Centre for Wigan ?

[Pedro the Exile]

Yeah,
It's always a worry when Maurice starts picking the team...mind you,he was the one who signed Gene Miles so he gets it right sometimes but I agree,it's Rapers job.Raper effectively inherited a fixed playing staff & then with the salary cap restrictions had to make do.He has not had the luxury afforded to previous Wigan coaches to buy the team HE wants.
Interestingly from the other posts there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of class centres to pick from.We do need someone with the ability to release the wingers as Carney & Dallas(when fit)are both great players who get very little quality ball.

[warriorjon]

Think the only reason that we signed the players we have over the last few seasons was desperation due to lack of avaiable quality at the time these signings were made, eg. Ainscough and O'Neil were the best of a bad bunch available at the time when we needed cover at centre and stand off. Think its a very positive sign now that we have learned the lesson when the emphasis coming from the club is on QUALITY overseas signings, not just overseas signings.

[Ellie from the Block!]

I think we do need a new centre as this is the weak area of the team at the moment.
My only comment on the whole matter is that Maurice should stick to signing cheque books, Raper chooses the team and the two remain seperate. How often do you see Saints or Bradford directors sticking their noses in??? If this is Raper's team then he should be left to run it as he sees fit! I have every faith in him and in case you cant tell I am sick of the too many chiefs and not enough indians routine at Wigan.

[John M]

feeona posted:
I think Carney has such potential to go racing down field but hodgson doesnt pass the ball to him?!!

Unless Hodgson is looking to give tons of intercepts away then i should hope he doesnt try passing to Carney.People are being too tough on Hodgson.He has only played just over half a season as a centre and hes already one if not our leading try scorers.Hes only young,he has not made any glaring mistakes and he does try his best.Great centres do not appear overnight.Infact,centre is one of the most difficult positions to play and adjust to.Give the lad time.It make take him another year or two yet but thats what putting faith in young,unproven players is all about.

[DaveO]

warriorjon posted:
At the moment Vagana is probably the most complete centre in world rugby, his deffence is excellent but the main attribute is his attack he is a born try scorer and puts the ball over the line for fun.

Well IMO our centres are lacking in two depts at the moment. They don't play as centres and put their winger away and their defence is not as good as I thnk they are capable of.

The fact Vagana is a try scoring centre is great but does he put his winger away for tries as well?

I am really sick of the wingers not getting the ball.

I really think we need a big tackle busting centre to break the line with sheer power as outside the pack none of our current players are doing that.

We also need some size in the 3/4 line to stop big teams running all over us out wide when we defend.

Does Vagana fit the bill?

Dave

[DaveO]

Pedro the Exile posted:
Yeah,
It's always a worry when Maurice starts picking the team...mind you,he was the one who signed Gene Miles so he gets it right sometimes but I agree,it's Rapers job.

This crops up every now and again but ML has been doing the signing for years. It was he who signed Botica when Monie signed Phil Blake and numerous other players as well.

I don't think a Wigan coach has had a say in who is signed since about 1985!

No one complained when we were riding high with good quality signings but the big difference is now ours and the NRL season are on at the same time we can't temp top class players over here as easily.

Raper effectively inherited a fixed playing staff & then with the salary cap restrictions had to make do.He has not had the luxury afforded to previous Wigan coaches to buy the team HE wants.

I don't think any previous WIgan coach had this luxery in recent times. Monie didn't as it was he who related the tale about ML signing Botica over Blake when he (Monie) wanted Blake.

Interestingly from the other posts there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of class centres to pick from.We do need someone with the ability to release the wingers as Carney & Dallas(when fit)are both great players who get very little quality ball.

There are not a huge amount of quality players to sign full stop, never mind centres. It's partly down to what I said before about the Aussie season being in sync with ourselves.

Dave

[warriorjon]

In my opinion yes he does he may not have the ability to offload with 3 players on him but he does break the line a lot then draw the last man and pass very well. The only player i can think that would fit the bill as a big block busting centre is Russel Richardson who is being released by Souths big strong bags of potential a few years ago would sem to have been a guaranteed star when with Cronulla but injury seems to have checked his progress. The question is do we risk our quota spot on a player with a history of injury?

[pk]

i think we should go for koe love. porven over here so we dont have to worry about that and his defence is hard, if a little high lol.

anywya we sign one centre, let dallas and ainscough go. pj and ? become the centres with carney and hodgson wings with aspinwall, as he is doing now, playing his wya into the side by outperforming any of those 4.

[Welski]

Nigel Vangana must have come on leaps and bounds since he left Warrington in 97 I always thought he was too lightweight and a bit of a prima donna.
I always assumed it was a brother/namesake that was doing so well down under!!

[johnsons_babexx]

jackman88 posted:
Am i the only one who thinks that johnson is a good centre. I think we should keep him at centre and bring in vagana to go along side him. You could then get rid of dallas and ainscough and put hodgson on the wing.

No!!!!!!

Seems to me at the mo that he has been the name to get at this season. Just remember that it hasnt been the best of yrs for him!