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ellery 4 coach wrote:

TWO EYED WARRIOR wrote:

Don't think Phil was saying anything about Fekas overall performance. He was simply pointing out that we knew what we were getting when we paid for him and that is all he is delivering.

ian, appreciate what clarkie was saying hence why I say you get what you pay for

For me though the modern RL player has to be very adaptable and almost be able to multi task, feka is no doubt a crowd fav but I personally want much more from a player who is reputed to be very highly paid

hes only reputed to be high paid because cp says hes high paid, fekas is high impact prop when he gets the ball there are 3 or 4 tacklers on him straight away, its the same as sf they are targeted by the opposition running into 4 players is like running into a brick wall have we moved on more with the blame game weve gone through most of the players, cp wigan you can only know how much feka is on £ by rumour

It is a little more than rumour Ellery. Occasionally you are told precisely that player X is on Y but most often you are told that player X is on more than or approximately. The whole reason Wigan have not signed another prop is the % of the cap they already spend on prop forwards and you will not see any change until Feka / Fielden's contracts end.

It's not the CP Show BTW You may not be aware but many people know approximate salary details of players.

To be honest what he is paid is not the issue. Getting the best out of Feka is. Personally, I enjoy seeing him scatter defenders and offloading. The big question is have we as a club got the best out of Feka and if not? why not?

cpwigan wrote:

ellery 4 coach wrote:

TWO EYED WARRIOR wrote: ian, appreciate what clarkie was saying hence why I say you get what you pay for

For me though the modern RL player has to be very adaptable and almost be able to multi task, feka is no doubt a crowd fav but I personally want much more from a player who is reputed to be very highly paid

hes only reputed to be high paid because cp says hes high paid, fekas is high impact prop when he gets the ball there are 3 or 4 tacklers on him straight away, its the same as sf they are targeted by the opposition running into 4 players is like running into a brick wall have we moved on more with the blame game weve gone through most of the players, cp wigan you can only know how much feka is on £ by rumour

It is a little more than rumour Ellery. Occasionally you are told precisely that player X is on Y but most often you are told that player X is on more than or approximately. The whole reason Wigan have not signed another prop is the % of the cap they already spend on prop forwards and you will not see any change until Feka / Fielden's contracts end.

It's not the CP Show BTW You may not be aware but many people know approximate salary details of players.

To be honest what he is paid is not the issue. Getting the best out of Feka is. Personally, I enjoy seeing him scatter defenders and offloading. The big question is have we as a club got the best out of Feka and if not? why not?

occasianally you are told is that not rumour have you seen his pay packet if i said sf is on 1million a year and i know because his brpother told me, many people know aprox salary only because people like you speculating

Players often tell close personal friends / family members etc. Agents sometimes leak information. Players tend to know how much others are being paid. Information just flows. No need for payslips

old hooker wrote:

DaveO wrote:

botica wrote:As soon as Feka and Fielden came on we started to score. Wonder if the wire chant of YFB spurred him on!!
Fielden was better too, his defence was immence and saved the line a couple of times.

Did you notice they came on at exactly they same time as they did last week? Bang on the 20 minute mark.

The question mark over Feka is can he keep this level of of performance up or can he only do it if he gets a rocket and may be facing the chop?

Dave

Feka is amongst the best props in the world of his type. He will never play more than 40mins per game if that,but when he is on he causes havoc. To get the best out of him we need to have 3 other props to do the donkey work.IMO we have poor props therefore Feka is not coming on to the field when we have tired other props out.I keep saying this but we need 2 top class props plus Mossop who will be an international prop in tha next 2 years and Feka.We will then get some go forward and release our backs who will win us some silverware

Unbelievable!

cpwigan wrote:Exactly OH, we did not want Offiah for his scooting/tackling. Feka is a similar luxury player who actually makes the job easier for the 3 other props doing more time. 15 minutes of Feka at his best takes it out of the opposition but I had reached the point after the semi where had he been dropped I would not have argued but I also feel he got worse under the Wigan conditioners.

Offiah is amongst the greatest try scorers in the history of the game and you call him a luxury player.

Beggars belief!

Nobody said he was not. He was a matchwinner and as such you did not care if his defence was not awesome or that he did not scoot 20 times in a match. That is the comparison.

At his best Feka is a world class impact prop. As an all round prop he is way way down the list. That is not his role.

