Would love to know what he thinks of Lance Whoareya then?
Possibly one of the worst imports in recent years!

Il second that!

What is your problem?

Firstly, I've watched Bowen play all 3 games for Wigan and I've seen Hampshire a few times. Based on that, Hampshire is more dangerous than Bowen and all I have done is suggest that he must be close to pushing him for a starting spot.

What is wrong with that? Again, if a Wigan fan said this, you wouldn't have a problem. What agenda are you trying to suggest?

The levels of xenophobia on here are ridiculous.

I agree. He is absolute garbage. I hope he doesn't play for us again all season if truth be known.

I thought both Bowen and Hampshire had good games, Bowen did nothing wrong and played a part in 2 tries and would have scored if Hughes had passed the ball correctly instead of throwing it forward.

I'm not trying to suggest anything. You're a sh**-stirrer from way back, and we all know it.

But let's see how the season progresses. Don't worry, you'll be seeing plenty of Hampshire. If, in his first season as a regular SL starter he eclipses a genuine, proven NRL star like Matt Bowen, then fine - we are the beneficiaries. If he doesn't, I trust you'll come on here with a retraction of these views? Or will that be the one day of the season where you are mysteriously absent from the Wigan message board?

Great 2nd half from the kids without a doubt, but you have to put this in context. I'd be very worried by how easily they ripped through the ruck in the second part of the first half. If the Roosters get a roll on like they did, they won't hold back. Lots of defence training this week methinks...

On a more positive note, been really impressed with Taylor these last couple of games. I think he's going to be a big player for us this season. Sarginson's shown a few neat touches too. And Burgess must be a shoe-in for the WCC...

The first team players were bound to be a little jaded after playing on Friday night and travelling 30 hours with minimal recovery time. There was a definite lift in enthusiasm when the lads who hadn't played on Friday came on. They've got 10 days to fully prepare now and make sure the daft errors, penalties and mis-reads in defence aren't there against Sydney!

Not at all, I am fairly reasonable when it comes to discussing Wigan. I will point out the strengths and weaknesses as I see them.

And I haven't said anything derogatory about Bowen, I simply suggested that Hampshire must be pushing him close. I haven't said that he will eclipse Bowen, you just made that bit up. Again, I fail to see your problem with that.

You obviously have a massive chip on your shoulder with regards to Saints fans on "your" board. Chill out.

Now if I said that..............

The second half was a superb example of attacking play, maintaining possession and scrambling goal-line defence.

Sam Powell was particularly impressive - busy all night, tackled his socks off and had played a full game on Friday. Also thought Sarginson caused problems and well done Scott Taylor for putting in a huge carry after being bounced on his head minutes before.

Defence still needs a lot of work though, particularly at the edges of the ruck where we were found out by the Giants.

Jason Taylor is he another new signing?

yeah, getting on a bit now but still does the business

Bateman is class. I said it when we signed him. Waney is going to ease him into the season to avoid burning him out like nearly happened at the Bulls. That's the only reason he isn't starting at the moment.

I'm delighted that Manfredi showed what he can do, and also a word for Logan, who doesn't seem to get much recognition. I thought he was excellent.

Fair play.

He can hardly deny it, can he?

He's now claiming that he did watch it.
However I know because I saw it that he originally posted that he hadn't. His original post was at 10:37 and then edited some 11 minutes later.

I challenged him on red Vee about a couple of things that happened during the game but he wouldn't or should I say couldn't answer. No doubt he'll try and do some research, but I guess one of the mods could confirm the editing.

[size=150Regardless of what you think of a poster, can we please cut out personal insults otherwise we'll have to start dishing bans out.

Thanks.[/size

Thank you.

Give it a rest and stick to the topic instead of harassing me everywhere I go.

Agree with a lot of this, already I prefer Bateman to Clubb, and Powell played well above his years v NZW, looked very good.

Youngsters really stepped up v NZW, very proud of the young lads, to score so many points and nil the NZW was really good to see. For me the second half was a fair reflection, young lads v young lads with a few season pros mixed in, and we looked great.

Which is a contrast to the first half, played nearly a full team and were getting beat, for whatever reason.

Few well some controversial comments to come...

I actually think Hampshire looks better than Bowen. Bowen has proven his a great player many times over, lots of experience and knows the game inside out, BUT does he know our game as well as Hampshire, when linking up outwide Hampshire plays like Sam, running the arch dragging tacklers out of position, often throwing the dummy and looking for the gap, this as we know works well.
In contrast Bowen almost plays like a second 7 outwide ofloading and passing early trying to bring runners into the game outwide, this doesn't seem to suit Goulding who's strength isn't really as a strike runner but as a centre who draws his man and releases Charnley to affect.
I'm not saying we should drop Bowen, but it does require some thought.

Bateman offers more strike than Clubb. For a young lad its easy to see the hype he came with, looks a handful everytime, clever player, hit the line hard and has a good offload. Bateman needs to be easied into the game after Bradford nearly wrecked his body, but he looks the real deal already.

Sam Powell outplayed Matty Smith. Looked great out there. Lead the team well, very pleased he's part of our set up.

McM is world class. This lads progressed and development over the past few years has been outstanding. I believe if he wants an NRL club he's got one, he has to be in the top 5 9s in the world.

Glad you've now taken it on-board after being warned for doing exactly the same thing the other day.

As an update for EVERYONE - derailing threads or being on a wind-up for the sake of being on a wind-up are both against the AUP and it is something that Admin have recently reminded the Mods to follow through on with bans. This is especially so for anyone with previous and even more so for those stupid enough to publicise they are a WUM - even if it they admitted it on another website.

For clarity so that I can evaluate whether you're opinions are worth responding to or not - did you watch the game this morning or didn't you as you seem to have claimed both?

I thought the exact same, Bowen is treating Goulding as a strike runner rather than the smart centre he is, which will stifle him and Charnley if it carries on. Goulding was constantly being chopped down immediately against Huddersfield. Bowen is a star though he'll adjust in time. It does surprise me though, I've always considered Tate to be a class all-rounder but Bowen was clearly used to treating him as a runner judging by his instincts.