: Sun May 10, 2009 9:09 pm  

just_browny wrote:

Agreed.

Moving Lockyer to stand-off in 2004 (when he was 27) was a ridiculous decision: he was a fullback and should have remained so.

Lockyer is a supremely talented player who could make a go at most positions probably bar Prop. Quite how Mathers can be compared to him in any way is unbelievable. He possesses non of the skills that Lockyer had / had. He is not a 6.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:10 pm  

just_browny wrote:

Agreed.

Moving Lockyer to stand-off in 2004 (when he was 27) was a ridiculous decision: he was a fullback and should have remained so.

Nonsense.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:11 pm  

saintc wrote:

Lockyer is a supremely talented player who could make a go at most positions probably bar Prop. Quite how Mathers can be compared to him in any way is unbelievable. He possesses non of the skills that Lockyer had / had. He is not a 6.

So you have to be supremely talented to play stand-off? How do amateur teams cope? 12-a-side?

You are a fecktard.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:12 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

I have emperical evidence that Mathers has played standoff, can the same be said of Graham??

No. You had evidence that a jonny youngster was shoved into a position probably to fill a gap. That happens a lot, it doesnt make that player an established player in that position.

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

Are you implying Pryce should never play stand off at Saints as he hadn't really done so at Bradford?

Thats not what Im saying. What Im saying is before you can band them as a player of that position they have to prove themselves in that position. Pryce had to do this and plenty of people for the first year or so made declarations that he wasnt a 6. Some still do. Mathers may go on to do this, who knows but up to now he is no more a 6 than any other random back that you could pick.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:19 pm  

saintc wrote:

No. You had evidence that a jonny youngster was shoved into a position probably to fill a gap. That happens a lot, it doesnt make that player an established player in that position.



Thats not what Im saying. What Im saying is before you can band them as a player of that position they have to prove themselves in that position. Pryce had to do this and plenty of people for the first year or so made declarations that he wasnt a 6. Some still do. Mathers may go on to do this, who knows but up to now he is no more a 6 than any other random back that you could pick.

Are you being deliberately obtuse? Mathers is a player who can play fullback and stand off. Nobody is saying he is one or the other. Myself, nor anybody else is picking any random back, hence my comment about Riley playing wing and fullback. He is a fullback who can play stand off, is it really that difficult to comprehend?

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:22 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

Are you being deliberately obtuse? Mathers is a player who can play fullback and stand off. Nobody is saying he is one or the other. Myself, nor anybody else is picking any random back, hence my comment about Riley playing wing and fullback. He is a fullback who can play stand off, is it really that difficult to comprehend?

Im not being obtuse at all, its common sense. He is a fullback. He has played all his senior career as a fullback. The fact that he played as a kid at 6 or that you could play him 6 does not make him one. That would be like me saying Wellens is a 6 or a centre. He could play there, he would do ok but he isnt a centre or a standoff, he is a fullback. Its not that hard.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:22 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

Are you being deliberately obtuse? Mathers is a player who can play fullback and stand off. Nobody is saying he is one or the other. Myself, nor anybody else is picking any random back, hence my comment about Riley playing wing and fullback. He is a fullback who can play stand off, is it really that difficult to comprehend?

Is the correct answer.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:23 pm  

getdownmonkeyman wrote:

His loan spell for us as a 17/18 year old was pretty much all at six.

RL fans made up fact of the day.

He spent about 40 minutes at six in that loan spell, that was away at Saints when Briers had been injured and we'd started with Mathers on the wing and Domic at six. We switched Mathers there at half-time, we lost the game by 70 points.

The other games he played wing or centre, Briers and Wood were the halfback partnership.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:24 pm  

I hope Mathers goes well for you.

He's a great lad to have at your club as he's so entusiastic and just looks like he loves playing the game but his confidence just seemed shot at Wigan. I think the 2 bad injuires really effected his form and he always looked nervous going into collisions.

It may take the odd dodgy preformence from him but if you give him a few months regular games i'm confident Smith will get him back something like the player he used to be.

: Sun May 10, 2009 9:26 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

RL fans made up fact of the day.

He spent about 40 minutes at six in that loan spell, that was away at Saints when Briers had been injured and we'd started with Mathers on the wing and Domic at six. We switched Mathers there at half-time, we lost the game by 70 points.

The other games he played wing or centre, Briers and Wood were the halfback partnership.

My eyes must have deceived me when he came off the bench in a game at Wilderspool and went to stand off.