Well, as i said he has proved he is ready, that why we are in the cup quarters..

Totally due to Sam? You sure?!

It's not blaming him. It's pointing out why he's not good enough.

Also. Fair players are fine in Australia, not here.

don't talk sh#t if he is going to make it nhe needs to adapt to the conditions off the english weather !!

Yes, IN TIME. He's only 19!

Another point, why, when we are attacking the opponents line in conditions like tonight, do our 1st and 2nd receiver stand so far away from both the PTB and from each other? It was painful to watch us try and swing it from one side of the pitch to the other tonight.

No sh#t sherlock but to predict what conditions he can play in is boll#ks.

Half way through a game it starts raining BRING SAM OF ITS RAINING.

You ever played the game ??? start young learn young !

Calm down sonny! I think you've easily proved how much you know about the game. Thankfully, young Sam and Shaun are being brought on properly by the club, protecting them in the long term.

get a grip. yes hes a prospect, potentially world class but he is so young and only just making his name in the game. 19 is a young age for a half back. some forwards make it younger but the pressure and responsibilty is not the sameas for a half back. sam and ainscough will be used throughout this season and no doubt will be first choice season, this year is about building them up physically, mentally and putting the confidence in place to deal with a very expectant wigan crowd. its about gaining experience to make them into the players we all think they will become.

Yes, he was going okay tonight, had a kick charged down and then looked like he'd never picked up a rugby ball in his life before. His confidence is extremely fragile.

So there weren't the conditions for Sam who grew up playing winter rugby in Wigan but they were the conditions for Riddell who has only played in the sunshine of Oz and has done rag all in a Wigan shirt?

Id agree with that.



Overstating the case imo.

sonny ???? its pi$$ed down



throw him in these games and give him some experience off the sh#t times and the good times.

somebody talking sense !!

look outside the box fella. he is 19 years old, no experience of super league till recently, playing amatuer rugby in the winter is no comparison to winter conditions against a team that sits top of super league. riddell, has played in the hardest competition in the world and is pretty much a veteran, and if you think it doesn;t rain like that in oz, have a look at the early rounds of the nrl this season. tonight was going to be a slog. in ainscough and sam we are trying to develop two stars of the future. preparing them physically and mentally, creating the confidence to perform in front of probably the most expectant set of fans world wide. sam slipping and sliding, dropping the ball, getting hit time and time again by a big set is not something that will build him. we needed experience tonight, not a lad trying to make a name for himself, playing him would have done more damage than good imo. we have to look after our stars of the future and develop them at the right pace. im not a fan of noble, but right choice tonight

one brilliant pass to set up lockers try, after that i thought he was abysmal,he spoiled most moves by getting in the way and most of his passes where around players ankles,his bad kick seemed to change the momentum we had at the time, also at every scrum he changed places with gleeson i presume because of his weak defence, thought he was bad last week as well. just not convinced by this guy.

You must be joking? He will have played most of his games growing up in the rain. The conditions didn't suit the Aussies!

different arena in the amateurs.. if you'd have talked about ainscough instead of roberts i would agree. but a very slight half back, in thick of it against currently the best team in super league, water under foot, i cant. the pressure and responsibilty on a half back is unreal particularly in front of a wigan following. you automatically get compared to kenny, edwards, gregory, etc etc, tonight could have done more damage than good. he needs developing gradually this year so he becomes the worldbeater we all know he is capable of becoming

Look, imo you play your best players week in week out regardless of age or weather conditions.

Sam and Ainscough have been two of the better players this year and should be in the side - the fact that they were not is a travesty and people making excuses for Noble just does'nt wash in my eyes.

Weird that, our home fans are always so supportive of our overseas players when we fall behind.

I bet our new signings prefer away games!

i am not a noble fan, i will be mortified if he doesnt go at the end of the year. however i think we need to protect out youngsters. develop them at the right rate. also we do no know the ins and outs of wages, with the rumours about both youngsters earning much more if they play X amount of games, keeping within the cap etc. things are never black and white at wigan, you must know this by now.

I do wonder where all this "we must take care of our young players" lark comes in.

I look at the likes of Maguire and Burrow who were chucked in at the deep end and it hasn't done them any harm, Graham, Cunningham, Wellens, Roby - none of these guys have been "protected" during their careers to date and it doesn't seem to have done them any harm. Michael Shenton at Cas appears able to handle it, as does Welham at Hull KR.

What harms players in my mind is by holding them back when they are clearly ready - Tomkins is ready and playing him off the bench each week should neither tire him out, expose him too early or put him at risk of burn out at a later stage of his career.

the likes of graham,burrow, mcguire were brough into teams that were the best. surrounded by players that could take the pressure off them, pick up the pieces if it went wrong. the same as we were like when people like farrell came through the ranks. we are not that team anymore. we are relying on these players to make us into contenders. unfortunately they do not have the team around them to assist. if anything the rest of the team is relying on the youngsters, and like i said, we do not know what is going on behind the scenes with salaries etc. if the rumours are to believed we cannot play them every week !!!!

Completely agree with the first post's assessment of Tim Smith bar the last sentence. As AJ says that is overstating it.

totally agree