Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:55 am  

Smurf wrote:

He is far better with ball in hand taking on the line, but Gaskell's distribution is far better from what I have seen of the two of them. They both have their own skill sets, and I think it is fantastic to have such a competition for places in the backs that we haven't had for years.

I though Gaskell was an excellent foil for lomax - a steady hand, with distribution and a long kicking game to guide the team round, whilst letting lomax play the box-o-tricks role.

Wheeler has a lot of plus points but I don't think the halves as a whole will be as well rounded with wheeler in.

People have mentioned that Wheeler looked better when moved into the halves, but I'd say that's more a sign that, despite playing entertaining rugby, the centres probably aren't seeing as much ball as they could.

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 11:55 am  

Offside Monkey wrote:

People have mentioned that Wheeler looked better when moved into the halves, but I'd say that's more a sign that, despite playing entertaining rugby, the centres probably aren't seeing as much ball as they could.

I think those people (me included) said that without realising that Royce had moved Roby into the halves, which might explain why things kept ticking over as well as they did.

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:11 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

I think those people (me included) said that without realising that Royce had moved Roby into the halves, which might explain why things kept ticking over as well as they did.

Roby only really moved to a halfback role when Lomax went off, didn't he?

I wanted to imply that I think Wheeler can be as good a centre for us as a 5/8, but we don't seem to get as much ball to that channel as you'd think, given were playing some pretty good rugby.

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:24 pm  

Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011

Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:48 pm  

BackrowSaint wrote: Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011 Compare that to (randomly selected) Kris Welham and Leroy Cudjoe,who both have over 11. Or Yeaman and Carmont, with well over 10. Plus, I reckon at least 3 of Shenton's were from dummy half, which isn't really the type of possession we're talking about.

BackrowSaint wrote: Wheeler is getting just over 7 carries per game and Shenton just over 9. http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2011 Compare that to (randomly selected) Kris Welham and Leroy Cudjoe,who both have over 11. Or Yeaman and Carmont, with well over 10. Plus, I reckon at least 3 of Shenton's were from dummy half, which isn't really the type of possession we're talking about.

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:50 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote: compare that to (randomly selected) Kris Welham and Leroy Cudjoe,who both have over 11. Plus, I reckon at least 3 of Shenton's were from dummy half, which isn't really the type of possession we're talking about. agreed, shenton has started to drift inside looking for work, which is brilliant of him, i just wish he didnt have to

Offside Monkey wrote: compare that to (randomly selected) Kris Welham and Leroy Cudjoe,who both have over 11. Plus, I reckon at least 3 of Shenton's were from dummy half, which isn't really the type of possession we're talking about. agreed, shenton has started to drift inside looking for work, which is brilliant of him, i just wish he didnt have to

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:53 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

agreed, shenton has started to drift inside looking for work, which is brilliant of him, i just wish he didnt have to

I'm pretty sure it will come, but its odd that,given the entertaining level of rugby and the 4 good results we've had, our centres don't seem to get and awful lot of ball in their proper channel.

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:55 pm  

Offside Monkey wrote:

I'm pretty sure it will come, but its odd that,given the entertaining level of rugby and the 4 good results we've had, our centres don't seem to get and awful lot of ball in their proper channel.

To be fair the "entertaining" rugby doesn't have much to do with shifting the ball wide, more quick PTBs and offloading up the middle. Not really any different to how we've played for years now, I don't see a huge difference in style to be honest, although we have a bit more pace to make it count.

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:03 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

To be fair the "entertaining" rugby doesn't have much to do with shifting the ball wide, more quick PTBs and offloading up the middle. Not really any different to how we've played for years now, I don't see a huge difference in style to be honest, although we have a bit more pace to make it count.

Although Roby's obviously still one of our main threats, more seems to be going on from around 1st receiver than last, even if it is still forward orentated.
I hope this doesn't mean we've fallen into the trap of just bullying lesser teams and are due a hiding off the tough run we've got coming up!?

Re: Gary Wheeler : Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:04 pm  

FearTheVee wrote:

To be fair the "entertaining" rugby doesn't have much to do with shifting the ball wide, more quick PTBs and offloading up the middle. Not really any different to how we've played for years now, I don't see a huge difference in style to be honest, although we have a bit more pace to make it count.

Well, there must be something going out wide because both our wingers scored on Friday; Foster scored twice, didn't he? (I've lost track of our tries!) All our backline scored in fact. When was the last time that happened? (Not sure whether Wheeler was playing at centre when he scored, though, but he was officially centre for that match anyway!)

I think our distribution outwide has been limited in part by our inexperienced halves. They have had to play off Roby as he has the experience. We've been going left for weeks now and I think that's the same issue. Hopefully as the season progresses, presuming we manage to obtain that elusive settled team, we will see our outside backs on both sides becoming more involved.