O'loughlin

[jaws1]

The only reason he gives penalties away is he is trying too much he is showing by example his captaincy as he is the always the most tackle count a few penalties given away is reflected in this.

[DaveO]

jaws1 posted:
The only reason he gives penalties away is he is trying too much he is showing by example his captaincy as he is the always the most tackle count a few penalties given away is reflected in this.

No, the reason he gives penalties away is because he is breaking the rules.

As I said he needs to work out why he is doing this so often and cut it out. To those saying he puts in more tackles makes it inevitable he will commit more fouls is warped logic. Just the same as saying "showing by example his captaincy" which is the most worn out over used cliche on this message board.

I think he is a good enough player to work out for himself he needs to modify his tackling technique so there is no need to make excuses for him nor jump to his defence when its pointed out its an area of his game that needs attention.

Dave

[DaveO]

Flash posted:
Every week, it seems, I am back on here highlighting the biased crap that is posted regarding O'Loughlin. Get a grip man. The whole team played well tonight and to single one player out for this abuse week in week out is quite frankly pathetic. Change the bl**dy record!

Well I don't think the team played that well to be honest. Gave away too much ball and too many needless penalties.

Was Lockers the only one to get penalised? No.

Several players put us under pressure needlessly but don't get into a way of thinking that means every time Lockers is pulled up for an error on this message board you have to leap to his defence. It makes it seem like you think he can do not wrong.

IMO he actually looked a bit more like a captain tonight than previously. It's taken a while but I saw him gather the players together at one point and take charge. That is the first time I have seen him do that all season.

So, if he can improve on that score he can cut out the penalties.

Dave

[DaveO]

t more carefully with respect to Lockers.

Flash posted:
Dave, I always read your posts with interest as you generally offer a reasoned opinion, even if I don't always agree. For some reason when it comes to O'Loughlin you fly in the face of facts and come out with that other well worn cliche 'statistics don't tell the whole story'. All I can say is they tell a much more accurate story than the obviously biased opinion I read above. If you don't like the guy then fine, but please don't go making statements that are patently untrue and can be proved to be so as you only get all the bandwagon jumpers excited.

I have never said he is a bad player. I don't think he has been a good captain for Wigan and I think giving him the job was a mistake of Millwards given Lockers injury the season before.

But if you go back to his first real season in the first team you will see me defending him on places like RLFANS when people could not see where he fitted in the team and then singing his praises and more or less saying "I told you so" when he had an outstanding 2004 season.

In fact I often use Lockers progress to illustrate why one Kevin Brown is so over rated. They have players roughly the same amount of SL games as each other and look at the difference!

So from my point of view what I think is legitimate criticism of Lockers as captain is often taken as though I don't rate him as a player when that is simply not true.

So then when I say, he's giving away too many penalties its obviously confirmation I hate him!

Absolutely ridiculous.

Dave

[DaveO]

Flash posted:

So then when I say, he's giving away too many penalties its obviously confirmation I hate him!

Absolutely ridiculous.

In what way is this ridiculous? I am merely drawing a conclusion based on the postings you have made since I have been on this board which as you well know have been uniformally critical of O'Loughlin and very often, as in the case with the penalty count, without foundation. I understand that you don't rate him as a captain and that is fine. As I have said, captaincy is a matter of opinion anyway. However making statements such as the penalty count one suggest a personal dislike or bias against the player rather than his role as captain.

Did you read the rest of my post about my opinion of him as a player?

I am well aware that you know the true stats regarding his penalties conceded as I have posted them during our discussions previously, so to blatently disregard them in order to score cheap points against him smacks of bias. If this is not the case then I apologise, but please explain how I am supposed to know this, not having been a lifelong fan of yours with an encyclopaedic knowledge of your postings on other boards from several years ago. I can only respond to what is put in front of me.

But you are not doing that. If I may say so you are ignoring what I said in my previous post about how I defended him in 2003 and was raving about him on 2004.

2005 was a disaster for him with the injury and 2006 is going exactly according to plan IMO.

He has some problems in his game at the moment IMO.

It seems to me because I strongly disagree with him being captain it automatically means if I criticize his playing performance that means I hate the player which is totally untrue.

Dave

[GGCSENSECT]

I cannot believe some of the vitriolic comments from some of you concerning O'Loughlin. He may not be the best captain in the game but his work rate is phenominal. Tonight, I thought he was immense, as were the whole team. He plays a massive part in everything we do both on attack and on defence. So he gives the odd penalty away! So what? he makes up for that in every other facet of the game. get off his back!

[bigkarl]

He had a few head highs but my god when he does get his shoulder in WHAT he hits like a battering ram,Dont no if anyone cort that one right near the south stand I was shocked he hit low down with his shoulder and the guy was nailed:S not seen this from lockers all in all dont think he should be getting all this really.

[Martin Taylor]

Regardless of Lockers being captain or not, his game is suffering at present. I watched the game last night with an open mind, but he is still giving away too many penalties. More importantly, he is giving away these penalties at really key moments that are giving other teams easy points. Logan is also responsible for this. However, his defence is solid at times, but he is still offering very little going forward. Compared to Hock, who has been out for a considerable time also, he is way off the mark. Hock is our best prospect at the moment, and i would also say that Ashton is also a better prospect at present. O'loughlin still lacks that size and presence to impose himself on a game.

[cpwigan]

I think part of the problem is that referees are now looking for O'loughlin to go high and penalising him for anything remotely headish. I watched SKY this morning and Cullen remarked that the game is in trouble if one of Lockers tackles was a true head high shot. Being small, lockers throws himself and his arm over the ball. It looks far far worse than it actually is.

Silverwood seemed to have studied teams / players (good refereeing) and Lockers and Haggerty from Salford copped plenty of penalties from him.

[demt82]

I thought the referee had a good game last night, bar a couple of forward passes. He let the game flow, and we were able to see a very tight and good game of rugby.
With reagrds to O'loughlin, i'm not sure what the answer is. Might it be worth resting the lad for a couple of games, as he is obviously under a bit of pressure, and it might give him time to reflect a little. Fletcher could play at loose, with Hock, Hansen and Tickle in the second row.
I also don't think for one second that O'loughlin is still captain. I think that job might now be with Orr or Fletcher, but Noble is covering the lads pride until next season.