Of course it was stupid. We could devote hours on this thread just to naming players who have done stupid things and it hasn't affected their ability.

But if we start moralising about who we employ on the basis of what they do when they are drunk, there'd be no one left on the staff. Powell's problem was that he got caught.

As others have said - he's worth a punt. That's all it is. If he's not up to it - no big deal.

You do seem a bit down on Sean Edwards. Is there anyone you do admire?

Is there an ignore function on here? This is a serious question, nearly every topic I open has the same person complaining, it's unbelievably tedious now...

Some ridiculous stuff on here...

I know many Wigan fans won't be old enough to remember RU converts being brought into the team, but please - Powell needs to be given more time! Even allowing for the much improved fitness regimes in RU, it is a very different game from the relentlessly aerobic challenge posed by RL.

Let's see how Powell gets on in a few months' time. He's a big unit and I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up doing more minutes per game than Feka and making a lot more impact. I don't expect him to be a worldbeater but his physical presence and big game experience offer something useful.

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ChrisA: yes but you can't ignore mods

Very sensible post.

I'm sure any reasonable person would agree.

Dear god...

Lol, I tried it months ago........

So basically if you want to read the forum you're forced to read the same person repeat the same negative comments in every other thread? That's just bazzin...

You are not forced to read anything.

True, i use duct tape on my monitor for some posts....

The comments directed towards Dave O by numerous posters who are far far from perfect themselves is nothing short of pathetic. At least Dave O argues his POV rather than turning his post into a personal unwarranted attack.

I agree. Wether you agree with him or not you can have a decent argument over various points without it going personnel with him. Once you start a personnel attack you lose the argument.

Re Powell whether or not he was the right signing I cannot say. On the face of it, it was / is a huge gamble due to his age. The big issue is that Shaun Wane clearly stated he would not be ready for another 6 weeks. Today he is saying he wants to avoid playing him and send him on loan. I think we can take it that Powell was never ready to face Cas.

Typically Wane goofed when dealing with the media stating it was Powell or Andy Coley. Unless I am mistaken it was not or at least should not have been. We had Greenwood desparate for an opportunity; we had Spencer chomping at the bit, showing promise who was crazily allowed to play for Leigh and get injured.

Andy Powell was dare I say it not shown any Duty of Care by his coach/club. Does anybody seriously think at this moment in time Andy Powell is ready to play SL? What do people think is 31 year old Roy Asotasi or 31 year old Andy Powell the better signing? Is Wane under pressure from IL to select / play Powell?

I think you have to be very careful throwing terms around like "duty of care" when criticising a selection decision when you do not have all the facts at your disposal and a man who made the decision to make the selection does.

We can only go off the information published Jon and the facts available to us. Pre Cas, Wane publically stated Powell needed another 6 weeks before he would be ready. Post Cas, Wane has stated he wants to avoid playing Powell v Bradford and that he needs to go on loan to either Leigh or South Wales. I would suggest Leigh would not want Andy Powell at his present stage of RL development.

The question is does anybody seriously believe it was Powell or Andy Coley? We actually had the former GB Academy Prop from a victorious Ashes winning team, a player who for 3 seasons in the academy had played prop 99% of the time available and playing in that team v Cas. Namely, Greg Burke. We had several opyion to play LF if Greg needed to play prop.

Tom Spencer was fit UNTIL Wane allowed him to play for Leigh and get injured.

Greenwood, I believe is fit ? ? ?

So there were better options Jon to play prop v Cas than Andy Powell which IMO shows a lack of duty of care. RL is littered with much bigger Union signings being fed to the wolves before they were ready and then backfiring.

Fed to the wolves

Sent to the Sharks...........er hang on.......

We didn't lose because he played. He didn't get hurt, by all accounts he really enjoyed it. He now knows a lot more about the game and he will know now even more what he has to do to get up to speed.

Ask him if he enjoyed it, ask him if he is now a little wiser about playing rugby league at top level, ask the guy if he got seriously hurt. IMO, duty of care for the sake of 20 minutes game play is way OTT. He will have learned more from that 20 minutes than a month of training.

Some really good points here. But, the Coley thing however was obviously a joke. He had Lauaki, Mossop, Flower, Prescott and Taylor out injured and was probably laying it on with a trowel. Maybe SW will learn there is no place in Wigan for levity!

I much prefer SWs way of dealing with the press, although I am aware that others on here criticise his style. I rather prefer it to Madge's po-faced attitude. Towards the end of his reign I wonder why the press even bothered turning up at Wigan, as he gave nothing away. Not really a criticism of Madge as a coach should be judged by results full stop.

This is a key point. His playing had little or no impact on the result. It could only have benefited him and the club.

I'm not held with my head to the screen. However if I want to read the forums, which I do, and seeing as you can't put moderators on an ignore list, I have no choice but to read his comments, well skip them, reading them or trying to skip his posts, or skip the replies to his posts does get tedious.

I've never been rude of attacked him, I merely want to ignore his posts but I can't without having to filter through each topic.

It's not difficult! Just ignore anything that he posts if you really want to.

I do it with Jonh all the time!

It could have gone horribly wrong too. I never met / read a union conert (even Gallagher) that complained until post career. My own personal opinion is that he is not yet equipped to play for Leigh at top tier Championship level which Tom Spencer clearly is and would gain more from playing for SWales or St Pats.

I have my doubts re the signing simply because of his age and with any convert they do not have the instinctive RL know how of a young League player. Somebody like Greg Burke has already got a decade or more instinctive RL experience / intelligence that Andy Powell will never gain.

Some fans say well he did not do any harm, well IMO he did not do any good either whereas Burke / Spencer / Greenwood could have ADDED to the team on that day. Playing with 12 men in wet conditions is a huge challenge. Why thow him in when the team is tired, depleted and conditions poor?

A question or two; who decided to sign Powell? IL or Wane. Who most wants him in the team IL or Wane. Is Wane under pressure to select him? We cannot say Jon H will rightly says BUT history suggests coaches are always put under pressure to select big name union signings.

In the squad for Friday.