Farrel

[warriorjon]

Thought it would be better to start a new thread on this subject before the one about the team for saints descends into a war of words. What are peoples opinions of him? I am not one of the people who think the sun shines out of his backside but equally so i dont think he should be dropped either. Without destroying his confidence i think it would have been a wise move to give Lam the capitaincy and hence let Faz know that he cant do everything on his own as he sometimes tends to do. If utilised correctly ie outwide running at the centres he would be of much more use to the Wigan and G.B. team. I do think some of the responsibility should be removed from his shoulders and im sure he would return to a more consistant performance.

[feeona]

I totally agree. I feel he has underperformed on many occasions not because he isnt a good player but because he is not being utilised properly. He is a world class player but often becomes so involved in creating the attack which often is uninteresting and flat than playing his own game.

When running at an angle then cutting inside near the centre positions he is powerful and explosive with a super handoff.
Please whether it be Raper or Faz himself let the other players create the play and use farrell for his damaging upper body strength and offloading ability!

[wolftown warrior]

good post & some good points warriorjon.
i`m always open to try new ideas & anything for the good of the team is good for me,
however i still think faz is the best guy for the job of captain.. if not faz, then the reponsibility should be given to newton...
lammy seems to be playing better now the captain tag has been lifted from him, & newton is always the first one to get involved .. the fax & leeds yellow`s spring to mind..)
but yeah.... whatever is ggod for the team..

[Ellie from the Block!]

Dare I say it and be controversial, but sometimes when Faz is captain play can be a little......predictable!
I think it would be a good move to select Lam over Faz in this role for a while longer. He is a very creative player and can make a try out of nothing. I know Faz can make the breaks we need, but on the 5th tackle the ball goes to Farrell to run it, and it simply doesn't always work when you are facing a team like Bradford for example. The other teams are now beginning to expect Farrell to have the ball on the last tackle so they're going for him before he even has the ball!
As for Newton...he's a class player don't get me wrong, but we need a captain who won't knock the block off the players on the opposing team whilst he's chatting to the ref!

[AJ]

my views on faz can be viewed in the team for saints thread, mature debate so far kids, well done

[MrsLam]

Im not a farrel lover or hater but ive not been impressed with him recently. I dont think its even the way hes been captaining (if thats a word) us, its just generally the way we play when hes on the field. I agree with all those who said hes predictable, hes fast when he gets going but hes not one of those players thats, well like Carney, he can do the sort of thing robinson used to do and I know its a different position but if youve got a player that can dodge around anyone and then run the length of the pitch rather than sideways then you're doing alright!
I think last year is a good example of why lam should be captain/joint captain. When faz was injured last year there was a massive improvement in play and I think that little patch was the best part of last season (except the challenge cup:>)
Faz is probably the player in the team that the youngsters look up to most and follow, but I think Lam is a better example of a good captain.
Hes calm when the refs talking but he shows a completely different side to the team if theyre under performing, and hes unpredictable creative and fast.
I just think that sometimes faz tries too hard to slow down play and we dont need or want that because weve probably got one of the fittest sides in the league. We'd outplay other teams like Bradford regularly, cause theyd never catch the likes of carney, briscoe and ainscough.

[Fraggle]

I think last year is a good example of why lam should be captain/joint captain. When faz was injured last year there was a massive improvement in play and I think that little patch was the best part of last season (except the challenge cup:>)...Hes calm when the refs talking but he shows a completely different side to the team if theyre under performing, and hes unpredictable creative and fast.

I think the difference last year was that there was an experienced player in the back of the pack organising things there so that Lam didn't have to. This year, with Furner gone, Lam wasn't as effective IMO taking charge. Decisions about kicks were made by committee, play was often unpredictable because at times no-one knew what the other people were doing, and the team tended to stand around a bit directionless after the opposition team had scored. I'm not saying Lam is a bad captain, far from it, but he's not good enough to take charge of an entire team as well as creating things.

But maybe Farrell could be that driving force for the pack whilst Lammy's leading the rest of the team? I'm not at all in favour of dropping Faz to the bench, as there have been plenty of games in recent times when he has been the main reason we have won (London away last year being probably the most notable), and his kicking rate is better than Tickle's.

It would be a bad decision IMO not to have Faz on the field but perhaps not having all the responsibility.

[MrsLam]

Hes very reliable when it comes to us needing a last minute dropgoal or penalty. I remember at central park against cas when we got a penalty last minute and we knew if he missed it we'd lose the game, n he didnt let us down even with all the pressure and the fact that he was miles out.
I think shared responsibility is a good idea, and it would probably make wigan continue to play as a team rather than individuals.
Its been a good season of rugby so far even if we havent won certain matches, ive not really come out of one thinking that we played badly.
Hope the effort is kept up by all of them!!

[Portsmouth Warrior]

How about throwing this one into the melting pot??

Farrell is without doubt a world class player, if he wasn't the guys in charge of both Wigan and the National team would not have him as captain. Having said that I do think he seems to struggle with the responsibility at times.

Lam does a great job when he steps in for Farrell, but seems stiffled when Farrell is back on the pitch.

Newton is too hot headed

How about someone who without argument reads the game like a book, is almost ever present and from the back of the field can see the whole picture.

Bring on Rads???

[Fraggle]

How about someone who without argument reads the game like a book, is almost ever present and from the back of the field can see the whole picture.

Bring on Rads???

Erm, he's seeing the whole picture from the stands at the moment! Does 'ever-present' cover 2 months out through injury?

But _if_ the captaincy were to change, it would make much more sense to give it to a player towards the back of the team who plays 80 minutes rather than, as some have suggested, to a prop (eg Sculthorpe) and therefore only supposed to be on the pitch for half a game.