Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:11 am  

Grimmy wrote:

To be honest when we signed Burgess everyone was overjoyed. No one expressed doubt at the time (on here anyway). That doesn't excuse the club for whatever medical they checks they failed to do though.

He had a medical though so how on earth did he pass that? Or was it mentioned in that and we opted to ignore it?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:31 am  

Grimmy wrote:

To be honest when we signed Burgess everyone was overjoyed. No one expressed doubt at the time (on here anyway). That doesn't excuse the club for whatever medical they checks they failed to do though.

We all were because we assumed due diligence had been done.

I’d certainly heard the rumours regarding his hip, but given he has signed assumed they were just that, and he was the signing we all knew we needed.

A fit George Burgess was the missing piece in our squad and I genuinely believe we win the Grand Final with him in our team without the chronic hip issues.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:46 am  

TBF, we win the grand final if we could kick goals.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:22 am  

jonh wrote:

We all were because we assumed due diligence had been done.

I’d certainly heard the rumours regarding his hip, but given he has signed assumed they were just that, and he was the signing we all knew we needed.

A fit George Burgess was the missing piece in our squad and I genuinely believe we win the Grand Final with him in our team without the chronic hip issues.

Bang on jonh. Saints dominated us in the middle of the park in the GF. 8-4 gives the impression it was evenly matched when it was anything but. We were lucky to be in it for as long as we were IMO.

If we get a prop in that is as good as what we thought GB was going to be, for me there’s even more reason to have no excuses for a trophy in 2021. I still don’t believe there is an excuse now to be honest so either way, a lot of pressure on Lam this season.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:28 am  

Egg Chasing wrote:

He had a medical though so how on earth did he pass that? Or was it mentioned in that and we opted to ignore it?

God knows. I tend to back the club where I can but it's hard not to come to the conclusion that we didn't do some due diligence here.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:50 am  

dany1979 wrote:

It’s all guess work but I do know that some players really do find the increased intensity of Wigan to be a big step up from other clubs.

It’s similar in a way to the transition to the NRL at a club like Canberra where they train for longer hours and at high intensity.

I’m not saying that’s definitely the case here but it wouldn’t surprise me.

On Hastings podcast "behind the athlete" he mentions the intensity of training sessions under Matty Peet and said they go full contact everyday.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 10:55 am  

jonh wrote:

We all were because we assumed due diligence had been done.

I’d certainly heard the rumours regarding his hip, but given he has signed assumed they were just that, and he was the signing we all knew we needed.

A fit George Burgess was the missing piece in our squad and I genuinely believe we win the Grand Final with him in our team without the chronic hip issues.

Not even necessarily someone of as high a standard as Burgess. We just needed a Prop to supplement Bullock and Singleton so the intensity continues and there wasn't a drop-off.

The value of forwards who can make good yards and a strong field kicking game is enormous. Leeds Semi Final in Challenge Cup is the best example. You can have all the starts in the world, if you don't win forward battle / early possession game, you are going to be against it.

Not to derail, but on the kicking front, in my opinion we never replaced Matty Smith. Simple organiser, kicker but got absolutely slated.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:30 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

Not even necessarily someone of as high a standard as Burgess. We just needed a Prop to supplement Bullock and Singleton so the intensity continues and there wasn't a drop-off.
.

I agree we need one and fingers crossed we get one but one absentee from the Grand Final run in whose non availability has possibly been under played a little is Ethan Havard. Nobody wants to burden a lad with too much responsibility too soon but the fact is once he went out of the side with injury, we lost a prop who was easily making the most ground of any of our props. He’s only a kid, so people say ‘well it’s only a kid you’re missing and you can’t be losing that much’ but he was statistically our best prop last season by quite a distance. He could be very important for us this season and signings or no signings, I already see him as one of our best 4 without a shadow of a doubt.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:38 pm  

Egg Chasing wrote:

TBF, we win the grand final if we could kick goals.

true

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri Feb 12, 2021 1:11 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I agree we need one and fingers crossed we get one but one absentee from the Grand Final run in whose non availability has possibly been under played a little is Ethan Havard. Nobody wants to burden a lad with too much responsibility too soon but the fact is once he went out of the side with injury, we lost a prop who was easily making the most ground of any of our props. He’s only a kid, so people say ‘well it’s only a kid you’re missing and you can’t be losing that much’ but he was statistically our best prop last season by quite a distance. He could be very important for us this season and signings or no signings, I already see him as one of our best 4 without a shadow of a doubt.

What position has he played in the academy? (Havard).

Are there not concerns of him being a little too slim, lack of muscle for prop at super league level?

Just wondering if he will be able to sustain those performances.