Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:09 am  

Wigan Stu wrote:

I feel dirty saying this but I'm slowly losing confidence in MM. I felt with Noble we had plan A, and if Plan A didnt work we tried plan A....now the only difference I see between the two is MM's plan A looks a lot fancier and involves players being fitter. I hope im wrong because for a long time MM could do no wrong in my eyes but hes slowly losing his invulnerability from critism, then again...we may stick 50+ past KR and I'll eat my words, doubt it though.

I knew there'd be someone eventually, but I must admit I didnt' think it would be as soon as two weeks after we'd won our first piece of silverware in 8 years.

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:31 am  

Is this definitely the team? 48 hours before kick off, was it all nailed on?

There may yet be changes - but as some have already said, play 4 props and we'll hopefully dominate up front. Maybe that's MM's/Wane's plan -beat them up front and even have a "physical" stand off.

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:34 am  

Wigan Stu wrote:

I feel dirty saying this but I'm slowly losing confidence in MM. I felt with Noble we had plan A, and if Plan A didnt work we tried plan A....now the only difference I see between the two is MM's plan A looks a lot fancier and involves players being fitter. I hope im wrong because for a long time MM could do no wrong in my eyes but hes slowly losing his invulnerability from critism, then again...we may stick 50+ past KR and I'll eat my words, doubt it though.

That's a big overreaction don't you think?

After the transformation we've made under Madge this year, I think he's perfectly entitled to go with what he thinks is the right call. If we lose the game because of it, then it's his error.

To begin to lose confidence in him as a coach is just ludicrous IMO.

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:49 am  

Guerrier wrote:

That's a big overreaction don't you think?

After the transformation we've made under Madge this year, I think he's perfectly entitled to go with what he thinks is the right call. If we lose the game because of it, then it's his error.

To begin to lose confidence in him as a coach is just ludicrous IMO.

Granted that was a bit strong, and probably wasn't the right term to use.

Maybe it is a measure of how good a coach he is that my confidence in him is huge to begin with and he has made me enjoy watching Wigan again BUT that still doesn't take away from the fact he's made a few team selection errors in the past and we have lost those games and IMO it's been due to those errors. Hindsight is a wonderful thing in sport but if we go with Lockers at SO and our attack is stifled then I believe it will be due to that selection. I am not a rugby coach in any shape or form but I think we have better choices available.

(If we lose tomorrow shall I get my MM OUT thread ready???)

[DaveO]

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:56 am  

Warrior-Lou wrote:

we had no hope with him at 6 on Sunday, so why oh why has he put him back there?

That is the key point. Madge saw how Lockers goes at 6 and he is just no good there. Why on earth pick a player at 6 who you just saw have a poor game there?

I'd even pick Phelps at 6 before Lockers given Phelps has supposedly done OK at 6 in the under 20's.

surely the logical side is to put Sam back where he belongs and bring someone in who has a decent tackling game, cos no disrepect to Sam, hes not the best at last gasp tackling for me

If as alluded to Roberts won't play then Phelps should play at f/b. I don't think he is any better defensively in that position than Sam but the issue is with the half backs.

Just what is the obsession with playing Sam at 1 anyway? If Sam does not play in the half backs on Friday Madge wants shooting as he has basically lost the plot.

Dave

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:09 am  

roberts has to play full back in my opinion. SOL is not a 6 in the memory of man, he's the best loose in the comp sams the best 6 in the comp and before he was injured amos was the best 1 in the comp! It's not rocket science is it?

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:57 am  

In testing times it's always good to go back to basics IMO.

For me we know Tommy & Sam work as a HB pairing and when Lockers played at 13 our attack was the best in SL. Sam is probably the best #6 in SL and, IMO, Lockers is the best 13 in SL. Let's use these quality players in thier natural position for this massive game.

A lot of our good early season form came off the back of Amos but I don't think we are that much of a one man team that we couldn't have added Phelps in at #1 and lost to much momentum.

I'm still confident we'll win.

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 10:58 am  

I think after last week there has been a HUGE knee-jerk reaction from our fans.

Ok, Lockers going to 6 isn't ideal, but we do forget that last week we only lost by 1pt to the Grand Final winners for the last 3 years, who played very well, on the other hand we didn't play anywhere near our potential. If Madge doesn't think Amos is fit/confident enough then we have to trust in him. He has named 4 props, which many if not all of our fans have asked for.

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:10 am  

A little worrying Lockers being at 6 but I'm just hoping we'll have to much for KR anyway. Then hopefully come semi-final time either Deacon will be back or we'll have more of a shuffle of the team to get Sam back to 6. The short turn around this week maybe part of the reason why Madge doesn't want to do to much tinkering with the lineup.

[DaveO]

Re: 19 man squad : Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:27 am  

LewCharnock wrote:

I think after last week there has been a HUGE knee-jerk reaction from our fans.

Ok, Lockers going to 6 isn't ideal, but we do forget that last week we only lost by 1pt to the Grand Final winners for the last 3 years, who played very well, on the other hand we didn't play anywhere near our potential. If Madge doesn't think Amos is fit/confident enough then we have to trust in him. He has named 4 props, which many if not all of our fans have asked for.

It is not a knee jerk reaction to say Lockers is no good at 6. It has never worked.

As to last week the wheels came off when Deacon went off and Lockers went to six. Surely you can see that is what happened? We lost our way with that change so to start a game with that formation is nuts IMO.

It's clear to everyone we have better options. As someone just said why not go back to basics and play Sam and TL in the halves and Lockers at 13 because earlier this season we were on fire with that combination?

We may still beat HKR but we won't win the week after if we persist with this combination should Deacon still be out.

Dave