It's all about opinions, our overseas signings need to be of better quality than Phelps, IMO Hardman matches him in all areas and would cost less and free up funds/quota for players we need in other positions (prop/stand off), like I said, it's all about opinions.

Phelps is already contracted until the end of 2011 and has been for a long while. www.wiganwarriors.com/SquadMembe ... d=1&id=284

Phelps is already contracted until the end of 2011 and has been for a long while. www.wiganwarriors.com/SquadMembe ... d=1&id=284

Are overseas signings do need to be of the highest quality but so to do are British signed players, for me if we got rid of Phelps it would create a knock on affect through the team of moving people around when theres no need to. The signing of Phelps is only short term signing and then we could use his quota spot, but at the minute he's doing a good job at Fullback in a position that we have no one else who excels in it.

Had Smith not got injured Sam Tomkins would have been given a run at FB.

Quote ="FlickyDicky"Phelps is already contracted until the end of 2011 and has been for a long while. www.wiganwarriors.com/SquadMembe ... d=1&id=284'" That's incorrect. He's signed until the end of this year but there's an option for a further season.

Quote ="FlickyDicky"Phelps is already contracted until the end of 2011 and has been for a long while. www.wiganwarriors.com/SquadMembe ... d=1&id=284'" That's incorrect. He's signed until the end of this year but there's an option for a further season.

You should know better than question me Alex !!!

He'd have brought the ladies in...

i have no idea why the bulldogs let him go, but its our gain and there loss, hes the best utility back out there for me full back, wing, centre, stand off, hes quality, who else would you have then from the super league, like if said all along he wants to ply for the club o keep him, whats the point in going spending 200,000 for the likes of minnechelo or hunt, keep him hes doing a great job

Definately agree on that....Phelps it the best utility player in SL IMO and is worth a place in the squad on that alone....he gives you so many options....for me id like to see phelps stay at the club for the rest of his career, in a super sub role similar to that in the old days sam panapa was.... you can put him on the bench and he can cover all options in the backs as well as hooking, and in all likelyhood i would expect could play 13. For me the only positions you couldnt play phelps is SR or Prop, and that makes him a very valuable player IMO

I am almost Fully in agreement with You! Wonders never cease!!!!!!!!!

Id sooner have all of the above than Paul Wellens............Actually id sooner have Richie Mathers than Paul Wellens









How Wellens is justifcation for keeping anyone out is beyond me....if he was anything like half decent Hardman would be the saints full back.

In all honesty Hardman has found his level playing national league.

Why the shock



.....and only almost fully? What do you disagree with then

Shock?

Because of your absurd Hatred of Roberts & Riddell who are certainly (And in nearly everyone I speak to's opinion) better than the alternatives put up by Certain people!


And TBH due to the above I find it very difficult to Fully agree with anything you say as I feel your opinions of the above are so Biased Negatively by something other (And I can't understand what it is, you can say they are Crap or whatever you want when it is plainly obvious to Most that they are playing well despite what you say) than what everyone else watches every week.
I also feel, a bit like you and others did with Mathers, that you have made up your mind about someone and made them the scapegoat for anything wrong at the club that they will never be accepted and you and others will pick holes in them continually to try and prove you were right rather than accept you are wrong.
I also think it doesnt do the club or the player and consequently the Team's results any favours they way you and others make it so personal and I think it contributes to a Negativity to certain players & the team etc that often doesnt need to exist.

Anyway!

To fully agree on the Phelps issue I would however have to see Phelps contribute like he has in maybe 10 out of the last 15 this and 1/2 dozen times last for a much longer & more consistant period!
Also there are other players at other clubs who can also play 3 or 4 positions well whereas TBH Phelps hasn't played Well at Hooker/Centre or HB yet!
I'm not saying he won't but 95% of his Good games have come from FB or Wing last year.

Even then

I hope whoever mentioned Ian Hardman is now safely back in the padded cell.

TBF I can see where your coming from and can see your critisism.....its a reasonable assessment to a degree.....I maybe can be obstinate once I have made my mind up...in reality tho its just because I expect high standards from wigan and their players, and tbh cannot stand anything less than having to accept either average players, or good players but with no commitment at our great club. For me playing for wigan rlfc should be the greatest honour in the world, and should not be given to joe averages or joe cant be @r5eds!

Thats probably why I can be critical, but for me players like riddell and roberts are never going to be up to those high standards, and are not Wigan players. I sincerely hope they prove me wrong ala Richards after my initial assessment, but have to say that generally richards is the exception to the rule.

IMO of all the players I have had beef with at wigan, theyve all been shown for what they are, have left the club, and most have then accepted what i have been moaning about for so long. I think its just the fact that i am highly critical, and I accept that maybe I dont give them sufficient chance to prove themselves, but that said I feel I've been rarely wrong. Players such as Calderwood, Moran, James, Wilkes, Jamie Ainscough, Mark Bell, Mark Reber, Julian O'Neil, David Hodgson, Kevin Brown, Danny Tickle, Mathers, Danny Scul, Ricky Bibey and even Gaz Hock have all proved me right at the end of the day, so therefore I may be critical, howver I would say that more often than not my instinct is right.

