I beg to differ. He was atrocious under the bomb for years, before a couple of good years under Anderson, he then reverted to type under Potter. He's never been better than average defensively.

He has no pace (I think he's gone the length of the pitch once (against Wire at home after an intercept)), has little footwork, hardly ever beats a man, rarely breaks a tackle and benefited greatly playing outside two of the best centres in the game at the time. Gidley had that little confidence in him he preferred to kick the ball into the in goal area and chase the kick rather than pass to him more often than not.

What he has on Foster at this moment in time is experience.

Gardner has far more over foster than just experience - better defence, immeasurably better kick returns, a genuine threat from kicks to the corner, more effective in exit sets .....

Gardner has far more over foster than just experience - better defence, immeasurably better kick returns, a genuine threat from kicks to the corner, more effective in exit sets, harder to stop near the try line .....

Spot on.

Adey is absolutely fearless when returning kicks; he is like a man possessed!

He is now but he hasnt always been. Earlier in his career he was far more foster like in his returns.

I remember the semi-final at the Galpharm against Hull(?) in 2005(?), and you winced everytime a high ball came down anywhere near him, because you just knew he was about to concede a try. Compare that to now, it's like light and shade.

He's taking the ball in that well he should be playing at Prop, albeit he would be our slowest prop. GET RID NOW. He's supposed to be a winger for f***'s sake.
The fastest man on the team, or am I missing something?

Yes you are, namely 20 years' worth of tactical evolution...

Makes sense, Hull have Mr.Man, Mr.Tickle out for the duration, they need a good punter, Foster fits the bill. He is a bit of a one trick pony so if I was Rush/Brown, I’d leave him there.

If you cast your mind back just a few years or so we had two of the fastest wingers in the game scoring tries for fun.
I'm sorry but I dont buy your "tactical evolution". Incidentally 20yrs is nothing when considering my experience in the game of Rugby League. I value your opinion, you are entitled to it, but I could never accept it.

I like fast wingers too but alot of coaches go for size rather than pace. Wigan went for a freak like Inga who was fast and big but the first team I remember sacrificing pace in the name of tactics was the Dulls, I remember them having a bloke called Scales on the wing

After 10 years more in the game, I'd expect him to be better in defence.

I think you're also being generous in regard to his kick returns, better maybe, immeasurably less so. Maybe 2 yards per return?

I take it you never saw Ike Southward at Workington.

I did. Some player

before my time

Well he was a Wigan fan from birth...

Good solid performance tonight from Foster in the council estate derby . Top class kicking display solid in defence and ok going forward.

That haircut is bloody aweful mind

More impressive for me was Manu, can't wait to see him in the redvee !

Great try saving tackle, some other efforts in defence, try assist, great pace to force the goal line drop out, all his goals kicked and one of his kick off specials to force a knock on (which led to a try). He looked like the Foster of old but then again he is being coached once more by a coach who believes in him, as opposed to one who believes he is only worth being permanently excluded.

don't get too carried away with manus' peformance tonight, 1st decent game in weeks, could've had something to do with sky being there!

That's a fair summary.

Thought he played very well tonight and looked much more like he did last season rather than the beginning of this. When did it become commonly accepted that he wasn't fast? Looked pretty fast to me, especially when chasing down that kick to force a drop out!

I don't know but I never accepted it, and have said so on here (receiving the usual derision as a result!). He is very nippy I think and he was really determined to force that goal line dropout.

He's got a decent top speed but poor acceleration which makes him appear slower. Whilst he's not as fast as Tommy, he's certainly no slouch.

Solid game from him. As others have said, wasn't really tested under/returning kicks so am looking forward to seeing him play more for them.

Here's hoping he can win them the game against Catalans in a few weeks!