Up close, you could see the Leeds players panicking whenever he got the ball. It's a regular criticism of Feka that he doesn't do enough, but he has a huge psychological effect - on both the opposition and the home side - as well as the work he requires the defence to do to stop him, and his ability to offload. And to be fair, that one bullocking run he made was one more than Peacock made (though I'd agree that I'd sooner have Graham than Feka if push came to shove).

That's far from a minimal contribution to what was in effect a cross-the-park annihilation of the Rhinos, in particular in the forwards, where they were on the back foot for the last 70 minutes.

To dismiss Feka as a short stint player who doesn't do enough work is too simple a reading of his involvement. As a Wigan fan who can be very critical of players if I think they're letting the colours down, I'm very happy with him at present. He may need to lose a little poundage, though the question then would be is he still able to bust.

dont we all.

but yet again he will come back from pre-season with an extra 1-2 stone and spend a dozen games puffing and panting andd being ineffective

For me he does some very good things when on the pitch, yes we could do with a little more game time out of him as well as improving his general fitness. But for the key issue are the other props we put around him, get those right and along with Paleasina we'll have a great frontrow.

Watched the 2006 season review last night and he looked miles fitter back then give him a 3 month ban from the weetabix

When Paleaaesina was first signed years back there were pictures posted on here of him playing for NZ Warriors. There was one of him running head on at a defender in which he looked like a prime athlete..........thats how he should be now and he'd lose nothing from his game imo but it's all on his shoulders to want to do it which i doubt tbh,

If anybody knows which pic i'm on about and would like to post it put it on.

I don't but I know the one you mean - the pic where the defender was ting himself.



I'd be interested to know what the coaching staff want off Feka though - it may be that they don't want him to lose any weight for whatever reason. Certainly if they do they should set a target in the off season with a strict diet and training plan. Feka as a professional player should have the discipline to follow it.

From my point of view i'd want him to lose about a stone and a half and be able to play 40 minutes per match. That would give us impact for a more sustained period then we get now and isn't too much to ask of him.

i want him in the same mold as moi moi, a no-nonsense sh[ii[/ithouse forward

Feka doesnt do a "bad" job, he does exactly what is needed. The question we really need to ask is, if we could get him fitter, could he do it for longer without losing the effect?

feka isn't the problem with our front row.

The problems attributed to our props is down to fielden not having enough of a threat going forward at the moment, rather than feka's lack of defence.

If fielden punched a few more holes in the defence no-one would be talking about feka's game time.

Or if Feka made a few more tackles Fielden could do a bit more going forward.

It works both ways, doesn't it?

At the moment it's working well. Leave well enough alone.

I agree.

Although Fielden doesn't do much going forward, he plays a huge part in our good defending.

I don't think anyone is suggesting Feka is a front-row problem - far from it. He has his flaws but so do many of our squad.

The problem with our front-row is the lack of it IMHO. We need one/two more shi*house prop's.

From an ousiders point of view watching the game on Friday, although Feka looked a bit knackered he had nothing on Riddell. He looked out of it and fit for nothing. A prop is allowed to look half dead after a tough game, a hooker should be at least fit to manage over half a game.

Complete nonsense.

I think Riddell is improving with every game. I was not his greatest fan at the start of the season but he is getting so much better.

Said this for a while....Id ship him out to the centres / wing on a play near the line.....hed score every time!

your right mate.....tbh Riddell did have a half decent game for once in the leeds game tho....that said anyone who saw him after doing 25 mins could see that he looked like he was about to collapse. In terms of fitness I would say Riddell is less fit than feka....Feka at least gets stuck in and dominates a game for 10-15 minutes....Riddell can only manage 10 mins more at a time and doenst do half as much!

I dont know if you watched BnA tonight. Stains did exactly that with Prettytula & Ginger from about 5 - 10 yards out. I think our problem is our forwards dont come through on the burst. I know it's been a while back but Fielden's 2 tries against Bradford he did exactly that. Get a dummy run and let Feka or whoever smash a centre / 2nd row or Scum Half.

Personally I like Feka as a player and a person, when he is given a flat pass from a standing start he does not make much ground but let him run onto the ball at speed thats when he makes the yards, just seems to be most of the team have not realised that yet

Have look at who's in the first 2 to chase the kicks down. You don't do that if you are struggling. He looks knackered but is deceptively quick.

i noticed that, he did look like he was out of breath, but then when the ball came anywhere near him he sprung up and was never caught out.

As you said as well, was one of the first to every chase. TBH i think we just notice more when riddells tired because people are looking for him to be tired. He's done 60 minutes or thereabouts the last few games hasn't he?

I wasn't impressed at all by Riddell on his first arriving, but I do think that his 'piggy' appearance is creating the impression that he's an overweight slob, when in actual fact he's fitter and quicker than he looks.

I still think he could lose a little weight, but an Aussie friend has now told me that he looked exactly the same Down Under, while presumably playing at the peak of his powers.

I've seen him quite abit bigger whilst playing down under tbh.

I think overall Riddell is always going to be a player that people will love or hate. Some will like the fact this tubby bloke who looks like a guy who should be sat in the stand having a beer and a pie can get out on the field and play to what is a very good standard whereas others won't be able to look past his appearence and everytime he does something bad will throw that in his face.

To sum him up as a player without the first impressions of appearence he's a good player. He distributes well, he's pretty quick, he tackles well, he's tough and he plays the game with a smile on his face. He isn't in the class of a Terry Newton for us but he's one of superleagues better hookers and has some improvment in him.

The good thing for us is that we have some good quality back up to him which will keep him on his toes.

Really, consider what you are writing.