Since when does dropping the ball and sulking constitute carrying our front row? Fair play for backing the lad , but that statement is b0ll0cks

You can't use lacking support from his team mates as an excuse for a prop. Fair enough if he was a half back or a centre who relies on a dominant pack and good field position. However, a prop's role is the same every week. Regardless of what anyone else is doing, Fielden has no excuse for going weakly into contact and coughing up possession. Equally, in Fielden's case, you can't even say that the rest of the pack are letting him down - Coley, Paleaaesina and Prescott/O'Carroll match up to most front rows in the league and Riddell is an experienced hooker who had no issues with distribution in the NRL. From a neutral perspective it's sad to see Fielden in this state - I think maybe the best thing that could happen to him at the moment would be an injury or just something to give him few weeks off. He's only missed 3 games since 2004.

The trouble is we have no option but to play him. You cant run with 3 props because the 3 in question are not good enough as a unit. The way i feel about Fielden is that he frustrates the hell out of me i dont know if hes genuinely lost whatever he once had or hes just not interested but the reality is the team is just about better with him in it than out. And that is saying something because at the moment he is playing awful.

He is,thats the problem. He is playing so poorly yet is still as good as the other options in the front row. The only player who has bettered Fielden is O'Carroll but hes injured. That shows the state of our front row. Im not saying Fielden is doing a great job by any means,hes awful.

And Feka and Coley.

We bloody well do have options, it's not North West Counties where everyone gets a game! We had Lee Mossop, who Noble smartly loaned to Barrow while we already have a prop injured. We have Ben Davies, who's probably wondering how on earth Stuart 'drop and roll' Fielden is getting a game ahead of him. Finally we have Gareth Hock, who hasn't got anything like the muscle Fielden has but would step up to play prop if needed and show him how to take a drive. Noble is making himself look like super league's thickest coach giving Fielden a game every week.

Feka yes but i dont class him as a prop in the true sense of the word and Coley has only played better than Fielden in the last couple of games and even then he did more sideways running than forwards.

£ for £ Coley is miles better than Fielden... Even not taking value for money into account he has been at least as good

Oh please get a reality check. Mossop and this Davies guy are not going to come in and knock the rest of SL around. We already have 2 young lads playing prop adding more would only weaken us. As for Hock well hes an option but we need him running wide as hes the only backrower who can break a tackle.

"Oh please get a reality check" neither is Fielden.

But that does not alter the fact that Fielden is still doing a job albeit a poor job. He is still doing as well as Coley which highlights how poor the Wigan front row is. I am not defending Fielden just pointing out that IMO we would be even weaker still without him.

Where did i say he was? Please stop jumping to conclusions,i am simply pointing out that since our front row is so bad to start with its no time to start bringing more young inexperienced props into it.

You've spent loads of time defending Fielden... Now is a perfect time to bring young props in, it will send the message to the first team that if you don't perform you get dropped and to the reserves that if they do perform they will get a chance in the first team. If this wouldn't give the first team players an incentive to perform i don't know what will. Its partly Noble having his favourites that get picked no matter what that we are in this situation... Hopefully a bit of pride in the club and passion that the young ones show would rub off on the rest of the team.

Younger props would get totally mullered, if you can't see that you've never played prop. Baring the odd freak of nature, an 18/19 year old prop would be really in the crap

Is it?

Ok, read front row rather than pack. Two youngsters and Coley - who, until Salford, was slated more than Fielden on here. And Feka, who is a short-spell luxury. As highly as I rate Prescott and O'Carroll, they are like most young props - slowly maturing and growing into their role. Prescott looked shattered today after no time.

So then, who are our core forwards, leading the team forward? Yes, we have plenty of defensive second-rowers - but Tomkins has been quiet this year after a great 2008, Hock has been brilliant then a liability, Bailey is constantly derided on here, Hansen is starting to get some stick, Lockers is great in defence but just starting to show attacking form.

But who is bullying the opposition front row? Fielden is trying to, badly, albeit with a shot mindset and lack of bulk, and we have Lockers putting in the occasional big hit. And Feka going forward, of course. The rest are often boys against men. We have neither the size or experience at present.


You seriously want more kids at prop? It's a well known fact that props don't reach their peak until later in their careers, which kind of points to them not being anywhere near as effective very early in their careers. Fielden may be struggling at times but ask any of the others to do his job and they'd be seriously screwed. Especially the youngsters.

I would always want local youngsters coming through, but unfortunately prop is probably the one position you must have age and experience in your squad. We need at least one big, hard-running and experienced prop over. Ideally two. Not more young props.

I'm on about them having the odd game not playing every week. O'Carroll and Prescott were both given some game time at a young age and will benefit in the years to come because of it.. I know you cant just wait till players get to a certain age then expect the to play every week.

