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Re: who will come up from ...

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:14 pm
by Fraggle
pie eaters posted:
Two questions fraggle? why have u got Quentin pongia as one of ur starin props in your all time team?
and why is Shaun Edwards on the bench!
1. Because over his whole career Pongia was a player who impressed me enormously. He was only at Wigan for a short time, but he had been a Kiwi great for a long time and he, like Renouf, is in the team as much for his career performance as for his time at Wigan. It's a shame this year's props couldn't have learned a bit more from Q; Pongia had a bit of creativity as well as go-forward, and as much as Scully tries his offloads don't come off often enough. SeuSeu might have learned how to run in the direction of the opposition line instead of at an angle towards the touchline...

2. Perhaps you should also be asking why I've got Boston and Sullivan on the bench! In the modern era shirt numbers 1-13 don't necessarily indicate the top players, and so my 17 isn't necessarily a starting squad plus 4 subs, it's just 17 great players.

Re: who will come up from ...

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:32 pm
by Fraggle
pie eaters posted:
ok fair enough your opinion yeah but ttas the hard thing about pickin all time squads its so hard to do because there are so many players to choose from. But surely if you are pickin a wigan all time team its what they played like at wigan not all his career
Well, it doesn't actually say Wigan all-time team, but obviously we're limited to players who have played at Wigan. I guess, if there's a similar thing on a Warrington fansite, that by the end of the year they'd be able to add Joey Johns to their squad! But when you look at Wigan's props in the last few years (and I've only been going to games regularly for less than 10 years), most of them have been pretty poor. SeuSeu, Harvey NoYards, Brady Malam, Ricky Donkey, Brett Goldspink, Tony Mestrov... none of them will be considered as greats in the future.

Craig Smith started slowly at Wigan although became a star towards the end, O'Connor was had a good career at Wigan but was beginning to slow at the end, and Cowie Dingle was another solid player, but to me Pongia deserves to be rated with these last 3 as he had class, and he had some ball-handing (and kicking) skills which many props don't show. Of course, Cowie had his drop goal at Odsal which is unforgettable, but I also remember Pongia in one of his first games putting a kick through as sweet as any halfback could do for Carney to score. Class, and totally unexpected from a big prop.

Re: who will come up from ...

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:04 pm
by warrior till i die
Fraggle posted:
pie eaters posted:
ok fair enough your opinion yeah but ttas the hard thing about pickin all time squads its so hard to do because there are so many players to choose from. But surely if you are pickin a wigan all time team its what they played like at wigan not all his career
Well, it doesn't actually say Wigan all-time team, but obviously we're limited to players who have played at Wigan. I guess, if there's a similar thing on a Warrington fansite, that by the end of the year they'd be able to add Joey Johns to their squad! But when you look at Wigan's props in the last few years (and I've only been going to games regularly for less than 10 years), most of them have been pretty poor. SeuSeu, Harvey NoYards, Brady Malam, Ricky Donkey, Brett Goldspink, Tony Mestrov... none of them will be considered as greats in the future.

Craig Smith started slowly at Wigan although became a star towards the end, O'Connor was had a good career at Wigan but was beginning to slow at the end, and Cowie Dingle was another solid player, but to me Pongia deserves to be rated with these last 3 as he had class, and he had some ball-handing (and kicking) skills which many props don't show. Of course, Cowie had his drop goal at Odsal which is unforgettable, but I also remember Pongia in one of his first games putting a kick through as sweet as any halfback could do for Carney to score. Class, and totally unexpected from a big prop.
Give you credit their fraggle cause most of them props were average at best but I think seuseu is improving each game. Hes making more yards everyweek but I can see where youre coming from that hes been mostly poor this year.

Re: who will come up from ...

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 3:09 pm
by Mike
SeuSeu has been playing with an injured knee for a long time this season. He needs an op as soon as the season is over. We may see more from him next year.

Re: who will come up from ...

Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 7:05 pm
by mike binder
Mike posted:
SeuSeu has been playing with an injured knee for a long time this season. He needs an op as soon as the season is over. We may see more from him next year.
think we had no choice but play him,ive seen him walking to matchs and he can hardley walk think if we lose on friday book him in straight away :doz:

Re: who will come up from ...

Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 10:52 am
by Fraggle
The_Bad_Guy posted:
wiganrldeanh posted:
i think its a good idea as its an excuse for a weekend away :wink:

also if we wish superleague to become bigger and stronger to fight other sports (football) then we have to expand the game.
but you wont make the game better by taking clubs out of their own leagues. you need to strengthen their leagues, and have like a champions league competition between the european teams, but adding international teams to the super league is gonna ruin other countries leagues
Well, there's only France which has a league which is sufficiently developed to be affected, but officially the league we are in is Superleague (Europe) and so any team from a European country which is strong enough to apply, meet the criteria for entry, be supported by the rest of the teams in SL etc could apply, be they in France, Italy, Eire, Russia etc. RL in Moscow has been growing for several years, and Greece is also slowly adapting to our great game.

The South of France has enough interest in SL to give the other clubs the incentive to improve, and presonally I think having Les Catalans in SL will strengthen the French league rather than weaken it. The other clubs, in particular Toulouse, will see what can be achieved, especially after their success in the Cup this year, and will be striving hard to get at least to the point UTC are at now in terms of being the top French team, and then maybe applying for a 2nd French franchise. That, along with a 2nd London franchise, will be the sign that our sport has really come of age. In the meantime, we should be welcoming clubs from all countries to join the Challenge Cup to get experience of playing teams at the higher levels. Remember, it's only about 4 years ago we started inviting French teams into the Cup and already one of them has got to the Semis, further than most League 1 teams could seriously dream of achieving.