Hock to Parramatta?

[cpwigan]

Liam is a quality player. He understands the game like a veteran and has quick nimble footwork to help him through the clever lines he runs. He reminds me of similarly not huge top nrl back rowers such as gallen, stewart and whatmough. I am just glad we still have Hocky.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Liam is a quality player. He understands the game like a veteran and has quick nimble footwork to help him through the clever lines he runs. He reminds me of similarly not huge top nrl back rowers such as gallen, stewart and whatmough. I am just glad we still have Hocky.

I agree with a lot you say CP but on this one I have to disagree, I think he is a good player but not quality. His offence is definitely a strength but defence is certainly a weakness in my opinion. Do not get me wrong I like the lad and glad he is a Wigan player but for me not good enough to start games regular.

[DaveO]

It was already known when he tweeted his nonsense. No contract was ever agreed. Several NRL expressed an interest headed by Parra. Everything Parra released to the story was 100% true. Try not to get sucked in by the likes of bobby g just gossiping.

The point is Goulding got the scoop. It (whatever "it" was) wasn't "already known" by the fans when he tweeted what he did.

Yes he owes Phil Wilkinson a pint as Hock has not signed (if you follow twitter you know the pair of them were betting each other on the outcome) but so what?

He might phrase his tweets in a mischievous way but like it or not the whole media circus only gathered pace after he posted what he did on twitter.

I think it's churlish to suggest otherwise.

[DaveO]

Liam is a quality player. He understands the game like a veteran and has quick nimble footwork to help him through the clever lines he runs. He reminds me of similarly not huge top nrl back rowers such as gallen, stewart and whatmough. I am just glad we still have Hocky.

I like Laim as a player and I agree he does have a smart RL brain but I think you highlight his weakness. Size or perhaps it's lack of strength. I don't think he has the other attributes of those players you mention to get over this limitation just yet. He is still young though so could bulk up and get better.

I think this highlights another problem. When you have the likes of Joel T, Lockers and Hock in the back row you can let players like Faz come on an run their lines bamboozling the defences without any consequences. If you sell the family silver and so must rely on the Faz's then you are relying on them being able to reproduce their usual spell as an interchange against tired defences from the off. Won't work IMO.

[cpwigan]

I think the issue with our pack may be it could become very much the same no matter who is playing. On the face of it, nothing wrong with that BUT you do need different types of players to collectively offer variety. Hansen and Hock are very different but work well as a second row pairing, Potter and Goodway did likewise.

If your pack does not have that X factor attack then you need some real X factor backs and I am not sure we do bar Sam. Wigan 2012 tends to be real team players who do not offer that unique magical ability to break down offences solo.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

I agree with a lot you say CP but on this one I have to disagree, I think he is a good player but not quality. His offence is definitely a strength but defence is certainly a weakness in my opinion. Do not get me wrong I like the lad and glad he is a Wigan player but for me not good enough to start games regular.

Farrell is only 22 so is years away from being the finished product. It's not like Joel Tomkins was the finished product at that age, he had quite a few ups and downs between his debut and finally becoming a regular. Hansen was the same; in fact Farrell is better than Hansen was at 22.

Farrell's defence isn't weak it just has weaker aspects to it. He can tackle quite well and he reads the game brilliantly; he just needs to learn to account for his lack of size and hit a little harder. His defence is still much better than Hock's.

There's some real quality in his attacking game. His footwork is brilliant, his support play is like that of a halfback and he's incredibly strong for a player of his size. A lot of forwards improve with age and I'm confident that Farrell will too.

Yes he could 'become' a very very good player in time if not a quality one, better than any second rower we currently have or have had in recent times. Unfortunately at present the rumour is that he could be given a starting squad number suggesting he could be starting games regular. In my opinion he is currently not good enough to start every game like a Hock or H and I think he would get found wanting defensively, but like I said I do like him from the bench.

[Kittwazzer]

Let's not forget that as good as he was, Joel was a liability. He was double the liability once Sam became a regular!

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Let's not forget that as good as he was, Joel was a liability. He was double the liability once Sam became a regular!

Liability in what sense?

[Kittwazzer]

Let's not forget that as good as he was, Joel was a liability. He was double the liability once Sam became a regular!

Liability in what sense?

A hothead penalty machine. Weren't you there?

[TrueBlueWarrior]

I think Joel always had a tendency to give away penalties irrelevant of Sam and can only recall 1 sending off in his Wigan career (home to Hull FC for raised elbows on Yeoman), I think the term 'liability' is a bit harsh considering in his 2 main years he won a GF and CC and played for 'the team' as a centre when it clearly wasn't his position. All in all I would have Joel in my team as a 2nd rower before Liam any day of the week.