Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Sep 04, 2024 8:23 am  

Zig wrote:

I do agree that there are a few lads with great potential but killing at SL is far different than excelling at academy level. As always only time will tell if they have the tools to make it. I have seen many a player who has been outstanding at U18 level at Wigan and they have struggled to make it in the Championship. Rush has gambled, we will have to see if he holds all the aces, I really hope for the sake of our game that some of these lads do go onto to play for their country. If they do, they may end up getting poached by teams in the NRL, especially when two new franchises are introduced in 2028 unless something is done about the salary cap and club developed players.

What has Rush gambled with?

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Sep 04, 2024 9:59 am  

nathan_rugby wrote:

What has Rush gambled with?

Probably money

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Sep 04, 2024 10:19 am  

The issue we've had and one of the many mistakes Wellens has made is his lack of rotation pre all the injuries. He had opportunities to give the likes of Robertson 20 mins here and there against London and Hull earlier in the season. We were 1st or 2nd for a long while earlier in the season and had some of the kids been integrated into a winning team with lots of experience around them, they would've been in a better position

Instead he flogged the likes of Welsby, Sironen, Clark etc and surprise surprise they've all suffered injuries. This meant that Robertson made his debut away at Wigan and whilst he did well he's suffered since by playing in a team with lots of injuries and low on confidence

What Peet has done well is to dip his young lads in and out, like Douglas, Farrimond etc rather than a concerted run of games where a dip in form can be disastrous.

I don't think its a case of the kids not being good enough, its more of a case of how they have been blooded.

A lot is made of Wigan's Academy and production line and rightly so but lost amongst this is us making the Reserves Final again (finishing top) and the Academy finishing top for the 3rd successive year and winning 11 out of 12 games. We regularly have lads selected for England so the production line is there its just not been managed well

Compare and contrast how Woolf blooded Welsby and Dodd and its night and day. They played a variety of positions in a winning team full of confidence and experience

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Wed Sep 04, 2024 10:49 am  

Stu M wrote:

The issue we've had and one of the many mistakes Wellens has made is his lack of rotation pre all the injuries. He had opportunities to give the likes of Robertson 20 mins here and there against London and Hull earlier in the season. We were 1st or 2nd for a long while earlier in the season and had some of the kids been integrated into a winning team with lots of experience around them, they would've been in a better position

Instead he flogged the likes of Welsby, Sironen, Clark etc and surprise surprise they've all suffered injuries. This meant that Robertson made his debut away at Wigan and whilst he did well he's suffered since by playing in a team with lots of injuries and low on confidence

What Peet has done well is to dip his young lads in and out, like Douglas, Farrimond etc rather than a concerted run of games where a dip in form can be disastrous.

I don't think its a case of the kids not being good enough, its more of a case of how they have been blooded.

A lot is made of Wigan's Academy and production line and rightly so but lost amongst this is us making the Reserves Final again (finishing top) and the Academy finishing top for the 3rd successive year and winning 11 out of 12 games. We regularly have lads selected for England so the production line is there its just not been managed well

Compare and contrast how Woolf blooded Welsby and Dodd and its night and day. They played a variety of positions in a winning team full of confidence and experience

The problem with this, Stu, is Peet has had a winning team full of confidence to bring them into. Woolf the same. I'm not sure Wellens has. Whether that's his fault, injuries, a team not operating at previous levels or a mixture of all of these is subject to debate. Even when you were winning early doors, I don't think anyone thought you were playing well, certainly in attack, or even knew your best combinations. Bennison or Ritson, is Lomax the player he was, Hurrell's weight, Blake, has Dodd properly recovered from his injury and is he already on the plane anyway, Blake, is Wellens really the man for the job, Blake again etc. etc. Meanwhile Wigan were piling trophy in trophy with a fully firing team and a settled and successful coach.

The two situations aren't really comparable and, although Wellens has undoubtedly a part to play in that, I think it's equally a combination of factors that have contributed to the situation.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Thu Sep 05, 2024 4:10 pm  

Just seen the highlights of Brisbane and Melbourne was that Sailor at fb for Brisbane or Adam Quinlan? Absolutely embarrassing defence

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Thu Sep 05, 2024 9:14 pm  

bazdev wrote:

Just seen the highlights of Brisbane and Melbourne was that Sailor at fb for Brisbane or Adam Quinlan? Absolutely embarrassing defence

Brisbane were awful full stop, they should be ashamed.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Fri Sep 06, 2024 5:13 am  

[quote="bazdev"]Just seen the highlights of Brisbane and Melbourne was that Sailor at fb for Brisbane or Adam Quinlan? Absolutely embarrassing defence[/quote

I thought that the broncos would kick on from last year, but they have have gone backwards. Talk is all about sailor playing fullback maybe he is heading for a role in the half's.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:11 am  

[quote="stpatricks"]

I think he will have to play in the halves if yesterdays performance is anything to go by.

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Fri Sep 06, 2024 9:41 am  

The Yellow Giraffe wrote:

Harry Robertson will play at the top end of Super League and/or the NRL for the next 10 years and will play for England in the next 2-3 years. Absolutely certain of that.

To suggest he doesn’t have huge potential is complete and utter biased nonsense I’m afraid. Yes he’s dropped a few kicks but he’s also had some great moments in attack and won MOM in our most recent game. If Saints fans were saying Farrimond hasn’t shown potential you’d be saying the same thing.

As for Rush’s comment, we’ve seen Stephens and Robertson break through this year, academy international George Whitby is about to and then there’s the likes of Dagnall, Sambou, Roberts, Cowen to come. Our academy side has also just finished top of the league for the 3rd consecutive year. I think it’s a decent generation to be fair.

Yeah you had the same reaction at the beginning of the season when I said Hull KR would be closer to a trophy than St Helens. Not so funny now is it?

It isn't biased at all. Robertson may well come good and every young full back looks good running the ball out but he has made more mistakes than had positive influences on any of the games so far. Anyone who suggests otherwise is complete and utter biased nonsense I'm afraid

Re: Wigan v Sts discussion - THIS THREAD ONLY PLEASE : Fri Sep 06, 2024 11:28 am  

Cherry_Warrior wrote:

Yeah you had the same reaction at the beginning of the season when I said Hull KR would be closer to a trophy than St Helens. Not so funny now is it?

It isn't biased at all. Robertson may well come good and every young full back looks good running the ball out but he has made more mistakes than had positive influences on any of the games so far. Anyone who suggests otherwise is complete and utter biased nonsense I'm afraid

Did I? Me personally?

Again you're talking complete rubbish on Robertson. Just another example of stubborn bias and refusal to say anything positive about a rival. Extremely small minded approach. An 18 year old kid scoring a try and getting MOM last week, getting 3 assists in 1 game a couple of weeks before plus creating the winning moment against Salford. But yeah, no signs of potential.

When he is one of the leading players in the comp and playing for England in a couple of years we will come back to this and talk about him showing no potential.