He's been our most consistant prop for the past 12 months, easy. He doesn't do anything spectacular, like Feka with his occasional barnstorming runs, but he's a grafter. He takes the ball in time after time, and works hard in defence. It's similar with Fielden too though, he'd take it in all day and play for 80 mins if we let him. Just because he doesn't stand out as much as he used to, doesn't mean that he isn't playing well.

Bailey was absolutely doing my head in last night. He was constantly lying on in the tackle!

I actually thought Solomona was the best prop on the park last night. Watching the replay this morning confirmed what I thought during the game that we just couldn’t contain him. His strong runs and offloads were ripping us to pieces at times and he had a danger about him that none of the other props had.

Maybe he didn’t do the shift Coley, Morley or Stu did but he more than made up for it in attack.

If I was a Wire corporate sponsor I would defo have picked him over Harrison for MOM.

Just as a side note what's your opinion on Coley's future at Wigan next season?

Mate you can continue to believe and think whatever you like, I prefer to use both my eyes and statistical analysis (to try and temper that I maybe being biased or emotional about what i'm seeing). Talk to any modern coach about whether statistical analysis is a valuable tool in sports performance.

You are Alex Murphy and I claim my £5

He did make more busts than Morley, he just made 0.74 less metres per carry and 30 less carries, which is why both statistically and to your eyes Morley had better go forward. My comparison was however nothing to do with Morley, it was about your view that Fielden was bobbins and made of biscuit, and I compared his performance to Coley (who I didn't see you saying was bobbins and made of biscuit).

Solomona isn't a prop lol. He may have the physique of one though.

Go on then, why would you say he doesn't get picked for England anymore and the fans tend to get on his back?

Not being picked for England has bugger all to do with being 'bobbins' or not, and purely to do with if there are better player options available in the that position - which there clearly have been recently.

Why do some of the fans get on his back? Because some are totally myopic and limited in their appreciation of a player and base it entirely on emotional responses invoked in them by 'big hits' 'barnstorming runs' 'badge kissing' and how much they feel a player is earning too much, it still doesn't make the player 'bobbins' nor 'made of biscuit' just because you and some of your mates feel he is.

My bad I could have sworn he was being used in a Feka type prop role last night.

Morley
Carvel
Wood

And then I thought Solomona was the fourth choice prop on the bench?

thought both coley and stu did well last night given who they where up against, what worries me more is the back up from the other props, even though feka looks fitter and is actually making tackles he does seem to have lost a bit of his impact, whilst prescott seems to have gone backwards a bit for me since the back end of last season.

I think feka is still trying to adapt to his new body style, and also has a niggle. Prescott for me really needs to work on his carry, i'm now starting to get nervous when he takes a hit up.

Would you say he is the same player he was when we signed him (In which case you're literally mental) or not as good as when we signed him, but currently finding a bit of form (like I said)?

Of course he's not the same player he was at Bradford, I was never saying that for a second. I was only saying he wasn't 'bobbins' or 'made of biscuit'

Mossop is the new prop. Give him time and he will give us years as a top class prop forward.

He was awesome last night, but so was Coley, really happy with those 2 right now.

.....and makes more tackle busts than Morley, Peacock and Graham? All I'm saying is he's nowhere near the superstar he was, and last year I wouldn't even call him solid, he got dominated way too much for a prop, even Castleford were putting big hits on him.

I just think Coley and Stuart look bigger, Fielden looked more like a 2nd rower for the last 2 years a bit of a gym rat. But he looks like he has got back some of the bulk he had in his bradford days. Coley looks a little bigger too.
The one thing that impressed me though last night was even though the arms where flying and the heavy hit s where going in Coley & Fielden looked for the ball all the time never took a backwards step, and when was the last time someone said that about Fielden??? Confidence is also a great factor for proffessional players and Shaun & Maguire look to be giving them that.

Keep it up!!!!!

Andy Coley is our best prop by a long way, and has been for a good while now.

Coley was the best prop out of the wigan pack for me last night and I agree he is underated. He is prone to the odd error but he gives a 100% week in week out.

Coley generally gets less game time than Stu Fielden, this was true of last year too. So if your going to compare stats you need to look at how much time the individual is on the pitch for, then some stats might not look quite so favourable.

I think a pack takes a few seasons to gel together and what we dont need is a huge turf out of our props at the end of the year. I think Coley should get another season,maybe as a bench player to give us some trusted experience to bring on. This way the younger up and coming props are supported in their developing main stage roles. So for this reason and the fact that he works hard and appears to be well respected, I would keep Coley. Fileden hopefully will also get a new deal on realistic wages. Feka needs to impress a bit more.

Lets give praise where its due, well done Coley, you have proved your critics wrong.

You honestly need to learn interpret the stats. He made more tackle busts than Morley, end of story - but he did make ~ 11% less metres per carry carry than Morley, which is why Morley had more go forwards (which is a better thing overall). Compared to Coley though he made more tackles busts AND more metres per carry, and Coley was not bobbins or made of biscuit, therfore I put forward a proposition that neither was Fielden.

I'm deeply sorry that Fielden doesn't meet your expectations, but no matter how you try and view it, he isn't bobbins or made of biscuit and didn't get dominated all the time, just like Andy Coley didn't.

Saying Stu is a far better player and performed far better than B&B (bobbins and biscuit) does not mean i'm rating his performances as good as Morley, Peacock and Graham.

I really can't see how it's that hard to grasp, unless you really just have a bias against the guy.

That's a very sensible and fair post Clifford (and also why when looking at stats I try to look at them as a collection rather than choosing headline numbers like overall metres made).

Honestly at the moment I would not swap our pack as a =#FF0040complete unit with any other team in super league's pack as a =#FF0040complete unit. I think there's more to come from them as well, and i'd only be looking at making a signing if a truly special player became available (like a Greg Dowling or Ian Roberts)

I mentioned them working as a unit in a thread yesterday actually. Our pack is not about individual brilliance but about sheer hard work as a unit. Long may it continue!

Spot on mate.

I said in the week if we were to win our pack would have to produce another good team preformence and it turned out that way.

We don't have a Morley in our pack but what we do have is 7 or 8 really solid players that will work their nuts off and keep the team moving forward.

the pack had to put in a massive effort to stay in the game, the main reason for that is that we seem to have started the season with higher fitness levels than the other teams, it would be a big ask to maintain that level of effort week in week out as other teams get fitter, the fact is we were on the back foot for most of the game, only a massive effort enabled us to stay in the game. i think we are another good prop short of making us one of the favourites to win superleague.

I've watched the game again and Solomona is definatly being used as the 4th choice prop for Wire.