And who knows how long it’ll take French to get upto speed and back in form. He played 3 games last season and prior to that his last game was Grand Final Nov 2020 so it’s been over 15 months since he played in Super League on a regular basis
Not saying for one minute he’s not been keeping fit but he’s missed 2 lots of pre-season and it’s going to take him some time to integrate into the new coaching set ups ways of wanting to play.
I could see Field nailing down FB and French playing most of season on the wing.
They got Field in great shape to hit the ground running after a year out, so it’ll be fun finding out how quickly French gets up to speed. But that is, as I say, a first works problem. If Field keeps fit, there will be even more fun to be had from watching him as the grounds get firmer, and he gets more used to working with this new side. His first try was off the scale good - there was no gap and no one touched him…
I think we have to take stock a little and realise leeds had a few out tonight while we were at virtually full strength. Major plusses all over the park though. The most exciting part for me is that it's February, terrible weather and we are managing to throw the ball about a bit. Our offloading game is back and we have some really exciting runners and ball carriers.
The first 15 or 20 were poor but we got ourselves back into the game well and ran away with it in the end. I thought Leeds looked quite dangerous especially their half backs and Leeming.
Onto the next game. Hopefully we can build on that performance.
I thought it was a slow start and I had fears that it would turn out like a lot of our wet weather games against Leeds in the last few years. Even though we had the wind at ours backs they managed to pen us into our own 20 for a while. I don't think the starting middles of Singleton, Ellis and Isa were particularly good. None of them looked remotely like gaining good ground, which is frustrating because Singleton can when he's on form. Once we got Mago, Byrne and Smithies onto the field I thought we looked a much bigger threat and challenged Leeds a lot more. Mago in particular seemed to make a big difference. He's just such a big unit and hard to bring down so naturally draws defenders in but his handling ability is superb. That offload for Field's long range effort from the kick off was a thing of beauty.
Yes, we got some luck with a few tries but if you take some risks and try to make things happen then you've a good chance of getting lucky.
It wasn't one of those games where everyone was outstanding. I thought most players were more solid than spectacular, which makes me hopeful that if those players can reach their best we could be a really dangerous team this year.
If we can get Havard back fully fit he would be a really good player to add to the mix in the forwards. It might help spur on Singleton, Ellis and Partington to give a bit more in their attacking game and if Havard can play like he did in 2020 he'll be a big addition to the pack.
I think my only real gripe from that game is Bibby at centre. I had my doubts when the idea of him being our centre was floated before the start of the season and I'm still not really convinced. He wasn't bad against Hull KR but he just doesn't look remotely comfortable passing the ball. He had a brilliant chance to put Marshall through tonight and threw a horrendous pass. Compare that to Farrell last season playing as a makeshift centre yet he seemed more than comfortable tipping the ball on to his winger. Bibby was one of the few good points about the team last year playing on the right wing - I'm not sure I see the logic in moving him away from there when he's not been that convincing at centre and doesn't seem to be able to get his passes right. Maybe Hardaker at left centre is worth a go. He's not the most dynamic either but at fullback he at least looked capable of getting a pass away.
Definitely worth the trip. I enjoyed that. Probably more to shout about in one game than all of last season.
Plenty of things to work on like daft penalties but the biggest difference for me was when we attacked and got close you thought we might score. Last season most of the time I never thought we would.
Field takes the plaudits and rightly so but Mago had a big impact, KPP did well despite a few early mistakes. It wasn’t a helpful night for a kicking game weather wise but we probably split the defenders more on one game than last last season so while Cust wasn’t the standout player I thought he had a good game. Bateman was a handful for them and Bryne looks promising.
I agree the starting set of forwards looked a bit weak. Ellis can play 13 and so putting him there and when Harvard is fit might make things look better. Don’t think Isa offers anything at 13.
Mickw wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 11:44 pm
Early season yet but its amazing what a pass out of the tackle and a bit of support play can do.
As I said to a mate, there's the best of rugby league right there; good line of attack from a prop, great offload well executed, and supported by electric pace from a back.
Mickw wrote: ↑Fri Feb 18, 2022 11:44 pm
Early season yet but its amazing what a pass out of the tackle and a bit of support play can do.
Yes, Bateman’s offload set Field off for his try bang on half time, Mago for Field again and Cust managed to get the ball out of the tackle for Faz to score.
Lets have a game of how many times this was mentioned during the sky programme…….OMG it was repetitive from the word go…….. YES wigan got lucky on two tries…….. YES leeds were the best side for 30 odd minutes……. YES myler missed out for austin…… hang on a minute he was leeds best player mmmmmmmm…… powell n carney bent as ever but john wilkin and john wells take a bow for honesty…… would love for the stats on how many times the boring leeds excuses were made……. Just a quick reminder that our STAND IN fullback is the player they are raving about if they wanna make excuses although jai has been awesome and is killing it…….if leeming tetavano austin and sezer liked defence then leeds wouldnt have got battered…… come on the warriors
IF YOU STRIKE ME DOWN I WILL BECOME MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE
Well after watching 3 hours behind i thought that tactically we are the same but with SO much more effort and enthusiasm……. Special praise too jai ( obviously) KPP (im not even gonna keep mentioning i always said play him centre)…… bibby( so much better as a centre)…… tommys best half game for a longtime( apart from the over celebrating a try for leeds second)…… bateman and faz massive workrate and mago adding the x factor as a prop….we rode our luck and did get a few calls but all in all a very satisfactory win……. Just sick of sky now and all the anti wigan BS…… ffs the preview was all leeds which i forwarded…… then you have to sit watching slapped arse powell chew a wasp trying to admit wigan were far superior…….. keep it up wells and wilkin( top guys who are honest and actually say the truth)…….good start this and us putting the pride back into our club…… i dare say lee briers is having a massive impact as he gets mentioned a hell of a lot during interviews
IF YOU STRIKE ME DOWN I WILL BECOME MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE
