I get your point but even squad rotation isn't going to get Ainscough enough games imo to make calling him back from Cas(well not extending his loan) worthwhile.

He needs to play every week imo because he's a special talent. It just so happens we have 2 wingers who are even better then him already at the club but his time will come. I hope we keep him at Cas unless somebody picks up an injury and let him develope there. He will play every week and be able to work on his minor flaws.

He's in the best place at this minute in time but hopefully we can sort him out a spot intime for next season.

I agree with this. Ainscough will be getting good SL experience under a good coach at Cas.

I personally think it is looking increasingly obvious that two of his team mates fighting for the same position (Goulding and Pryce) won't be here next season and that if he works on his concrete feet in defence he'll be in the 19 next season.

He does look like having an automatic jump up of 2 places next year with Goulding and Pryce both not cracking any pots(fair play to Gouldings attitude by the way but he just doesn't look quite good enough) so that can be a comfort to him in his time at Cas.

I'd back him to get 20 trys for Cas this year and if he does that his confidence will be sky high. All Wigan need to do is to make sure they keep in regular contact with him and make him feel part of this club still and make sure he knows he has a future.

I agree with that NK. Ainy just needs to be assured that he is a major part of our plans. He's only 20..it's not like it's 'now or never'!

I do feel the club (and in particular IL) are aware of this sort of thing though. IL has been a fan for as long, or longer, than just about anyone on this board and, as such, seems to have similar views. I'm confident he will no more want to lose Ainscough than any of us!

On a side note about another loan player the majority of the Widnes fans have Liam Farrell down as man of the match of their site from yesterdays 72-10 win over Keighley.

He scored a try and was a constant menace down the flanks for them they said and got through tonnes of defence in his 80mins on the pitch.

Sounds very promsing and he again is a player thats in the right place. He's always available to be called back if needs be but for at least the next few months i'd expect to see him tearing it up at Widnes.

A friend (Wigan season ticket holder) rang me yesterday. I was praising Ainscough for his catching of the high balls and the way he took his tries, but was critical of his air shot and I believed he should have gone for the corner instead of kicking infield.

He made an astute observation which I had missed. He said "But did you notice that when he took those high balls he never actually got off the ground. Against a taller wingman he would have struggled."

I honestly hadn't noticed, did anyone else?

Will watch it again later but i dont think he was under pressure of anyone so why risk jumping.

Yes I noticed hence the concrete feet remark - he never seems to get off the ground. I think part of it is that he always wants to catch the ball, when sometimes it might be better just to play safe, compete and knock the ball dead. It's his biggest area to work on for me but I think it should be easily remedied and doesn't mask the fact he's got that x-factor that means he'll score a lot of tries.

I make no secret of being a big fan of Ainscough, and to be honest i think we'll probably end up losing him. He keeps getting passed on from club to club and scoring loads of tries wherever he goes, I bet he'd get a run at most other top SL clubs.

Then seriously you're letting your like get carried away. He's a great talent, but the last thing the lad needs is for people to start telling him he's a total superstar. I couldn't see him getting a start at Leeds, Saints maybe (but's thats because they're not exactly blessed in this spot).

What you should be looking at is would he get the run you're talking about at a club with 2 wingers of the quality and form of Pat Richards and Amos Roberts infront of him?

And tbh if he decides he's got to go, then the only place he's going to walk into is somewhere with available salary cap - of which I don't think there's any of the top clubs unless some come off contract soon. So is he going to walk away to play first team at Salford or Quins?

Don't look for problems where I suspect there aren't any, I'm sure IL/MM/SW along with Rads are managing the situation carefully.

Agreed, you'd only jump for the ball if you were in direct competition with another player to catch it. In Ainscough's case on Saturday night, all the bombs from KR were poor as they didn't allow any of the chasers to apply pressure to the catcher.

I was thinking Ainscough and Richards on the wings, Roberts at full back and Phelps on the bench as either a stand off or a utility back. To be honest I can understand him not getting a game with us when everyone's fit but he should have got a go when Phelps got injured.

Can we keep Ainscough please ?

Not a chance.

