Quote ="MadDogg"That was the Charnley of 2010/11 last night. Over the moon - looks to have regained both the strength and pace that made him so dangerous.
Agree about the rest of the backline as well - lots of positives. Sarginson's enthusiasm and workrate, Gildart's footwork, Manfredi's aggressive running (although I did feel that he seems to have lost a yard or two of pace since a year or so ago) and I was also pleased to see Gelling using far more common sense than usual. I remember a couple of occasions where he seemed tempted to throw a risky offload but opted to keep it safe - the sensible option in light of the scoreline at the time.'"
I think this three quarter line has the making of being something special, especially if Wigan can get a settled set of halfbacks. Both wingers and the fullback give fans a lot of confidence when under the high ball, I think even though he made a few mistakes last night Sarge showed an eye for a gap when linking up, it just needs the timing of the pass to him and the weight on it to make him very dangerous.
One little gripe I always have is we lie so flat even when in attack, I think this is the reason a lot of passes are rushed and go to ground or are touched by a defender because they are in our faces.
I said at the beginning of the season that I though Gildart may be a bit to small, but he seems to be overcoming that with his footwork and agility coupled with a fair turn of speed.
As to the comment that Manfredi seems to have lost a yard of pace, I think the reason he seemed to be a bit lacking last night during that long run was down to the amount of tackles he evaded making it.
Several times during that run he had to shrug off some big lads who seemed to have hold of him several times, this had the effect of making him break his stride and then having to try and get up to speed again.
He was only the width of a boot from scoring a great individual try.