Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:58 am  

spanker wrote:

Why ask Ryan Atkins who is the best centre in the league is

Ryan is the best centre in super league ask Carmont the same question

Both players are exceptional but on current form this season and last season its
Atkins

ask a wire fan whos the best Centre there going to say atkins ask a wigan fan they will say carmont, but i think carmont is a better Centre overall but atkins is better attacking Centre

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:00 am  

dubairl wrote:

you were still saying after the 3rd thrashing of the season saints were better player for player than wigan.

Yes we are - not in the centres though sadly.

dubairl wrote:

george carmont is far from average, one of the best overal centres i have seen in superleague and hes still the best Centre in the league now.

Yes, well - I clearly "fully understand the difference between good rugby players and bad ones" a darned sight better than the likes of you matey...

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:02 am  

pie.warrior wrote:

If super league is that poor in your opinion then go and watch your sport at Franklin gardens.

****buzzz**** Wrong answer.... 2+2<>5... I've been to Franklins Gardens once ever. Try again.

Anyway, RL is still a much better spectacle than RU but the gap is getting rapidly narrower, but that's another issue...

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:06 am  

dubairl wrote:

ask a wire fan whos the best Centre there going to say atkins ask a wigan fan they will say carmont, but i think carmont is a better Centre overall but atkins is better attacking Centre

Very fair - I'd certainly have either of them in a Saints shirt at the moment very gladly. Neither of them still would have made a Wigan, Saints or Bradford starting 17 10-15 years ago though...

[Pemps]

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:08 am  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

Very fair - I'd certainly have either of them in a Saints shirt at the moment very gladly. Neither of them still would have made a Wigan, Saints or Bradford starting 17 10-15 years ago though...

He's so much classier than Scott Naylor and he'd be in our team above most of the centres who played in our 2002 season.

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:27 am  

Personally i don't think many of Wigan's current team would get in the dominant team of the late 80's, Tomkins probably but no one else, O'Loughlin is a cracking player but Hanley is the greatest 13 to play the game.

The thing is though if this team could travel back in time and play that team i actually think the current team would win, they're better drilled, probably fitter too.

Wigan now are a well drilled side and i think their organisation and fitness would beat the team of the 80's even though individually that team wins unanimously.
Saying that i also think given a years training with all the modern facilities and diets they'd rip SL apart.

I think the modern standard of player in SL is a lot higher than pre SL but only due to better facilities and all the technology but individually the players way back when are far better and i'd love to see that individual brilliance brought up to modern day standards.

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:54 am  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

Carmont is an above average centre in a league of mediocrity - compared to what's out there at the moment he is indeed class and one of the best 3 or 4 centres playing in the league. He's certainly a cut above what he have available at #3 and #4 at the moment. Compared to top championship winning centres of the past he's simply above average however. He'd never have worn a Wigan, Bradford or Saints shirt 10/15 years ago most certainly.

And it says everything about the state of the competition yet again that a clapped out old NRL never-was is one of the best centres in the league...

...and as for trying to compare him to Newlove as some numpty did on the Saints board...

You're adopting a hugely arrogant tone here: classing your own opinion as 'incontrovertible fact' and mocking everyone else's. Most of the Wigan fans who post on this forum will have watched at least as many world class players as you, and yet you're the only who knows what he's talking about ???

While there may be some truth in what you say about certain players of the past being head and shoulders above their present-day counterparts, that could be said of any generation.

But your making an OTT issue out of this is starting to look like a thinly-veiled device to disprespect the current league-leaders and at the same time boost up the past achievements of your own club. I know, because we did exactly the same thing when our own great team became nothing more than a memory (and the Wigan team we were harping back to was a lot better than the Saints team you are).

The past is the past, as your lot used to so fondly and repeatedly tell us. No-one will ever know how teams then and teams now would square up. Bleat on all you want, it won't prove anything.

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:02 am  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

Yes we are - not in the centres though sadly.

You MUST be on a windup with that comment

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:17 am  

[Gareth] wrote:

You MUST be on a windup with that comment

Of course not. Why would I be?

Tell you want - save me the hassle of having to go through the same circular arguments again and search for my previous posts on the subject. It'll be a nice experience for you.

Re: Matty smith joins Wigan - Official : Wed Jul 11, 2012 11:21 am  

Cruncher wrote:

You're adopting a hugely arrogant tone here: classing your own opinion as 'incontrovertible fact' and mocking everyone else's. Most of the Wigan fans who post on this forum will have watched at least as many world class players as you, and yet you're the only who knows what he's talking about ???

While there may be some truth in what you say about certain players of the past being head and shoulders above their present-day counterparts, that could be said of any generation.

But your making an OTT issue out of this is starting to look like a thinly-veiled device to disprespect the current league-leaders and at the same time boost up the past achievements of your own club. I know, because we did exactly the same thing when our own great team became nothing more than a memory (and the Wigan team we were harping back to was a lot better than the Saints team you are).

The past is the past, as your lot used to so fondly and repeatedly tell us. No-one will ever know how teams then and teams now would square up. Bleat on all you want, it won't prove anything.

Arrogant? Doesn't sound like me....

At the end of the day everyone's entitled to an opinion, even a half-baked, ill-informed one. My opinion is that today's players have advanced in professionalism and fitness over those of 10/15/20 years ago, but have declined steeply at the top level in most other areas (particularly in terms of ability to provide entertainment value). This is supported by the fact that players that would have whiled their careers away in midtable obscurity once upon a time like Carmont, Shenton, Smith, Myler, Gaskell, Gardner etc. etc. are now expensive, prized and fought over targets for the top clubs. Your opinion may be different. Good luck to you on that if so.