Have we judged Mathers too early?

[exile in Tiger country]

i am not sure.....the only thing i would like to point out is pat richard was not very good but now he is amazing.
I am not happy with mathers 1st season performance but i would give him a chance to improve.

Pat was played out of position by Millward,. Mathers is was and always has been a full back. Now he is a very bad full back.

[the_cow]

Mathers can't tackle one on one- he misses more than he makes and that is just not good enough at all for a fb. a fb should be able to make a large proportion of tackles on the ball carrier in a breakaway situation- this isn't the case with mathers- he flaps like a girl and the ball carrier either runs through him or around him. add to that the fact he can't catch high balls either- leeds play-off final for example.

considering he is an 'attacking' fullback in the mould of webb, etc, he didn't score anywhere as many tries as he should.

we are stuck with him for another season anyway, so we should see what happens and see if he can improve, but if he plays anywhere similar to last season, then get rid.

Hs anybody broken this down into a time line. We say a season. What is a season to a full back in terms of contact and ball handling. 10 minutes per game would be about max. Excluding cup amd mised for injury 28 x 10 280 minutes. 4 hours 40 minutes actual on field to improve against the best SL has to offer. Not a long time. I saw an improvement. Wellans tackling is 50% tecnique and 50% pre knowledge of the tackled player. Heknows how they will react and best method to take them down. Pat could not stop the opposition water carrier when he arrived. He learn the players and their moves , now he stops more than gets away. Mathers played some blinders in defence but when the team sets you up time after time don't blame the full back. If two is coming at you and no assistance no fullback is going to stop it. Jim

fb is like playing goal keeper in footy- you make an error and everyone notices because chances are, that error will lead to a try (or goal in footy). as for him improving, yes i agree, he's gone from awful to poor, maybe next yr he can go from poor to average.

[Paleaaesina_Da_Beast]

Yeah, defo give him a chance and he'll hit his leeds form

remember not to long ago - we were all critisizing our Pat wernt we!

[highland convert]

Then why did he get mentioned in both Bradford and cats as a possible mom by the three stoodges on sky. Hardly the wimp you make him out to be. Under the post at Headingly he could not see the ball to catch it. Had some great take elsewhere. Also had some great stopping tackles but blinkered vision of some causes them not to notice. He is also a standby FB for the England squad. Now would that not shut some folks up if he gets the call,
Jim

[medlocke]

His major problems are two:

1. Can’t put a big hit on anyone

2. No bottle

You can’t put a big heart into someone, so we are stuck with a fullback who can’t tackle someone running at him along with no bottle.

Sorry it may seem harsh but these are the facts.

I wonder what Mr King would have to say about that

The guy always showed us up when he was at Leeds, at least give him this season to see how he go's, there is enough back up in Richards & Phelps if he turns out to be shody yet again

[medlocke]

i am not sure.....the only thing i would like to point out is pat richard was not very good but now he is amazing.
I am not happy with mathers 1st season performance but i would give him a chance to improve.

Pat was played out of position by Millward,. Mathers is was and always has been a full back. Now he is a very bad full back.

But :exc:

1 - He was returning from the other side of the world, which would take some getting used to

and

2 - He was returning from a serious injury

i seem to recall me getting slated for slagging off his holyness O'laughlin when he was returning from a similar injury, yet every man and his dog seemed to stick up for Lockers, shame the shoe doesn't fit Mathers

[DaveO]

I have said all season Mathers would be our full back for 2009.

So I have been (I think!) pretty ambivalent towards him this year for the most part. There were times I'd like to have seen someone else at fullback (not Richards because I like him on the wing better) but we are stuck with Mathers for 2009 so I don't see any point getting getting het up about it.

He makes an interesting point about pre-season training and it was his first season back after injury.

Mind you Wigan have failed to give some players the benefit of a second season after their first one back after a major injury if their contract was up at the end of it i.e. Hodgson and Calders. So on that score he's been lucky IMO to get another chance.

So I guess on balance I fall on the side of wiping the slate clean and letting us see how his second season goes. I'd have like to have seen those other two players given the chance of another season so it would be hypocritical not want the same for Mathers.

He has no excuse though next year not to be better and I actually think he might be.

Dave

[cpwigan]

Here is a quandry. As far as I can recall,Pryce prefer the left side. If I am correct. Pryce left wing, Richards full back. Cheerleader chearleading. Ainscough is a right winger too.

[DaveO]

Here is a quandry. As far as I can recall,Pryce prefer the left side. If I am correct. Pryce left wing, Richards full back. Cheerleader chearleading. Ainscough is a right winger too.

If Mathers is injured or suspended it may end up like that but unless he is utterly awful Nobby won't drop him and even then he might not!

Dave

[AncientWarrior]

His major problems are two:

1. Can’t put a big hit on anyone

2. No bottle

You can’t put a big heart into someone, so we are stuck with a fullback who can’t tackle someone running at him along with no bottle.

Sorry it may seem harsh but these are the facts.

They are not facts, merely your opinion!

No matter what criticisms I may have about rugby players (both codes) I have never believed a lack of 'bottle' to have been one of them. This particularly applies to Richie Mathers who returned to the game following a serious injury. Let's not forget that people have been permanently disabled playing the sport we follow and it takes an amount of courage to cross that whitewash.