Tonight's Match - Wigan squad for Hull FC

[Firestarter]

Can I just float a controversial idea, which I first mentioned a while ago?

The elephant in the room could be this: that, try as you may, fitting two top-class full backs into a team leads to other problems - specifically French and Field.

We have spent a season trying to resolve it, but still it goes on. The simple, obvious solution is to do the unthinkable: let Jai go. Play Bevan at 1, Keighran at 6, King at 3 if he stays.

Or 1. French, 3. Keighran, 6. AN Other

Or 1. French, 3. SO Else, 6. Keighran.

In the immortal words of Brother Medlocke . . . "The End."

If the idea is to let someone go the obvious solution is to let Miski go. It's a completely bonkers idea to let a player of Fields class leave to keep Miski. Miski is a decent winger but he's not good enough to be forcing Field to leave.

Couldnt agree more.Harsh but true

[Mike]

Can I just float a controversial idea, which I first mentioned a while ago?

The elephant in the room could be this: that, try as you may, fitting two top-class full backs into a team leads to other problems - specifically French and Field.

We have spent a season trying to resolve it, but still it goes on. The simple, obvious solution is to do the unthinkable: let Jai go. Play Bevan at 1, Keighran at 6, King at 3 if he stays.

Or 1. French, 3. Keighran, 6. AN Other

Or 1. French, 3. SO Else, 6. Keighran.

In the immortal words of Brother Medlocke . . . "The End."

I don't see the problem. We've got Field at 1, French at 6 and Keighran at 3.

Tell me, what's French doing wrong? Is it that we've not won ever match this season by 30+? Or that he's not currently the first choice aussie SO? Where is he going wrong that, say, current darling of the site George Williams would not do, after all Williams isn't dragging his Wire through to a run of wins is he? Specifically, what mistakes is French making that makes everyone believe he's not doing well?

[w.thomas]

Fair enough bevans try assist stats are decent but he’s just not a half back. He had an absolute stinker of a game. Hopefully he can buck up because we need the attacking players firing or there’s no chance of winning anything this season. Thought KPP, Mago and smithies went well though. Onwards and upwards

[Mike]

Fair enough bevans try assist stats are decent but he’s just not a half back. He had an absolute stinker of a game. Hopefully he can buck up because we need the attacking players firing or there’s no chance of winning anything this season. Thought KPP, Mago and smithies went well though. Onwards and upwards

When we say he had a stinker. What did he do exactly that another stand off wouldn't have done?

[Flash]

Fair enough bevans try assist stats are decent but he’s just not a half back. He had an absolute stinker of a game. Hopefully he can buck up because we need the attacking players firing or there’s no chance of winning anything this season. Thought KPP, Mago and smithies went well though. Onwards and upwards

He is a half back as that's where he's playing. If what you're actually saying is that he's not a good one because he's had 1 bad game (that we still won), then no one is a half back. Show me a single half back in the entire history of the game that hasn't had a stinker and I'll show you a myth.

His try assist stats are good because he's been doing well up until Friday when he (and pretty much everyone on the field from both sides) had a poor game. We still made enough opportunities to win by 20+ points. It was our execution that let us down.

[benjamaphone]

From the disciplinary thread:

Carlos Tuimavave (Hull FC) – Grade D Dangerous Throw – 2 Match Penalty Notice

So the panel clearly thought a yellow wasn't quite enough...

[the pieman]

Fair enough bevans try assist stats are decent but he’s just not a half back. He had an absolute stinker of a game. Hopefully he can buck up because we need the attacking players firing or there’s no chance of winning anything this season. Thought KPP, Mago and smithies went well though. Onwards and upwards

He is a half back as that's where he's playing. If what you're actually saying is that he's not a good one because he's had 1 bad game (that we still won), then no one is a half back. Show me a single half back in the entire history of the game that hasn't had a stinker and I'll show you a myth.

His try assist stats are good because he's been doing well up until Friday when he (and pretty much everyone on the field from both sides) had a poor game. We still made enough opportunities to win by 20+ points. It was our execution that let us down.

i listened to most of the game on Friday and watched it back on Warriors tv yesterday. In commentary it was commented a couple of times from Mills and Bilko that he was playing poorly / wasnt a 6

however, he created the King try, and would have created another had Nsemba not fallen over / tripped (unsure if he was caught accidentally or not)

what others appear to be missing as well, is that the Hull defensive line was up very quickly out wide, and thus the slow play of the ball / distribution meant that he literally had no time to do anything with the ball. This is where a natural 6 may cope better but in time, there is no reason why French cant handle that better than he may be doing at the minute

In regards to suggestions of moving on Miski so French can play wing, yes, that could be an option, but there is 1 big thing that may prevent that, and that is the salary cap. We cant just sign a world class No 6 to play in place of French if we dont have the cap space, so much as you think that is the simple option, its not a simple as you may hope / think

[Flash]

Fair enough bevans try assist stats are decent but he’s just not a half back. He had an absolute stinker of a game. Hopefully he can buck up because we need the attacking players firing or there’s no chance of winning anything this season. Thought KPP, Mago and smithies went well though. Onwards and upwards

He is a half back as that's where he's playing. If what you're actually saying is that he's not a good one because he's had 1 bad game (that we still won), then no one is a half back. Show me a single half back in the entire history of the game that hasn't had a stinker and I'll show you a myth.

His try assist stats are good because he's been doing well up until Friday when he (and pretty much everyone on the field from both sides) had a poor game. We still made enough opportunities to win by 20+ points. It was our execution that let us down.

i listened to most of the game on Friday and watched it back on Warriors tv yesterday. In commentary it was commented a couple of times from Mills and Bilko that he was playing poorly / wasnt a 6

however, he created the King try, and would have created another had Nsemba not fallen over / tripped (unsure if he was caught accidentally or not)

what others appear to be missing as well, is that the Hull defensive line was up very quickly out wide, and thus the slow play of the ball / distribution meant that he literally had no time to do anything with the ball. This is where a natural 6 may cope better but in time, there is no reason why French cant handle that better than he may be doing at the minute

In regards to suggestions of moving on Miski so French can play wing, yes, that could be an option, but there is 1 big thing that may prevent that, and that is the salary cap. We cant just sign a world class No 6 to play in place of French if we dont have the cap space, so much as you think that is the simple option, its not a simple as you may hope / think

Spot on with all of this. I watched the match back last night too and I have to say that both Mills and Bilko are what I would call "agenda commentating". They're calling the match according to an already set agenda. The 2 most obvious examples where both against Harry Smith; one were Bilko said "where was Harry Smith on that play" (sic) when he had literally just passed the ball and Mills' reaction of "Oh dear!" or "Dear me!" (can't remember the exact wording) to Harry's match winning drop goal!!!

I like them, as a rule, but they seriously need to get there heads from up their a*ses and commentate on what's actually happening, rather than trying to "prove" what they already think.

[benjamaphone]

Mills' reaction of "Oh dear!" or "Dear me!" (can't remember the exact wording) to Harry's match winning drop goal!!!

That cracked me up as it was exactly how I reacted at the ground Think we'd just seen him miss so many that we had zero hope - shows what we know

[Wiganer Ted]

That the team didn't play well v Hull FC is obvious. They still managed to get the win mainly due to field position in the GP period. So what was the problem?

First off, three of our four starting props weren't available due to injury or suspension. Cooper, Ellis and Havard would all be missed if there was just one out but three out of the four makes a massive difference. We have a quality squad so should be able to bring in reasonable replacements. They are reasonable but not as good as the three players missing. Isa has the 11 shirt and he was missing too.

As above, didn't go but listened to Milko and watched the full game on Wigan TV yesterday.
The frustration of Joe and Andy was plain, same for me. Whether that was for the same reasons I don't know.
My beef is that we don't have completely different game tactics for poor weather and good weather. Maybe different squad selection and team selection too. Positional changes as well?
Our season starts in February when the weather is awful, improves through summer when everything is different to February then late September and October it can become poor again.

We all know this so why don't we have different tactics? Tweak the squad and team with perhaps positional changes?

The changes when SL started we were told was because we were changing to "summer rugby". OK but I think it's not summer rugby but seasonal rugby as the game is played through the four seasons. We need to improve that's for all to see so changes need to be made to get that improvement both to the squad, team selection and tactics as the rugby season goes through the year's four seasons.