Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 4:03 pm  

I don't see Smithies as a 2nd row, far too slow

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:26 pm  

thought he played well there last year when he was put there

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 5:45 pm  

Apart from some potential depth, we don't need anyone in the backrow.

Faz = best 2nd row in the comp
Smithies was outstanding last year and it was criminal Wane left him out of the WC. I hate to see us move him for anyone - make him VC and give him the 13 shirt.
KPP = one of the games most sought after prospects.
Isa and Nesmba as a backup.

Props an issue however. Singleton, regardless of what people say on here, is one of the worst props in the game. It's criminal he's even a pro, nevermind a Wigan player. Mago, seems well liked, but doesn't seem to trusted or able to do big mins either.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 6:06 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Apart from some potential depth, we don't need anyone in the backrow.

Faz = best 2nd row in the comp
Smithies was outstanding last year and it was criminal Wane left him out of the WC. I hate to see us move him for anyone - make him VC and give him the 13 shirt.
KPP = one of the games most sought after prospects.
Isa and Nesmba as a backup.

Props an issue however. Singleton, regardless of what people say on here, is one of the worst props in the game. It's criminal he's even a pro, nevermind a Wigan player. Mago, seems well liked, but doesn't seem to trusted or able to do big mins either.

Under that scenario you are expecting either Isa or Nsemba to be a key part of the 17 every week.

Isa is a warrior but I would not be comfortable with him in the 17 every week. Asking a kid with bags of potential to step forward into that role could very well destroy his career.

Singleton I rate he is the throwback we lacked for so long who may not do the eye catching stuff but puts his head where others don’t.

Mago needs to offer more consistency.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 6:16 pm  

jonh wrote:

sergeant pepper wrote:

Apart from some potential depth, we don't need anyone in the backrow.

Faz = best 2nd row in the comp
Smithies was outstanding last year and it was criminal Wane left him out of the WC. I hate to see us move him for anyone - make him VC and give him the 13 shirt.
KPP = one of the games most sought after prospects.
Isa and Nesmba as a backup.

Props an issue however. Singleton, regardless of what people say on here, is one of the worst props in the game. It's criminal he's even a pro, nevermind a Wigan player. Mago, seems well liked, but doesn't seem to trusted or able to do big mins either.

Under that scenario you are expecting either Isa or Nsemba to be a key part of the 17 every week.

Isa is a warrior but I would not be comfortable with him in the 17 every week. Asking a kid with bags of potential to step forward into that role could very well destroy his career.

Singleton I rate he is the throwback we lacked for so long who may not do the eye catching stuff but puts his head where others don’t.

Mago needs to offer more consistency.

I'd happily see us share that role between Isa and Nesemba.

That line about Singleton is one of those myths that gets rolled out when people talk about him. It's one of the RL'isms and the opposite to when a player is labelled as 'soft'. In the real world, his stats are dire and we struggle to get on top, when he's on the pitch. It's why we signed Cooper i.e the player we thought we'd got with Cooper.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 6:26 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

jonh wrote:

sergeant pepper wrote:

Apart from some potential depth, we don't need anyone in the backrow.

Faz = best 2nd row in the comp
Smithies was outstanding last year and it was criminal Wane left him out of the WC. I hate to see us move him for anyone - make him VC and give him the 13 shirt.
KPP = one of the games most sought after prospects.
Isa and Nesmba as a backup.

Props an issue however. Singleton, regardless of what people say on here, is one of the worst props in the game. It's criminal he's even a pro, nevermind a Wigan player. Mago, seems well liked, but doesn't seem to trusted or able to do big mins either.

Under that scenario you are expecting either Isa or Nsemba to be a key part of the 17 every week.

Isa is a warrior but I would not be comfortable with him in the 17 every week. Asking a kid with bags of potential to step forward into that role could very well destroy his career.

Singleton I rate he is the throwback we lacked for so long who may not do the eye catching stuff but puts his head where others don’t.

Mago needs to offer more consistency.

I'd happily see us share that role between Isa and Nesemba.

That line about Singleton is one of those myths that gets rolled out when people talk about him. It's one of the RL'isms and the opposite to when a player is labelled as 'soft'. In the real world, his stats are dire and we struggle to get on top, when he's on the pitch. It's why we signed Cooper i.e the player we thought we'd got with Cooper.

Totally disagree in regards Singleton. You don’t have the CV he does by being poor. You don’t get picked to follow your coach who himself was a very good Prop when he moved clubs ti be the cornerstone of their pack.

When he joined us he was the propped up what was a poor front row rotation.

Cooper was brought in to support Singleton, not replace him. Cooper has more impact no doubt, I don’t disagree, but you need balance in your options and Singleton does that.

Genuine question why do you say his stats are “dire”?

Nsemba I hope gets 10 games at the most next year, we have never really fast tracked players and rightfully so. That would mean Isa would be expected to do 20 plus games.

If we get an injury in the secondrow where do we go then?

In my opinion I think you are way off the mark if you expect Nsemba/Isa to play a key part in our 17 in 23 and we can be successful to the levels we should be targeting ie Champions.

Time will tell I guess.

Genuinely interested in the “dire” stats line though.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 6:43 pm  

Interesting that the super league page on facebook just posted a promo video for wigan in 2023 that includes a clip of bateman near the beginning

Seems an odd thing to do if he is going to be leaving, still not sure about all these rumours.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 6:52 pm  

Singleton was very good at times last year - when he plays with intensity he's a real asset.

If Bateman leaves and all the rumours about players coming in come to nothing I don't think it's the end of the world. There is enough 2nd row cover to get by and recruitment opportunities tend to crop up mid season.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 7:01 pm  

MadDogg wrote:

Singleton was very good at times last year - when he plays with intensity he's a real asset.

If Bateman leaves and all the rumours about players coming in come to nothing I don't think it's the end of the world. There is enough 2nd row cover to get by and recruitment opportunities tend to crop up mid season.

Agree good players usually become available mid season.

The issue being most of them tend to be non quota. A luxury we don’t currently have an allowance for.

Very rare a top player goes to a SL rival mid season.

I accept Cooper did but that was thanks to agent Powell and is the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Dec 23, 2022 7:56 pm  

If you force performances out of Singleton he’s fine. He was one of our better props last season in week to week Rugby. The time I worry about him is in games against Saints or in big semi finals/finals. When a team has good line speed, he’s quite slow in getting going, so he is cut off before he gets up a head of steam. He’s a good player to have in the squad though because the season is long and he’s tough and durable and brings good experience.