How did you rate him in his time at Bradford?

I'm now in the camp that thinks Pryce is Rogue's secret love child.

I think Pryce looks slower than he is because he's so big.

My 11 yr old is 5 ft 6and plays on the wing, and I always think he doesn't look that fast. But put him in a race with the rest of the team and he's one of the fastest.

Im in the camp that if pryce had of dropped that ball that richards did, then all hell would be let loose. i cannot remember any major errors that pryce has made in the games he has played. but i can remember major errors for just about every other player in the team.

players are like refs, sometimes if you do not notice them, it means they are playing well. but i can remember some of the finishes karl has made. yesterdays was great, not many could have finished it (as we saw with carmont who got pretty much the same chance whilst on the wing, but couldnt finish) and a couple more over the past few weeks which any one would of been proud of.

the thing i am most impressed with is his defence though. he has put in some big shots and not been caught out of position as much most wingers in SL, and indeed most wingers at our club. when he took down wellans yesterday and landed on top of him i was so happy. i dont think any one else in SL could have made such an impact (mainly through landing on him) and watching him wobble as he stood up was a joy.

all i say is get off the lads back. he is playing well, and obviously better than goulding or he wouldnt be getting picked. he is good enough for our first team, and is a real threat to other teams. people keep saying he doesnt look for enough work, maybe his job is to hug his touch line and keep people out on his wing focused on him, and let others make meters inside him. madge has given him a job to do, and he must be doing what madge is asking because look what happens when players dont do as he wants (feka)

Pat Richards didnt get flak because he has been consistently our best player for ages and it was totally out of character. If Pryce plays as many games for Wigan as well as Pat (dream on) then he would get the same treatment.

I have given Pryce credit when hes deserved it but i think he could of done much better yesterday,

Pryce seems to be beyond criticism with a lot of people on here just because his confidence is a bit fragile!

This made me laugh at the game yesterday, of all the people you don't want to land on you, its Karl



But on the topic of Pryce, one of our main threats yesterday and was playing well up until his injury. I agree with Jimlav that if Pryce had dropped the ball Richards did, most people would be asking for him to be dropped.

Well Done Big Fella

Needs to toughen up a bit with regards to injury. Those years in yawnion have turned him into a brittle fairy.

This is just not true no matter how many times you post it to try and justify Pryce's place.

For the vast majority of the season we barely conceeded any tries down Gouldings side and in some games he saved us quite a few times, such as in the games against Saints and Warrington. This dodgy defensively thing seems to have started in the last few weeks when some people tried to blame him for any try that was scored remotely close to him on that right side. Coincidentally this is also when Pryce started playing and the people that have raved about Pryce since we signed him had to suddenly find faults in Goulding. Goulding was at fault for one try in the games that people were talking about but you wouldnt think it listening to some posters. He has certainly been at fault far less than people like Gleeson and Tomkins who seem to always escape criticism. Pryce himself has been at fault for as many and is all over the show defensively particularly in his only 2 games against decent teams.

In addition Gouldings return game beats Pryce's hand down whether this is kick returns, scoots or carries and as for work rate there is simply no comparison. Goulding also gets a much quicker play the ball than Pryce which puts us on the fronty foot. In dealing with kicks Pryce is all over the place when a kick, whether it is high or low, comes his way. Pryce is getting better but he still has an awful long way to go.

Although this will come across like i'm anti-Pryce, he actually did it 5 minutes before that. He was about to run into Foster and pulled up before diving to the floor infront of him. That jump just didn't help.

Pryce got caught out positionally a couple of times on Sunday lets see if he pays for this next week.

Regards return I was talking about try return.

But I have to say i think the fact Pryce is rarely if ever turtled is an indication that he gets a quicker play the ball.

I completely agree with 'Famous'.
Goulding has been fantastic for us all season, i think he has improved so much in defence and his attack speaks for itself. His tries may not have been fancy, but it doesn't matter about how fancy the try is, what matters is getting the points of the board, which is what he does.

