And the first try for Saints v Bradford on Friday.

But at least we played the ball correctly.

I didnt even bother mentioning how at least 2 other wigan trys had blatent forward passes in them.

But you know I'm right.

See you Saturday, if you are going.

That just about sums it up for me, in fact i think we are a bit fragile from kicks on both wings to be fair (if richards doesn't play there). Great player to watch though and we can't really afford to leave him out with his strike rate and the enthusiasm he will bring.

If you read comments on the Wigan board, you'll see we think highly of him but reognize his weaknesses too.

We learnt a lesson from Warrington supporters + the early Kevin Penny.

Most the wire fans wish he was the "late" levin penny. He may well be actually, seems destined to a life of a-team status

We are all (well most of us anyway) guilty of slating young wingers esp. for defensive lapses, but at his age an ability to find the try line is more important. He will learn defensive skills over time, i just hope for the sake of the game as a whole we dont write these young lads off as defensive liabilites just because they are 18ish and need time to learn how to tackle 30yr olds with all the experience in the world.
In Ainscough's case he just needs a solid defensive centre inside him so he can build confidence under the ball. If he was outside Gidley his defense would be less questioned for sure.

He's done very well outside George Carmont.

A good sign for us, is that he even managed to score four outside a unrecognised centre in Cameron Phelps at the weekend (Though Phelps played pretty well too).

His defence in general is good, it's just attacking kicks of all varities that he seems to struggle with.

This kid's attacking prowess can not be doubted he poses a real threat to our line out wide but i'll tell you now his defence leaves a lot to be desired. We should pinpoint from the first time we get into the Wigoon twenty zone.

I've said this numerous times but his defence isn't a problem, his positioning for kicks is his problem and is soemthing i'm sure he''ll work out.

Somebody compared his problems to those of Penny's on our board but he's got nothing like the flaws in his game that Penny has. Penny really does have bad defence, his positioning isn't good and he's as soft as they come whereas Ainscough will tackle anything, is tough and brave but does need work on his kick positioning.

If he makes a mistake Saturday but then does what he's done everytime an errors come his way and bounce back with a try or 3 i'll be happy enough.

OR 4

he'll learn this given time

If any of you doubt Ainscoughs ability get hold of a copy of the England Academy tour game v Australia in Brisbane last year.

He was amazing and the Aussies were raving about him.
He does have defensive deficiencies, mainly around his positioning when defending kicks, but those can hopefully be sorted.

Should he play this weekend, I honestly don't know, it's a tough decision for Noble. It's not a position Wigan are particularly weak in (having Roberts, Richards and Ainscough)

I suppose it will all depend if Carmont is fit.

Well I'd take him over Meli , superstar or not.

His "Defence" isn't the problem, it's his kick defence that's being Questioned.
In reality he was caught out twice against Hudds & twice(One of which he was unlucky with as it had a Ricochet) against Wakey! I don't seem to remember any other than those in the other 10 or so appearances????

As Rogues quite rightly said, check out the Oz Tour last year, he was Outstanding! Got a Copy of the DVD myself and he was Brilliant!

As for whether he should play this week I can understand the deliberation.
But I think it's a risk worth taking and I would risk him now whilst he's confident and flying.


Shaun Ainscough
Position 5
Shirt number 28
Appearances 9
Tries 13
Try assists 2
Goals 0
Drop Goals 0
Meters 956
Carries 123
Tackles 34
Offloads 8
Attacking Kicks 0
Runs from dummy half 30
Tackle Busts 36
Marker tackles 3
Clean Breaks 13
Forty twenty 0
Kicks in general play 0
Missed goals 0
Missed tackles 7
Errors 11
Penalties 3
Red cards 0
Yellow cards 0

Ade Gardner
2 Position
2 Shirt number
11 Appearances
7 Tries
0 Try assists
0 Goals
0 Drop Goals
890 Meters
131 Carries
40 Tackles
2 Offloads
5 Attacking Kicks
30 Runs from dummy half
21 Tackle Busts
3 Marker tackles
2 Clean Breaks
0 Forty twenty
5 Kicks in general play
0 Missed goals
9 Missed tackles
9 Errors
4 Penalties
0 Red cards
0 Yellow cards

Any coach that drops a winger who's scored 13 tries in 9 SL games, 4 just last week, is a mug.

But then Noble is a mug, so he might.

Owned

Ainy for England

Yeah!



Why doesn't Potter pick All your Youngsters this week? Why did he "Drop" some of them when your more experienced pros such as Long/Meli etc became available???

If he picks him and he loses us 3 x tries from Kicks he will have been "Out Thought" by Potter.
If he drops him The same!

And TBH even if we win after not playing Him Noble would get criticised by some.

So he can't win!

I would play him, but then again having so many choices is a good place to be in!

Not long until they sell him and draft in an aging NRL star then.

Play him, if he does have a howler, he can say that he young and will gain experience from this etc.

What are you on about? We're talking about 1 specific player, not every young player available.

If Saints had a player who'd scored 13 in 9 and the alternative was some hack like Amos Roberts or Cameron Phelps, he'd bin in like a shot. We don't have such a winger (or such terrible alternatives) - if we did he'd be in the team.

Quality.

Something is nibbling on my line....

Hmmmmm why would a coach come out and say his tactics in public?

Doesn't add up one bit personally i think he's just trying to rattle ainscough we all know his defence is suspect but he knows where the line is and i think potter might be worried about that

Its a bluff - watch out for the power play on the last!