Took his tries very well yesterday, the first and third in particular took some scoring. AS I'm normally in the West Stand on the half way line it was interesting to have a different view yesterday.
We were at the "Wigan end" almost in line with where Pryce scored his two first half tries. What I noticed was

1) How well he held his position in both attack and defence

2) The reluctance of Wakefield to attack at him by running at him.

It's as if Blanch said I'm having none of him, he's too big for me. I had to smile when Pryce put that tackle on Glenn Morrison, he never saw it coming and it really shook him up.

Still a way to go with the big lad, but I think he is starting to win fans over, certainly around us he was getting a lot of praise and encouragement.

i was sceptical to begin with, now im just cynical.

getting better definitely.

My suggestion.

Pryce 11 tries - all in away games
Goulding Two Thirds of his tries are in home games.

So play Pryce away and Goulding at home.



Seriously I'd keep Pryce in if its a straight pick between him and Goulding. He's solid enough defensively for me, more so than Goulding.

As I said yesterday he has still a long way to go and certainly looked abit dodgy under the high ball and grubbers however he took his tries well and scored his 3rd hat trick of the season if im not wrong.

I think it was abit unfair for Goulding to be dropped though.

It's a very nice problem to have.

Both Pryce and Goulding have been hot in recent weeks.

I thought looking at him yesterday how much more physically toned he looks. He's not the finished article yet but he's progressing nicely, and I for one am so chuffed for the lad. If he can continue this rate of improvement on I honestly don't think he'll far off an England shirt at the end of the year, and I mean that seriously.

Karl Pryce had a good game yesterday, fumbling a ball in the pouring rain isn't that bad, especially as he still took it in. It was embarrassing to hear all the groans when his name was called out, he's definitely a better option than Goulding right now, Goulding might get you an extra try through his pace, but Pryce will save you two purely by making his wing a no-go zone for the opposition.

DUCK AND COVER!!!!!

His last try really did take some scoring and he showed a mean turn of pace to finish it.

The only negative from yesterday was his lack of confidence under kick pressure, a couple of fumbles and on 1 occasion there was a 50/50 ball on the ground and he ran straight past it rather than throwing himself on the ball as I would expect a defender to do.

Fair play to the lad though on a good game, 3 tries strong carry and always seems to find his front which is a real bonus, still had the moron behind me on his back all game but some peoples opinions will never be swayed despite the actual facts that reveal themselves in front of their eyes.

*Pulls pin on hand-grenade*

Seriously though - Karl Pryce is turning in to a fantastic option on the left wing.

He still looks just a little short of confidence when we're in our own half - He isn't as willing to take the man on sometimes and he's still a little shaky under the high ball. (Although that can easily be worked on - Just look at Jason Robinson).
However, he has no problem backing himself in the opposition half, especially on the outside.

And as for *that* tackle yesterday - It was a joy to behold.

On current form, Donkey over Goulding every time for me right now.

As someone said before though - What a nice problem for Madge to have.
Pick a Fullback from Roberts/Richards/Phelps
Pick 2 wingers from Richards/Roberts/Pryce/Goulding.

The confidence in the team as a whole is so far removed from where they have been in recent years that it appears as though anything is possible.

Keep it up.

I would dearly love Pryce to be in form at the end of the year and get in the England side.

Could be a potent weapon for us - if he has the bottle to front up properly against Aus/NZ.

Goulding lost his right wing spot to Roberts. He didn't lose it to Pryce.

Is there a team in Super League with a better back 3 right now than Roberts/Richards/Pryce ?

i still laugh when we get people saying things such as "in madge we trust" but then moan when he picks pryce over goulding.

every time we get the team through we get the moans, i think this is partly to do with the fact that most of his games have been away from home. so some people wont have seen him and his improvement.

for me the goulding v pryce debate is simple. when pryce is playing, teams dont attack his wing, and with richards/roberts on the other they are not going to go down there. forcing them to go through the middle of us. which hardly any teams are good enough to do. but when goulding plays teams have a wing which they can attack and make meters and score trys.

i wonder what it will take for fans to warm to him. a vital score v saints doesnt look like it would be enough.

Mate - If JC himself descended at half-time and declared KP to be the next big thing, it wouldn't matter to the guys who still boo him when the team is announced.

I will hold my hands up - I thought we had made a MASSIVE mistake when we kept him on after last season.

However, having seen all of his games this year, it is blindingly obvious that the injury absolutely killed his confidence.
The change in coaching staff has benefitted KP more than most, as MM/SW are quite clearly able to get inside the heads of the players and sort them out (just look at Amos as the prime example).

KP is improving with every single game and I can't wait to see what he can do come the end of the season.

Well I think the strike rates (i.e tries per appearances) say it all.

Pryce - 157%
Goulding - 121%
Roberts - 108%
Richards - 95% (He's actually dropped dramatically since switching to Full Back)

Id like to see Karl use his hands to fend off tacklers, ive not seen him do this so far and some of the best players ive seen on the wing that relied on power (kevin iro, lesley vinakolo etc) were able to use the fend to devastating effect

Good luck to the lad, i think that 1. Roberts 2. Pat 3. K Pryce is our best lineup at the back right now, saying that its probably the best in the league

I think we need to get back to Roberts at 1 with Richards and Pryce on the wings.

Those seem to be each man's best positions.

However, I hate myself for admitting that, as I'm also a huge Phelps fan. Unfortunately, he's just not in the picture right now for whatever reason.

You're in a better position to confirm this but wasn't Roberts' strike rate better when he was on the wing too? I think he set more tries up from fullback though.

Pryce has now played seven games and looking far better than we thought possible. He could be quite something if MM & SW continue to improve him as they have been doing.
He's also putting in that "big " tackle each game now.
No wonder they don't attack his wing, imagine getting on the wrong side of that!
A long way still to go for Karl but if he continues to improve then he can be a very valuable player for Wigan.

I can't give an accurate strike rate per position because he switched between the two at Castleford for certain.

Wing - 9 in 6 (150%)
FB - 4 in 6 (66.6%)

Thats off starting postions, although two of those wing tries at Cas (A) came after he had switched to Full Back so it goes pretty even.

I agree though with the point made, Roberts to full back is a better option that Pat.

He switched pretty early on at Cas. Phelps' try was scored when Phelps had switched to the wing injured. He probably played 70 mins at FB in that game. I do think he creates more from FB though. I think he was involved in all but 1 try at Cas.

I tend to agree, but I think Roberts offers us something more at Full Back than Phelps does. The injection of pace and skill he's shown this season has been fantastic, and he's scored some brilliant tries at times too.

On the radio they were calling for Pryce to be called up for the Four Nations at the end of the year.

He's getting much better each week as his confidence grows. I still see him as a centre long-term though.

Guys like Pryce and Goulding play a big part in why I’ve been so vocal about not wanting us to sign Kev Brown.

I’d hate to see guys like these two lose out after the effort and development they’ve both shown this season.

For me both have done enough to have earned new deals for next season and they’ve both played big parts in everything that’s good about this current Wigan side. At the start of the season neither were starters but yet being able to call on these guys when players like Phelps, Roberts and Carmont were down knowing that they’d fit in with little fuss or disruption has shown the strength in depth the squad has.

Not bad seeing many ‘in the know’ said our squad lacked depth.