Ball in hand, Roberts was one our best players.

If he'd have dealt with those the high bomb's, he'd have had a generally good game.

I was surprised Huddersfield didn't use the bomb in the second half, after the way Amos dealt with them in first. Agree any fullback would have had a nightmare with them though. Thought ball in hand, Amos's confidence was coming back

Spot on. Roberts is world class when he gets it right, he made a few errors on the night but he will come through ok. He will be a vital part of the squad over the course of the season.

Absolutely spot on. Some typically ridiculous rlfans posts who have no idea about the game at all. I said to my dad at the game that Sam Tomkins right through to Billy Slater would struggle with those kicks. Danny Brough's kicking technique of those spiral bombs is the best I have ever seen in Super League. They move in the air, which makes it nearly impossible to position yourself under them. ANY fullback would have struggled with those kicks. What disappointed me from our otherwise great away support was the ironic cheers when Amos caught a few balls in the second half. Amos is a confidence player and you don't need that from your supporters. I thought Roberts was excellent running the ball back - a very elusive runner - and I think he will probably have been our top meter maker last night. My only criticism of him at fullback is his ability to pass both left and right. He can pass off his right, but not off his left - hence the wayward pass in the WCC and the one this week for Darrell Goulding.

I thought that.

I can't remember a single one in the 2nd half.

They didnt use the bomb in the 2nd half because Madge sorted it out at half time by telling us to get on their kicker asap. He didnt have chance to use the bomb in the 2nd half.

I don’t think it’s about having a scapegoat but rather pointing out what seemed to be a definite weak link in the side last night. It’s no different than us complaining about our kicking game for me. Quite simply Roberts should have done better. Our kicking game wasn’t great last night but we did put up a few decent bombs which I though the Hudds FB handled superbly. You could tell with one right near the end that he’d got a technique sorted and it looked like something they’d worked on in training.

The one thing, imo, which was defiantly un-defendable from Roberts last night, was his pass to Goulding which fluffed a walk in try. He simply can’t complete those passes as he either throws it to high like the one against Saint George or he puts it behind the man like last night. I’ve said it before Amos Roberts CAN NOT play FB for Wigan in the style we need. He simply doesn’t have the rugby brain.

Ask yourself this if Phelps would have played last night he also would have fluffed the bombs but he would have connected with Goulding to score that try.

Watching the game back this morining Roberts did make some metres whith ball in hand; the trouble is it needs to be passed there as he was clearly worried by the high ball. The kick for the try was a difficult one the ball could have hit the posts.

His link up play is not as clinical as Tomkins or Phelps, but the combinations are all new so timing across the back line has been an issue for the last two weeks. Hopefully Roberts can get back to last seasons form.

He missed a couple of the hardest bombs a fullback can be up against and fluffed one pass. Apart from that he had a decent game. Going forward you could tell the Huddersfield defence thought he was a threat and he put his body on the line like the rest of the team.

Just think some on here may be slightly harsh, he may not have had the best of games comared to some of the lads last night but he wasn't bad.

I don't think anyone would disagree with that.

BUT i hope he finds his form again on the wing.

Brett Stewart or Lance Hohaia for FB next season with Sam in the halves anyone?

I mentioned in another thread that Roberts played well at fullback last year after having a good run of form on the wing and building his confidence.

He needs to do that this year before being put back in at fullback.

Sam didn't get near 3 kicks at Salford that weren't half as difficult as thiose last night.

He made a bad pass last night and 1 on the dying moments against St George, Last season for a dozen games or so he was Phenomenal at FB and some of his link up play was outstanding.
To base a total opinion of Roberst FB play from FB based on 1 pass against St george and 80 mins last night considering they were new combinations for him at FB to play with is a little harsh IMO.

As for "I’ve said it before Amos Roberts CAN NOT play FB for Wigan in the style we need. He simply doesn’t have the rugby brain." Then I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree.
I'll take Amos Roberts for those dozen or so games at the start of last year at FB any day of the week over Phelps. Some people forget he must have made a dozen tries from FB at the start of last year linking in from FB as well as scoring some incredible ones.
A little bit of patience wouldn't go amiss.

PS

Who would you have played at FB last night?

Not totally disagrreing but he moved to FB last year after 1 1/2 games on the Wing?
We didn't have many other option as far as I could see last night?

Roberts passing game when full of confidence last season was brilliant

Roberts under the high ball when full of confidence last season was brilliant

Confidence is all the lad needs and we should let him build that from the wing imo.

