Wigan Squad

[southportcdm]

Cheers nathan, very helpful. In answer to those suggesting we put Cust back in at 6, my reply would be that he's simply not playing well enough. HIs form this season isn't as good as Bevan playing out of position. Also are we convinced that we've signed Keirghan to play at 6 because if so we'll need another centre?

[Welski]

If you go from a very simple perspective when Wigan have played well in the last 2 to 3 seasons it’s been very exciting to watch with runners coming off different lines and in multiple waves. At the moment it seems we have kicks from Harry Bevan throwing passes across the face of the defenders (inviting the intercept) and occasional moments of magic from Jai.(and Bevan). Something clearly isn’t quite right at the heart of the team. I would love to see bevan succeed where he is but for me he has to play wing or fullback. (Plus like Josie I’ve got him as top try scorer this year)

[medlocke]

Any chance of French to 13?

[Wiganer Ted]

Any chance of French to 13?

No!

[josie andrews]

I questioned Matt Peet as to why they had changed the line up of 6 & 7. And I have said this before.
Why was Smith moved to the left when he is a left footed kicker & Cust/French/ANother to the right?

Last season that combination 6/left 7/right gave us the best attack for years. French highest try score of the season.

The answer I got was that Smith wanted to play on the left! Who decides who plays where & who coaches the team?

We’ve not scored half as many tries as last year, the attack isn’t half as good & the excuse that Cust isn’t playing well is, IMO, that he isn’t getting enough game time at 6 & keeps being put as a replacement hooker! Which he isn’t

[EagleEyePie]

We're undoubtedly less effective in attack this year, but this issue predates French moving to stand off. It's clearly been an issue we've had since the start of the year.

We've had just three games this year where we've posted really big scores. The 60-0 win over Wakefield, the 36-0 win over Castleford the following game and the 34-6 win over Leigh.

Our average points scored in Super League this season is currently 22.8, compared to 29.5 last season. It's a noticeable drop.

Average points scored with French on the wing - 26.3
Average points scored with French at fullback - 19.9
Average points scored with French at stand off - 23.2

Proof that our attack was much better with French on the wing? Only if you consider the Wakefield game a true reflection of our attacking ability. I would argue it's a statistical anomaly that bears no relation to any other result this season. They were abysmal that day. I think the general consensus on here afterwards was that it was not a result reflective or the teams ability.

If you remove that 60-0 win from the calculations, our average points scored with French playing wing drops to 19.6 per game, and that includes the 36-0 Castleford victory too. So either side of those results we had some low scoring performances, but the average was about the same as when French moved to fullback.

I would argue our attack in recent Super League games hasn't been that bad, and the stats back that up.

We've scored 20 points or more in 50% of Super League games with French on the wing
We've scored 20 points or more in 50% of Super League games with French at fullback
We've scored 20 points or more in 80% of Super League games with French at stand off

I would argue our attack really isn't the biggest problem right now, and French playing stand off definitely isn't one of our biggest problems. I don't see any reason to think that Cust moving to stand off will dramatically improve our attack because that wasn't the case early in the season.

If you look at the points conceded in this time:

In the games French played on the wing, our average points conceded were 12.2 (14.6 with the Wakefield result removed)
In the games French played at fullback, our average points conceded were 18.3
In the games French played at stand off, our average points conceded were 17

Our defence was better earlier in the year, and crucially those first 6 games featured both Ellis and Havard in the team, plus Mike Cooper. We then had that excellent triple win over Leigh, Saints and Wire with French at fullback and crucially, with Ellis and Havard in excellent form.

Since then we've not had both Havard and Ellis in the team at the same time (in a Super League game) as far as I can recall, and our defence has been noticeably weaker ever since.

TL:DR

French at stand off isn't the problem. Our attack has been less impressive than last year since the start of the season, but it's still more than good enough if we defend as well as we can do, but that probably relies on having our strongest pack of forwards, as that's the biggest determining factor in our performances.

[EagleEyePie]

Just to add to the above.

Average points conceded per game with Havard & Ellis in the team - 10.1
Average points conceded when only one of them plays - 21.3

[Charriots Offiah]

Sorry French needs to stay there to form a partnership not keep switching positions kept together they learn each others moves and passes its vital they form a half back partnership

I absolutely understand where you’re coming from but he isn’t a halfback.

Neither is Cust. The only halfback we have is Hampshire.

[moto748]

I would argue our attack really isn't the biggest problem right now, and French playing stand off definitely isn't one of our biggest problems. I don't see any reason to think that Cust moving to stand off will dramatically improve our attack because that wasn't the case early in the season.



Keeping it simple, I agree with that bit.

[culinator]

I can see both sides to the argument really with regards French's position but...

"IF" our forwards made more yards, creating more space, this could provide the space French needs from 6, for me this is the main issue, forwards dont do enough.

Ifs and Coulds i know

Just my opinion