Ainscough goes to Cas on loan

[cpwigan]

http://castleford.dyndns.org/article.php?id=544

The Tigers have signed Wigan Warriors exciting young winger Shaun Ainscough on a one month loan deal.
The 20-year-old flyer burst to prominence last season when he scored 17 tries in just 12 senior appearances after making his Engage Super League debut, and scoring, against the Tigers. An England Academy international his 2009 try haul included four in one game against Wakefield and at the time there was talk of his making the senior England squad.
Shaun joined the Warriors from Wigan St Judes and developed through their Academy ranks. This season, pending the commencement of the Under 20's competition, has seen him playing for Widnes on a dual registration contract, scoring for them at the weekend in their Northern Rail game with Swinton.

Tigers boss Terry Matterson said: "With Richard Owen ruled out and Kirk Dixon not quite ready to return, although he should be back in a couple of weeks, I felt that was important for us to bring someone in pretty quickly. Shaun is an exiting young player who did very well last season but Wigan have a fair bit of strength in his position which saw him placed on a dual contract with Widnes, but I'm very pleased that we have been able to bring him on-board. He is very quick and he has shown that he knows the way to the line and I expect him to make his debut in Saturday's game against Hull KR.
"Initially Shaun will be with us for a month, and he cannot be recalled in that time, but there may be an opportunity for that to be extended if it suits all parties
"However part of the deal with Wigan is that he will not be able to play in our game against them on the 21 March, and were the loan to be extended, he will not be able to play in the Carnegie Challenge Cup as understandably Wigan do not wish him to be cup-tied. I would though like to thank the Warriors for allowing the loan deal to go through."

Don't miss Shaun's anticipated debut on Saturday, buy your ticket in advance on line or in the Tigers Den and save money!

[GeoffN]

That's a good move for Shaun, I'd say - gets him some valuable SL experience, and will show MM just how good he is. I especially like the conditions that he won't play against us, and won't be cup-tied should we need to recall him.

[DaveO]

Well I hope we don't pick up any more injuries to the backs in the next couple of weeks before Phelps returns as we can't recall him from the loan.

I prefer the dual registration idea myself as under that he could come back at any time and also benefit from taining with our squad under its new coach.

I also wonder about doing business with Cas given the bleating they did was IMO crucual in the RFL's decision to rule deferring wages was "against the spirit of the cap"

Dave

[jackoh]

What good news this is for Shaun as well as the club.

He needs Super League experience for us to evaluate how good he is , as well as his own confidence and well being .

I hope he gets a hat tricks of tries against ;

Stains , Leeds , Huddersfield , Wakey , Hull and Wires ,

These are the teams that matter .

[exile in Tiger country]

I bet Widnes aren't happy.
Personally I think it is a mistake on the part of Wigan. As others have said, if we get another injury in the backs we could have recalled Ainscough at short notice from Widnes, now we've lost him for a month.

[Matthew]

As I said in the "Feka dropped" thread - I am not happy that we are helping Cas in the first place. The way they tried to stir up trouble for us over the cap should have seen us severing ties with them indefinitely and certainly not helping them out by lending them a player who is better than the players they have out injured. Would they do the same for us if the situation was reversed? Of course not.

The fact that we cannot recall him for a month is risk. However we have Goulding as well as other juniors for cover; so in the event of someone being unavailable, we at least have some cover.

I am pleased that he will not be playing against us and won't be cup tied.

[Ancientbutloyal]

I think this is good for Shaun, but bad for us.... Castleford will persuade him to stay for sure

[DaveO]

I think this is good for Shaun, but bad for us.... Castleford will persuade him to stay for sure

That is a risk and another reason why I liked the dual registration system better. The player remained much closer to his own club, could train with them for part of the week and was still part of the clubs set up.

Traditional loans push the player further away and Ainscough becomes a Cas player 100% for the duration of his loan.

As was pointed out elsewhere playing for Widnes is not playing at U12 level and due to some of my sons RU clubs players being invited to trial for Widnes I have learned they have a pretty good coaching set up well liked by junior and senior players. So when people say going to Cas will be good for him I am not convinced it's going to be any better and could even be worse than staying at Widnes. What sort of coaching will he get there?

He will now play SL and will no doubt be targeted in defence given it became an issue last season (despite the fact he was no worse than Roberts) whereas playing at a lower level for Widnes may just have been ideal to get his confidence up out of the limelight.

We also seem to have gone out of the way to help Cas by having to terminate the dual registration deal only recently agreed with Widnes to set the loan to Cas up.

It seems a complete waste of time and effort on both clubs part (Wigan/Widnes) to set this up then terminate it for another loan deal. If it was being terminated because Ainscough was joining the regular first 19 at Wigan that would be different but to terminate one loan for another? I don't get it.

Dave

[GeoffN]

Seems to me he'll get more valuable experience playing against HKR, Hull & Catalans (Cas's next 3 games) than he would against Keighley, Sheffield & Halifax (who are probably not much better than the opposition he'd face with the reserves, judging by the Leigh friendly). Even if he does get targeted in defence, at least he's going to improve that part of his game, without it costing us.

[DaveO]

Seems to me he'll get more valuable experience playing against HKR, Hull & Catalans (Cas's next 3 games) than he would against Keighley, Sheffield & Halifax (who are probably not much better than the opposition he'd face with the reserves, judging by the Leigh friendly). Even if he does get targeted in defence, at least he's going to improve that part of his game, without it costing us.

Do Cas have some top notch defensive coach? What is Cas's incentive to develop Ainscough?

People keep saying facing better opposition is what he needs well we have an injury to Phelps so why not face it playing for us where his game can be worked on with our coaches who have a vested interest in improving his game? He would also be playing in a team at the top of its game rather then one that may struggle so I can't think of a better time to re-introduce him to SL with us.

He's an out and out winger and Goulding isn't.

He could have played for us for two or three weeks and gone back to Widnes as part of the dual contract deal. What's he going to do at the end of the months loan?

Extend it with another deal we can't recall him from? Or if Cas have players back fit and don't need him, what does he do then?

We had the opportunity to give him the SL game time he will get at Cas (he must miss our game v them) without ripping up the dual registration deal which would still be useful if he can't get in the team when Phelps returns and preferable to extending a loan from which he can't be recalled.

Dave