Re: sam tomkins and noble : Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:04 pm  

Cruncher wrote:

In which case why didn't he go?

He's been tempted by offers from Leeds and Warrington during his time at Wigan.

As has been said on other threads, when IL first took over, Nobby had recently saved Wigan's bacon during a heroic relegation battle. He could probably have walked into one of several top coaching jobs after that. Not so sure now.

dont ask me.....ask him

Re: sam tomkins and noble : Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:15 pm  

wigan pie man wrote:

dont ask me.....ask him

Okay, so everything being aired here is supposition.

We're bound to put forward these kinds of views when the club's apparently in turmoil. But much of it is guesswork.

I've heard a lot of stuff about BN and IL not getting on. But I've also heard that they have a good professional relationship. Likewise, some have said that IL won't spend money, while others have argued that he can't because there still isn't room under the cap.

Which is true? Who knows?

All I think we can really comment on with authority is what we see on the field. For that reason alone, I still feel that, unless Nobby can turn things around quickly, his time at Wigan must now be limited. He has more than enough good players to keep us safely in the upper half of the table, but the lack of structured team-play and apparent motivation (not just this season, but last season too) must put questions against either his ability or his interest, or both. I don't think we can realistically put the blame anywhere else at present.

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:19 pm  

Why would you play Joel in the centres when he's our best overall back rower?

Bailey is a recognised centre/SR, similar to Gilmore etc. Surely he's better suited to the position other than causing more disruption throughout the team.

Or..Karl Pryce to the centre.

I do however like how we are all finally recognising that Goulding isn't cutting it in the centres. Having him and smith on one side isn't a good idea.

At the Wakey game I thought the Phelps/Roberts combo was terrible in defence. So Phelps is a no go for me.

I expect Nobles team to be something like...

Mathers
Roberts, Goulding, Carmont, Richards
Smith, Tommy
Fieldmouse, Riddell, O Carroll
Hock, Bailey
Lockers
---------------
J Tomkins
Feka
Coley
Hansen

Whereas I would like to see...

Richards
Roberts, Bailey, Caromont, Ainscough
Sam, Smith
Fieldmouse, Tommy, O'Carroll
Hansen, Lockers
J Tomkins
---------------
Hock
Feka
Pryce
Riddell

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:24 pm  

nikos wrote:

would have to be Joel for me, to play Bailey at centre is a mistake, although he has played there early in his career, has not doen so for a good while and although his defence is good his lack of pace would be exposed and would be costly, he easily got rounded in the first game due to lack of pace.

Where in the blue hell has all this talk of Joel to centre come from?

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:25 pm  

saints35 bulls0 wrote:

Eastmond was playing with an undiagnosed dislocated shoulder at the end of last year.

Thanks. I couldn't understand his performance. Even the Saints fans I was sitting near were grumbling about him.

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:26 pm  

AJ wrote:

Or, play Bailey, a man who has played centre before, in the centre & leave Joel in the back row, where he is going well.

It was just a thought, the reason behind it is simple, he offers so much more going forward, against Wakefield he looked very dangerous running wide in the centres.

I am also not convinced by Bailey's defence head on he is fine but against pace he was shown signs of weakness exposed by our defensive tactics. Playing Bailey further in the middle leaves him less exposed to pace.

As i said it was just a thought, lets face it although solid in defence 2 years ago in the centre position i think personally time is catching up very quickly with Bailey.

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:53 pm  

Please no more disruption at Wigan with more players playing out of position.
So have we now established we need a new centre as well as a 6 and a sh!thouse prop?

I would probably agree.

1 Richards
2 Roberts
3 Gasnier/SBW/Chris Ashton?/
4 Carmont
5 Ainscough
6 Bosc/Lockyer/Marshall
7 Tomkins
8 Civoniceva/Cayless/Moi Moi/Cordoba/Kite
9 Tommy
10 Lynch
11 Hock
12 Lockers
13 J Tomkins
----------------
14 Feka
15 O'Carroll
16 Drew (Yes Brad Drew!)
17 Pryce
-------------------

Included a few 'curve balls'!

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:04 pm  

Last Son of Wigan wrote:

Please no more disruption at Wigan with more players playing out of position.
So have we now established we need a new centre as well as a 6 and a sh!thouse prop?

I would probably agree.

1 Richards
2 Roberts
3 Gasnier/SBW/Chris Ashton?/
4 Carmont
5 Ainscough
6 Bosc/Lockyer/Marshall
7 Tomkins
8 Civoniceva/Cayless/Moi Moi/Cordoba/Kite
9 Tommy
10 Lynch
11 Hock
12 Lockers
13 J Tomkins
----------------
14 Feka
15 O'Carroll
16 Drew (Yes Brad Drew!)
17 Pryce
-------------------

Included a few 'curve balls'!

So were going to get all that under cap

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:07 pm  

wigan_knight wrote:

So were going to get all that under cap

He has a big cap

: Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:11 pm  

Lets see...

We'd release:

Mathers
Phelps
Fielden
Coley
Bailey
Riddell

for...

Chris Ashton
Brad Drew
Petro
Lynch
Bosc

Or play O'Carroll instead of Lynch.

Which is 4 for 5 players +the 20k we already have. We all know Fielden/Riddell/Bailey will be on a lot between them.

Think about it... when a cap is worked well Leeds have

Peacock
Senior
Burrow
McGuire
Webb
Danny B
Seinfeld
Disco
Donald

plus a strong squad all under the cap.