Some of our fans really baffle me.

Penny still has a lot to learn, and there was clearly defensive issues with him (although under previous managers there were defensive issues with most players), but for anybody to question his finishing ability just proves that some people are absolutely clueless.

Clearly attention seeking.

How may tries has he bombed when he has had half a chance?

How many tries has he scored where he has skinned players?

Some of the examples of players who are better finishers than him are hilarious.

Cudjoe is only just 21, some media have got his year of birth as 1986 when the correct year is 88.

Kevin Penny is 21 he was in the same year as my son.
Some people have a natural talent to play RL and the game comes naturally Penny unfortunately it doesn't come naturally yes he can run but that is the end of his talent and if many of you take off your P&B glasses you will realise he isn't as good as a lot of people on here think !

I'm guessing he kept your son out of the school team

I hope to see him playing for us again, the way everyone lifted whenever he got the ball during the back end of '07 was awesome. I'd never really seen anything like that before.

Unfortunately many wire (and rugby league fans on the whole?) seem much happier to be able to say 'i always said he was poo' and be glad about that, than see an excellent prospect come through.

Kevin Penny is a player of huge potential, but he's not the finished article, and a prolonged spell of first team RL will do him the power of good.
Sorry to talk football, but I remember when a young David Beckham went to Preston North End on loan. It didn't mean that he was rubbish, or that his club didn't rate him, just that he was a player of great potential who happened to have more experienced players ahead of him at that stage in his career, and needed to play some first team games. That loan spell didn't seem to do him any harm, and I'm hoping that Kevin will do well at Widnes, then come back to the HJ and have many great years in the primrose and blue.
Some people just can't see that there are many shades of grey in between 'brilliant' and 'rubbish'.

Good post, and some people just seem to hate our own youth products for the sake of doing so.

This is a good test of Penny's character, and I hope/believe that he'll come out of the other side as an improved player, because he has more ability than carthorses like Raynor or young Tom Briscoe could ever dream of.

Spot on.

who sang that song "just the two of us........???"


It always comes into my head when LWF and Spit of 74 go talk about Kevin Penny........

most people with a brain cell realise Penny has something special its just these two that wont accept it....

i love it..... continually they asked of examples of poor positioning bad defence dropped high balls .....

even the Widnes fan gave an example of his pace diffusing a 2 on 1 ...that is great skill and can only be done by a confident player who posseses pace....

Thats what i think he will remain, it wouldn`t suprise me if Tony Smith has already decided that he isn`t part of his long term plans. He will always be capable of the odd bit of brilliance but that is mainly down to his shear pace, from the times ive seen him i can`t remember him beating a defensive line thats directly in front of him by using RL skills, it seems to be pace or nothing with Kevin Penny.

Its usually recieve the ball and run it out then bang, he is usually skull dragged a few yards backwards as his body looks too light framed to break through a tackle and it doesn`t look like its naturally made for RL. If you remember Martin Offiah he was actually a well built athlete, he had that strong hand off in his armoury which got him past quite a few tacklers in the past or he could wrong foot defenders stood directly in front of him with a big side step and hand off.

I really hope Kevin Penny makes it at the top level, i have my doubts though as he doesn`t look a natural to this game and he is very light framed, too light framed IMO.

I think kevin Penny has the opportunity to learn how to play rugby league whilst at Widnes. He has undoubted athletic ability and put into a yard or two of space he is gone. I like his attitude on the pitch and when the ball is heading to the wing that he is on it puts me on the edge of my seat.
It is the little things that he needs to get better at.
The quality of a kick return is a big part of a how a team starts off their set of six and KP is often pushed back and / or turned round. He is no threat scooting from DH early in the count and I can't quite remember him getting anywhere near breaking a tackle, Riding or avoiding a tackle - yes, but breaking one? Once a defender has got hold of Kevin Penny he often ends up in what Cullen would call a poor landing position.

We forget that he was a late comer to playing RL. Most SL players have been plaing since they were 6 or 7 so Kev is at a distict disadvantage.

Warrington made big mistakes in bigging him up so much just after he burst onto the scene. Kevin Penny T shirts, Dream team, well publicised extended contract. To be fair to Noble at Wigan, if nothing else he has kept Ainscough's feet on the ground by dropping him after scoring 4. Maybe we should have tried to sneak him under the radar but we didnt.

One good thing out of this could be that he helps Widnes to a Northern rail cup win which in turn helps them get back into SL which in turn puts an additional 3000 on one of our home gates at the expense of Wakefield / Cas. Keep it going Kev.

By the way. The song was Bill Withers i think.