Fielden

[Kittwazzer]

Also, take note when he is tackled. He is very rarely put on the floor!

[DaveO]

I think we will see an even better Fielden next season.

For the duration of his current contract with us he has had the monkey of being paid some silly wage round his neck whether he was or not.

Now no one believes he will be on silly money for his new deal and at the same time the club have seen fit to give him a two year deal which says they value him as a player.

The pressure is off.

He also has (or soon will have) a new focus off-field with as a new Dad which is very different to all the depressing talk when his Mother passed away.

I think everything is in place mentally for him to have a storming couple of seasons for us.

Add to that the Madge/Wane/Bitcom factor I just can't see why he can't or won't improve some more.

Dave

[Panchitta Marra]

Fielden has IMO been our best prop this year, He makes far fewer errors than Coley. There are not many better props in Superleague and none that are likely to be available.
He has stood his ground more thsn once one to one with Peacock, I remember ganson being picked up on his mike after one incident talking to them like a pair of schoolboys
"I thought you two were supposed to be best mates?"
Being caught by Willie Mason would have sparkled most people, but if Stuart had fired the first one, it could have been Mason sat on his backside.
The main difference betwen Fielden and Mason now is Stu is improving, Mason's career is effectively over, that is why he has come for his pension payout at KR.

Of all Wigan's props, by far the fewest errors has been made by Iafeta Paliaasina, he has only given away only 1 penalty all season too. This is in relation to the 15 or 20 penalties given away each by Andy Coley, Stuart Fielden & Paul Presscott.
I dont agree with what you say about Mason's punch, IMO most props would have still been standing after that shot, and players like Morley & Peackock would have turned round and cleaned him up very soon after.

As you correctly say, Mason is looking for his final seasons pension at KR, that is if he is mentally strong enough to be able to stay away from Australia without cracking up.

My concern is that Stuart Fielden knocked 3 balls on, in near succession, when Adrian Morley was in his face very recently, and is still easily put off his game by such intimidation. Teams know his weaknesses still exhist and will play on this.

[Wigan Watcher]

[quote="Panchitta Marra"][quote="exile in Tiger country"]Fielden has IMO been our best prop this year, He makes far fewer errors than Coley. There are not many better props in Superleague and none that are likely to be available.
He has stood his ground more thsn once one to one with Peacock, I remember ganson being picked up on his mike after one incident talking to them like a pair of schoolboys
"I thought you two were supposed to be best mates?"
Being caught by Willie Mason would have sparkled most people, but if Stuart had fired the first one, it could have been Mason sat on his backside.
The main difference betwen Fielden and Mason now is Stu is improving, Mason's career is effectively over, that is why he has come for his pension payout at KR.
Of all Wigan's props, by far the fewest errors has been made by Iafeta Paliaasina, he has only given away only 1 penalty all season too. This is in relation to the 15 or 20 penalties given away each by Andy Coley, Stuart Fielden & Paul Presscott.
I dont agree with what you say about Mason's punch, IMO most props would have still been standing after that shot, and players like Morley & Peackock would have turned round and cleaned him up very soon after.

As you correctly say, Mason is looking for his final seasons pension at KR, that is if he is mentally strong enough to be able to stay away from Australia without cracking up.

My concern is that Stuart Fielden knocked 3 balls on, in near succession, when Adrian Morley was in his face very recently, and is still easily put off his game by such intimidation. Teams know his weaknesses still exhist and will play on this.

At last someone talking about what is in front of them. Fielden has never had and never will have any aggression and that is what is needed. Many people have very short memories about how bad he has played for Wigan and many people still cant see that he makes very little impact on the opposing pack. Yes if he sees aggression coming towards him ,then it very clearly puts him off his game.

Not the sign of a good prop.

[Matthew]

Of all Wigan's props, by far the fewest errors has been made by Iafeta Paliaasina, he has only given away only 1 penalty all season too. This is in relation to the 15 or 20 penalties given away each by Andy Coley, Stuart Fielden & Paul Presscott.

