Dave, i know your a big fan of stats, personally i prefer to judge players on what i see with my eyes because as you know stats can be misleading.

People have different ideas about what type of player they like to see, i`m a fan of the attack minded scrum half which is why ive been a fan of the likes of Andrew Johns, Alfie Langer and british scrum halves like Andy Gregory and Rob Burrow etc, this is why i like Sam Tomkins as a player as he is always willing to have a go at the oppositions defensive line.

I see Richie Myler as more of a support player that runs off the shoulder of the ball carrier in a way that Shaun Edwards used to play the game, Myler also has a very good short kicking game. Like i said above, i`ll back Tony Smith`s judgement over my own, its all about personal preferences on the type of player you like to watch.

Yep, didn't really focus on the attacking stats, as they don't always tell you that much. Briers assists are quite low this year, yet much of our good stuff comes direct from him in attack.

The stats I focused on were the defensive stats, as these are quite black and white (although I acknowledge that there is nothing factored in for being out of position). I looked at these the other day, because we are constantly told that his defence is dire, and teams will target him all day, when actually his defensive stats hold up quite well. The fact is that we haven't seen massive amounts of Myler on TV, due to the team he plays for, and many of the opinions that we do get are from Salford fans who are upset with him.

As you say, I'll go with Smith's judgement, and the fact that Salford were prepared to make him their highest paid player ever, over some fans who are upset about him leaving.

Do these defensive stats include being the 2nd or 3rd man into a tackle, his one on one stats would be more interesting but then again i always go with what i see with the naked eye over stats and judge a player that way.

Not 100% sure what they include, but they are exactly the same as the other players, so when comparing like for like it is fine.

Out of interest, how many times have you seen Myler play? I was thinking about this, and for me it is probably only 4 or 5 times, which tbh is preventing me from forming a strong opinion either way on him.

Quite a few times last year in the national league as Salford were on quite a lot, a few times this year as well. Granted Salford fans will know him a lot better than any of us, quite a lot of their fans pointed out his weak defence long before he was linked with us.

He has age on his side, if Tony Smith can get Lee Briers to defend better then i`m sure he can work same of the same magic on Richie Myler.

Its just about preference really, its similar in a way to how i would have prefered Michael Shenton over Ryan Atkins just because visually i prefer Shenton`s more attacking and skilful style of play to Atkins who is more about power and breaking through tacklers, Shenton is more nimble on his feet similar to how Alan Bateman was and Atkins plays in a more direct way similar to how Joe Ropati did, obviously the builds are different.

The above is similar in why i prefer Sam Tomkins to Richie Myler, i`m a fan of the type of player that is always looking to attacka and can step past players in the blink of an eye, Sam Tomkins is also very good defender as well and he isn`t affraid to take on any size of player in defence. I just think Sam Tomkins is the better all round player and the more dangerous proposition.

Its horses for courses and people prefer different styles of players.

Dave,
I respect your opinions as you are one of the more reasoned posters on the message boards.

What I will tell you is I know from speaking to some of the Wigan coaching staff that Myler was targeted defensively when Wigan played Salford in the Cup and also in the league game.

If you watch him he has a tendency to come out of the line. It is something that with time and good coaching can be sorted if he willing to listen. Having watched Myler, Tomkins and Eastmond for the last four or five years I do believe that Sam is the better all round player, but it is superb for our game to have all that talent available.

I don't doubt any of that tbh, and it is very common for halves to be targeted, indeed Tomkins does a hell of a lot of tackles (with a very very high completion rate) but obviously the tactic is to get him working in defence to make him less effective in attack.

Personally, I agree with you and Rob, that Tomkins looks the best player, although I have seen more of him than the other two, and have formed an opinion on him. The fact is though, that Myler was available, whereas Saints and Wigan would not release their young lads to us.

My main reson for bringing the defensive stats into the thread has been in response to some claims about his defence over the past few months, which suggests that he couldn;t tackle, when actually he is no worse than many others knocking around, and much more experienced than him.

Rob, I agree with what you say above, my stats were simply in response to people who make out he can;t tackle for toffee, of who there have been many over the past few months.

Sometimes the stats can help to give fresh angle and support or challenge our opinions which can be formed on initial viewings.

For example, when certain players get called penalty machines, or others get called lazy, despite being up there as a team's top tackler and so on.

I found it interesting to see that Myler had a hand in 26 tries so far this year, whether he was scoring or making the last pass/kick. Salford have only scored 73 all year, so he has had a hand in one-third of them, and that has to be a good thing. There will also have been other tries where he hasn;t been credited with anything on those stats.

