morley pie eater wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 6:40 pm
A solid performance from a makeshift team.
The thing about Keighran to me was how he responded to being given responsibility. We must find a way of using him more when Smithy and Bevan are back.
Similarly, we've got to find a role for Farrimond. I'm not making a direct comparison, but didn't we protect Shaun Edwards from being targeted by opposition forwards by giving him a brief to shadow behind the main line of defence?
How do you propose we use Keighran more when French and Smith are back?
Are you suggesting the solution to Farrimonds defence is to not have him defend in the line and reduce the number of defenders we have? That is crazy.
morley pie eater wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 6:40 pm
A solid performance from a makeshift team.
The thing about Keighran to me was how he responded to being given responsibility. We must find a way of using him more when Smithy and Bevan are back.
Similarly, we've got to find a role for Farrimond. I'm not making a direct comparison, but didn't we protect Shaun Edwards from being targeted by opposition forwards by giving him a brief to shadow behind the main line of defence?
How do you propose we use Keighran more when French and Smith are back?
Are you suggesting the solution to Farrimonds defence is to not have him defend in the line and reduce the number of defenders we have? That is crazy.
Nathan, re Farrimond/Edwards: all I said was that we found a way with Edwards and can find a way with Farrimond too. It was intended as a positive comment. I said I wasn't comparing the two, or saying we do the same with Jack, just that we "find a way". The details of how we do it are something I leave to the coaching staff as it's beyond my job description.
Keighran had his best game for us by a country mile. My point about him is that, to me, this seems to be because he was given responsibility for organising and field kicking in the absence of Smith and French.
My suggestion, or observation, is that we should try to find a way of tapping into this when Harry and Bevan are back. Again I leave the details to those who know best, but thought it was a point worth floating for discussion here. Fwiw, being the field kicker on the right side may be one option.
On Farrimond, as I think I mentioned before, there is always the option to not start him, but use him as a 'supersub' to run at tiring defences in the last 20 minutes.
I was impressed by Keighran's performance at 6 and it's great to have such a good back up for Bevan. Clearly Bevan is first choice but we now know that Keighran should play 6 if Bevan is out or if Jai is missing and Bevan is moved to fullback. So long as we have Eckersley to cover for Keighran, Adam should play 6 ahead of Rocky whenever we need him to. Farrimond's defence will improve as he gets stronger. He's not a big lad but he's big enough and just needs time to put on a bit more muscle. This can't be achieved overnight so we have to accept that he'll miss more tackles than a top class half until he can increase his strength. We've seen in the past how both George Williams and Harry Smith improved their defence with age/strength. I'm not sure Jake (Jack?*) will ever be as good as George in defence but he'll certainly offer far more positives in attack than negatives in defence over the next couple of years. If and when Bevan leaves we also need to find the best balance between Harry and Jake (Jack?*) in terms of their kicking and running games.
morley pie eater wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 6:40 pm
A solid performance from a makeshift team.
The thing about Keighran to me was how he responded to being given responsibility. We must find a way of using him more when Smithy and Bevan are back.
Similarly, we've got to find a role for Farrimond. I'm not making a direct comparison, but didn't we protect Shaun Edwards from being targeted by opposition forwards by giving him a brief to shadow behind the main line of defence?
How do you propose we use Keighran more when French and Smith are back?
Are you suggesting the solution to Farrimonds defence is to not have him defend in the line and reduce the number of defenders we have? That is crazy.
there is a possible solution, and what we had prior to a couple of injuries last year
Bevan onto the wing in place of Miski where he has frightening pace. there were many on here calling it ridiculous that French moved to 6 last year and Miski on the wing, but Miski earned his place / contract last year with his performances
now the challenge if we do go that route, is that French isnt going to do the hard yards out of our own 20 like Miski does, but he offers so much more threat and pace everywhere else on the pitch
i'm not saying that this is the solution, but an option. I was impressed with Keighran at weekend, but thats one game, so would need more time at 6 to show he is the real deal and can perform consistently in that role
some real good defence, including Farrimond lifting Lees and dumping him.
2 really well worked tries, and we missed a couple of other chances that could have really been the icing on the cake. 1st came early in the game when Junior bust through the tackle and offloaded to Field, if that had gone to hand, dead cert try and one later in the half when Ellis put a bomb up, where it caused havoc
the only real negative was the number of times we turned the ball over when in possession with us being pulled twice for incorrect potb and an obstruction, tidy that up and it wasnt far off a near perfect half
morley pie eater wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 6:40 pm
A solid performance from a makeshift team.
The thing about Keighran to me was how he responded to being given responsibility. We must find a way of using him more when Smithy and Bevan are back.
