Quote ="WiganBurt"that is entirely my point, the stats have shown what they are able to show, i.e. what can be measured, but they do not show you the entire equation. they can show you his metres gained, how many tries he has to his name but they do not show you many other elements such as desire, enthusiasm, fitness, quick-thinking, decisive plays etc.
I actually agree with you all here it does sound like i'm griping on about him a little too much but I must once again point out, considering the mess wigan is in as we all now know, a player of marquee status needs to be doing more. my concern is that his off the field habits may be having a detrimental effect - that is not a criticism, i'm genuinely wondering if that is partially to blame fo his apparent lack of form.'"
I totally get where you're coming from WB. I just have this thing about people dismissing stats because sometimes they are used incorrectly. It's like saying words can be used to lie therefore all words must be lies or pictures can be doctored therefore all pictures cannot be real. I often ask people on here to justify an opinion by backing it up with something concrete and whenever they can't they invariably use some variant of the 'stats can be used to prove anything' line when, in actuality, they can't unless you're using them incorrectly. Just put it down to a bee in my bonnet mate!
As for George I tend to agree with you, especially in relation to his marquee status. It puts an enormous expectation on a player, especially a young one, and it's not a foregone conclusion that every personality type is able to handle it. George seems like a quiet lad and maybe this has come too early for him. He wasn't the finished article anyway and perhaps needed to hone his skills a little more 'under the radar' so to speak. I wouldn't agree that he isn't trying though. On occasion it's seemed to me that perhaps he's trying too hard and it's stifling any freedom in his game.