He played 3 pre season games on the wing and was outstanding especially at Wire.

In total he had 4 or 5 games to build up his confidence and he kicked on from there. He still seems to be mentally struggling with the injury so to ease him in would seem fare.

We have a 'duty of care' don't you know

Your right and it wasn't good enough and there are no excuses or scapegoats only bad FB play. There is little point putting the brick wall up in defence and then fluffing the kick as simply it negates the great work before.



When was his link up play outstanding? His kick returns were outstanding and he was the master at joining the line and skipping through the defence. The Cas game was a perfect example of this but I’m struggling to remember when he linked up and created room for other with a pass or kick? Think back to last season and Wire away which is undoubtedly the height of Amos’s excellent form and he was still fluffing passes to the winger then. He 2 world class individual tries but as team FB he left much to be desired.



I’m not basing it on the one pass from St George and the one from last night. Read my post history all the way into last season regarding Amos at FB and you’ll see that I simply don’t rate him as a FB. He’s all flash and no substance. I’d argue it’s like having Jason Robinson at FB. Everyone will rave about him beating the first man, scoring a few tries but as a complete FB there is a lot missing. Simply it's un-defendable for Amos not to make those passes when tries are an almost certainty and games are in the balance.



That’s fair enough as that’s what these boards are about.



Roberts as there wasn’t anyone else but he’s not our long term FB. Great winger but average FB.

must admit i am the type of fan who will remember what a player has done in the past and then allow that to form part of any current judgement on a player and this occurs with roberts now too. i'm dying for him to just chip in with a quality try and looking closely last night he did make a few breaks, maybe not clean breaks, and some good metres for us but on the flip side he has played two competitive games this year out of the six so it's no great hardship that we only conceded six points against a good full strength side. ok hudds did fluff a few chances but on the wqhole last night was a great test of our defence.

fair enough roberts looked as dodgy as my stomach after a night at the Raj under those 2 or 3 particular bombs but i'm not going to hold him accountable as i feel even sam would have struggled. and even if he wouldn't have struggled - at least roberts is a cover FB who doesn't get steam-rollered to concede tries whereas roberts has the strength and frame to be able to defend better one on one.

i'd definitely like roberts to have more game time. if you remember the joy on his face when he scored the disallowed try last night you can see thats all he needs to get going. give him another few games i say but i'd imagine sam will be back at FB next week ready for half of wire to bounce over the tryline via him



sam may be the best talent to come out of wigan for a long time and a great young player - i do agree - but he's only doing at FB what roberts did last year, with slightly worse defence IMO!!!

I have been a huge fan of Roberts and defender of him in the past. When he played on the wing in his first season I thought that he faced a lot of unjustified criticism from some about his defence, when he was often left high and dry facing impossible overlaps, and I think that he often saved us defensively on that side. However on the wing he never showed the form that he shown at full back last season when he produced some of the best attacking full back play that I have ever seen from a full back at Wigan and when on form is the best full back at the club for me.

However last night he was very poor imo. I realise that he is coming back from injury but his confidence just looks shot to bits. He is very much a confidence player and when he isnt confident about what he is doing he can be quite poor at times. He was absolutely no where near those kicks last night and it wasnt the fact that he didnt catch them, all full backs have off days, but the fact that he didnt even seem to be trying to, he just looked scared to death. This lack of confidence is even seen in his passing. Last season when he was on form he was setting up tries for fun for Goulding, passing from left to right, but again last night, just like against St George, he fluffed a walk in try with a shocker of a pass. Even for the disallowed try of his there was a overlap and another easy walk in try but after his earlier fluffed attempt he just didnt want to pass it. His reaction when he did score though said a lot, you could almost sense the relief and belief returning. I also think a fully fit/confident Roberts would have easily scored from Gouldings kick. Like I said for me Roberts is the best full back at the club when on form but he is a long way off that at the moment. The only way that this will return is through more gametime and if he can have a cracker of a game I think the old Roberts may well return.

With a little bit of luck he could have had two tries last night.

Rubbish......again............

You get my vote!

Theres some right crap on this thread. Them bombs were hard to take, one got knocked on out of his hands and one hit the crossbar or was very close to the sticks. People who want him stringing up for that are being ridiculous.

The new Wigan scapegoat, remember Piggy and Pryce.

And of course O'Loughlin.

I said to my dad last night, if Pryce had done what Roberts did last night he would have been getting all kinds of abuse

I can't believe the people on here slagging roberts off.

Absolutely pathetic.