Similarly, we've got to find a role for Farrimond. I'm not making a direct comparison, but didn't we protect Shaun Edwards from being targeted by opposition forwards by giving him a brief to shadow behind the main line of defence?
How do you propose we use Keighran more when French and Smith are back?
Are you suggesting the solution to Farrimonds defence is to not have him defend in the line and reduce the number of defenders we have? That is crazy.
Nathan, re Farrimond/Edwards: all I said was that we found a way with Edwards and can find a way with Farrimond too. It was intended as a positive comment. I said I wasn't comparing the two, or saying we do the same with Jack, just that we "find a way". The details of how we do it are something I leave to the coaching staff as it's beyond my job description.
Keighran had his best game for us by a country mile. My point about him is that, to me, this seems to be because he was given responsibility for organising and field kicking in the absence of Smith and French.
My suggestion, or observation, is that we should try to find a way of tapping into this when Harry and Bevan are back. Again I leave the details to those who know best, but thought it was a point worth floating for discussion here. Fwiw, being the field kicker on the right side may be one option.
The only way with Farrimond is for him to improve in all areas of his defence, its as simple as that in my opinion. We cannot and should not change the way we defend dependent on who plays in the halves. This is one of the reasons French is better suited at 6 than Field - because he defends in the line a lot better.
With regards to Keighran - All fair points but its just not realistic or possible. Playing in the halves is different to centre and although he may have done well in the halves, its virtually impossible to translate those responsibilities to centre. He could take the ball up more & Wigan could shift the ball to his side more, but that won't get him involved to the extent he was as a half.
moto748 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 11:01 pm
On Farrimond, as I think I mentioned before, there is always the option to not start him, but use him as a 'supersub' to run at tiring defences in the last 20 minutes.
And when we are full strength, who are you suggesting gets subbed off? Smith or French?
Plus, this would mean not having an interchange hooker...
morley pie eater wrote: ↑Sun Aug 18, 2024 6:40 pm
A solid performance from a makeshift team.
The thing about Keighran to me was how he responded to being given responsibility. We must find a way of using him more when Smithy and Bevan are back.
Similarly, we've got to find a role for Farrimond. I'm not making a direct comparison, but didn't we protect Shaun Edwards from being targeted by opposition forwards by giving him a brief to shadow behind the main line of defence?
How do you propose we use Keighran more when French and Smith are back?
Are you suggesting the solution to Farrimonds defence is to not have him defend in the line and reduce the number of defenders we have? That is crazy.
there is a possible solution, and what we had prior to a couple of injuries last year
Bevan onto the wing in place of Miski where he has frightening pace. there were many on here calling it ridiculous that French moved to 6 last year and Miski on the wing, but Miski earned his place / contract last year with his performances
now the challenge if we do go that route, is that French isnt going to do the hard yards out of our own 20 like Miski does, but he offers so much more threat and pace everywhere else on the pitch
i'm not saying that this is the solution, but an option. I was impressed with Keighran at weekend, but thats one game, so would need more time at 6 to show he is the real deal and can perform consistently in that role
Move the Super League man of steel to the wing in place of an 18/19 year old who has shown glimpses of promise in the first team?
The only time you could suggest French on the wing is if we had a 6 and 1 in the squad who were miles better than him.
There is very little chance that Farrimond rises so quickly that it warrants French going to the wing anytime soon.
How do you propose we use Keighran more when French and Smith are back?
Are you suggesting the solution to Farrimonds defence is to not have him defend in the line and reduce the number of defenders we have? That is crazy.
there is a possible solution, and what we had prior to a couple of injuries last year
Bevan onto the wing in place of Miski where he has frightening pace. there were many on here calling it ridiculous that French moved to 6 last year and Miski on the wing, but Miski earned his place / contract last year with his performances
now the challenge if we do go that route, is that French isnt going to do the hard yards out of our own 20 like Miski does, but he offers so much more threat and pace everywhere else on the pitch
i'm not saying that this is the solution, but an option. I was impressed with Keighran at weekend, but thats one game, so would need more time at 6 to show he is the real deal and can perform consistently in that role
Move the Super League man of steel to the wing in place of an 18/19 year old who has shown glimpses of promise in the first team?
The only time you could suggest French on the wing is if we had a 6 and 1 in the squad who were miles better than him.
There is very little chance that Farrimond rises so quickly that it warrants French going to the wing anytime soon.
No i was suggesting keighran to 6 in response to your question with French on the wing in place of Miski, and as i said its a possible option, but also qualified some of the challenges it would throw up i.e. hard yards from our own line v French being electric everywhere else and also that i / we havent seen enough of Keighran to know he's a real deal 6 based on 1 performance
