Re: Wigan 19 for Thursday against Wakefield. : Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:55 am  

NSW wrote:

Bilko nailed it on Twitter “ Whatever will be will be this season but seeing Smithies, Partington, Byrne & Havard muscling up in the middle is looking money in the bank for later. Short term pain this year could be long term gain.“

We all admire saints pack but they went through some tough years blooding the young lads and look at them now

Totally agree with this. There were several games against that lot where their pack was found wanting. Richards doesn't look like he'll be more than a plodder, but Knowles and Thompson are reaping the rewards.

That said, we won't have a sniff of anything this year without having at least a couple of Lockers, Flower, Bullock and Greenwood being back and somewhere near full fitness. Even then it's hard to see us overcoming Saints at present, but I think they're only a couple of injuries in the pack away from being much more beatable than they seem.

Re: Wigan 19 for Thursday against Wakefield. : Fri Jul 19, 2019 12:57 pm  

NSW wrote:

Bilko nailed it on Twitter “ Whatever will be will be this season but seeing Smithies, Partington, Byrne & Havard muscling up in the middle is looking money in the bank for later. Short term pain this year could be long term gain.“

We all admire saints pack but they went through some tough years blooding the young lads and look at them now

Absolutely right. There was a time this season when we weren’t sure what we’d have to show for this season, other than maybe steering clear of relegation but we’re now not in a bad spot and regardless of how it all ends there’s a number of young lads who’ve come in to the team and shown just how much talent there is sitting in the academy at the moment. A lot are very young in forward terms but with the new reserve system in place for 2020 we really are in a good spot going forward.

Re: Wigan 19 for Thursday against Wakefield. : Fri Jul 19, 2019 2:08 pm  

Very impressed with the young lads. Harvard and Byrne can mix it in the middle. I am not sure that Partington will be at his best mixing it with the big middles and might benefit from running slightly wider. My big concern is Smithies who is doing a fine job deputising for SOL but has a build more like Bateman and may be more effective further out.

Re: Wigan 19 for Thursday against Wakefield. : Fri Jul 19, 2019 3:13 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

We can’t be anything but happy with that. Good performances from Hardaker, Williams, Sammut, Navarette, Isa and Smithies (amongst others) for me and an absolute master class by the most underrated player in world rugby leaguèe in Liam Farrell.

Players back on board for Hull and things are looking up.

I thought Isa had a good first half in fact one his best games overall for us. Wouldn't drop Isa when Greenwood gets back and for me Smithies currently is a better bet than Greenwood therefore, Greenwood probably would struggle to even get a bench place when all our forwards are back.

Hopefully we never have to see Faz playing on the right again as he is clearly by a country mile our best 2nd rower on the left hand side.

Re: Wigag 19 for Thursday against Wakefield. : Sat Jul 20, 2019 1:28 pm  

THE HINDLEY WARRIOR wrote:

But how many minutes has he been on the pitch?

I think this quote from Adrian Lam answers your question:

“Lockers has played more than many people realise, until a week or two ago he was top-four for minutes on the field,” he said.

Re: Wigan 19 for Thursday against Wakefield. : Sat Jul 20, 2019 1:48 pm  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

I thought Isa had a good first half in fact one his best games overall for us. Wouldn't drop Isa when Greenwood gets back and for me Smithies currently is a better bet than Greenwood therefore, Greenwood probably would struggle to even get a bench place when all our forwards are back.

Hopefully we never have to see Faz playing on the right again as he is clearly by a country mile our best 2nd rower on the left hand side.

We should continue with Faz and Isa (who's also in decent form) as starting second rowers and bring Greenwood off the bench for O'Loughlin. Maybe move Faz to 13 for a spell.

Re: Wigag 19 for Thursday against Wakefield. : Sat Jul 20, 2019 8:21 pm  

THE HINDLEY WARRIOR wrote:

But how many minutes has he been on the pitch?

“Lockers has played more than many people realise, until a week or two ago he was top-four for minutes on the field,” he said.