Amos Roberts is THE sh*t.

Oh yes look at that, a woman is always right.

Thankfully I backed him to the hilt in this topic and don't now look like a plank

Uh-oh, I'd better just cover my back on this one.



To be fair Amos did suck last year, but this year he has really shone to become the player that many of us expected we'd be getting.

I'll gladly put my hand up and say that this year he has shown a remarkable turn of form to become arguably are best player, but there's still no getting away from the fact that last year he was poor.

Now what ever the reasons for his poor form last year have obviously been addressed, and at the end of the day a happy player is a better player, and long may it continue for Amos.

He was poor at the start of last year and pretty good for the rest.

I love it when these sort of threads are brought back! I can almost see the posters sitting at their computers with red faces and that uncomfortable, prickly feeling up the back of their necks!

I dont recall bagging him last season, nor praising him either.. BUT........ it seems to me that a lot of Aussies have a poor first year and then come good in subsequent seasons.

I totally remember calling Dallas all the names under the sun in his first year, then having to backtrack when he proved what a pedigree winger he was.

Also, wasnt Richards a little bit rubbish in his first season for us ?

Cant really see the point of this thread, he wasnt hot last year, now he is.

End of.

I backed the lad, but my god reading my post on page 2 i look like i have spat the dummy right out.

It made me cringe reading it, i must have had a beer in me!

I don't remember Dallas being poor in his first year. And his try scoring record for that year speaks for itself.

The question is, how many people bagged Roberts last year because they were skeptical about Brian Noble and/or Ian Lenagan?

If you recall, Ainscough getting dropped became a whip for some to beat Nobby with on the basis that "he never plays the youngsters". I'm not taking sides in that argument now, but the acquisition of Roberts, who was seen by some as a replacement for Ainscough (whereas I always thought he was more of a replacement for Mathers) only added fuel to that fire. Likewise, Roberts's initial poor form was apparently meat and drink to those who'd become convinced that Ian Lenagan only made weak signings because he "wouldn't splash the cash".

I was disappointed by Roberts last year, but only because he wasn't living up to a reputation that he'd earned fair and square in Australia. It did seem that the old cliche - "why are they always good elsewhere but crap when they come to us" - had rung true again.

Perhaps though we should forget those first impressions and comments made in the heat of the moment, and just be grateful that Amos appears to have turned the corner so successfully, and equally grateful that someone at Wigan - either Nobby or IL - had the wisdom to see that at some point this player could be very, very useful to us.

Or both?

The fact that Amos is performing so well this year only highlights how much he was underperforming last year. Now whether last years performances were down to him not settling in, carrying an injury or not being coached properly are debatable but the people who said last year that he was useless and not worth either his wages or the quota money don't have any reason to be red faced now imo. How good would Ainscough be now if he wasn't dropped so early on last season giving him extra Super League experience and a full pre-season with MM and co? He was no more of a liability in defence than AMos last year and was far more effective in attack, yet he got dropped but Amos didn't and thats what annoyed people and rightly so. It bears uncanny similarities to the previous season when Darrell Goulding was dropped (after a shocking TEAM performance at Craven Park) and replaced by a less than spectacular (at that time) Mr Phelps... Yet those who criticised Phelps or Amos were accused of scapegoating by those who happily accepted everything that Nobby did when Darrell and Ainy were treated as scapegoats themselves (ironically Ainy was dropped after a matchwinning performance)

Agree with you 100%. However, you will have Jukesays on your back any minute.

You just knew I'd be here didn't you!



Best Right Winger at the club last year even if he was "Under performing" to his best level. He was still better than Ainscough etc and from early May through to the end of the year I thought he was the best players we had.

Best Right Winger at the club This Year and as I have said on the other thread, Jonh was right & he's probably the Best FB at the club as well!

If MM's coaching has brought this out of Roberts then Brill
If Roberts getting a full re season has upped his performances then Brill!
Whatever is doing it Brill!

Last Year I asked 1 question about Roberts.

If another coach comes in who will he pick? He picked Roberts.

Those who called Roberts Gash & every name under the sun last year will say he was Gash last year and MM has made him better etc etc

Thos who stuck up for Roberts last year will say that his undoubted class was there for all to see and he was playing well last 2/3rds of the season and now we are jsut seeing an extension of that.

Who's right, Who cares?

I like how you state as fact that Amos was better than Ainscough, good one. Here are the stats based on the assumption Amos and Shaun played the same number of games, read into them as you feel appropriate.

Amos Shaun
11 11 Appearances
5 13 Tries
2 2 Try assists 2
2 0 Goals
0 0 Drop Goals
935 1131 Meters
112 145 Carries
45 40 Tackles
10 9 Offloads
4 2 Attacking Kicks
37 34 Runs from dummy half
21 39 Tackle Busts
5 4 Marker tackles
9 14 Clean Breaks
0 0 Forty twenty
5 2 Kicks in general play
3 0 Missed goals
11 8 Missed tackles
10 15 Errors
2 3 Penalties
0 0 Red cards
0 0 Yellow cards

I always felt that Amos had a bit of class about him and you won't find any posts by me being overly critical of him but he can't really be compared with Ainscough based on stats. Last season almost everything went through the left hand side and only once we got Gleeson on the right and Hock was no longer playing on the left, did we start to see some ball go out to the right. If I'd have played on our left wing I'd have scored more tries than Roberts did on the right.

As Pemps says, "How many of those games did Ainscough play on the Right Wing?".

Apples & Oranges

99% Correct! (Not sure about the bit were you'd score more tries on the left than Ainy

)

If his missus' was on the sidelines with a flask of cocoa.....who knows?!

The truth will always out!!!

What has happened to Brett?! Things seem to be going well so there is nothing for him to moan about?

Last season I was in the pub with a mate of mine when someone said to us he was more like Audrey Roberts. We both argued he was one of the best wingers in the league.

As my mate said to me Saturday night after picking up his 3rd successive Roberts 1st Try Winnings! (£20 a game at between 10 & 12/1 BTW!).

"It's EASY to spot class!"



PS

He also had £100 on Wigan at +4 & £100 at scrath 5/4!

I think a few of us can quite smugly say "we told you so"

Not sure if I posted on this thread originally, but I have to admit that at the time I didn't rate him. At all.

You can add this to my Phelps confession then. I was wrong about Roberts too.



Clearly though it was all BN's fault because they're both great players now!



Wouldn't you agree BK?

Mr Roberts as made me £50 the last two home games god bless him



Forgot to put bets on saturdayicon_sad.gif

Yes If I was only on about tries scored. Ainy's metres per carry were lower with him being a finisher but this doesn't explain clean breaks and the like. In several games Ainy was bouncing players off him as if he were a second rower hence his Busts were so high, nothing to do with left or right wing, Amos has been great at this this season but didn't last season when he had the ball and on what other grounds can you compare the two players (as in your assertion that Amos was better than Ainy) other than by things such as clean breaks and busts?? I'm genuinely interested to know bud because if I'm guilty of comparing apples with oranges then surely so are you?

Anyway, Shaun got injured and Amos is storming this year and rightfully keeping Ainy out so it doesn't really matter I suppose, but I will stick to the fact that his performances this year cannot be used as justification for keeping him in last year because at the end of the day we kept him in the team last season and won absolutely nothing. So in effect if we wanted we could be the smug ones

(getting bored of my own argument)