The Chair Maker wrote:
Pete
The stats against Catalan show Morgan had 10 carries for 113 metres while Percival had 9 carries for 69 metres.
Now considering that the ball tends to go to the left were Percival is, then that would indicate that he is pulling his weight when he gets offered the ball.
For me the problem is Peyroux, in that he naturally cuts inside and kills the ball moving out. LMS is far more willing to shift the ball out, and it was noticeable that with LMS replacing Peyroux, that Morgan got more ball.
Hopefully Saints will see sense and move Peyroux to the bench where he can provide cover.
I also am a bit old school in that i want wingers and centres to play on the wing and not be misused as additional props down the middle. One of the issues we have in recent years is an obsession with following the Bulls complex of having what are in essence forwards playing on the wing. We did this with Meli and Gardner. This obsession with size can certainly get you to finals, but as shown with the Bulls and Saints it tends to come up short in the big games, when pace trumps size.
Wigans recent success is built on pace. Leeds before was built on pace. Saints before that was built on pace.
The teams defeated in finals against the aforementioned sides eg the Bulls and Saints tended to be big battering ram sides. With little LOFA (length of field ability).
Gardner?
My memory of him was not as a big tough unit.
And Meli might have been big, but he was as soft as cow muck.