He is a very quick and clever player, and i believe that he deserves the wing spot more than Karl Pryce. As Pryce is as tall as he is, he shouldnt be going down like a sack of potatoes, and he is slow at playing the ball.

I found it very annoying when he was dropped last week after having scored a hatrick the week before, i think that if we had played Darrell against saints instead of Pryce there may have been a different story.

He's making half a metre less per carry on average than Goulding, with about the same number of clean breaks per carry as Goulding. I feel Darrell is making decent metres, hence I feel Karl is making decent metres to. He's doing a decent job as is Darrell, neither of them would be getting picked if they weren't. I suspect he's doing pretty much exactly what the coaching staff are asking of him, what more can a player actually do other than do what's asked and make their coach happy?

Well for a start he needs to break every single tackle he goes in to. He needs to be able to out jump every single winger he comes up against. He needs to flatten every single opposition player he tackles. He needs to score every single try he gets an opportunity to score. He's bigger than Greg Inglis so he must be better than him.

That's all





Oh, and find a cure for the common cold.

If Pryce doesn't cure AIDS within the next 10 minutes he should be sacked.

Dave, i'm making it about as personal as dissecting what somebody has posted line by line and questioning a poster's knowledge level (which comes across rightly or wrongly as a really sly dig) rather than just having your say. Being called out is when you make statements about something or somebody, and say things like 'I can't actually believe you think he is that good given you profess to be (I believe) a student of the game', that somebody may call your statements and opinion into question. And then you feel that you're being attacked?????



You don't agree with me and a few others, and that's perfectly ok and right. It's an Internet Forum and everybody's opinion is just as right or wrong as mine, and i fully support their right to feel i'm talking balls, just as I reserve the right to feel that they are. Have you considered developing a thicker skin on here?

If I've hurt your feelings then I unreservedly apologise, you just really wound me up by although quoting me, seemingly not having had read what i'd said which was



How does may statement that refers to =#FF00403 totally different factors (metres, players to cover him, and defence), turn into strke rate being the '=#FF0040be all and end all', I NEVER SAID IT WAS, you just seemingly (intentionally or unintentionally) read it that I had - or that's the only conclusion that I can come to given your actual response.

Tell me i'm talking crap and that you don't agree with me as much as you like, i'll fully support your right to do it, just please don't misrepresent what i've said.

peace out

SEB

Apologies for the slight derail of topic.

Back on topic: He's doing a decent job for what was at the start of the season, at least a >3rd choice Winger who had played a handfull of first team games in the past few years. Just as Darrell's done a decent job to. The coaching staff like what he's doing, hence he keeps getting selected, and that'll more than do for me.

I thought I would take a look at the stats to see how Pryce compares to Goulding (You cant really compare him to Roberts or Richards as they have played so many games at full back) :

[uPryce[/u
Appearances 6
Tries 9
Try assists 1
Meters 432
Carries 59
Tackles 21
Offloads 2
Attacking Kicks 1
Runs from dummy half 6
Tackle Busts 5
Marker tackles 2
Clean Breaks 6
Kicks in general play 1
Missed tackles 2
Errors 4
Penalties 0

[uGoulding[/u
12 Appearances
17 Tries
1 Try assists
1112 Meters
151 Carries
37 Tackles
7 Offloads
2 Attacking Kicks
65 Runs from dummy half
21 Tackle Busts
3 Marker tackles
14 Clean Breaks
2 Kicks in general play
3 Missed tackles
9 Errors
1 Penalties

Pryce has played half the Super League games that Goulding has and as a result it is very easy to compare the two players. I think these stats really show how poor Pryce's work rate is, how slow he is in taking the ball up and show that he doesnt use his size effectively. Pryce is considerably poorer in many of the major areas. He makes far less carries, far less runs from dummy half, far less metres, far less tackle busts and less clean breaks. In any other area the differences in favour of either player are negligible.

not a big fan of pryce, but at the same time don't agree if people in the east stand are giving him stick i'm sure he is trying his best, having said that if it was a straight choice between him and goulding it would be goulding for me i think the lad has more potential long term.

