactly brilliant. In contrast we have Richards and Carmont who are OK. It isn't a very good return IMO.
I have always enjoyed seeing Wigan teams with quality overseas players such as Bell in them but we seem to have fallen into the same routine as some other sides in thinking we must look overseas and one consequence of this is a sort of inherent instability in the side because the club will rightly not dish out long contracts.
i think once we have confirmed 6th position we should play basically youth teams, basically it keeps the seniors fresh for the hard run in on the play-offs and will give the young lads oppurtunitys
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
Wigan_forever19 85 wrote:i think once we have confirmed 6th position we should play basically youth teams, basically it keeps the seniors fresh for the hard run in on the play-offs and will give the young lads oppurtunitys
i wouldnt because i would want to finish as high as possible in the play offs. I would prefer to finish 5th and play wire away than go to catalans!
ancient and loyal upon my chest
they are men of wigans best
a team that playyyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may
jim sullivan he was the king
brian mctigueee and jonny ring
a team that playyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may
when eric ashton was alive
with billy boston by his side
dave bolton and billy blan
oh what a time to be a fan!
in 85, at wem ber ley
john ferguson and brett kenny
a team that played the wigan way
and won the challenge cup in may
in 95 we won them all
tuigamala, faz and paul
a team that playyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may
Ancient and loyal upon my chest
they are men of wigans best
a team that playyyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may.
Hopefully some of you can understand why I was agasinst Phelps and Smith coming in. It sent the wrong message to many aspiring youngsters and may have caused unrest within the club.
The bottom line is if you do not give people an opportunity then you never have the answer to the key question, are they good enough. Colbon has played a full season. We know what he can do and cannot do and did not need a full season to find out. Stanton could have been given 8 matches and Colbon 8 matches. You give each one a decent run of matches and at the end you have a far better idea who offers the most. Rer Stanton. He is short but there are ways of reducing the effects of that problem. Maximise his ability to leap / jump and use Aus Rules style catching. Melbourne and Falau are taught how to catch the ball by Aus rules coaches. We could have such a coach or get somebody from American football.
What people need to understand is that some, 2 or 3 young players need to be in the first team whilst they are on low wages. It helps balance the cap. Otherwise the cap screws you. You need that cycle, release an ageing player, promote a youngster happenening each season.
what about sam reay he is best centre in the reserve league ask stanton how many trys reay as put him in for he is solid in defence and as a very good pair of hands he gives 100% every match and never lets anybody down cps player of season last year he must also be in with a shout at first team action
cpwigan wrote:Hopefully some of you can understand why I was agasinst Phelps and Smith coming in. It sent the wrong message to many aspiring youngsters and may have caused unrest within the club.
The bottom line is if you do not give people an opportunity then you never have the answer to the key question, are they good enough. Colbon has played a full season. We know what he can do and cannot do and did not need a full season to find out. Stanton could have been given 8 matches and Colbon 8 matches. You give each one a decent run of matches and at the end you have a far better idea who offers the most. Rer Stanton. He is short but there are ways of reducing the effects of that problem. Maximise his ability to leap / jump and use Aus Rules style catching. Melbourne and Falau are taught how to catch the ball by Aus rules coaches. We could have such a coach or get somebody from American football.
What people need to understand is that some, 2 or 3 young players need to be in the first team whilst they are on low wages. It helps balance the cap. Otherwise the cap screws you. You need that cycle, release an ageing player, promote a youngster happenening each season.
I think contrary to you CP! I thought that the club needed strengthening at that point in the season (we all saw how injuries ruined Wigan's chance v Leeds last season). Especially with Pryce ruled out for the season at that point.
This was about picking up available players to add competition for places and add that "little more experience" that just playing reserves would give.
What has gone wrong, is that no-matter how badly someone plays or how long they have been out injured, the players concerned just "waltz" straight back into the team. This sends out the wrong messages and confirms that reserves are only used "in desperation" to ad-hoc, fill shirts, whenever necessary, rather than add to that competition for places that the new players have brought. Who even they have found that they are played out of position or for short spells only (Smith one game I know).
cpwigan wrote:Hopefully some of you can understand why I was agasinst Phelps and Smith coming in. It sent the wrong message to many aspiring youngsters and may have caused unrest within the club.
The bottom line is if you do not give people an opportunity then you never have the answer to the key question, are they good enough. Colbon has played a full season. We know what he can do and cannot do and did not need a full season to find out. Stanton could have been given 8 matches and Colbon 8 matches. You give each one a decent run of matches and at the end you have a far better idea who offers the most. Rer Stanton. He is short but there are ways of reducing the effects of that problem. Maximise his ability to leap / jump and use Aus Rules style catching. Melbourne and Falau are taught how to catch the ball by Aus rules coaches. We could have such a coach or get somebody from American football.