RL has always had luxury players. Brian Bevan was the best try scorer bar none but he was a luxury, an essential luxury which is an oxymoron but captures what these players are about.

Puig Albert is a French RL hero but as a defender, if you broke through he would wave you past him because he wasn't interested in tackling.

DoD do not dismiss other posters (not mine) so crudely.

cpwigan wrote:Nobody said he was not. He was a matchwinner and as such you did not care if his defence was not awesome or that he did not scoot 20 times in a match. That is the comparison.

At his best Feka is a world class impact prop. As an all round prop he is way way down the list. That is not his role.

I think the comparison with Offiah is spurious. Offiah was an 80 min player who's mere presence on the pitch worried the opposition constantly. They tried to exploit his defensive weakness but more often then not he would at least get in the way until others finished the job. What they didn't do was kick too him as that was asking for trouble. He limited their options.

Offiah was not a luxury player in my book because he was too effective for the entire game.

Feka is a luxury player because he can't do the rest of a props job in the modern game of 10m offsides and fast scooting at the PTB.

Sorry CPW but putting Feka and Offiah in the same bracket is ridiculous.

Dave

Perhaps so Dave and not the best wording I guess by myself. I always remember the World 7s and I appreciate that it is not the full game but Monie would play Chariots when we had possession as soon as we lost the ball Dave Myers replaced him to do his tackling. Has Monie had the luxury re mass interchanges you may have even seen it in full games.

The game has certainly changed with mass interchange. Nobody would be silly enough to pretend players like Feka could exist under the old system but the rules do now allow rightly or wrongly for players like Feka. Mary at Saints is not much better. Even yesterday Crabtree was kept offf because Huddersfield had to defend for long periods.

I think the interchange is unfair on the small players and would love to see it reduced but I do think until it is then Feka should be recognised for what he is and not forced to undergo a futile attempt to transform him. It would help if his coach brough him on and off based on what is happening in the game. He should never be brought on as a pair for that very reason IMO.

As the game is changing to slower ptb's and getting more defenders around the player, wrestling and holding down is becoming an art form, the ability to stand in the tackle, attract 3/4 players and offload is becomming more and more important to unlock a well organised defence.

feka is exactly the sort of player who can disrupt a well organised defence such as Huddersfield this year - and as such he has an important role to play for wigan.

Especially now we have lost hock and we have great 'up the middle' support players with pace such as Tommy, phelps, and Sam - when feka is on form they have a field day.

As mentioned earlier, it's important to recognise what he is good at and get the most out of him, not to try and convert him to something he isn't.

As such we do need to inject him into the game at the right time and recognise when we shouldn't bring him on - and this is probably one of Noble's weaknesses in using his subs more tactically.

Getting 30 mins top quality from him used when we're attacking is far more important than 50 mins of average play.

I would be interested in why Noble has changed his use of the props with fielden and feka on the bench now.

Big Steve wrote: As mentioned earlier, it's important to recognise what he is good at and get the most out of him, not to try and convert him to something he isn't.

I think the general opinion of people who want to see a slimmer and fitter Feka is that he would be better at the job he is good at. That is he could be even more effective in his role minus a few pounds.

Whenever he comes on the pitch even if tactically at the right time he will have to do some defending so if his size is hindering this there must be a happy compromise.

I don't think anyone expects him to be an 80 min prop but even so I am sure he has been quoted himself as saying he could play longer.

As such we do need to inject him into the game at the right time and recognise when we shouldn't bring him on - and this is probably one of Noble's weaknesses in using his subs more tactically.

Getting 30 mins top quality from him used when we're attacking is far more important than 50 mins of average play.

I would be interested in why Noble has changed his use of the props with fielden and feka on the bench now.

Nobles subs by the clock are infuriating but why Noble has changed the subs bench is an interesting question.

Maybe it's the closest he can bring himself to dropping SF who used to be an 80 min prop? Maybe he thinks when Feka comes on he needs his best defensive prop alongside him for cover? (Not sure if SF is statistically our best defensive prop but I know he puts in a lot of tackles).

I think its much better to rotate props one at a time even if you end up changing both over a 5 min period. Leave the one who is "in the groove" on the pitch and bring Feka on. Then give that prop a rest 5 mins later once Feka has acclimatised to the pace of the game.

Bringing two on at once seems unnecessarily disruptive.

Dave