: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:06 pm  

Ski wrote:

Are you his girlfriend?

so for sticking up for a player, i must be his girlfriend......ok then.

I think i'm just one of those people who tries to look for the positives in players, don't get me wrong, im all for opinion and thats is why im giving mine right now, thats what being a saints "supporter" means.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:10 pm  

eddiewaringsflatcap wrote:

Whoever has said Wilkin has 'not lived up to his potential' is suffering from some sort of amnesia, because Wilkin was hardly setting the world on fire when he began to appear in the team.

Wilkin is a dependable player - his tackling is reliable and he puts more thana his fair share in, like Ski said he is always involved in play and generally has a good RL brain.

He is not that type of player to break tackles left, right and centre in what has essentially become a collision sport due to the inordinately high number of substitutions that can be made.

Rather, Wilkin offers subtlty that is needed in a good pack - the clever pass down the blind side, the stabbed kick into the corner as a foil for Long etc etc.

You cannot pack a team with biff and bash merchants. Wilkin adds to the team.

Some people need to get a grip.

You're a beacon of shining light in a world of idiots.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:17 pm  

He seemed to stack up last year? http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2009

He seemed to stack up last year? http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2009

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:22 pm  

The Chair Maker wrote:

So if he is so rubbish who would you replace him with?

might i point out that at present WIlkin has made 157 tackles in 4 games. Thats 39 a game harldy a lazy player as some have said

I never said he was rubbish once. I don't happen to think he is anywhere near the player some supporters seem to think. In terms of replacing him,I wouldn't because British RL has such a dearth of quality that the only alternative is a foreigner which helps nobody.

Offensively he offers barely anything. Maybe the odd decent kick and the odd pass but these are nothing like consistent aspects to his game. He doesn't make millions of yards and to be perfectly honest, I am not going to get chuffed over some decent angled dummy runs, these are areas of the game where they could shove anybody there and tell them to run in a certain way.

Defensively he obviously makes more tackles than it appears however how many of these are third man in tackles ? How often does he make an impact and win the collision in defence ? I would suggest it isn't very often.

These are all opinions and everyone is entitled to theirs. Wilkin for me needs to buck up big time.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:30 pm  

Sometimes I despair, I really do. So Wilkin is the latest player to come in for a slating.
With such a bunch of under-achieving, no-mark players how the fsck have we managed to be so successful over the last 13 years.
God help the lads when the 'glory days' end.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:31 pm  

i'm a bit torn on the Wilkin issue.

I think he suffers massively from when he broke into the team and people expecting him to be the next Sculthorpe - which in 2006 he looked like he was shaping up to be. However, he isnt Sculthorpe - he lacks the class in his ball handling amongst other things. However, he works hard, and like others in the team he does a lot of work that goes unnoticed by the average viewer.

He also suffers because he is probably the biggest personality in the team, with all his media work - so people expect him to be the best player in the team and play at the top level every week.

I thought last year, he wasnt great - and I was massively disappointed with his non-performance in the Grand Final, and his petulant outburst afterwards didnt exactly put him in the best light. If he can get back to 2006 form, he will be is a massively valuable player this year, in a year when we will need experienced players to dig in and go the extra mile.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:32 pm  

Saint Rabban wrote:

Sometimes I despair, I really do. So Wilkin is the latest player to come in for a slating.
With such a bunch of under-achieving, no-mark players how the fsck have we managed to be so successful over the last 13 years.
God help the lads when the 'glory days' end.

Thats the point that i was making!!

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:34 pm  

Saint Rabban wrote:

Sometimes I despair, I really do. So Wilkin is the latest player to come in for a slating.
With such a bunch of under-achieving, no-mark players how the fsck have we managed to be so successful over the last 13 years.
God help the lads when the 'glory days' end.

Well said.

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:45 pm  

If people who say they are supporters dont take notice of all of the things that go up to make a RL team work then perhaps they should just be called watchers.

Without players who do the type of things that Wilkin does then the rest of the team do not function at the level they are capable of.

Dummy runs produce holes that other players can run through, the better the dummy runner - the better angles he runs - the easier it is for the ball carrier to get through the gap.

This is the difference between being an average team and a very good team, however the dummy runnner very rarely gets noticed - just the break.

Basically Wilkin does all of the tasks that a team needs but doesnt get noticed by the average supporter, plus he has the ability to create, kick and break the line - all in all the type of player you want in your team

: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:57 pm  

saints35 bulls0 wrote:

i'm a bit torn on the Wilkin issue.

I think he suffers massively from when he broke into the team and people expecting him to be the next Sculthorpe - which in 2006 he looked like he was shaping up to be. However, he isnt Sculthorpe - he lacks the class in his ball handling amongst other things. However, he works hard, and like others in the team he does a lot of work that goes unnoticed by the average viewer.

He also suffers because he is probably the biggest personality in the team, with all his media work - so people expect him to be the best player in the team and play at the top level every week.

I thought last year, he wasnt great - and I was massively disappointed with his non-performance in the Grand Final, and his petulant outburst afterwards didnt exactly put him in the best light. If he can get back to 2006 form, he will be is a massively valuable player this year, in a year when we will need experienced players to dig in and go the extra mile.

Best post on the thread.