Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:14 am  

Phuzzy wrote:

But the majority of your team, and all of your spine, have been in your system and/or playing together for some time now. Dodd's loss is not something that would be made better or worse by resting or not resting players. Our spine is Field (1st season proper), Cust (1st season and only arrived late), Smith (2nd season but not 1st choice half) and O'Neil (2nd season and with only 2 first team games under his belt).

I doubt even someone with the biggest Saints bias in the world would liken that to a spine of Welsby, Lomax, A.N. other and Roby!

Completely agree there is more to work out at Wigan for sure! Just that we have our own conundrum to solve this/next week too.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:20 am  

Phuzzy wrote:

But the majority of your team, and all of your spine, have been in your system and/or playing together for some time now. Dodd's loss is not something that would be made better or worse by resting or not resting players. Our spine is Field (1st season proper), Cust (1st season and only arrived late), Smith (2nd season but not 1st choice half) and O'Neil (2nd season and with only 2 first team games under his belt).

I doubt even someone with the biggest Saints bias in the world would liken that to a spine of Welsby, Lomax, A.N. other and Roby!

They would be bonkers to go with Roby at 7 in the longer term. Hopoate was a good fullback for Tonga, move him there and play Welsby at 7.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:51 am  

MadDogg wrote:

They would be bonkers to go with Roby at 7 in the longer term. Hopoate was a good fullback for Tonga, move him there and play Welsby at 7.

I was suggesting A.N. Other as half and Roby at hooker. They'll probably do as you suggest as Welsby has played alongside Lomax before, hasn't he?

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:52 am  

MadDogg wrote:

They would be bonkers to go with Roby at 7 in the longer term. Hopoate was a good fullback for Tonga, move him there and play Welsby at 7.

Thats the natural solution with minimal changes however Hopate can't seem to string two games together since he signed and also this is Welsby's first season as a starting 1 so moving him hinders his development and we lose the attack he gives us coming into the line and his trademark cut out pass.

However I agree with you that if Hopoate can stay fit then your suggestion is the most sensible one.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 10:54 am  

Stu M wrote:

Thats the natural solution with minimal changes however Hopate can't seem to string two games together since he signed and also this is Welsby's first season as a starting 1 so moving him hinders his development and we lose the attack he gives us coming into the line and his trademark cut out pass.

However I agree with you that if Hopoate can stay fit then your suggestion is the most sensible one.

I see what you're saying Stu but Welsby's utility role last year didn't seem to hinder him.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:32 am  

I think Woolf himself suggested in an interview that Hopoate will go to fullback. I don’t think it matters where Welsby plays tbh. He just seems like another Jake Connor but with more pace, in that he’s freakishly talented and really comfortable anywhere. He’s also not a massive tool, so that helps.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 12:23 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Did we not do something similar last year (or the year before) and rest loads of lads Vs Saints, with the aim for being "fresh" for the Leeds CC game? Didn't work then, won't work this time.

If you can't work through tiredness for Wire away and Saints in the semi final, there's something wrong with you as a player imo.

You don't half come out with some garbage at times.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 1:03 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

You don't half come out with some garbage at times.

Just like you, but not as bad.

Did we, or did we not rest a load of lads Vs Saints, with an eye on the Leeds cup game? We got bumm£d by Saints and lost to Leeds anyway. Having a rest, isn't some magic bullet to suddenly making everything all sunshine and rainbows.

This rest stuff is absolute BS, or at least at this stage of the year it is. It's the latest buzz/hipster topic everyone loves to buy into. Woolf must be laughing at his ability to set the narrative (he's almost Fergie like) and I'm sure part of it is also undoubtedly politics to get the Easter Monday fixture cancelled. We're 12 games into the season FFS and more than half the squad haven't played every game.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Tue Apr 26, 2022 2:34 pm  

sergeant pepper wrote:

Just like you, but not as bad.

Did we, or did we not rest a load of lads Vs Saints, with an eye on the Leeds cup game? We got bumm£d by Saints and lost to Leeds anyway. Having a rest, isn't some magic bullet to suddenly making everything all sunshine and rainbows.

This rest stuff is absolute BS, or at least at this stage of the year it is. It's the latest buzz/hipster topic everyone loves to buy into. Woolf must be laughing at his ability to set the narrative (he's almost Fergie like) and I'm sure part of it is also undoubtedly politics to get the Easter Monday fixture cancelled. We're 12 games into the season FFS and more than half the squad haven't played every game.

Mate, you keep saying things like "we're 12 games into the season" etc as if that makes a difference. If you run a marathon you'll still be tired whether it's your first or your 10th. We've just run the equivalent of a rugby league marathon. Players will be fatigued on the back end of it whether that's after 12 games or after 20. You dismiss it as "the latest hipster topic". That's so ignorant of the reality as to be bordering on the farcial!

We're talking about what gives us the best chance of winning the semi. Just ask yourself simple question. Do you operate at your best when you're fatigued? If the answer is yes then please hand yourself in to the nearest research lab as the world needs to study you. If the answer is no, as I suspect it is, then by all means join in the debate as to whether there is more gained by resting players than is lost to continuity. Dismissing it as BS or "the latest hipster topic" just makes you look foolish.

Re: Team for Wire (a) : Wed Apr 27, 2022 11:02 am  

Unchanged squad from the Salford game.