Anthony Gelling to Wigan?

[pedro]

I find it absolutely ludicrous that anyone can question Trent Barrett in any way, shape or form! The man was a class act on the pitch and off the pitch in every way, without him we would have been far far far worse off. To say the club shipped him out is laughable and to be honest I wouldn't mind having him back now, well ok maybe it is 5 years too late. What a player, end of story.

What do you base your statement on? Team sheet on the darkest superleague day in Wigan's history,
http://www.wiganwarriorsfans.com/wigan/ ... c&o=490332 I have thought for a long time that TB was called in by IL and fired. Told he could use any excuse but at the end of the season he left. Remember the rumours were of a dressingroom split, "your not fit to wear the shirt" Effectively Barrett was not then playing for Wigan but for his next position. Ask yourself why he was never captain apart from sharing the post with Fielden. Go back to the posts re the Huddersfield match and you will find my theory holds a lot of water. MOS, how ironic that would have been if it was awarded then later it came out he was no longer required. I do believe the problem at that period was a personality clash between Noble and Barrett. If a team player undermines the manager exit one team player. Jim

by your theory Carmont and Hansen must be poor aswell as he hasnt been captain and he was in that team.

[Sutty]

I find it absolutely ludicrous that anyone can question Trent Barrett in any way, shape or form! The man was a class act on the pitch and off the pitch in every way, without him we would have been far far far worse off. To say the club shipped him out is laughable and to be honest I wouldn't mind having him back now, well ok maybe it is 5 years too late. What a player, end of story.

What do you base your statement on? Team sheet on the darkest superleague day in Wigan's history,
http://www.wiganwarriorsfans.com/wigan/ ... c&o=490332 I have thought for a long time that TB was called in by IL and fired. Told he could use any excuse but at the end of the season he left. Remember the rumours were of a dressingroom split, "your not fit to wear the shirt" Effectively Barrett was not then playing for Wigan but for his next position. Ask yourself why he was never captain apart from sharing the post with Fielden. Go back to the posts re the Huddersfield match and you will find my theory holds a lot of water. MOS, how ironic that would have been if it was awarded then later it came out he was no longer required. I do believe the problem at that period was a personality clash between Noble and Barrett. If a team player undermines the manager exit one team player. Jim

Not necessarily, just ask John Dorahay. I've been watching Wigan for 25 years and whilst I don't consider myself to be a complete anorak and know everything about the game, I've still picked quite a bit up along the way.
When Barrett used to get the ball, he always seemed to have an extra couple of seconds with it, in which he could do something special. That's the sign of a true great. When have you ever seen Lockyer, Thurston, C Smith, or any of the other top Aussies in recent years seem flustered and rushed when they get the ball? Not very many. Barrett was the same, he was pure class and is still one of the best players that I've ever seen play for Wigan, during the past 25 years. As others have said, at times he almost carried us through games and won games single handedly. I can only dream of what sort of team we would have had during Madge's first season if Hock and Barrett were present in it. How Barrett didn't get MOS is still the most baffling decision to me. Not knocking Roby, who himself is a world class player now, but at the time was only playing part games as a sub. I can't believe your comments about him not being captain, your reasons are quite bizarre, to say the least.

[highland convert]

im your posts / theories re Trent B are comedy gold. You are so far off the mark it is tragic.

maybe you should go back and read your own posts leading up to the Hudderfield thrashing because that is where my info came from. From them I made my deliberations. Your memory is short. So if I am so far wrong that is because you either lied or changed your opinion when it suited the current situation. Jim

[TrueBlueWarrior]

I find it absolutely ludicrous that anyone can question Trent Barrett in any way, shape or form! The man was a class act on the pitch and off the pitch in every way, without him we would have been far far far worse off. To say the club shipped him out is laughable and to be honest I wouldn't mind having him back now, well ok maybe it is 5 years too late. What a player, end of story.

What do you base your statement on? Team sheet on the darkest superleague day in Wigan's history,
http://www.wiganwarriorsfans.com/wigan/ ... c&o=490332 I have thought for a long time that TB was called in by IL and fired. Told he could use any excuse but at the end of the season he left. Remember the rumours were of a dressingroom split, "your not fit to wear the shirt" Effectively Barrett was not then playing for Wigan but for his next position. Ask yourself why he was never captain apart from sharing the post with Fielden. Go back to the posts re the Huddersfield match and you will find my theory holds a lot of water. MOS, how ironic that would have been if it was awarded then later it came out he was no longer required. I do believe the problem at that period was a personality clash between Noble and Barrett. If a team player undermines the manager exit one team player. Jim

Oh sorry, What a terrible professional TB must have been to question Brian Noble. HC, I am glad you stated 'my theory' because that is clerly all it is and ever will be. TB class act in every way and his reaction when we beat Bradford in the playoffs speaks volumes about himself and how he felt about the TEAM.

