We just don’t do it. Mago kills me in that regard. He had chances at HKR the other night to just smash his way over players but he doesn’t do it. We have one forward who scores try’s and that is Faz, but even he doesn’t score what I’d call ‘forwards try’s’. His try’s are from his brilliant line running and support play from deep. We need a forward or two that will just smash his way over the line. I look at Dupree and Walters and they could be those guys.

Byrne is one that frustrates me in that regard, he runs in really hard often from a deeper position but seems to get stopped quite quickly which for someone his size seems a bit odd, Ellis made more ground in contact in the last game which was good to see and hopefully he can continue doing that. Mago too often seems to get the ball standing still rather than bursting onto the ball, he can make reasonable ground but too slowly.

Craig Huby was a goalkicking prop and very often in my fantasy rugby team

in regards to Smith, we have to stick with him. He is striking the ball well, so i'd be more concerned if he was splaying them all over the place and not hitting it well. I liken it to playing golf, the margins between a perfect shot and it missing is miniscule, so for me he is hitting them well, but just a fraction out

It struck me, watching TSS, that as far as scoring under the posts is concerned, it's not just about powerful forwards. How many tries did George Williams score under the posts for us? We don't have halves that can do that right now.

That’s true. We don’t have that ability from hooker either, so it’s an issue across the board. Not sure where Powell pulled that season from where he scored about 11/12 trys close to the opposition line but that seems to be gone now.

I think it might be time to push the button on Harry Smith, at least for the time being. He looks absolutely shot to pieces - I almost feel sorry for him. There may be another conversation to be had about whether it would be best to rest him altogether for a week to give him some headspace - I lost count of the number of passes that went to ground today. Maybe take him out of the firing line against Saints and bring him back for the cup?

I think the goal kicking is hurting his general game, I really do. He isn’t good enough at goal kicking for us to need to let that happen. There’s no history of him having seasons at 80-85%, so you’re not patiently waiting for something to come back, you’re praying he not only starts to improve in the short term but that he actually gets better at it in general and there are no signs of that.

No way I’d take him out of the team but I’d be telling Wardle he’s taking it on from next week and to be putting in the extra practice.

Out of interest has his technique changed?

There have been a few comments made about him rushing his kicks recently and wondering if this is a new thing or just something people are observing because of all the misses.

I can’t see any harm in letting someone else have a go at this stage and let Smith focus on his game.

Correct let someone else have a go Hampshire, 3 kicks from 15 is not good enough from Smith.

Unlikely to be in the team though. It’s probably going to have to be Wardle if we do change it.

What was his record last season?

I've also seen him in the academy and kick well. I think it's possibly a confidence thing with him that a good early kick means he'll nail the rest rather than overthinking things. His normal game seems to go the same way too.

His record this year is not good enough and someone else deserves a chance at kicking. If we haven’t got anyone else, then more finger pointing at Radlinski who other than sending out a few bottles of scotch to opposition players, needs to actually earn his money in the recruitment department. No team can afford to have a halfback who goes into their shell and produce what he has done over the last few weeks. Peet has dropped other players so I don’t understand the issue with dropping Smith for what he’s served up recently. He’s got a big contract over a number of years now and and we need to hold him to those standards rather than being an academy product finding his way in the game.

As I said earlier in the thread (or on another one) we need prop forwards and SRs. Unless they also kick goals then it isn't something we should recruit for.

It's his recruitment in the forwards that has caused more problems. Whilst acknowledging that it will be a joint decision making process between Rads and the coach, hes been the consistent figure across three coaches and a really poor record. FPN, Tautai, Burgess, Clark, Bullock, Mago, Silva, re-signing Clubb. Ellis and KPP decent enough but not amongst the top forwards in the league. Kris has not spent the money provided by the chairman wisely - we are still in need of powerful, athletic forwards with a physical presence.

I try not to think of the forwards we’ve signed under his stewardship, it’s painful. Problem is, I’m sure Radlinski tries not to think about it either and he’s the one with the power to do something. I don’t think he’s been held to account by IL and rewarding him this year with more power seems a terrible mistake in how we go forward as a club.

There is more to it than just Rads signing the players. Jukesays explained it on here that it’s a decision that is made between various people, including the coaching staff, Waney, Rads and Lenagan. I recall when Mago and Ellis came in that Matty Peet himself said he had spent time scouting them.

I don’t think the forwards are a massive issue when they’re all fit. The attitude has been the issue more often than not this season. They showed everyone the level they can reach in that Leigh, Saints and Wire run but we have been so far off that before and after it and there has just been a total lack of intensity. I’m confident we’ll have had a good season when all is said and done in October. I think we’re holding plenty back tbh.

They went into great detail at the first fans forum post COVID about it and that's the jist of it. The whole coaching setup is included in decisions with their own input.

I acknowledged it will be a joint decision making process in my post but the point remains that Rads is the consistent figure across three different coaches. And unlike the coaches, recruitment and retention should be his main involvement in the performance of the first team.

Putting aside the finger of blame, the fact is Wigan as an organisation have recruited too many forwards who ultimately have been disappointing.

I don't know how much say Rads has in the actual player. Sounded to me like he is just there to ensure said player fits under the cap.

Lam for example chose to sign Sammut and almost demanded we did against the rest of the panels choices. Then he didn't pick him and instead picked players he was told weren't fit (hence my post about Jai and the different regime)

Ultimately, the coaching staff pick the players based on how they want us to play.

Our problem yesterday again was the amount of errors we made and ball we coughed up to a big pack.

Imagine if we pulled Owen Farrell out of the bag for next season. Now that would solve things for the short term.

I keep saying about OF that I'm not sure what he brings apart from kicking, but I think he'd make a great 13 in this current side.

Peet told me that he enjoys watching the NRL around Origin time as more squad players get a chance to play, players who would be available for SL.

So he’s involved in scouting.

I think that our biggest problems are an unbalanced squad and lack of experience in key areas.
We’ve got no really experienced HB. Hampshire is a fill in. Never in a month of Sundays will he a starting HB. As a FB he’s a liability.
Apart form Farrell no other real quality in the backrow.
I don’t particularly like using backs for hard yards as it covers ineffective forwards.
Cust, Field, Mago, Miski French and Ellis are all limited in terms of really good nrl experience. I love watching Field and French but without a good platform they cant deliver on a regular basis against well coached teams.
Walters isn’t the answer in terms of improving a weak front row. Better than Mago but nothing spectacular.
We need at least 3 really good experienced forwards to to make us competitive.
I think Powell only retains his place due to lack of experience elsewhere in the squad. For me he only keeps his place due to his experience.
Forber will be become our first choice 9 by 2024 at the latest.
Any thoughts of of a GF win for me are totally delusional.
Despite that negative rhetoric I’m still confident that if we can sign 3 experienced decent forwards we won’t be too far away in 2024.

You mean no history apart from last year?

I agree with most of the statement, but there seems to be an issue with the backs taking runs out of defence, I cant think of a recent successful team in the NRL that didnt have backs that laid the platform from defence to attack. Yesterday the commentators were admiring the Panthers backs efforts and noted that the pack only came into effect on around the fourth tackle when they were coming out of their half.