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medlocke posted:
One word Tommy tank

Err, thats two.

cpwigan posted:
If you think JJB is in the same class

Hock has alot of convincing to do to a great many fans, if not coaches.

IMO he falls into the catagory of smug teenage talent that has been told since he was 14 that he is going to be a world beater.

JJB may not "a class act" but he has cemented his place in the Leeds team at the top of SL.

Hock is in danger of being dropped (if you can believe half this board)from a poor Wigan pack languishing outside the play off spots.

Go figure.

DaveO posted:

His running is an asset enough in itself. Leave the offloads to players who have the brains to know when to try them.

Dave

Brains are not Gareths forte. Apparently when the first trip to Catalans was organised several of our squad at the time with minor criminal records and some of the overseas players had to travel to London to get Visas. Mr Hocks reply when asked to get a Visa was "I don't need a Visa. I have a Mastercard."

DOD trust me Smug and Gareth Hock are so far from the truth. Hock is a very ordinary down to earth lad brought up on the tough side of the street. He had a troublesome teenage life and was never given star billing. There were those who said he was bad news. He came through off his own back.

Mike Gregory, Dennis Betts, Ian Millward and Brian Noble have always selected him. If he was in the Leeds squad, Smith would do so ahead of JJB.

GeoffN posted:
I'm with cpwigan on this one; the team should know that Hock is always looking to offload, and should be backing him up every time. the problem is largely that Leuluai is usually the one that should be there, but doesn't read the game well enough to be in the right position.
That late break Hock made (when he nearly lost his shorts), for example, would have resulted in a try if TL had been in the right position for the offload.

Spot on!
Shaun Edwards would have been in hocks back pocket.

gpartin posted:

GeoffN posted:
I'm with cpwigan on this one; the team should know that Hock is always looking to offload, and should be backing him up every time. the problem is largely that Leuluai is usually the one that should be there, but doesn't read the game well enough to be in the right position.
That late break Hock made (when he nearly lost his shorts), for example, would have resulted in a try if TL had been in the right position for the offload.

Hock looks to offload which is fair enough and the rest of the team should know that he is looking to offload. They clearly don't, but Hock offloads anyway. The team are at fault for that but so is Hock.

That was my point. The team aren't good enough to take the offloads so if they are not he should not offload to nowhere which is what it looks like.

It makes Hock look bad when he does this and while it can be argued the team should be ready for the offload someone should stop Hock doing it so often until the team gets up to speed.

Dave

DaveO posted:

That was my point. The team aren't good enough to take the offloads so if they are not he should not offload to nowhere which is what it looks like.

It makes Hock look bad when he does this and while it can be argued the team should be ready for the offload someone should stop Hock doing it so often until the team gets up to speed.

Dave

I'd rather see the team trained to back him up. If he's on a run down the left, as usual, then Leuluai should be told to follow him. Admittedly, that would work better with a decent left centre as well, backup either side.

I just don't like the idea of players being forced to play below their best, or not doing what they do best, just to accommodate the dross around them.
We should be looking to the better players to improve the others, not lowering them to the level of the rest.

Easier said than done, perhaps; but it's analogous to the way I teach, in some ways. I encourage the brighter students to help the rest, I don't tell them to take it easy for fear of showing the others up.