[cpwigan]

im your posts / theories re Trent B are comedy gold. You are so far off the mark it is tragic.

maybe you should go back and read your own posts leading up to the Hudderfield thrashing because that is where my info came from. From them I made my deliberations. Your memory is short. So if I am so far wrong that is because you either lied or changed your opinion when it suited the current situation. Jim

No you read something wrongly and created your own misguided viewpoint. I was incredibly consistent and correct that;

Brian Noble was once relegation had been averted, a poor coach for Wigan.

Trent was a fantastic player for Wigan and as a senior professional often acted as a spokesperson for many on the team, the whole team.

Your theory leaves you open to ridicule.

[weststand-rich]

TB wasn't fired.

He was on an escalator contract and his final year at Wigan was a considerable increment on his previous 2 years. When IL took over he sought to renegotiate TBs contract with him. TB wasn't interested in the new pay or the short contract extension offered and so they both agreed to cut loose.

It wasn't an engineered firing - if anything IL was trying to be cute and it backfired on him somewhat. To be fair to IL, the salary cap he inherited was a fantastic example of robbing Peter to pay Paul and he was desparate to balance it back up. In the main we saw that in form of some bargain signings.

We're seeing the same to a degree now with bargain signings again to mitigate against the inflation of exisiting players contracts and ST super contract. Will it work again? I don't know. The players entering the mix are not as good as those leaving (in my very humble opinion) and we have a new head coach. I'll give us half a season to see what brand of rugby we develop and how the players adapt to it, before I decide.

[highland convert]

It is by analysing posts I come to my conclusions. Something happened after the Huddersfield game. The Barrett pre that game was not MOS quality. After he was. That was about the same time the rumours started Barrett was going home. As for being open to ridicule CP any reflexive I put up is backed by facts published on here. Look at my track record. Was I right re Smith, Richards, Riddell, Finch when you were trashing them? Jim

[the winky one]

I will reserve judgement until he's played at least a half dozen games for us.I well remember some of the sarcastic comments as regards B.Finch of whom some of those posters have been silenced.It will always take time for a player to bed himself into a new team.Time that I personally shall give him.Reading some of the comments about Gellings signing one would assume that S.Wane and IL know nothing about the standard of player they are bringing into the club.If from what we have seen from past signings by IL I for one do not think he's done a bad job on the recruitment front.I have always said that posters are entitled to their own point of view not that I always agree with every post.But the one thing that gets my goat more than anything is the negative comments about a player who's not even arrived at the club let alone pulled on a jersey.If after he's had the time to familiarise himself to the team and enough game time for us to comment on his abilities.Then so be it!But until that time arrives can we not be a little more positive about his signing?After all we have little or no facts to go on even his late clubs forums give little indication of how good or bad he is.Less of the negativity please.

:eusa2: :eusa2: well said Kooch

[cpwigan]

It is by analysing posts I come to my conclusions. Something happened after the Huddersfield game. The Barrett pre that game was not MOS quality. After he was. That was about the same time the rumours started Barrett was going home. As for being open to ridicule CP any reflexive I put up is backed by facts published on here. Look at my track record. Was I right re Smith, Richards, Riddell, Finch when you were trashing them? Jim

Jim you are one of the reasons why I will not miss this forum. You do not have a track record, you tend to make some absurd ill founded nonsensical claims.

Just to correct something correct re Smith? From memory you back 99.9% of players incl Smith. I did not. My posts show that. Richards to my knowledge never had any strong view on him apart from needing to be on the wing rather than centre. Riddell, not his biggest fan and in some respects his Wigan career can be divided into 2 parts. Piggy arrived at Wigan with his knees etc screwed. Playing in the Noble era was bad for him as the conditioning was very poor. Madge / Bitcom arriving provided him with a career swansong as training became personalised to get the most out of a wrecked body. A body that could not withstand the NRL when he returned to Aus. Piggy was a valuable Wigan player, more than I gave him credit for Finch? Backed him all the time, even when others went OTT at his poor start and lavished him with praise.

CPW = Right 99% of the time, Jim 1% of the time. Unfortunately, the very nature of internet forums is that everybody thinks they are right and a large % can never say, you know what I got that wrong, I have changed my opinion. The one time you have proven largely correct was not really about rugby but rather that players were mere human beings affected by criticism etc. I had always felt that to play professionally at the highest level required supreme mental toughness. Time has changed my thinking and a significant % of sportsmen / women are vulnerable just like Joe public.

However, lets not deflect this thread eh Jim. You put your big foot in it with your ludicrous Trent suggestions and people have called you out on it big time

[highland convert]

However, lets not deflect this thread eh Jim. You put your big foot in it with your ludicrous Trent suggestions and people have called you out on it big time

Who and where? Folks are entitled to opinions. And yes I support a team called Wigan Warriors. I am not looking to trash for no reason. Jim