We'll see with Riddell and Roberts, but I sincerely beleive ill be reminding you of this post in 12 months - 18 months time, when we finaly see the light and bin Riddell for Leuleui and Roberts for Ainscough (hopefully we wont have lost him by then)

You know, confident prophecies like this often come back to bite people on the jaxie. Others who certain fans wanted OUT include Pat Richards, Craig Smith, Shaun O'Loughlin, Gene Miles. Others we should NEVER have signed (according to certain fans at the time) include Tommy Leuleuai, Quentin Pongia, Brian Carney, Terry O'Connor, Neil Cowie, Billy McGinty.

Why can't some fans just accept that these guys are Wigan players and are not going anywhere for the time-being - and in that respect at least, should get a modicum of support rather than endless criticism on so called 'fan' websites?

Okay, you're not impressed. Fine. But you're not the last word in RL knowledge. In which case, is it right that we should be subjected to this negative opinion of yours over and over and over and over again?

Nothing would please me more.....Pat Richards was the one for me in the past who did make me eat my words big time.....I accept that I was wrong then and what im saying isnt infallable, but what I am saying is more often that not I have been shown to be right (and before you start im not saying Im the end word in RL, just more often than not my perhaps premature (in some peoples book) view on a player often turns out to be right).

However as I said if both show me to be a fool I would love nothing more as we would have two class players on our hands.....sadly cant see it happening, but as one of the posters on here classicly points in their signature......The great thing about being a pesimist is either your proved to be right or are presently surprised!!

And where did getting rid of those players after certain "Knowledgable" Fans had made their minds up on these players and getting new ones in and then gwetting on their backs 2 games into their Wigan careers Get us??????????

I want the best for Wigan and believe me, and you may disagree, there is NO-ONE who loves this club more than me.

"It's the 1st thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the Last thing I think about before I got to Sleep!".
But when things go wrong some people think getting mad, shouting and criticising players and being seen to be more angry than others makes them look like they care More than those who are a little bit more pragmatic!

You don't!

You may be right on some issues, you will be wrong on others.

But I know for certain that those people who are Hot Headed over situations are more often than not the ones who speak from the Heart and not the Head!
There needs to be a mix of both and I think that's what most reasonable posters do as well.

A little story for you.

After the Maundy Thursday Saints game we went back to the Anvil to be met by a Raving Lunatic who was scraming for Noble's head!!!!

"How can we let him stay in charge?"
"We should get someone else, anyone else!"
"Sack him and get Shaun Wane in!"
"Are you telling me your Happy with that performance???"
"We should get a coach who's won things with international experience! Like Tony Smith"

When met by calm responses like

"Let him see his contract out, dont rush into sacking him"
"What if no-one else wnats to come?"
"What makes you think Shaun Wane wants it and if he does what if he loses the next 10 games?"
"Yes We were happy with that performance, not the result, but we played Hard and well!"
"Like Brian Noble??? or Ian Millward!"""""

The bloke went Ballistic and said we didn't care about the club and we were just accepting rubbish blah blah blah!

A month later the same guys giving the Saints fans stick at Murrayfield telling them that the Worms turned & were going to be back above them in no time!!!!

The Guys I was stood with had ALL watched the game for longer the me and Ive watched them Nigh on 35 years!

They Love this club More than anyone I know, they are just realistic enough to know that slagging everything and everyone off just because were having a Bad Patch or a certain result may be embarrassing isn't going to change anything!!!!!!!

3/4qtrs of the posters on this board here wanted rid of Millward and were jumping for joy when we got Noble! Then they wanted him sacked when he didnt win anything in his first 18 months!!!!

Most of the people on here wanted Lindsay & Whelan out, Now they are picking Holes in nearly everything IL does inc Not "Splashing the cash" like Mo used to do!!!!!!

Top Line!

Were all entitled to our opinions (Whether some should be is a different matter!

).

In the older days we didnt have message boards (I call them Witch Hunt boards and Wigans is worse than anyone elses!) they had Pubs!!!!!
People sat down, talked about the game, listened to other peoples opinions and if someone continually spouted rubbish or Bored th pants off you, yu could walk away (Or get thumped if you wnet in the pubs I went in!

).

But in thsi day and age it's like Big Brother gone Mad!

Mostly the Oxygen Thieving Idiots get More air time than Ordinary sensible people!

But you know what, the laughs on them, they just can't see it!

quality post

Bang on Andrew.

Just one thing that baffles me...



If they hit people who got on their nerves in your pubs how come your face has healed so well?

It hasn't.

Awesome post. I find myself agreeing with 99% of your posts. I still disagree over the Aisncough v Roberts saga though

Your quite welcome too.



The point is, if he dropped Roberts today and played Ainscough I and many of the others who think Roberts is the better option WOULD WANT Ainscough to do well!

Some others I feel deliveratley target individuals i.e Riddell/Roberts/Mathers in the past as though their inclusion in the team is the be all and end all of our Failures!
They also think the inclusion of "Wigan Youngsters" is the answer to all our problems.

This IMO is why they target those players for unjustified criticism continually.

I'm a Good Runner!



DaveO would Never catch me!!!!!!!!!!!!