[Bullseye]

Re: Round 26 | Wigan Away : Wed Sep 18, 2024 9:57 am  

It's a fundamental of the game that you need power and size up front. I'm sure Smith was trying to be too clever by half with his recruitment and thought he could ignore that fundamental. Think the Wigan approach is spot on. They've been successful because they're rock solid up front which means they get good field position and they have decent halfbacks and two really quick players who can capitalise. It's not rocket science.

Think Leeds need at least three props and a decent sized hard running second rower. See what the rest of the side can do with a half decent platform. Think there's also still a place for Cam Smith. He can perform a Radley/Yeo type role at loose forward so a bit of ball handling, intelligent running and good defence.

Re: Round 26 | Wigan Away : Wed Sep 18, 2024 1:46 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

It's a fundamental of the game that you need power and size up front. I'm sure Smith was trying to be too clever by half with his recruitment and thought he could ignore that fundamental. Think the Wigan approach is spot on. They've been successful because they're rock solid up front which means they get good field position and they have decent halfbacks and two really quick players who can capitalise. It's not rocket science.

Think Leeds need at least three props and a decent sized hard running second rower. See what the rest of the side can do with a half decent platform. Think there's also still a place for Cam Smith. He can perform a Radley/Yeo type role at loose forward so a bit of ball handling, intelligent running and good defence.

Agree with all that, I think smith’s idea was a lightweight pack,extremely mobile and attempt to run big opposition packs off the park. The first half of the home league game against saints we achieved that and dominated saints. Second half we were well beaten and ultimately lost the game. Not certain if we ran out of steam or saints wised up to the situation.

Re: Round 26 | Wigan Away : Wed Sep 18, 2024 5:10 pm  

ArthurClues wrote:

As I recall (according to SKY) Wigan spent about 600k more than us.
Actually, it's 400k. They also estimated Wire and Catalans spend 300k more. We were tied in 4th, with Huddersfield and Saints.

I wouldn’t believe everything that set of clowns say.

Re: Round 26 | Wigan Away : Thu Sep 19, 2024 2:27 am  

Its actually scarier if its not true that we're spending quite a bit less than others. It means that a team that is lower-end mid table costs the same as the very top. Which means we've royally messed up our cap spend with some players earning way more than they would elsewhere. That makes it harder to shift contracted players as they'd likely face a pay cut, and gives us less room to manoeuvre.

I don't expect us to sign a Brodie Croft level player for next year in terms of interest, but forwards are generally less exciting signings anyway.

Re: Round 26 | Wigan Away : Thu Sep 19, 2024 6:08 pm  

[quote="Backwoodsman"]Agree with all that, I think smith’s idea was a lightweight pack,extremely mobile and attempt to run big opposition packs off the park. The first half of the home league game against saints we achieved that and dominated saints. Second half we were well beaten and ultimately lost the game. Not certain if we ran out of steam or saints wised up to the situation.[/quote]


uncle Tony tried that in 2006 and failed miserable.

Re: Round 26 | Wigan Away : Fri Sep 20, 2024 1:22 pm  

The one glimmer of hope I’m hanging onto is that in Blease’s first press conference he started going on about our pack under Graham
Murray, I’m sure he gets it and will try to make changes as and when cap gets freed up.

Would love to know what the actual cap spend is and what Wigan are paying all those props and what we are paying ours. The other big advantage is Bevan French who is worth every penny. He’s so far ahead of 90% of SL players it’s ridiculous.

Oledski will benefit from playing fewer minutes but he also needs to cut out the volume and regularity of very basic errors even when not fatigued.