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highland convert wrote:Lets face facts. We never welcomed Mathers or Pryce.

Yes we did. Both were viewed as risky but potentially good signings and a way to get new players in who would be cheap given Wigan were offering them a way to resurrect their careers.

There was plenty of support for Mathers in his first year and he was given leeway given it was his first season back from injury.

You need to look elsewhere for reasons why Mathers is doing better at Wire than he did here than the fans attitude IMO.

In fact they must feel like outcasts. Does any other set of fans give their own team so much stick. Little wonder Pryce is playing with such lack of enthusiasm. I woulld hate to play for Wigan. On the Friday game on Sky I could hear the background fanfare given to Mathers every time a high bomb came his way.

It is simply not true to say we give our players so much stick. At games all the players get the support of the vast majority of fans and only the odd nutter rants about a certain player just as has always happened with players like Faz and Edwards never mind any lesser lights.

You are confusing the opinions of a small number of forum posters with what goes on at games and subscribing far too much weight to them. On Friday having just blown our best chance of a trophy the week before the team walked out to the usual standing ovation.

Trouble was I could hear the same thing when he played for us. The fans attitude (a minority I would hope) stinks. If a player has a problem let the coaching staff sort it out. Don't compound it by destroying that players confidence and moral. Maybe Roberts and Fielden wpuld have been rested by now if the fans had not been on their backs. Noble can't while the baying continues because it could destroy that player. It would also be seen as giving in to fan preasure.
Jim

And maybe Barrett left because he read you posted he was a disruptive influence? I am not sure if you are making an excuse for Noble not dropping out of form players or what but to suggest he won't drop them because the fans are disgruntled with certain players is as ridiculous a suggestion as that IMO.

Dave

Pryce was fat and unfit before he played a ball. I am sure some expected Leon P from the outset. He was never given a chance to settle. Mathers took the flack last year not this so your asumption that we let him have a chance is tripe. Nobles job is to keep the players motivated. He is hardly getting the backing of the fans. Lockers we sing his praises. Do we? The pratt standing behind me at the Barrow game went for two reasons, One to wear his Wigan top and two to slag every play of the ball. Lockers had his team behind the sticks. This pratt was screaming at them "Speak to them you useless f'in prick." Now how can Lockers speak to his team with that going on. CP advocates players without feels. Moral building seems low on the agenda of some supporters,
Jim

I don`t agree with this post at all .
Both players were and are given ample opportunities to show their worth .
Mathers was supposedly a good quality full back ex Leeds returning from Australia.
Well in my opinion he wasn`t good quality .
Pryce I m sorry to say is not even an average rugby player , he spent the majority of last year injured , Wigan have given him more time to improve . He`s poor and I`m not sure how poor he actually is .
But at the end of the day this forum is for people who state their opinions , If people gain the impression that there is a conspiracy against any player they`re wrong .
It just happens that most people have come to the same conclusion about the two players in question .
They are not being hounded out of the club by the fans and it`s niave to even assume so .

highland convert wrote:Pryce was fat and unfit before he played a ball. I am sure some expected Leon P from the outset. He was never given a chance to settle. Mathers took the flack last year not this so your asumption that we let him have a chance is tripe. Nobles job is to keep the players motivated. He is hardly getting the backing of the fans. Lockers we sing his praises. Do we? The pratt standing behind me at the Barrow game went for two reasons, One to wear his Wigan top and two to slag every play of the ball. Lockers had his team behind the sticks. This pratt was screaming at them "Speak to them you useless f'in prick." Now how can Lockers speak to his team with that going on. CP advocates players without feels. Moral building seems low on the agenda of some supporters,
Jim

Jim -
We. Chose. Him. As. Our. Sponsored. Player.
understand?

We paid money to the club so that we would be associated with him for everyone to see. I fail to see how you can think he was written off in the face of that evidence.

Jim when we raised the question who to sponsor there was not one negative comment. Everybody who said anything was saying what a bargain. He is bound to play a lot in the first team and score lots of tries. Fans wanted KP to do well. I have yet to meet a fan that does not want the players in his team to do well because by definition if they play well the fan's team do better. The tolerance level of every fan is very different.

At the risk of being hung drawn and quartered for sexism, hang me. Women with their maternal genes tend to go far far easier on players than male fans. If a player is pleasant and polite to female supporters many think he is the best thing since sliced bread. He might not catch a ball very often but because he is a nice lad they love him and want to give him a chance.

The higher up the ladder of rep sport you go up the more the mentally weak are filtered out. When you get to pro level it is dog eat dog. I have seen umpteen players arrive for matches as it they were going to their execution. The 'fools' on the terraces had nothing whatsoever to do with that. The opposition players and a possible defeat was all that mattered.

When the players enter the pitch. Nothing you on the terraces say can be anywhere near as bad as what the players say to each other. Do you think Greg Bird gets the red carpet rolled out for him? No ever time he is on that pitch he is branded a criminal, a kiddy fidler, a woman beater, scum blah blan. Anything to put him off his game. Those nice polite pleasant boys you always like to talk to are rabid dogs on the field of play. Winning is everything.

I cannot believe the romantic notions some fans have of the game they watch. Boxing and such like are the only sports that are rawer. RL players are gladiators.

When John Monie demanded that players got back into a defensive line no matter what he did so because that is what it takes to win. Shaun Edwards was not bothered that half his face was smashed. He just wanted to win.

Its had no effect on Fielden sadly

Nobby`s Girl wrote:At the end of the day these players are humans, some one said on another topic that they met/spoke to feka at the fans day and couldn’t believe how much a nice guy he was. Just because these guys are 16-17 stone, run like mad men charging into other men 2ce their size does not necessary mean they are like an animal. For those who have never met players - our own or any other team’s player, i can say that some of these guys are the most pleasant, gentle and caring guys i have ever met! Huddersfield Crabtree is as gentle off pitch as they come! and yes - call them soft, or what ever you want, but it does hurt them inside when they hear the things they get called, from pre season, to every month in the season. Someone above says, they are professional sportsmen and get plenty of stick from other players, that’s called banter between themselves. but when your low in confidence or lack of game time, how on earth would you feel having to play a game in front of 10 thousand of your own fans, knowing in the back of your mind that no matter if you play well or have a shit game your going to get stick what ever you do. And i for one know KP well enough to know how he feels inside. I wish more than anyone else that he will jump out of his shell and be the player he can be, and prove himself!

Awaits post to be corrected, miss spellings or punctuation, maybe dissecting individual lines.

Oh and by the way - fans attatude does cause players to leave the club.

Gemma, it simply isn't true that "no matter if you play well or have a shit game your going to get stick what ever you do".

Players are judged on how they play in a particular gamee, or for a period. The fans react to how they perform, not the other way around. Look at the amount of stick Riddell got at after his first few games, and how that's lessening as his performances have improved. Look at the comments after the last game; everyone is saying how much better some players were (after being singled out by Noble as well as us for playing poorly).

I'm quite certain that if and when KP's fitness and playing improves, the adverse comments will fade, but it has to happen that way around. False praise benefits no-one, least of all the player himself.

We chose Pryce before he played but the gus were out before the season started. Mathers was good. Leeds, down under and at Wire. Ask yourself why he failed at Wigan. And don't blame Noble. I would expect him to go on to play for England. Wire gave us Gleeson and we gave them Mathers. I know who got the best bargain. Mathers is a class act. OK confidence destroyed at Wigan. Same season first team no1 playing in the cc and enjoying his game. I know where I place the blame and it in centred in a certain group of fans. If he played as well as he did for us we would have walked the game. Couple of mistakes but other than that he had a good game,
Jim

HC I don’t know what your taking but its affecting your judgement which has been off recently. Your claims about Barrett being disruptive and ruining Nobles brilliant coaching ideas and your assertion that SL is better than the NRL with better players has now been trumped by the statement that Mathers is a class full back. The only way this can be correct is if its lower class.

He may well play for England but this will be because Smith is his club coach or if Briscoe is injured, it wont be because he is the best because he is not. As to him being hounded out, he said himself that he did not want to leave and only found out about the move by reading a newspaper and on reaching Warrington he made no comment about the fans being on his back or hounding him but he did say it was nice to be coached again but then that would suggest the problem might be Noble

How many time on this site did someone post, Barrett wants to coach the players but Noble turned down the offer. My ideas come from interpreting what is written on here. On the field I saw a team running round like headless chickens waiting for insperation. When Barrett was off injured I saw a team playing more coordinated rugby. Maybe not up to Barrett standard but better to watch and they were winning. While he was injured the team came on, whhen he came back the renewed confidence carried us through to the final playoff.
Jim