What people need to understand is that some, 2 or 3 young players need to be in the first team whilst they are on low wages. It helps balance the cap. Otherwise the cap screws you. You need that cycle, release an ageing player, promote a youngster happenening each season.
I think contrary to you CP! I thought that the club needed strengthening at that point in the season (we all saw how injuries ruined Wigan's chance v Leeds last season). Especially with Pryce ruled out for the season at that point.
This was about picking up available players to add competition for places and add that "little more experience" that just playing reserves would give.
What has gone wrong, is that no-matter how badly someone plays or how long they have been out injured, the players concerned just "waltz" straight back into the team. This sends out the wrong messages and confirms that reserves are only used "in desperation" to ad-hoc, fill shirts, whenever necessary, rather than add to that competition for places that the new players have brought. Who even they have found that they are played out of position or for short spells only (Smith one game I know).
The two most successful club have the same level of competition for places as we do. They both bring youngsters in. Youngsters often younger than our own. The nature of the cap means that you never have the flexibility to bring quality in mid season.
Lack of enthusiasm in the team? young players bring enthusiasm. Every other club sees that but not ours. It is one of the unwritten rules of RL.
Whatsmore you will not retain young players because the initial contracts are so poor that you either pay decent wages for players to learn whilst not playing in the first team which seems ridiculous or they go elsewhere which seems to happen more frequently. Moreover, if the youngsters are not given opportunities then the 15 year old future star is going to look at your club and think NO THANKYOU I will sign for Leeds or St Helens. So you get a downward spiral.
If Leeds, St Helens, Melbourne Storm, Brisbane Broncos do it that way why can Wigan not? Maybe if we removed our heads from the ground things would get better.
Hopefully some of you can understand why I was agasinst Phelps and Smith coming in. It sent the wrong message to many aspiring youngsters and may have caused unrest within the club.
Quite possibly so, but wouldn't the players want to perform greater to prove that they could do a better job than the likes of smith and phelps??? I have nothing against bringing overseas players in such as phelps because he is versitile and he has also played at the top level in Australia whereas Sam Tomkins is playing in the reserve league and is not testing himself against players who Phelps and Smith have done.
The bottom line is if you do not give people an opportunity then you never have the answer to the key question, are they good enough. Colbon has played a full season. We know what he can do and cannot do and did not need a full season to find out. Stanton could have been given 8 matches and Colbon 8 matches.
Because Super league is the way it is at the minute, and us inparticular very inconsistant. I can see the reasons behind keeping colbon ahead of stanton. It is not only consistant performances which a team needs it is also a consistant team selection. I think Stanton is a better player than Colbon but colbon has the experience and possibly after this season we will see more of nicky now that Colbon will be shown the door.
What people need to understand is that some, 2 or 3 young players need to be in the first team whilst they are on low wages. It helps balance the cap. Otherwise the cap screws you. You need that cycle, release an ageing player, promote a youngster happenening each season.
Joe Lydon mentioned exactly the same thing last night regarding wigan in the past. He commented on how brining 2 youngsters a year helped keep the old players young and also helped to develop the young players. This in my opinion is why Radlinski and Farrell where so good, because they came into a very good squad who had the right blend of youth and experience. Also it stops the squad ageing. I think we need to sign someone like wiki to add a bit of experience to our squad. A fletcher type player, hopefully we could sign a couple of these. Get a couple of years out of them and by this time they could do some coaching and the likes of O'Carroll and Prescott can look up to them.
I also will mention something else from the fans forum last night, the comment on Riddell offering to do some coaching with the academy, this in my opinion is what should be happening now. Barrett should be coaching tomkins, giving him tips showing him where to improve.
ancient and loyal upon my chest
they are men of wigans best
a team that playyyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may
jim sullivan he was the king
brian mctigueee and jonny ring
a team that playyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may
when eric ashton was alive
with billy boston by his side
dave bolton and billy blan
oh what a time to be a fan!
in 85, at wem ber ley
john ferguson and brett kenny
a team that played the wigan way
and won the challenge cup in may
in 95 we won them all
tuigamala, faz and paul
a team that playyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may
Ancient and loyal upon my chest
they are men of wigans best
a team that playyyyyyed the wigan way
and won the championship in may.
Three 19 yr olds into this team would be a disaster!
We have too many youngsters now.
These three alongside 3 more of McILorum 20, Prescott 22, O'carrol 21, Tuson 18, Ainscough 19 and we wouldn't be fit to contest in the national leagues.
All the above have been touted for a spell in the first team this year.
