Key players : Wed Jan 05, 2022 8:33 am  

In truth all players are key on the day but players who should they have a great season will really make us tick.

TJ, you could include a number of back but this lad is the ace card in a decent back line. If fit he’s a 20+ try a season player. However what really counts is he makes many of those tries himself, impossible angles and breaks from nothing, he’s a match winner.

Lino, we know what Miller can do and what Gaskell has done for others. Lino though was an unknown. Slow at first but towards the end of the season he really began to shine. I’m hoping there is so much more to come.

Dave, the opposition fear him because he plays without fear and that infects his team mates in a good way. He’s also a very good player.

Pitts, over the last two seasons this player has transformed. Always a good player he is now a top pro. If Dave leads with charisma then Pitts leads by example. His effort is superb but he has also reached a very high level of technicality. The fans will always idolise Fifita and rightly so but for me Pitts may well be the real star.

Hood, there is no doubt that we’ve been lacking in this position for a while. Woody got old, the other Wood didn’t seem to fit. Hood only needs to be competent to make a difference, if he fits in he will make a difference.

Those are my key men.

[PopTart]

Re: Key players : Wed Jan 05, 2022 9:24 pm  

I agree with all those.

I especially want to see Hood take control.
The difference he could make to our team can't be underestimated.
Even if he just does the basics well he should improve us but if he plays to his best we could really kick on.

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:20 am  

PopTart wrote:

I agree with all those.

I especially want to see Hood take control.
The difference he could make to our team can't be underestimated.
Even if he just does the basics well he should improve us but if he plays to his best we could really kick on.

It’s all about the players that can take us to the next level and you could easily add Tanginoa, Jowitt, Lyne and even Whitbread, in fact almost anybody, it’s just that three of the four I picked are already proven to some degree.

Thing with Hood and it’s a good thing is that he doesn’t need to be exceptional or carry the team he just needs to be fit for purpose. Kay, Bowes and Walker offer plenty of options, I especially think Kay will be a star, not least because he can still cover the wing position.

So yes, Hood is an important signing.

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:21 pm  

I’m not saying he isn’t a wonderful player because he is but I personally don’t see TJ as a key player for us.

We have showed we can cope without him sadly due to his injury record but I do agree a fit TJ makes us a better team.

Lino and Fafita I believe are crucial to having a good go this season. I wasn’t a big fan of Lino initially I don’t think he played consistently well and he wasn’t playing the style of rugby we needed him to, ie the controlling midfield general, but as the season went on he certainly took on that mantle very well.

He is settled he knows what the club is all about and hopefully has had a good offseason and I’m hoping he hits the ground running and takes his game to the next level. If he does I think he has the potential to make the Dream Team in 2022. For that to happen 2 other things though need to happen we need to have a good mid table finish and lay a platform for him. That’s where Fafita is key. He’s been up and down last few years but when he does fire he is one of the best to watch in SL. Despite being inconsistent (and I get the reasons why that’s been the case) he still tops tackle bust stats and is our main go forward middle. Touch wood he is coming in motivated and injury free if so he could be huge for us.

Hood I think is a shrewd signing. We haven’t had a 9 with genuine craft as well as offering a play the ball threat in a while. Off go forward and quick ptb’s he could be our version of Paul McShane.

Kalepi has been inconsistent also for us again there are clearly reasons for this but he is clearly a top class player who would grace any SL squad. If he is going in as a prop I hope they have beefed him up a little, if he’s going to be playing in the second row I hope he is given time to settle again there and not be regularly asked to run as a middle. His edge threat and lines are a real boost to us.

Lastly I’d go with Gaskill. A player who I see as a bit of an enigma. You could argue he probably should have done more with his career but off field discipline in his younger days probably cost him. It seems though as he has matured he’s got his head down and that’s a credit to him.

He’s a very gifted rugby player and brings something to the table be it as fullback, centre, half or potentially a 13. I’m not sure we have had a player like him in a while.

He’s a genuine game changer and also style changer, can even see him being used off the bench when we want to mix things up during a match.

If we can get Lino, Milky and Gaskill on the pitch at the same time and gelling together 3 genuine pivots creates plenty of headaches to defend against.

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 2:33 pm  

jonh wrote:

I’m not saying he isn’t a wonderful player because he is but I personally don’t see TJ as a key player for us.

We have showed we can cope without him sadly due to his injury record but I do agree a fit TJ makes us a better team.

