Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:33 am  

Will be interesting to see how the Thewlis / Ashton battle develops.

Thewlis has been great this year and deserves his spot in the 13, I was critical of Price for not selecting Ashton on the wing and Thewlis at full back - but then Ashton puts in a performance like that. His pace gets him in good positions and he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time to score tries.

Price seems to have preferred Ashton at full back over Thewlis, be interesting to see how Powell sees it next year.

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:23 am  

Battle might not even happen the way things stand. Ashton will be out of contract the end of November.

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:26 am  

Assuming Ashton is still here? The only issue with Ashton is his injury record whereas, for a young lad, Thewlis seems to be tough as teak.

They both bring different skills to the party and I'd like to see them both in starting Wire thirteens for years to come.

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 9:39 am  

As with Clark, I think had he been leaving it would have been mentioned before the Salford game.

I'm assuming he's staying, but accept we haven't had confirmation either way.

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:18 am  

Matty is not exactly the polar opposite to Thewlis but he is very different. He is much faster, doesn't have the rugby brain, and has no specialised position. In broken play he is the most dangerous player on the pitch. So the challenge I think is to find a position he is comfortable in and exploit his speed.The FB position is a good one to choose because he can move in and out of the play when he sees a break or is involved in a set move. The disadvantage is that it requires a demanding skill set where he must jump for high balls, organise his defence after adding up the opposition numbers on either side of the ruck, and decide when to move back to cover the in goal area from a kick through.

Thewlis is an out and out FB and the natural stand in / successor to Ratchford. But Ratchford is among the top 3-4 players in our squad so there is no way you would wan't to leave him out of the team. And if you decide to play Ashton, then the only option is to put Thewlis on the wing. He is still only 19 and shouldn't get roughed up too much in that position. And it allows him to use his skills and rugby brain whilst picking up much needed match experience. He is signed until 2024 and only Toby King has a longer contract, so that's as big a statement of intent by the club that you are likely to see.

So regardless of who coaches the team I think we are likely to see this awkward triangle of Thewlis, Ashton and Ratchford and the choice of who fills the FB and wing positions. Price has gone for Ashton at FB but perhaps Powell will swap them around and move him to wing. Either way we don't seem to be in the market for a replacement for Lineham and I can't see a strong contender coming through from the Academy atm.

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:56 am  

Winslade's Offload wrote:

Matty is not exactly the polar opposite to Thewlis but he is very different. He is much faster, doesn't have the rugby brain, and has no specialised position. In broken play he is the most dangerous player on the pitch. So the challenge I think is to find a position he is comfortable in and exploit his speed.The FB position is a good one to choose because he can move in and out of the play when he sees a break or is involved in a set move. The disadvantage is that it requires a demanding skill set where he must jump for high balls, organise his defence after adding up the opposition numbers on either side of the ruck, and decide when to move back to cover the in goal area from a kick through.

Thewlis is an out and out FB and the natural stand in / successor to Ratchford. But Ratchford is among the top 3-4 players in our squad so there is no way you would wan't to leave him out of the team. And if you decide to play Ashton, then the only option is to put Thewlis on the wing. He is still only 19 and shouldn't get roughed up too much in that position. And it allows him to use his skills and rugby brain whilst picking up much needed match experience. He is signed until 2024 and only Toby King has a longer contract, so that's as big a statement of intent by the club that you are likely to see.

So regardless of who coaches the team I think we are likely to see this awkward triangle of Thewlis, Ashton and Ratchford and the choice of who fills the FB and wing positions. Price has gone for Ashton at FB but perhaps Powell will swap them around and move him to wing. Either way we don't seem to be in the market for a replacement for Lineham and I can't see a strong contender coming through from the Academy atm.

What do you think of Tom Burnett in the academy? Looked massive in a recent highlights video. Not sure how promising he is.

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 12:34 pm  

Kevin Turvey wrote:

What do you think of Tom Burnett in the academy? Looked massive in a recent highlights video. Not sure how promising he is.

He does look big doesn't he ? I think he was playing centre originally and looks to be one of the better players in the Academy. I saw him last in the recent Lancashire v Yorkshire academy game but I wouldn't say he particularly stood out. I guess he stands a reasonable chance of being offered a place in next years reserves as he will be 19 in November and will not be eligible for the U18's.

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:56 pm  

Wire will surely tie him up, if they haven’t already. He wasn’t on the recent list posted by Rugby League Live as being off contract, which makes me think it’s already done but not announced. He’s had some injury problems but there aren’t many players about in this league that can pop up in the right position time and time again. He’s a bit of a throwback in that respect and there aren’t enough players of that type around anymore. Too many players just stick rigidly to systems and that means basics such as support play is dead (in the main).

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:45 pm  

He's the most exciting player we've had since Kevin Penny and he's much more of a rounded rugby league player. I'd be gutted if he left.

Re: Matty Ashton : Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:05 pm  

Signed for 3 years.