POWELL!!

[ddtftf]

Watched St Helens yesterday and the place kicks was outstanding and showed how to break down a tight defence, we just cannot rely on 3 players with speed to burn and need more attacking points.

[Dreamteam]

There's nothing (woke " about my post. We lost the game becaus the better team on the night won obviously. We've had 17 pages on the topic of Powell many posters repeating the same mantra repeatedly. We get it. The Club I'm sure get it. It's gone beyond criticism it's more like a witch hunt Stop it. Please!

Feel free to create an isa Ellis mago and Miski page. Loads of people have a go at these players but the same ones who are offended on this topic don’t seem to show that same frustration when people are bashing those 4 players

[Caboosegg]

Woke society doesn’t let you criticise a player now apparently…

Powell has been a problem for several years, not just in reaction to Friday. The club needs to think about another long term interchange 9 option alongside O’Neill

Woke society, people who use this defence usually have no idea what woke even means.

Certainly is your applying it to anything on this forum you don't.

It's Like hating socialism because you get told comminisim is bad.

[keptinthedarkfans]

There's nothing (woke " about my post. We lost the game becaus the better team on the night won obviously. We've had 17 pages on the topic of Powell many posters repeating the same mantra repeatedly. We get it. The Club I'm sure get it. It's gone beyond criticism it's more like a witch hunt Stop it. Please!

Feel free to create an isa Ellis mago and Miski page. Loads of people have a go at these players but the same ones who are offended on this topic don’t seem to show that same frustration when people are bashing those 4 players

That's because thank god no one has ever started a thread. Saying it's for anyone who hates a player. I was the first to comment my disgust on this post. But well done it's done what it's set up to do character assassination of one of our own players I say again shame on you. Hate as no room anywhere let alone a fans forum for there team.

[Wigan_forever1985]

There's nothing (woke " about my post. We lost the game becaus the better team on the night won obviously. We've had 17 pages on the topic of Powell many posters repeating the same mantra repeatedly. We get it. The Club I'm sure get it. It's gone beyond criticism it's more like a witch hunt Stop it. Please!

Feel free to create an isa Ellis mago and Miski page. Loads of people have a go at these players but the same ones who are offended on this topic don’t seem to show that same frustration when people are bashing those 4 players

That's because thank god no one has ever started a thread. Saying it's for anyone who hates a player. I was the first to comment my disgust on this post. But well done it's done what it's set up to do character assassination of one of our own players I say again shame on you. Hate as no room anywhere let alone a fans forum for there team.

Character Assassination - I’ll give £10 to your chosen charity if you can post evidence that anyone has has said bad things about Sam Powell the person

I’m absolutely sick of people making things up just because they don’t want to hear the truth on things

It’s worrying as it’s happening in wider society it’s like when Boris was breaking every rule going and people somehow started to defend him because people had “already had a go over other rules he broke”

If you play a sport you don’t have an allocated amount of criticism you can receive

I tell you now - you how 90% of the comments could be stopped - if he was good enough - maybe then people would stop making things up to try and defend him

[Pbickerstaff]

Totally agree
He isn’t good enough but a lovely guy
Simple
We need a decent hooker

[Big Steve]

Watched St Helens yesterday and the place kicks was outstanding and showed how to break down a tight defence, we just cannot rely on 3 players with speed to burn and need more attacking points.

Exactly what i've been saying,


Saints practice their kicking to perfection. Everyone right on the onside line, every kick chased with 100% commitment and aggression.

Bachelor almost always comes in at an angle at high speed, very difficult for a defender to block his run, whether a high Lomax chip from 30 -40 yards or a sliding kick they carried out 3-4 times yesterday.

They have the same kicking structure for every game and very very rarely kick and hope. Their attack has been poor but they make so much though well drilled, aggressive kick chase and pressure.

When the defence are well organised and sliding across like Leeds the threat of an angled kick with a committed well timed runner really tests a sliding defence.

