weststand-rich wrote:I guess we'll see over the next 4-6 weeks how Feka is going to pan out.
If we're going to use him like Friday it's a waste of a bench slot. His lack of forward impact on the game certainly wasn't worth the reduced minutes he spent on the pitch and unfairly burdened our other props with additional workload.
He might well be lighter and relatively much fitter, but if that doesn't translate into mobility around the ruck in defensive sets he'll leak penalties - I can think of one on Friday for not being square at the play the ball.
People dont realise that Feka is no quick easy fix.
The bloke was massively unfit last season, just like a Tuigamala coming to Wigan for the first time.
IMO, it will take a full season to see the benefits of the new training on Feka.
I am in no rush to see the bloke busting holes in defences, as this will take time to come back with his strength.
Panchitta Marra wrote:
People dont realise that Feka is no quick easy fix.
The bloke was massively unfit last season, just like a Tuigamala coming to Wigan for the first time.
IMO, it will take a full season to see the benefits of the new training on Feka.
I am in no rush to see the bloke busting holes in defences, as this will take time to come back with his strength.
Yes I think Feka is going to be affected quite a bit by his weight loss and I don't mean simply he isn't as big so can't steam roller the defences. It takes time to adjust to such a radical change in body weight.
Writing him off at the moment is IMO premature and I hope the coaching staff have not done so.
I think people forget we have only had one quite short pre-season under the new regime so I think the conditioning of all players is far from a done deal and is an ongoing project. With Feka it is more so given the state he was in last season.
At the moment his defence is very hit and miss. He actually does more work but v Bradford on a few occasions he was making the hit and not sticking so the Bradford player was able to offload or push off and away. His running v Bradford was very good.
We really missed Prescott IMO because he gives Coley and Fielden a decent rest. I think Preccy rarely misses a tackle.
cpwigan wrote:At the moment his defence is very hit and miss. He actually does more work but v Bradford on a few occasions he was making the hit and not sticking so the Bradford player was able to offload or push off and away. His running v Bradford was very good.
We really missed Prescott IMO because he gives Coley and Fielden a decent rest. I think Preccy rarely misses a tackle.
Yep or Mossop Ocarol are all better options in the way we now play the game, we no longer need his impact to create .
cpwigan wrote:At the moment his defence is very hit and miss. He actually does more work but v Bradford on a few occasions he was making the hit and not sticking so the Bradford player was able to offload or push off and away. His running v Bradford was very good.
We really missed Prescott IMO because he gives Coley and Fielden a decent rest. I think Preccy rarely misses a tackle.
Although he needs to work a bit on his ball control IMO. He tends to lose the ball a bit more than the others which puts more pressure on the rest of the forwards.
I agree Mike. He tends to spill it once per match at least. He runs a very good line but flat, possibly too flat and the ball comes loose in such collisions. He might be better just playing safe and doing the donkey work.
TWO EYED WARRIOR wrote:Feka has always been very flat footed and on many occassions has been stood up by the opposition.
The new lighter version needs to be much more agile on his feet, an ultimatum was given to Barrie mcdermott by graham Murray when coach at Leeds "improve your footwork or your out" ! Baz spent hours working on it and it paid off, hopefully feka can do the same, as one thing he is a very marketable player !
Feka's bulk and related lack of fitness made him very much less mobile, making him more suspect to miss the tackle (being stood up).
I wonder how much of this mobility training is being applied to Feka by Madge to help rectify this problem.
Maybe it will pay off with Feka, just like with Barrie "One Eye" as you say.
I just hope Feka is given the time.
TWO EYED WARRIOR wrote:Feka has always been very flat footed and on many occassions has been stood up by the opposition.
The new lighter version needs to be much more agile on his feet, an ultimatum was given to Barrie mcdermott by graham Murray when coach at Leeds "improve your footwork or your out" ! Baz spent hours working on it and it paid off, hopefully feka can do the same, as one thing he is a very marketable player !
Feka's bulk and related lack of fitness made him very much less mobile, making him more suspect to miss the tackle (being stood up).
I wonder how much of this mobility training is being applied to Feka by Madge to help rectify this problem.
Maybe it will pay off with Feka, just like with Barrie "One Eye" as you say.
I just hope Feka is given the time.
I dont think mobility is his problem its his human nature that lets him down, he is just lazy when it comes to defending. He's as slow getting back in the defensive line as he was before he lost the weight and he is a one trick pony going forward. Teams have sussed him out when he gets the ball three people go for him, they were doing this towards the back end of last season as his big runs were few and far between. When the opposition have the ball they run at him and expose his weak tackling and they no he is a lazy defender. All you Feka fans will have to go to the co-operative stadium at Orrell if you want to see him this season because MM wants forwards who will work hard when they are on the park and he doesnt, Ive never rated him and I for one wont be sorry to see him gone!