Only till we need him



I think he could be at Cas for at least 4 months Unless we get a major injury to one of our wingers. I dont think he would have been loaned out if the Phelps injury was not a short term one.

He Played well for you on Saturday you have a good coach which can only benefit him plus a good team spirit which again will help the lad.

Agreed. If people are so sure he will never warrant selection over Pat and Amos then when Phelps is fit again he could have gone on loan then. He was on a dual registration deal that was designed to allow him back to Wigan for just that reason. I am sure if after Phelps is fit again that would have been too late for Cas to take him there would be no shortage of takers from the other clubs. He doesn't cost much (or he could not have been a dual reg player) and I don't see Cas as some sort of ideal place for him to be compared to other clubs.

Dave

Cas have only took him because they have a season long injury. As far as I am aware no other Superleague club expressed an interest in taking him.

If it is the same as last year with Mossop Wigan will make money from loaning him out i.e they will be charging Cas more than they are paying Ainscough.

IMO cas is as good a place as any for ainscough. What matters is that he is playing SL standard opposition. If it cant be here. cas are a decent club with some good young talent to be mixing with. Good choice for me.

Dave,

Cas needed a player straight away not when Phelps was fit again, SL experience>Championship experience. And I really don't take very seriously this 'there would be no shortage of takers', like who exactly? which team without injuries in SL would willingly drop their first choice wingers (and right royally cheese them off) to accommodate a Wigan player for a month? Who approached us to loan him apart from Cas? Apparently nobody. And Cas is a good place for him, they need him in the team and have brought through and worked with some of their own good young players.

Not Dave.

Can we get the whole thing straight. Players cannot be dual registered with other SL teams. They have to be a lower division. Wigans conditions of players on loan is that they train with Wigan and only train once or maybe twice with the loan club. Because of this obviously other SL teams are a bit reserved. However, an injury later, they are more likely to accept the conditions as in Ainscough's case. So with that in mind think what he actually did on Saturday. After one days training with a new club he played, on TV, for a completely new team and managed to score 3 (some say 4) and looked the most composed of the whole team. It took Amos Roberts a whole season to settle into Wigan. What is even more anoying is BN makes some reference to discredit his game as he needed to play his higher payed players and everyone jumps on the band wagon. Ainscough has obviously worked on his taking of high balls and was confident and didnt miss one. But then you get some idiot who has to say but he didn't jump for any. In my view, unless he is a kangaroo, there is no need to jump around like a demented rabbit unless you need to. Shouldn't we be giving credit to him and the coaching staff for improving. After all the youngsters need SL experience against more seasoned players who may highlight weaknesses as isn't that what the coaching staff are paid thousands of pounds to get any weaknesses improved?

Any references to attitude is in my view insulting. What attitude does a player who gives one hundred percent every game and trains hard show? Good I would say.

I personally think he has improved from last season and hopefully will be greater in years to come. Makes me wonder why no one picks holes in the hyped up sam tomkins who has been little different to lukewarm this season.

Some so called Wigan supporters make me ashamed to be from Wigan! As I'm sure a couple of games lost and they will be back to booing from the stands!

Well said.

If that's the case, then its outstanding business by the club.

For those of us worried that Castleford will try and convince Shaun to leave Wigan for themselves, it was nice to read that while Shaun may be playing with Cas he is still actually training with Wigan during the week. Good move I feel, it keeps him involved within the Wigan organization and not totally immersed within the Castleford club.

[urlhttp://www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Maguire-has-selection-headache.6118519.jp[/url

certainly good for wigan . the coaching staff can monitor his training and also get videos off castleford games to see how he is playing. As said before this benefits all 3 parties Wigan, Castleford and ainscough himself.

What this debate boils down to is who is better suited to fill the current vacancy on the right wing, Goulding or Ainscough?

I can only express the view I expressed before.

The coaching staff - who are better positioned to assess the strengths and weaknesses of both players than anyone posting on this message board - have opted, for the time being, for Goulding.

We can agonise all we want about why this may be. But wouldn't it be more sensible if we just recognised that they are the best people to judge, and left it at that?