I'm sure that's correct and he was targeted- however I'm also sure that it's true in almost every game of Super League played this season. Without turning this into a tiresome Tomkins v Myler debate (for the reasons you state in your last sentence), Tomkins' defence didn't look that great when Matt 'Waste of Money' King was smashing him all over the Halton Stadium at the semi final.

I've no doubt that Richard Myler is not a defensive beast. I suspect we're aware of that and have signed him for different things - namely his passing, running, kicking and backing up play. He'll improve under Smith, absolutely sure about that too.

And as for Salford's fans views on Myler. No doubt they are more qualified that most to comment on him. However the comments over the last few months must be placed in their proper context. The whole transfer saga has been handled poorly, principally by Offiah. That put Myler, and to be fair McRae, in a very difficult position. It's clouded Salford fans views of him and I can appreciate that - we had the same thing when Gleeson left - people slagging off a player who had given very good service.

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... Myler.html Warrington will on Monday make Richie Myler the most expensive teenager in rugby league after agreeing a transfer fee with Salford for the England scrum-half. The Wolves will unveil the 19-year-old at a press conference at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Monday afternoon, although Salford stole their thunder by announcing the game's worst-kept secret on Sunday. =redPlease don't be copy and pasting copyrighted material off news sites in full, they get a bit uppity about it. Thanks

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... Myler.html Warrington will on Monday make Richie Myler the most expensive teenager in rugby league after agreeing a transfer fee with Salford for the England scrum-half. The Wolves will unveil the 19-year-old at a press conference at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Monday afternoon, although Salford stole their thunder by announcing the game's worst-kept secret on Sunday. =redPlease don't be copy and pasting copyrighted material off news sites in full, they get a bit uppity about it. Thanks

Loving the reaction from the Bitters, handful of games and his stats allover most halfbacks in SL and he was in a team...Priceless.

I look forward to the English version of this post being published.


Back on topic:

I find it amazing that a scrum-half is being rated in terms of his defensive ability. TBH I'd much rather have a scrum-half who can catch, pass, create something and score tries.

These kind of opinions reflect the fact that RL has become increasingly defensive focused, and more often than not, quite boring.

I have said this more than once. Who cares if your HB is a little weak defensively? If he can defend I would take it as a bonus behind all the other attributes.

To point on the Myler Vs Tomkins and Eastmond debates... (may be Widnes bias) But...

I'd pick Richie ahead as the out and out 7!

Myler runs a side better than the other two!
Myler has the better kicking game!
Myler has the better distribution!
Also having played two games for England superbly (all beit against 'lesser' opponents) he's eased his way to the next level every time!

The other two's main assets are in try scoring... Myler has more than is fair share this season aswell! Yes his form has dipped but that's due to all the rumours... with them gone now I bet the lad just can't wait to get going next year now!

200k for a 19yr old England international scum half? BARGAIN - FACT! Look at Briers for example Wire have got up to about 12yrs minimum they could get out of this kid at the top level... how can you question that?

Great signing IMO... Just fuming he's joined you lot! Just remeber your groundings Richie

Myler & Atkins both offer lots, not least pace. For all we've got at the minute, we're not blessed with great pace. If either of them support a break or make a break, I'd fancy them to romp home. I think the two additions compliment what we have in place very well.

Agree entirely. Unfortunately, he is a young British lad, so opposition fans will try and knock him and will focus on his weaker area, and a few Salford fans have, perhaps justifiably, become aggrieved with him and backed this up once it became clear he was leaving.

We have been criticised in the last few years for buying overseas halves who were actually better hookers, and this time we have gone out and bought a very good young British halfback talent, so I am pretty happy with the signing tbh.

Great signings. Two up and coming young internationals stepping into a squad that is packed with experience.......perfect formula for developing further!

I apologise if you're too dull to understand my previous post.

Soo... Which guess was nearer? The former or the latter?

Well according to this we have signed Atkins for £150,000

[urlhttp://www.wakefieldwildcats.co.uk/atkins-to-join-wolves-in-2010-i606129.html[/url

Dull? You mean I don't speak 'scrote' or 'chav'?

No, but you're clearly fluent in bellend. I don't speak that, sadly.

The evidence backing up my previous post, m'lud

I look forward to the English version of this post being published.

Are the mods ever gonna take any action against this foul mouthed yob.

He is disgusting.