Chris Ashton and Our Centre's

[cpwigan]

No worrys CA. It would be nice to see such players given the opportunity to prove us right/wrong etc. I doubt he could do much worse than DV

[GeoffN]

ancientnloyal posted:
So to recap, who is going next season? or potentially going??


Dave
Fletcher
Calderwood
Ashton


Leaving us room to bring in a fullback and centre (as bailey we would assume will go to 2nd row... and a prop

Wold like to see Stanton partner the new Centre with richards/Goulding partnership personally.

Calderwood's staying for another year.

[ChrisA]

cpwigan posted:
No worrys CA. It would be nice to see such players given the opportunity to prove us right/wrong etc. I doubt he could do much worse than DV

I have no problems being proved wrong, in fact I would love to be if it was for the well being of the club and player.

I was critical from the start regarding Chris Ashton's defence, I remember slating him after the Wakefield last year game when he bottled it with that kick through. He has repeatedly shown that lack of heart throughout his brief career in the 1st team. I got every man and his dog slating me on this and other boards for saying he lacked heart, saying he's young and he has time on his side and time to learn. Thing is he never showed any improvement, before or after he signed for Northampton. I refused to be blinded by the fact he is dangerous in attack, I look for a fullback being solid in defence first and foremost, if he's good in attack as well it's a bonus. A team needs to know that guy who is the last line is solid and can command the team around in defence, they don't get that with Ashton.

I wish I had been proved wrong on with what I stated last year, but I haven't.

[chrisJJ]

fitzy posted:
bailey is not a centre at all you can tell by the way he run's the ball in he just put's his head down and drive's it in and doesn,t even consider the winger. it's simple bailey is a second rower through and through so when fletch goes move him to sr and goulding to starting centre

i think bailey's more skillful than people think, he draws defenders in very well and does give the final pass, he's quite adgile for a big man (leeds try) and runs hard, not seen a centre with the same bravery as him in a while in cherry and white also has great upper body strength and defence is one of the best in our side along with Higham + the famous sean o'loughlin. Remember.. it is his first season in super league let alown at centre and he is one of the toughest in super league, players such as Senior seem to be a bit timmed when confronted by him.

Gouldings too young to be given the no.3/4 shirt need some one with more experience Goulding on bench... no doubt.

[butt monkey]

chrisJJ posted:

fitzy posted:
bailey is not a centre at all you can tell by the way he run's the ball in he just put's his head down and drive's it in and doesn,t even consider the winger. it's simple bailey is a second rower through and through so when fletch goes move him to sr and goulding to starting centre

i think bailey's more skillful than people think, he draws defenders in very well and does give the final pass, he's quite adgile for a big man (leeds try) and runs hard, not seen a centre with the same bravery as him in a while in cherry and white also has great upper body strength and defence is one of the best in our side along with Higham + the famous sean o'loughlin. Remember.. it is his first season in super league let alown at centre and he is one of the toughest in super league, players such as Senior seem to be a bit timmed when confronted by him.

Gouldings too young to be given the no.3/4 shirt need some one with more experience Goulding on bench... no doubt.

Centres used as interchanges on the bench are a waste. He is either good enough now - or never will be!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZp4V2iRG1o

His ability at running angles and onto the ball do not seem much of a problem from these clips, regardless of what level played at.

[cpwigan]

Chris as it stands the only way Bailey scores tries is by being put in a 1 v 1 literally on the opponents try line. You combine that with Mr non existent attacking force on the left and we have 2 centres who give us virtually nothing in attack. That scenario cannot continue.

The brutal truth is that neither are Wigan class at centre. Wigan centres are Bell, Iro, Miles, Renouf, Connolly, Inga. - Every one of those was great in attack.

[chrisJJ]

butt monkey posted:

chrisJJ posted:

fitzy posted:
bailey is not a centre at all you can tell by the way he run's the ball in he just put's his head down and drive's it in and doesn,t even consider the winger. it's simple bailey is a second rower through and through so when fletch goes move him to sr and goulding to starting centre

i think bailey's more skillful than people think, he draws defenders in very well and does give the final pass, he's quite adgile for a big man (leeds try) and runs hard, not seen a centre with the same bravery as him in a while in cherry and white also has great upper body strength and defence is one of the best in our side along with Higham + the famous sean o'loughlin. Remember.. it is his first season in super league let alown at centre and he is one of the toughest in super league, players such as Senior seem to be a bit timmed when confronted by him.

Gouldings too young to be given the no.3/4 shirt need some one with more experience Goulding on bench... no doubt.

Centres used as interchanges on the bench are a waste. He is either good enough now - or never will be!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZp4V2iRG1o

His ability at running angles and onto the ball do not seem much of a problem from these clips, regardless of what level played at.

Centre's are meant to create play for wingers and players inside them, not jst run on to the ball at pace, is he a centre? or is he just a good support player?

[GeoffN]

cpwigan posted:
Chris as it stands the only way Bailey scores tries is by being put in a 1 v 1 literally on the opponents try line. You combine that with Mr non existent attacking force on the left and we have 2 centres who give us virtually nothing in attack. That scenario cannot continue.

The brutal truth is that neither are Wigan class at centre. Wigan centres are Bell, Iro, Miles, Renouf, Connolly, Inga. - Every one of those was great in attack.

I wouldn't say Bell & Connolly were great in attack (compared to the other 4); they were awesome in defence though!

[cpwigan]

Geoff I think they were in their younger days. Mind you even in their final years they were still better than the present 2

[ChrisA]

GeoffN posted:

cpwigan posted:
Chris as it stands the only way Bailey scores tries is by being put in a 1 v 1 literally on the opponents try line. You combine that with Mr non existent attacking force on the left and we have 2 centres who give us virtually nothing in attack. That scenario cannot continue.

The brutal truth is that neither are Wigan class at centre. Wigan centres are Bell, Iro, Miles, Renouf, Connolly, Inga. - Every one of those was great in attack.

I wouldn't say Bell & Connolly were great in attack (compared to the other 4); they were awesome in defence though!

Watch Connolly in his first year for Wigan, the amount of tries he set up was incredible. He was extremely quick when he was young, I remember him tracking down Sullivan at CP.

In the 94/95 season he finished with 30 tries, and Offiah who was his winger had 53, alot of which would have been put down to Connolly.

I think he finished with around 135 tries in 8 seasons, averaging 17 per season.