Expectations or otherwise, he was nowhere near the dominant player that he was at Cas. As saintc has stated Wigan signed a player who was a first receiver dominant half back, who had to play second fiddle to Farrell. He probably didn't know whether he was coming or going.

Monaghan, has generally got a mard on and King has/had the lowest confidence I can recall seeing in a player. I saw him smile for the first time in twelve months a couple of weeks ago.

In answer to the question, yes.

Riley still has a future at the club fighting for a spot on the wing, and could turn out to be a potent attacking weapon from a position of less responsibilty.

i said at the time, it was like on orr's first day of training someone sat him down and said "danny, you know all them things you were great at doing at cas that won them games and generaly made us interested in signing you? yeah, remember them? right well you're not allowed to do any of that, stop being the player that we signed and just get out of farrell's way"

Fair deal for both clubs 100k good money for a player out of contract in the summer but you have been done signing mathers. Possibly the worst player i have seen at Wigan in the last 10 years

maybe the competition will mean that riley will up his game and mathers struggles to get a spot, that's what competition is all about innit?

Worse than Jordan James? Really?

now that i find very hard to believe.

It's a pretty low risk signing. Compared to the money some of our other flops have been paid, i'm sure it's relatively risk free.

If Smith can reignite him, and get him back somehere like the player he was at Leeds, we get the bargain of the century. If he's mediocre even, can do a job when asked to, cover a couple of positions etc, for his wage, we'll do okay out of the deal.

come on fella. There is some bloody stiff competition for that honour.

Does Lusi Sione count?

mathers impressed here during his loan spell,then did enough to get a crack at the nrl,injuries curtailed that,arrives back in super league,club form dips along a couple more injuries(not serious)still only 25 years old.
to get 100k plus a young man with talent(which needs rekindling) for a player who could walk for nothing in a short time is a cracking deal.
he could be better than riley,he is a better fullback than bridge would make and with reardons future in jeopardy i welcome him into our squad,riley has to continue in his current vein of form to hold onto the number one jersey.

Funny how Mathers is the worst Wigan player they have ever seen since he has left and signed for us. I suppose Gleeson has signed for the love Wigan as well.

Quote ="mark_m"Funny how Mathers is the worst Wigan player they have ever seen since he has left and signed for us. '" viewtopic.php?t=392735 19 pages of 'Bloody Hell Mathers' posted back in February. We've never rated him but have done our best to give him a chance.

Quote ="mark_m"Funny how Mathers is the worst Wigan player they have ever seen since he has left and signed for us. '" viewtopic.php?t=392735 19 pages of 'Bloody Hell Mathers' posted back in February. We've never rated him but have done our best to give him a chance.

He is far from being the worst Wigan player though Alex. I would have thought Noble would learn his lesson and stop buying players in and start to use the potential from within the club.

He isn't good enough to play fullback at Super League standard and Darrell Goulding isn't playing well enough to hold his place, hence why we're going to loan him out after apparently being reluctant to allow him join a club on a permenant basis.

At the moment we have a young fullback called Josh Vievers (son of Phil) who isn't quite ready for first team but should be in the next 2 years, so hopefully he will replace Roberts/Richards when ready.

His worst trait, and a bad one for a full-back, was that he never caught any kicks down field on the full. He always let it bounce a few times and this drove the fans mental. We never forgave him either for the pathetic 'tackle' on Wilkin in Cardiff.

However, I wish him well with the Wolves. As a few have said, he never had a chance at Wigan especially after that Wilkin incident.

This wasnt the case when he was at leeds. Either the NRL or wigan have somehow made a good player rubbish. I think mathers will come good again under tony smith.

Or maybe it was two serious injuries?

I hope he does regain form and becomes a good player.

There aren't many who deserve it more than him.

Confidence I think, it had just totally deserted him after the injury and the subsequent poor performances

Hope he does well for you guys, I can't help but feel sorry for him as he is obviously full of enthusiasm but his confidence is shot to pieces, hopefully you guys will have the patience with him so he gets it back and certainly linking back up with Tony Smith will be a positive for him. Wish him all the best and really sorry it didn't work out for him with us.

Mathers is not that bad a club man,he shows lots of enthusiasm. His problem is hes playing a position where you have to put your body on the line and thats not good when your a fullback who is scared of going near the ball

i have a sneaking feeling that TS is going to get something out Mathers.

i feel he might try him in another position too

In Tony we trust

only 19 pages we get that weekly when anyone starts a Matt King thread

he hasn't been great since he signed for wigan but i'm willing to give him a chance and hopefully tony can get the best out of him. We need quality backs and when he is in form thats what mathers is.

Others have made clear how far Danny Orr went backwards from his Cas days while at the Pies. Wright only became 'injury prone' after signing for you in the days when you bought anything that looked like it had potential.