Lino and Fafita I believe are crucial to having a good go this season. I wasn’t a big fan of Lino initially I don’t think he played consistently well and he wasn’t playing the style of rugby we needed him to, ie the controlling midfield general, but as the season went on he certainly took on that mantle very well.

He is settled he knows what the club is all about and hopefully has had a good offseason and I’m hoping he hits the ground running and takes his game to the next level. If he does I think he has the potential to make the Dream Team in 2022. For that to happen 2 other things though need to happen we need to have a good mid table finish and lay a platform for him. That’s where Fafita is key. He’s been up and down last few years but when he does fire he is one of the best to watch in SL. Despite being inconsistent (and I get the reasons why that’s been the case) he still tops tackle bust stats and is our main go forward middle. Touch wood he is coming in motivated and injury free if so he could be huge for us.

Hood I think is a shrewd signing. We haven’t had a 9 with genuine craft as well as offering a play the ball threat in a while. Off go forward and quick ptb’s he could be our version of Paul McShane.

Kalepi has been inconsistent also for us again there are clearly reasons for this but he is clearly a top class player who would grace any SL squad. If he is going in as a prop I hope they have beefed him up a little, if he’s going to be playing in the second row I hope he is given time to settle again there and not be regularly asked to run as a middle. His edge threat and lines are a real boost to us.

Lastly I’d go with Gaskill. A player who I see as a bit of an enigma. You could argue he probably should have done more with his career but off field discipline in his younger days probably cost him. It seems though as he has matured he’s got his head down and that’s a credit to him.

He’s a very gifted rugby player and brings something to the table be it as fullback, centre, half or potentially a 13. I’m not sure we have had a player like him in a while.

He’s a genuine game changer and also style changer, can even see him being used off the bench when we want to mix things up during a match.

If we can get Lino, Milky and Gaskill on the pitch at the same time and gelling together 3 genuine pivots creates plenty of headaches to defend against.

Seriously, a world-class winger, give over.

Of course, we can cope without him, we can cope without any of them. it's not about coping it's about challenging, with TJ and the others we challenge, without them we only cope. Very poor argument IMHO.

Beefed up!!! Have you been drinking, it's not possible to beef him up any more than he already is.

Interesting you mention McShane if Hood can put that little tw*t back in his box, he will be with every penny and perhaps an extra two points this season.

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:04 pm  

vastman wrote:

Seriously, a world-class winger, give over.

Of course, we can cope without him, we can cope without any of them. it's not about coping it's about challenging, with TJ and the others we challenge, without them we only cope. Very poor argument IMHO.

Beefed up!!! Have you been drinking, it's not possible to beef him up any more than he already is.

Interesting you mention McShane if Hood can put that little tw*t back in his box, he will be with every penny and perhaps an extra two points this season.

I honestly don’t believe any winger is a key player.

Yes they are important players but I don’t think there are many if any in SL or the NRL that I would regard as key players.

I think we can step up the next level without TJ, if go so far as to say this season is a career defining one for him. Unless he is playing 70% plus games I’d personally not be looking to renew his contact. Like I said I do think he is a wonderful player but at the moment he isn’t providing value for money. He’s a luxury at the moment.

To make the step to a mid table team I think the others I mentioned will have more of an influence over that than TJ can.

Kalepi is a very powerfully built secondrow, which is where I hope he plays personally. If he’s going to be a middle I think he could sacrifice condition for a bit more mass. He’s a very lean lad despite being so muscular.

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 3:30 pm  

Bill T is very important

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 5:55 pm  

One of the reasons that TJ is a key player is that other teams fear him, particularly in open space or broken play. He therefore can distract and distort the opposition's defence giving opportunities on the other side of the field.

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 6:07 pm  

sandcat20 wrote:

One of the reasons that TJ is a key player is that other teams fear him, particularly in open space or broken play. He therefore can distract and distort the opposition's defence giving opportunities on the other side of the field.

Spot on.

Martin Offiah was a naturally great winger no doubt but once he became established he put the fear of god into the opposition and that allowed him to score tries he really shouldn’t have, because players held off and panicked. He won Wigan games that they wouldn’t have with any other winger.

TJ is the same for us, the amount of games he’s either won for us or got us back into is huge.

He’s vital, he’s our no one strike weapon.

Re: Key players : Thu Jan 06, 2022 10:04 pm  

The thing with TJ is he's been getting so little service for so long now it's easy to forget how devastating he can be when he is given the ball. Some games he gets about 2 passes when actually on the wing. I'll never understand why we don't at least try to utilise him more even if we end up not doing it very well, it's the fact that in so many games in the last 2 years we've not even really tried to ship the ball wide to him