Correct - the one who wasn't fit to lace Hall's boots, I think.





Seriously, great selection by Agar. With Richards in the team you always need to plan on Wigan putting in loads of high kicks to him and Skinny's performance v Leed showed how well he does this. His defensive display was an unexpected bonus for me.

byrne at full back



tony at centre

Calderwood had roughly the same impact and effect on the game, yet he's received nary a mention. Is it because Byrne's tackles stood out more, with them being a bit more isolated? I don't know, but the amount of praise he's getting is disproportionate to the effect he had on the game. Yes, he made a couple of great tackles on Goulding, but they were no more successful or vital than a number of others made by G Horne and Calderwood in particular.

Good tackle in South west corner, apart from that, .

Jesus....that was one of the best full back perfomances i have seen in ages.....solid under the bomb,his tackling was superb....he was finding the half break as the match went on,ok h bringing the ball back isnt his best bit but at least he has the bugger in his hands and isnt letting it bounce and roll all over the place

I'm sure normal service will soon be resumed

I really don't see how it can have been. Just from last night, there were another two (at least) that equalled, if not bettered, it, coming from Wellens and Riley.

I was tempted to put the same thing on the Cusack thread as well.

Cusack, Byrne, Radford in most people's top 3. Who'd have thought it?

just read that - made me laugh

proves people can give credit where its due



Cusack and Radford gave many poor, anonymous performances last season IMO so i'm glad that they have lifted their game



Byrne was moved around the team a bit and got injured, i felt he was good in most of the games he played though.

Have to disagree his support play was much improved tonight and tony would not have got past the first defender as wigan moved up in 3 and 4's tony is good at getting past the first defender but, the way wigan moved up tonight would not have made the slighest bit of difference.



Come to think of it yes it would actually we would of been 3 tries down and lost the game.



Thank god for a defensive fullback!!!!!!!

I was a few feet away from Skinny's hit in the SE corner waiting to put a sub on the pitch and I have never heard such a bonecrunching hit from someone so Skinny. It allowed Briscoe and others to bundle the defender out of play.

all 12 players came over the pat him on the back too, showed good team spirit and you can tell the rest of the guys really appreciated the hit, was as good as scoring a try.

Superb hit by Byrne, made me cringe at the time. Not surprised he was winded.

Thought he was solid in defense but really offered very little going forward.

Which is what he'll offer every week. For me, that's not enough at this level, especially for a side that's not overly blessed with creativity.

Couldn't agree more. If we was a bit stronger and/or a bit faster then it might be a different matter. Nothing against the lad but he is a cover player IMO.

People are over-rating "try saving tackles". He's the full back its his job. The one in South West corner, fair enough, great tackle, that was a legitimate try saver. Couldn't agree more with trys`r`us and Robbo, he's a handy back-up player but doesn't offer enough to warrant a starting spot anywhere in the back line.

Think I'll bookmark that thread for posterity. Bound to come in handy later in the season.

Tony [ican[/i defend, you know. He's another player who's not afraid to put his body on the line when required.



Tonys's main advantage to me is how he runs the ball in on returns. Really helps us clear the line. Byrne doesn't offer as much in that regard, although he is probably better in defense.



What we really need is someone who combines the abilities of Byrne, Tony, and Hall.

We had that someone but let him go to Rovers.

Theyre as good as scoring a try, he put 2 or 3 in so why play it down? If it was a different player you wouldnt be playing it down.

You have no evidence to support that. If a full back misses a one on one tackle then it is described as a bad error so i don't feel every time they make one it should be hailed as a try saving tackle, only special instances such as the one he made on Goulding in the first half.

2 occasions there was no other Hull player anywhere near the Wigan player and he would have strolled in had Byrne not stopped him. Thats 12 points saved which would have cost us the game!