Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Sat Jan 16, 2021 11:03 pm  

JonnyBroad wrote:

I wouldn’t be totally shocked if he played a bit of front row this year kpp. Says he has put some timber on. He is certainly big enough to play there?

Not that much timber!

Looks really athletic and can certainly run, can see him causing a lot of problems for defences out wide.

Bags of confidence too for a young player as we saw against Saints.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Sun Jan 17, 2021 7:18 am  

Grimmy wrote:

Nah don't think we'll see him there even for a game. Besides the fact he's never played there, it's also a position we have a lot of players already competing for spots. He has way less competition at second row, and even less at centre. We are already weak at prop without throwing in a 19 year old who's never played there before. Maybe later in his career if he makes it as we've seen other players do.

Smithies and Shorrocks had never played there either but featured there this year.

I am not convinced we have lots of genuine options at prop to be honest. Bullock,Singleton,Havard,Clubb,Byrne and it depends on if Partington is going to be 13. Then thats it really. I think personally we will bring a prop in very shortly? If Bullock and or Singleton get any form of injury we are extremely exposed then.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Sun Jan 17, 2021 11:41 am  

This is a proper pre season kind of thread. It is full of optimism and a fair bit of insecurity. Even if you do not know the statistics you are still aware that the chances of any of the young untried lads being world beaters is still pretty slim even at this stage in their careers. The older rookies have settled in and have done a very good job for us with Partington (if you can still call them rookies) probably outshining Smithies and Byrne, and most fans would be happy to see more of the same. One problem though is that we are talking up this crop of youngsters because of a perceived unbalance or weakness in the squad. Every few days we see Leeds or Saints signing another big prop but we always have the elephant in the room, a large part of our cap money is still going on players who will play limited minutes, if at all.
Do not get me wrong. We have a very good squad which at full fitness could go head to head with anyone but we will be without our number one attacking prop (according to earnings). If there is no money to bring in a replacement we will be using the youngsters at some point in the season and I for one am always hopeful that a couple of them may be the real deal.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Sun Jan 17, 2021 12:59 pm  

JonnyBroad wrote:

Smithies and Shorrocks had never played there either but featured there this year.

I am not convinced we have lots of genuine options at prop to be honest. Bullock,Singleton,Havard,Clubb,Byrne and it depends on if Partington is going to be 13. Then thats it really. I think personally we will bring a prop in very shortly? If Bullock and or Singleton get any form of injury we are extremely exposed then.

Well yeah that's eight props you have just named who he needs to get past, plus Kilner too. Compare that with centre where he's only really up against other unproven players if we get one injury before Marshall returns.

Prop signing - I'd like one ideally but not convinced we gave the cap space for anyone proven. I think with the number of young props we have on the books we can reasonably expect one or two of them to kick on though.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Sun Jan 17, 2021 3:12 pm  

Grimmy wrote:

Well yeah that's eight props you have just named who he needs to get past, plus Kilner too. Compare that with centre where he's only really up against other unproven players if we get one injury before Marshall returns.

Prop signing - I'd like one ideally but not convinced we gave the cap space for anyone proven. I think with the number of young props we have on the books we can reasonably expect one or two of them to kick on though.

Eight? Its 4 plus ten minute tony I have named

Relying on byrne and kilner is still a gamble for me. Thats not doubting there ability's but if havard,byrne,kilner all need to be regulars week in week out then we will struggle. 2 out of them 3 is absolute maximum for me. Lets not forget byrne and kilner only have 8 super league starts between them.

A similar style player to Singleton is what we need. No nonsense player, just tackles and carrys.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:21 pm  

FIOS wrote:

I agree, looking forward to seeing more of him. Think he just needs to bulk up abit (although I said the same about Bateman!)

He looks big enough on the pre-season photographs.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:48 pm  

Sweaty Betty's wrote:

He looks big enough on the pre-season photographs.

Agree just seen some on face book this afternoon looks really fit and energetic.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:21 pm  

warrior1872 wrote:

Send him out on loan to a coach who knows how to get the best out of him,maybe send him back to London or send him to Bradford under John Kear he is the sort of coach that would get the best out of him,he reminds me of a young Joel Tomkins lets just hope he doesn't end up in a pub like Joel

Why would John Kear get the best out of him?

Can you define what a coach who knows how to get the best out of him would look like?

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:24 pm  

FIOS wrote:

I agree, looking forward to seeing more of him. Think he just needs to bulk up abit (although I said the same about Bateman!)

Bulk up to what?

Wigan website has him at 100.9kg (6 ft 5), that's almost 16 stone.

He is regarded as a fast, agile player. Wouldn't want him to gain weight and lose his abilities.

Re: Kai Pearce Paul : Fri Jan 22, 2021 5:24 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

Why would John Kear get the best out of him?

Can you define what a coach who knows how to get the best out of him would look like?

Because he's a good man manager?