Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Mon Aug 05, 2019 2:49 pm  

Binosh wrote:

There are plenty of quality young players around it just seems we would rather sign names again.

This.

Sa’u looks like a run of the mill second rower.

Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Mon Aug 05, 2019 2:59 pm  

reffy wrote:

This.

Sa’u looks like a run of the mill second rower.

If he could pass a ball and have a good engine, he would be a cracking hooker or Loose forward.

Lets give him time. He is a typical Tongan / Samoan type presence us Leigh Fans love. Hes an handful and will only get better in my opinion.

Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:12 pm  

Great post from Binosh.

However I do firmly believe where we sit today ( We could even be second come 5pm, Sunday) is nothing short of remarkable.

Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Mon Aug 05, 2019 8:16 pm  

Harold Rigby Jnr wrote:

Great post from Binosh.

However I do firmly believe where we sit today ( We could even be second come 5pm, Sunday) is nothing short of remarkable.

I agree with you Harold. It is correct to compare where we are now, with where we were eight months ago - staring oblivion in the face.

However, what we have achieved, has been through local lads, busting with pride in the shirt, coach, team, fans, town etc. I would love that to have continued, but we are picking up injuries and have had a pretty threadbare squad. The owner has presumably sniffed a chance, however slight, of promotion this time round, because of what our squad has achieved. (Come on Binosh, did you honestly expect us to be Top 5, with a chance of second, back in the dark days?) His/JD's decision seems to have been to bring in some proven players to have a crack at the play offs. Forsyth, Brierley and Higson are local acquisitions, and even Paterson lives in Leigh! I guess time will tell, whether these guys add something to the squad or turn out like last season.

Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Mon Aug 05, 2019 8:45 pm  

reffy wrote:

This.

Sa’u looks like a run of the mill second rower.

Well he will do if he keeps taking the ball up the middle, he’s a Centre so have him running on the edges, see if he can take two men out and leave the winger free, or run over the 2 opposition

He’s played at the top level for yonks and now can’t hack it in the champ

Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:16 am  

ColD wrote:

Well he will do if he keeps taking the ball up the middle, he’s a Centre so have him running on the edges, see if he can take two men out and leave the winger free, or run over the 2 opposition

He’s played at the top level for yonks and now can’t hack it in the champ

To run out wide they have to be given the ball quick and early which never happens and same can be said on thornleys side,just wish some times it would happen and let our centres have a go at the other teams centres with a bit of space because ye they might not get on top all the time but if we have got 2 proven superleague centres they will beat their man 2 or 3 times out of ten that could result in trys

Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Tue Aug 06, 2019 10:38 am  

Binosh wrote:

Swinton have a big middle & fast edges, they are a good team built on the right ethos and are coming together nicely,no disrespect to Ashton who is clearly a real talent and a real athlete but Swinton have given him a break and he’s taken it, Leigh would never do that, look at Brad Holroyd, played one game, looked a real prospect and never seen again. You can’t knock Swinton for Sticking by young hungry players.

For me Forsyth & Thornley should be our centres and we should have invested in real pace out wide instead of Sau, it’s no coincidence we have dropped off since signing some “names” again,

Ridyard is playing on one leg for the good of the team and This Brierley love in needs to stop because if he isn’t using his pace then he offers nothing.

We can’t keep using the line of look we’re we were this time 8 months ago it’s just excuses.

There are plenty of quality young players around it just seems we would rather sign names again.

Agree with all of this. Higginson and Holroyd always seemed like token signings so we could have young players in the squad, but never going to get a chance. In the past you could also put likes of Lewis Foster, Eze Harper, Dave Thompson in this bracket. I actually thought Higginson looked decent when he played wing.

If Forsyth is eventually ditched in favour of a backline of Marsh, Sau, Thornley and Higson, then it will show our attitude to developing players, and we'll stay in the cycle of major team overhauls every year. Also feel sorry for Mitch Cox, as am not sure Higson offers a great deal more than him nowadays.

Less said about Brierley the better.

Re: 19 man squad v Swinton : Tue Aug 06, 2019 2:05 pm  

The problem is no pace on the wings. Against W dines we fielded what must have the slowest wing/centre partnership ever in Marsh and Sau. When teams like Swinton are coming to Leigh with young fast wingers like Ashton scoring 4 tries, it begs the question, what is our scouting system doingvas regards the local amateur scene?