Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 3:05 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I've always had Warkins down as vastly over rated. Yes he's decent and one of the better centres in the league but the standard is pretty poor overall and he's not in the class of the likes of Connolly or Newlove (the last English centres to carry as much hype IMO).

He's nowhere near those two, nor is he even close to Leeds best English Centre in recent history, Keith senior. I've also always thought he was well overrated, and considering he would take a fair chunk of cash I'd hope we stay well clear (watch him sign for us and have an amazing season) .

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 3:17 pm  

I'd go so far to say Ryan Atkins deserves to be in the England set up more than Watkins.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 3:24 pm  

Wire Yed wrote:

I'd go so far to say Ryan Atkins deserves to be in the England set up more than Watkins.

I'm not Atkins' biggest fan, but it's fair to say he totally owned Watkins last week.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:12 pm  

I've always thought Atkins would do a decent job on the wing internationally but as a centre I'd be slightly embarrassed if we had to pick him! He hasn't got any sort of ability to get his winger away in anything other then acres of space. He's athletically very good though but a bit like Watkins, he's a bit if a flat track bully. Wire have been excellent this year and he's playing well but when the chips were down over the last couple of seasons he was nowhere to be seen.

I got told a story about him a few years ago after he went on tour with England and his attitude was supposedly very poor. The story went that he threw his toys out the pram and said he didn't see any point in us playing the Aussies and Kiwis as we had no chance of beating them. His form in a struggling Wire side compared to an on form Wire side would seem to back that story up!!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:48 pm  

Atkins and Watkins are very similar players both strong fast and athletic who look good in a decent team with everyone inside them doing the job to make them look good but put them in a poor team and you won't even notice they are there. Shouldn't be anywhere near an England shirt but sadly probably the best we have.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 6:06 pm  

FIOS wrote:

Atkins and Watkins are very similar players both strong fast and athletic who look good in a decent team with everyone inside them doing the job to make them look good but put them in a poor team and you won't even notice they are there. Shouldn't be anywhere near an England shirt but sadly probably the best we have.

If Percival can get himself fit he can be far better than those two. He is a very classy player IMO. We have Reed and Cudjoe as options so neither are a foregone conclusion. It's fair to say on this seasons form I'm not as comfortable with the centres as I was last year.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 6:48 pm  

Trainman wrote:

If Percival can get himself fit he can be far better than those two. He is a very classy player IMO. We have Reed and Cudjoe as options so neither are a foregone conclusion. It's fair to say on this seasons form I'm not as comfortable with the centres as I was last year.

I'd put cudjoe in the same bracket as Atkins and Watkins. Reed I've not seen enough of to be honest. Percival and Gildart both look promising but have a long way to go yet.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:10 pm  

It's a shame Percival had been injured most of the year because I think he's our best hope to develop in to a really top centre. I've bagged Watkins a bit above but in fairness he's still just about the best we've got currently and he's far far better then Atkins (even if Atkins did outplay him last week).

I'm not a Cudjoe fan either really but he has had a good season. It's worrying that a lad that limited has probably been the best English centre in the comp this year.

[Wigan6/Leeds1 Andy]

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:19 pm  

Bateman suspended for a month according to the front of tomorrow's League Express.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:35 pm  

Wigan6/Leeds1 Andy wrote:

Bateman suspended for a month according to the front of tomorrow's League Express.

Do we know if that's the end of the matter? Or is he suspended for a month pending the enquiries that are going on?

If it is a month it'll be touch and go for the Cas cup tie. I think if it was four weeks (as I'd heard) he'd be back the day before (if they took it from the infamous night) but if it's a full month he'll miss it. That says it all really in terms of how serious it must be.

It's all speculation at the minute.