Riddell

[Mike]

Let me get this right if you dare to criticise a player you are a bad supporter I must be a bad supporter then. Ian Lenagan must be a bad supporter. Shaun Wane too. Where do we stop

Personally I have no favourite / least favourite players. If they do the job, fantastic. If they do not do the job then Houston we have a problem. Pat Richards came to Wigan as an integral member of a GF winning NRL club. Piggy came to Wigan as a bench warmer for a young teenage hooker in a very poor NRL club. Had he remained in Australia he would not be playing invthe NRL now. Pat Richards had a minor blip, Gene Miles did too if you want to go back blah blah and they both turned it around very quickly. Piggy has had a full season and at various stages not only not delivered but taken the P. There's a young hooker who may not be the finished article but at least I would be happy sat next to him in the trenches. Do we ignore what we see so we can be good supporters and ignore form over past reputation just to be good supporters.

On your basis why is Maguire even here. We should have stuck with Noble on the basis of past record. An ageing record.

Clapping in hope gets you nowhere. Whatsmore it damages players. Forget Duty of care cliches. Sam Tomkins should have been playing with Trent Barrett and Tommy and Micky should have played hooker. We might have made the GF year IMO if we had and Sam T would be a better player than he is now.

Form should be the only determinant of whether you wear the Cheerrry n White for Wigan. I do not care where you come from, what your accent is as long as you delivery. I certainly could not give a hoot for reputation. Past reputation is the stuff of scrap brooks when you have finished playing not a reason to be selected here and now.

A bad supporter apparently.

Without getting on your high horse or taking it personally and giving an eight page transcribe why you know better I think you have misread R Douglas' post.

He/she is not saying support all the players irrespective of how poorly they have performed, just that the coaching (of whome you have been most critical) "might" have played some part to players looking worse then they theoretically were. Many looked better when at another team (Amos being a prime point) but whilst at Wigan, they appeared unsure of not only their roles within the team. Also with organisation/tactics/consistent form plus lower fitness levels being at a premium, this seemed to make the vast majority of senior players look very average for large chunks of whichever of Brian Noble's seasons you care to mention (the point being made by RD)

With the appointment of MM, it can be hoped that the players WILL respond or eventually be moved on. Either way, the lackluster displays (especially early season) should be over.


As for Gene Miles, why bring him up? Her was only at Wigan for one season. The first part he was awful, to the point after an away defeat at Salford, fans were actually saying (on the fan bus home) they would contribute to paying for his return home on a surfboard (he at the time admitted to a "love" of surfing). His form had nothing to do with coaching at that time - yet Pat Richards poor start at Wigan WAS blamed on Agent Millward playing him out of position - a coaching fault, so your comparison is not valid.

Lets just clarify this for you - no one is a "happy clapper" or "bad supporter" for wanting the team to have improved from the performances we witnessed over the last few years. Just that everyone IS expectant of even our poorer looking players performing at a higher level.

Maybe you don't actually like the idea of your "pet hates" actually "looking good" under MM? :sly: This would debunk everything you have ever written and prove that it was all down to coaching (or non-coaching if the case be) that determined a players form. We shall have to wait and see, either way, MM is either going to be a good coach, or the players will remain crap and MM will get the sack for not getting the improved form. This is for MM to "sort" and with the backroom staff being put in place, one hopes for the former.

As for Riddell, he does have a lot to prove this season. First he needs to improve his fitness levels, we shall see what sort of form he brings after that lifestyle change! At least with the signing of Deacon, this does give the coach the opportunity to play with McIlorum or Leuluai at hooker without the need for wholesale changes in the team as we have seen too often

I also agree with BM. I think the point was lets put the last seasons form behind us and judge the players anew under the new regime. If they are still rubbish - then lets slag them off, if they improve then lets be pleased.

[shawxshark]

You are a complete ****!

You are sof ar up your own **** you need a Nasa rated Sat Nav to find your way back out.

Good bye!

Hopefully, with language like that I **** out, the goodbye will be a permanent one from this site

Well said, its a debate, totally unnecessary that remark

[DaveO]

With regard to the pig i really hope he comes good, but my gut feeling is i wonder whether he has the desire to do so. Imo the difference between him and other senior players such as fielden who are not performing is at least you can see effort. Imo for the majority of last year piggy looked disinterested

Good points. It's a watershed season for him for the reasons you mention. I think everyone is happy enough to let him start again with a clean slate and I think we all believe that is what the coaching staff have given to all the players.

That said about the clean slate he does owe it to the fans IMO to take this opportunity and improve. It's up to him to take it and put a poor 2009 behind him and win the fans over.

Like you though of all the players we would like to see improve he is the one who I have the biggest doubt about actually taking the opportunity he has got.

Dave

[weststand-rich]

I've not been a Riddell fan by any shakes, but in the balance of fairness, he was carrying a back inury for a big chunk of last year. If that's resolved I would expect to see some improvment.

From what I've been told, the players are in receipt of a real flogging at present and have limited physio sessions to make them take responsibility for proper warming up / flexability / recovery. The revised training is the real deal, so if Riddell continues to underperform to expectations then the blame can lie squarely with him.

[platt-warrior]

But there lies the problem Rich.I think it has already been mentioned but Riddell is still on his jollies i think, so he is already 2 weeks behind.Do we honestly believe he is going to catch-up? i dont think so.Back injury or not (btw that was news to me) if he changes his attitude maybe he'll be ready by August IMO.

[EDINBURGH-WARRIOR]

Get him fit we have an excellent player . Same level of fitness as last year he is a salary cap liability .

50% of the time (on field) he is a class player , 50% of the time ( on field ) he is knackered. A poor ratio .

[weststand-rich]

But there lies the problem Rich.I think it has already been mentioned but Riddell is still on his jollies i think, so he is already 2 weeks behind.Do we honestly believe he is going to catch-up? i dont think so.Back injury or not (btw that was news to me) if he changes his attitude maybe he'll be ready by August IMO.

I'll reluctantly let him off the hook about his jollies, because at the end of the day it's the club who've allowed him to extend his leave because of his marriage. I suppose they've weighed up the pros and cons and come to conclusion it's better to have a player coming back happy off honeymoon than a hen-pecked resentful one.

Will he catch up. Perhaps not. But he'll suffer :devi:

His back injury I suppose the club hushed up for obvious reasosn. 2 stone off his beer gut would certainly help with back pain though.

[piemanjohno]

when all said and done piggy hasnt done enough last season and i wouldnt like the thought of losing MM to a rival superleague team. So as far as im concerned its TL & MM at number 9 PD at 7 and ST at 6. Bring on Super league 2010.

[medlocke]

I reckon both Riddell and Roberts will both come good this season no matter what a certain person who has it in for them says, A combo of injuries plus culture shock as well as the 1972 coaching style of Nobby and his crap fitness conditioning system did not help either players, under the new regime i think both will will gain fitness and confidence lost under Nobby, Riddell may not be a world beater but he is by far a better standard of player that MM is and as for losing either Pig or MM, at the moment i would rather lose MM than lose the rest of Piggy wage on the salary cap

[cpwigan]

Do tell us who this person is Medlocke