IMO Lees is massively overrated.

[quote="Snaggletooth":hhgm2xv8]Lees is like many players that are with the best teams, they look great until they move and their short comings get found out. Great teams have great player mixed with not so great players.[/quote:hhgm2xv8] I agree with your sentiment that the best teams are usually the ones that operate optimally in the 'sum of the parts' principle. Therefore it follows, especially in a salary capped sport operating in a small gene pool, the club resources are used wisely (BTW look at the mess United are in now to see its not confined to our sport) The question is, is Lees expected to be that "great player" and rewarded as such or his availability being considered for the slightly lesser but equally important "sum of the parts" role?

[quote="Wires71":1bcv8uqv]Yep "big bopper" still required. But even with Lees and Byrne the pack has a little bit more aggression than we have currently. Surely we can find a NZ, Samoan or Tongan impact monster with a decent engine? A Patrick Mago 18 stone type.[/quote:1bcv8uqv] League Express reporting that we've missed out to Wakefield for NZ wrecking ball Caius Faatili. Not sure how accurate this report is given we don't have an available quota spot, mind.

[quote="Uncle Rico":dzzuqnxm]I agree with your sentiment that the best teams are usually the ones that operate optimally in the 'sum of the parts' principle. Therefore it follows, especially in a salary capped sport operating in a small gene pool, the club resources are used wisely (BTW look at the mess United are in now to see its not confined to our sport) The question is, is Lees expected to be that "great player" and rewarded as such or his availability being considered for the slightly lesser but equally important "sum of the parts" role?[/quote:dzzuqnxm] I agree, and its a discussion we've had on the Wigan forum's too. Not every player can be a world class operator, and they all have a relative market value on the cap, so if Burgess thinks he needs Matty Lees to lead his pack for example, then he'd probably pay good money, however, if he's seen as a valued squad member, then he'd probably get well paid, but not have a massive impact on the cap. I'd assume George Williams is your marquee (fed trained) so he couldn't take that slot and Toby King was your home grown marquee (not that it matters in relation to this particular discussion) In terms of his attributes, whilst he isnt the biggest metre maker, i think he is one of Saints defensive line leaders with Knowles. When Saints are performing, he is one of the ones who set that defensive line speed, and makes the big hits. Admittedly both he and Knowles dont always get it right, but they are trying to put such speed in to force errors / big it, its invariably going to be mis-timed every now and then

[quote="Lord Tony Smith":1vdqfl1m]League Express reporting that we've missed out to Wakefield for NZ wrecking ball Caius Faatili. Not sure how accurate this report is given we don't have an available quota spot, mind.[/quote:1vdqfl1m] It's a good job. That hair cut would be unacceptable this side of the pennines, but par for the course over in Wakefield. [img:1vdqfl1m]https://www.totalrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/MixCollage-28-Jan-2025-10-40-AM-6011-675x360.jpg[/img:1vdqfl1m]

Also our Strawberry Blonde quota spot is full