Buffalo my point about bringing you props in I have partly explained in the previous post but it was also intended as a general point about Noble not being willing to drop players who are underperforming. Whatever way you look at it Fielden is massively underperforming and the argument that he is the best we've got doesn't cut it with me. A team where players aren't fighting for positions won;t win very much and what incentive have the young uns got to improve if they've got no chance of any first team time? Noble dropping Smith and bringing Sam in is one of the few examples of him making a positive change that wasn't dictated to him by injuries. If one of the young lads got a place in the first team for even one match their attitude would not be 'I'm going to get mullered' but 'I'm going to go out there give 100% and show people what I'm capable of'. Fielden seems to be the one who thinks he's going to get mullered when he runs in!! I'll excuse the inevitable mistakes the youngsters in our team make but find it very hard to excuse Fielden on his ridiculous salary when he has shown no signs of improvement bar a couple of games at the end of last season.

Imho, Fielden has lot a lot of the bulk that gave him a presence, he even looks small in person nowadays, where when he first arrived he had a presence. He needs a bit more bulk if he's going to carry on playing first team RL for any SL club.

But to be fair it's not just Fielden that's not cutting the mustard at the moment Feka is great whilst we have the ball for his five or six runs, however is a liability whilst we are defending. His lateral movement is woeful, getting back to the defensive line is a chore, I know this isn't his forte, but defence is a team job and is as much about attitude as well. Just before the game they showed a clip of him scoring for us against Les Cats in the first game. Looked a completely different player, carrying a lot less muscle mass, but carrying similar weight.

Coley, the efforts been there in the last couple of games, and there is a couple of decent tackles going in, but his goforward, or lack therein, is not the best. I would be surprised if he's still at Wigan next season.

Fielden has played so many games as a prop from a young age that i think hes basically knackered and his body at the present moment is not up to it. Average career for a prop is fairly long. Look at players like Barrie Mac, Terry O Connor all player the game into their 30's. Difference is Fielden has played the equivalent game time in his career as did any of the 2 ive mentioned.

Also hes not helped by Feka's apparent inability to play for long periods. Either its a fitness issue or Noble wants him in spirts. Noble has been Feka's coach for a while now and this issue needs sorting out. Sorry but Feka is no use on the bench for 50 minutes a game.

Coley recently has looked better than he did last season but still not of the standard we need. If Filden is with us next season then i really hope we can get 2 props than can give him a break. As the way hes going i cant see him playing Rugby much longer as his performances has been shocking recently. He looked better end of last season than he had done for a while. But i think he needs to take a break for his body to recover or he needs to go from prop to second row. As hes getting battered week in week out and its not helping his confidence to be put into that situation

What a tragedy Stuart Fielden's rugby league career has become.

Its hard to believe the difference between what he is and what he once was.

I'd love to see the tape of the Bradford v Wests game - I'm starting to think I dreamt it.

Approaching 30, Fielden should be hitting the peak of his career, but instead it's going downhill, fast.

But here is the problem. Hes played week in week out before he hit 20. He also has played more minutes than anyother prop since SL started and id gues that includes the NRL. Its only so much your body can take before it needs a proper rest. Most sporting careers at the top are about 7-10 years. He has been playing since 1998.

I have the DVD at home and, in that game, he was IMMENSE!

now though, hes finished and needs to retire or go out on loan

I fancied watching some of Fielden's better moments, so I googled him and found this. It's a question and answer session on the bbc website from when he was at Bradford news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 948872.stm Quote Q. What is it that made you into the best prop in the world? Is it raw talent or do you have a different work ethic to others? Robbie, Bradford A mix of both. As one of Brian Noble's famous quote goes: "talent is overrated". A lot of it is down to attitude. I'm an absolutely terrible loser, whatever I'm doing. That carries over into training which means I stay behind constantly trying to get better and make things right. It's very rare I'm happy with the way I played. As soon as I've played I'll be looking at what I can do to play better. '" Does he still do this? And if he's such a terrible loser then no wonder he's not very happy at the minute!!

I fancied watching some of Fielden's better moments, so I googled him and found this. It's a question and answer session on the bbc website from when he was at Bradford news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 948872.stm Quote Q. What is it that made you into the best prop in the world? Is it raw talent or do you have a different work ethic to others? Robbie, Bradford A mix of both. As one of Brian Noble's famous quote goes: "talent is overrated". A lot of it is down to attitude. I'm an absolutely terrible loser, whatever I'm doing. That carries over into training which means I stay behind constantly trying to get better and make things right. It's very rare I'm happy with the way I played. As soon as I've played I'll be looking at what I can do to play better. '" Does he still do this? And if he's such a terrible loser then no wonder he's not very happy at the minute!!

That is bang on..........he has played enough games to cover one and a half or maybe even two careers!!!!

He played too many games and way too many minutes at a young age!

Saints and Bradford need to be careful that the same does not happen with Graham and Burgess