Karl has all the physical attributes to be a top International level winger/. Personally i feel he doesnt have the heart to really push onto that next level and i also think he is quite work shy when it comes to doing the dirty work.

Pro-rata your stats by carries..... 0.5 metres less per carry,

Could the number of carries is largely not down to him assuming he's playing how he's been asked to play, evidence suggests you get dropped by MM and SW if you don't, so let's give the benefit of the doubt there?

You also need to adjust them by appearances to:

Carries per appearance, Pryce 9.833 Goulding 12.583

and factor in Left v Right side play patterns

So let's look at Carmont v Gleeson to help figure a weighting factor for the same stat

8.438 v 11.667, hmmmmm do you start to see a pattern here? (there's more work on the right going forwards)

For our centres, the left centre makes 72% of the carries the right one does.
Given the same two wingers, the left winger makes 78% of the carries the right one does.

hmmmmm there really does look to be more work going on carry wise on the right doesn't there? (and by a not dissimilar margin in the centres to)

Adjust the clean breaks by carry and he's making a higher percentage of clean breaks per carry than goulding, and that's without factoring in the play pattern.

Adjust the tackles by appearance, and he's making more tackles than Goulding. Interestingly so is Carmont than Gleeson..

oooow there's actually more defensive work happening on our left hand side (by both winger and centre) ..................................

See that it's not just a case of looking at the headline numbers? And i'm by no means a statistician or RL analyst, something MM has at his disposal, and =#FF0040has still been selecting Karl

If I just posted headline numbers, George looks nowhere near as good as Martin........... and we all know it's nothing like that simple.





A player's worth and performance can only really be assessed by our coaching staff, though i am prepared to entertain that MM maybe wrong across the board in his selection policy (rather than some odd premise that he's just blind over Karl Pryce) - that however is a totally separate debate.

Maybe Pryce and Goulding are not being selected on who is better than whom.
Perhaps they are being picked because MM wants to have a good look at Pryce over quite a few number of games.
MM may have decided that if Pat goes to fb then Pryce comes in on the left.
Should Amos go to 1 then Goulding will come in on the right.
It could perhaps be that either are being selected on where Pat and Amos play and that the coaching staff prefer Pryce left wing and Goulding right.
I just think the way the team have been selected we won't see Goulding play left wing nor Pryce on the right side.
Whether we like it or not I do feel that the selction of either Goulding or Pryce depends on where MM picks Pat and Amos rather than the merits of the two lads.

Just watched the game on the TV for the first time and still have absolutely no idea why Pryce gets criticised in this game.

The cretins in the east stand sat near me must be on crack.. I was doubting my sobriety after their constant moaning, but they've got to be higher than the bloody moon!

So darrell Goulding averages an extra 0.5 metres per carry than Karl Pryce? People still think Pryce makes good metres?

So Karl Pryce cant even match Gouldings meters and he is a LOT bigger, that just sums up what lets him down imo.

Now that seems to me to be a lot more of a valid arguement than many on here..sad that most will ignore it in favour of their own like/dislike and stuff the facts.

Pryce has done ok - not a lot more than that as yet - he certainly hasn't really stood out compared to others (and that surely is a better comparison) like Goulding. But given how long he has spent out with injury at least he deserves the chance. The coaching staff will manage things - and if they think he isn't performing well enough then he will be dropped - and that for me is about as fair as it needs to be.

In the week after a game Madge has one on one talk with every player in the team to discuss their performance.

The conclusion of that is Madge must be happy with Pryces performance in the role he has been given. We all know that if a player does not perform to Maguires requirements they are dropped.

It's as simple as that. Just because we as spectators like/dislike a player means and should mean nothing, it's the coaches responsibility too pick the team HE thinks is best.

As I've said so many times about the likes of Fielden, Roberts and Riddell, the Wigan fans for some reason have to have a scapegoat, and I really can't understand it.

It's nothing new though, it's happened in all the time I have watched Wigan.

I would love to sit in on the one between him and Feka.