: Sun Apr 26, 2009 11:00 pm  

He'll calm down eventually. Hopefully. But he's not the problem with the team at the moment. And neither, indivudally, are Donald, JJB, Diskin, Ablett etc. The whole TEAM is playing badly.

: Mon Apr 27, 2009 7:36 am  

Lawrie L wrote:

hes 18

hes LEARNING

So you admit he's not ready??

That GH has weakened our chances by not signing someon who is ready and NOT learning as a first team week in week out player?

If you do you're smart.

: Mon Apr 27, 2009 7:40 am  

LeedsPokerGuru wrote:

So you admit he's not ready??

That GH has weakened our chances by not signing someon who is ready and NOT learning as a first team week in week out player?

If you do you're smart.

How did the likes of Burrow, Mcguire, Sinfield, Mathers, Buchanan become ready?

: Mon Apr 27, 2009 7:57 am  

Kifaru wrote:

How did the likes of Burrow, Mcguire, Sinfield, Mathers, Buchanan become ready?

Interesting point. Those players though were not struggling in the way Watkins is. Players learn/improve in different ways, some will adjust quicker than others. Watkins will clearly take a bit longer to adjust to SL than the above players. Hence the reason we needed to bring in an established centre.

: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:03 am  

rpw wrote:

Interesting point. Those players though were not struggling in the way Watkins is. Players learn/improve in different ways, some will adjust quicker than others. Watkins will clearly take a bit longer to adjust to SL than the above players. Hence the reason we needed to bring in an established centre.

Actually in all fairness, all of them looked worse at times than Watkins has. The difference is that with the exception of Mathers, all were thrown in at a time when we were not such a great side anyway, and the expectations not as high. And in relation to JJB it took him years (injuries been a major side of this) to start to look anything like a decent player.

: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:11 am  

In what way is Watkins "struggling"?

: Mon Apr 27, 2009 8:35 pm  

LeedsPokerGuru wrote:

So you admit he's not ready??

That GH has weakened our chances by not signing someon who is ready and NOT learning as a first team week in week out player?

If you do you're smart.

please read my statement again and try not to jump to conclusions

the kid is learning and the only way he is going to learn is by being out there on the pitch

: Mon Apr 27, 2009 9:10 pm  

Watkins has the potential to be a stand out centre and IMO will one day grace a representative shirt but… at the moment he is still making rookie mistakes and at times still looks like a reserve player.

He has a ton of enthusiasm and has some nice touches but the question is:

Should he be loaned out to home his skills and round his talents or is a baptism of fire appropriate for this young prodigy?

With the absences of Smith our centre options are limited and, at the moment, needs must but when Smith returns what path should be taken with him?

I believe, at the moment, we are not in a position to have him learning his trade when the costs for mistakes can be relatively expensive. A lad of this talent needs to be weaned gently and slowly to SL standard and not dropped in at the deep end.

: Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:38 am  

I'll ask again, in what way is Watkins "struggling"?

: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:54 am  

watkins is an outstaning young player.

Remember he only made his debut last season and his overall appearcne total is still minimal.