Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:36 am  

Every other week, I’m hearing about Ryan Brierley scoring 2, 3 or even 4 games per match at Leigh, despite not being on the field for the full game. He’s been name ‘Man of the Match’ in numerous games for Leigh. There was a cracking video of a recent Leigh game posted on youtube, where it is clear to see his support play, speed, ball distribution, enthusiasm and a fantastic side step. Yet I keep hearing the words that…..‘he is at Leigh because we don't feel that he is ready to make the step up to Superleague yet…. performing like that in NL1 is entirely different to Superleague etc etc’. Well to be honest I think these comments are a right load of old cobblers, and he should be recalled to our first team right now with immediate effect!

If we were to spin the entire situation around on it’s head and ask ourselves and ask the questions……………… if put out on loan at another CC1 team, how many of our current first team choices would be scoring 2, 3 or 4 tries a game? How many of them would be receiving the accolade of being ‘Man of the Match’ every other week and if not why not? There are only 2 or 3 names that come to mind for me, that may be capable of doing so well and it’s then by no means guaranteed that they would!


So doesn’t this not then beg the question……that if our current 1st team players are of this ‘higher’ Superleague standard, (that Ryan supposedly hasn’t reached yet), why is he easily a stand out player in CC1, yet 90% of our 1st team players would barely make an impression in CC1, never mind stand out so positively??

Logic would also suggest that the very same 1st team players on loan in CC1 would not be given a SL opportunity, because if they weren’t able to shine at CC1….well what chance would they have at SL?

It absolutely defies logic and baffles me why Brierley is not being given a chance at Cas right now! Let’s face it, at times we look absolutely clueless when it comes to getting the ball over the try scoring line. With Rangi out of action this situation just gets worse and worse as shown at Warrington.

So get Brierley brought into the 1st team right now, get him integrated into the team ready for the Widnes game…….because everything that this lad has got in abundance…we need….and we need it right now!


(Just for clarity, I had communications with Cas Tigers last week and Ryan ‘can’ be brought back with 24 hours notice. The only two provisions in place for this agreement are... a) It can only be for first team games, and b) He cannot play for two different teams in the same week)

So what do you guys think?

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Tue Apr 24, 2012 9:53 am  

I agree but for some reason i don't think it will happen.

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:25 am  

that all makes too much sense for cas to do.

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Tue Apr 24, 2012 11:56 am  

He should have played against wire. We were never going to win it so we had nothing to lose.

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:43 pm  

I would have hoped that, under Millward, we would have got away from this shuffling the players around and playing them out of position instead of playing young players in their specialist positions. We have halfbacks who could have played against Wire, and who should play against Widnes and KR. How else are these kids going to be assessed at the top level? It does nothing for their confidence when a hooker plays at halfback, a winger at centre, a winger at fullback, a second rower at centre, etc, and they're left in the U20's. They'll just meander to the end of their contracts and be snapped up by a club who CAN see their potential and is brave enough to play them at the top level.

Give the kids a chance, Basil! You never know, we may uncover a gem!

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:20 pm  

anditiger wrote:

that all makes too much sense for cas to do.

^^^^^^
same as him.

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:09 pm  

I just watched the Millward interview after digesting the reality of our whalloping by the Wires. Brierley is mentioned in the interview, however Millward seems to be suggesting that he will remain at Leigh until the end of the year and he will review the situation for next year.

I sometimes wonder if Millward is trying to do us a favor, or perhaps he still has Leigh's best interests at heart! Mmmmm the jury is still out on that one!!

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:21 pm  

Why don't you come to the Leigh v Fax game on Sunday ?

Championship rugby and Non relegation league are not comparable' as you will see if you take the time to attend.

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:56 pm  

salfordlad wrote:

Why don't you come to the Leigh v Fax game on Sunday ?

Championship rugby and Non relegation league are not comparable' as you will see if you take the time to attend.

You've got the wrong end of the stick......I'm not comparing the two leagues....I'm comparing the relative skills of Bierley to our regular 1st team players.

Most of our regular 1st team players aren't nearly good enough to make the impression in CC1 that Brierley clear is doing. Hence if he can do a better job than they would in CC1, why wouldn't he do a better job in SL also?

Re: Give Brierley a 1st team chance!! : Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:05 pm  

ryan needs to be left where he is until the end of the season he needs to put on a considerable amount of weight to play in super leauge hes still only 19 so a year with us will do him the world of good hes not physically ready for the step up yet