God wrote:No it isnt, he just used to get in the way.
Offiah was the same he couldnt tackle. But ive never seen better players in attack in a Wigan shirt and they used to win games for us on there own.
Gary Connely was our best defensive back by a long shot in our years of sucsess and Hampson was an exelent all round fullback also.
you obviously missed his days at fullback. I remember him chasing down then "getting in the way" of Hanley at took him sweetly into touch against Bradford. And the last man tackle v Hull when he got a penalty and should have been binned. Yes he was great at "getting in the way"
Hampo got better as he gained experience and broke his arm with poor tackles lol Both Hampo and Andy Goodway broke their arms on the heads of opponents as quite a few players did back then. Chris Burton and Phil Hogan were both serial broken arms. Edwards was not very good tackling wise when he turned pro but he was playing at what 16 / 17? He got better with age. Where Edwards was special and with Clarke alongside him they were fabulous at reading play and often breaking conventional defensive wisdom by leaving the defensive line to kill opposition attacks.
Connolly was a fabulous tackler. Like a 16/17 year old Edwards we exploited him when he was a kid playing at Wembley for Saints.
Hampson was the best fielder of kicks I have ever seen.
Moving back off the history bit - suppose we got rid of Fielden - wouldn't that give us enough dosh to buy two good players?
I keep hearing about Ben Davis, our young prop. How good is he? Anybody seen him play?
Ted. We can only use Fieldens salary for 2011. He comes off contract at the end of 2010. As does Feka. Coley too. That will crerate a huge amount of salary room should we not re sign some or all of them.
Ben Davies. A fantastic young player. Not a monster size wise but big enough and as the saying goes if you are good enough you are big enough. Good skills, very good footwork. Great engine. Tough. Enjoys the rough and tumble.
Flannagan who is leaving, Farrell and Davies are the 3 best forwards in the reserves.
Just a thought, but if Hock is suspended untill June 2011, surely there must be some cash available under the salary cap for a quality British player given whatever contract Hock was on (presumably a large one)?
Hock was on approx 100k GM Several young players have had their contracts upgraded. Sam Tomkins being the best example. Martin Gleeson is on a scaled contract whereby he receives far more in 2010 than in 2009. Originally, Wigan were going to release Bailey. That may not now happen.