I can't see why we don't put the same dedication into our kicking practice and execution.

[God2]

I keep saying this on repeat elsewhere, we have players that are too similar.

Powell is a 13 not a 9. We’ve got Smithies, Shorrocks, Isa as well. That’s 4 players that are the same. The lack of creativity around the ruck is blatantly obvious and has been obvious for a long time.

We desperately need a player in at 9 that steps out of dummy half instead of just passing. It’s too predictable, very rarely we put on a short side play as well. Powell would make an excellent 13 but I know for a fact it won’t happen.

[buttmonkey2]

Wigan Warriors: Matty Peet praises Sam Powell's consistency ahead of his 250th appearance for the club

Matty Peet says Sam Powell is the type of player that every coach dreams of having

Peet states Powell is always aiming to improve his own game and help those around him at the club.

“He’s a dream, day in, day out,” he said.

“I think in sport, the word consistency can get a bad rep, but for me what you want in a friend and teammate is consistency.

“From day one in pre-season to now, you know exactly what you are going to get.

I understand coaches are there to "massage" some players egos but to describe someone as a "player every coach dreams of having", "consistent", "know exactly what you're going to get" then spoils it by saying "is always aiming to improve his own game"

If you are so good at what you do that every coach wanted him, how could you improve on being such a fantastic player? It's an interview full of contradiction and hyperbole that would make an MP envious

I propose a challenge for you.

Change the name of the player from Powell to Farrell and see if you have the same opinion?

Farrel is known for his consistency and also gets comments how he's the first into training and improving himself.

That is classic whataboutery caboosegg

In a thread titled Powell, to discuss nothing but the aforementioned and you propose a discussion about someone else who's playing situation is nothing like that of the hooker supreme

I think the term "egg on face" springs to mind after Friday night. That is unless you are related to the person under discussion then I can understand your indignation to any and all criticism no matter how justified

[EagleEyePie]

I'd be more than happy if we just went into next season with the intention to balance our options at hooker and play with one on the bench (an actual hooker, not Shorrocks), or at the very least go into the game with the intention of moving another player into the hooking role like we did with Cust on a couple of occasions this year and Hastings a few times in previous years.

I wrote a few months ago about how despite it seeming a few years ago like dummy halves playing the full 80 minutes was the way things were going most teams still play with two 9's in the squad. We are one of the few teams that don't and I think it clearly leads to a situation where we're very predictable at dummy half. Hooker is a position where its very easy to change the tempo of the game with a substitution. It can force the defence to change its whole approach.

Now I really don't buy what is essentially becoming a conspiracy theory among posters on here, namely, this idea that Powell is an absolutely terrible player yet every Wigan coach not only picks him but praises him because a) they care more about Powell being in their team than actually winning things or b) they have to pick him because Kris Radlinski has written it into their contract that if Powell isn't selected their first-born will be sacrificed.

Clearly Powell has qualities that are highly valued by coaches. I don't rate him as one of the very best hookers in Super League and I don't rate him as one of the worst either. I do think he fulfils that 'safety first' mindset that a lot of coaches have and his defensive abilities are valued much higher than his attacking deficiencies. To me it seems really easy for a coach to see a hooker like Powell who can play 80 minutes and think great, we know what we're getting there for the full game and we can pack the bench with forwards.

In my opinion it's just too predictable though. It robs us of a really dangerous attacking threat at 9 that most teams have. I'm not suggesting we need to go mad and bring in a hooker that runs from dummy half all the time and wants a ball of their own (hello, Brad Dwyer). I think we'd be a much better team if we just played both Powell and O'Neill, or intended to play both Powell and Cust at hooker so that there's a balance to the style and pace of our attack.

Ultimately Matt Peet selected Powell on Friday because he rates him highly. I'm not going to question the combined knowledge of Peet, Lam and Wane too much but I do think we really need to follow the lead of most other teams and have dual hookers and get the most out of the defensive aspects of Powell's game and the attacking play of O'Neill.