I agree that Feka doesn't give away many penalties (I would have liked him to stay), however if you check the missed tackle count vs time played per match you will see a clearer picture

I dont agree with what you say about Mason's punch, IMO most props would have still been standing after that shot, and players like Morley & Peackock would have turned round and cleaned him up very soon after.

I don't think that many people would take haymaker flush on the chin from someone weighing more than 17 stone and remained standing - much less won the fight. Fielden's weakness was/is that he carries his chin too high when he squares up to people - making it an easy target.

The fact that Fielden is prepared to have a go at Mason and Griffin shows that despite not having a heavyweight champions chin - he is still prepared to mix it. This takes more bottle than someone who has a granite chin.

People also forget that he used to regularly have wing-dings with Barrie Mac when he was at Leeds - and no-one questioned his bottle then.

As you correctly say, Mason is looking for his final seasons pension at KR, that is if he is mentally strong enough to be able to stay away from Australia without cracking up.

I agree, I think that Mason will probably implode mid-season and that he is definitely past his best. It will certainly be worth watching Fielden and Mason on opposing sides! However I suspect that Fielden's friends in the team will be very happy to join in and have a crack at Mason should he try it on again.

My concern is that Stuart Fielden knocked 3 balls on, in near succession, when Adrian Morley was in his face very recently, and is still easily put off his game by such intimidation. Teams know his weaknesses still exhist and will play on this.

All props have times where they drop the ball - Carvell last night being a prime example. Prescott is also prone to having periods where the ball looks like a bar of soap.

The recent run in with Mason didn't put him off - if anything it made him play better.

[jobo]

now were is that emoticon im looking for ......

lol, now would be a perfect time to use it!.

As the season has progressed and we have remained at the top of the league, I have often wondered where Wigan Watcher, and some of the other posters, had been all season, after all we have got no pack (I admit they aren't the best in the league) and we'll win nothing at all with that squad, we'll be lucky to finish in the top 5. If I had the time and could be bothered, I'd dig out some of the quotes from before the season started.
I know a lot of people have been made to eat their own words, but there are some fans who went over the top in their criticism of players and, for some reason known only to them, either couldn't see or failed to see any sort of potential in the respective players.

Before the season got started, I had us down for an 8th place finish.
I must eat my words on this, however I still feel that there are much better props out there than Stuart Fielden and personally I would rather keep Feka, but that is my opinion.
IMO Stuart will be caught out again if we reach the stage of facing Warrington in the play offs. I dont think he has the mental strength to face up to intimidating blokes like Morley, Carvell & Peackock. He was put off his game big style against Wire at home a few weeks ago, and IMO it will happen again.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion but first off, do you think you are a better judge of a player than Madge?

Secondly, which props are actually out and out better than Fielden? Definately not Feka, Graham probably, Morley and Peacock maybe but that's about it.

Thirdly, as good as Fielden is currently playing, he still isn't up to the standard he was at just prior to joining us. I'm confident that Madge and Waney can take him back to his very best and if they do, we'll have the best prop in the English game.

In my opinion all of us fans should be celebrating the fact that he stayed with us, despite being offered better terms by other English clubs and a couple of clubs in the NRL.

[cpwigan]

If I played for 1 minute am I likely to make more or less errors than somebody playing 30 minutes and starting a game when the players are at their freshest :eusa16:

[gpartin]

If I played for 1 minute am I likely to make more or less errors than somebody playing 30 minutes and starting a game when the players are at their freshest :eusa16:

more?

[cpwigan]

If I played for 1 minute am I likely to make more or less errors than somebody playing 30 minutes and starting a game when the players are at their freshest :eusa16:

more?

Never dropped a pass in my life GP. Run like Offiah, swerve like Kenny, support play like Ellery and the rugby brain of Edwards :eusa8: :eusa8: :sarc:

[gpartin]

If I played for 1 minute am I likely to make more or less errors than somebody playing 30 minutes and starting a game when the players are at their freshest :eusa16:

more?

Never dropped a pass in my life GP. Run like Offiah, swerve like Kenny, support play like Ellery and the rugby brain of Edwards :eusa8: :eusa8: :sarc:

haha get your kit washed and your boots out, we need you.