Nobody seems to have mentioned the dip in form that these 2 have had of late. Im a huge fan of Faz (before anyone accuses me of "scapegoating"icon_wink.gif but im a bit concerned about his form the last few weeks, he started the season off magnifecently, but he's not breaking the tackles that he was and not contributing like he was in attack, I believe this has been one of the main reasons we have struggled attacking wise of late. When Green returned to the team my feeling was that Farrell would return to form as these 2 seemed to have a great understanding. However, last night Green looked for Farrell to hit the gap on a few occasions and he either caught it stood still or ran the wrong line. Im not doubting his defensive effort which is still outstanding but going forward he doesnt seem to be the same player at the moment.

As for Richards, this season im struggling to see what he's contributing to the team apart from goal kicking, hes not the same threat from kicks and seems to have lost a couple of yards of pace, several times this year he's had the chance to go for the corner and not gone for it like he once was, when he gets in the clear he doesnt seem to "go" anymore. I don t lnow whether the injuries he has had are playing on his mind or whether he has genuinely lost some pace but I really dont think he's contributed much at all. Another observation last night was that on 2 or 3 occasions Gelling attracted 2 players, got his arms free and looked for Richards who was nowhere to be seen.

Im not "slagging off" just a couple of observations that I havent seen mentioned on here lately.

Dont tell me Farrells off aswell

What?

You wascal....

Farrell has been solid, but not sensational for the last few weeks. I think this has a lot to do with Blake Green not playing. Green and Farrell have an almost telepathic understanding of each others game, and a lot of his breaks/tries came off the back of Green's passing game. We saw glimpses of this last night, and The Pearl will be back to his best soon, I would imagine.

Richards is struggling to adjust to the new centre inside him. He's played with 3 different centres this year, instead of the one constant in George Carmont over the last few years. This is obviously having an effect on his game, both in attack and defence. Some times this year Richards has been all at sea defensively, this is due to him not being completely confident of his inside man. I feel it unfair to criticise him based on this, as it's more difficult than we can appreciate to adjust to such a change.

I wouldn't really put it down to whos inside him, as the thing thats worried me most is when he's had ball in hand. He hasn't gone for the corner when in the past he would have scored, and when he does get half clear he doesn't seem to put his foot down. I dont know, this may be down to injuries or a slight lack of confidence. I just dont think he's been the same player this year.

You have to bear in mind he is getting on now, and doesn't have the pace he once did, especially since the Achilles injury. He hasn't really been the same since that. I think this year was the right time to leave, honestly.

Richards hasn't been the same player since he got injured in the grand final for my money. He's still solid enough to keep his spot but little more

.

Yep, which is why I was surprised he got an NRL offer.

Farrell much improved last night.

How the hell did Richards get man of the match? The corporates must have been tipsy

Thought Hansen got sponsors MOM.

They are always way off!

Ridiculous sometimes.

The Sponsors MOTM is who they want to meet after the game. It rarely has to do with personal performance.

I think Hansen got MOM. John Monie used to have words with the sponsors and explain who deserves mom and why.

At the game my mate said he couldn't believe Richards had got MOM then I heard them announce Hansen.

I'm thinking they may have made an error and announced it twice.

Im bumping this thread. Both awful again.

Im struggling as to why nobody has picked up on Farrell's bad form the last 5-6 weeks, it doesn't seem to get a mention. The lines he ran last night were awful.

I agree with you on Farrell and the lines he is running. Green got a lot of stick last night for feeding Farrell time after time and not going out the back - but Farrell just wasn't hitting the gaps! His drop in form is a big worry.

It's hard to be critical of Richards, he does a winger's job. A few times last night we worked an overlap, Thornley drew the man and didn't pass to Richards in space. The service to him (in recent weeks) has been crap.

I thought Wigan did very well to hold Shudds until half time. Apart from Charnley, who I think is currently the best winger in SL, you were lacking any world class players. Plenty of solid, reliable players - Farrell, Hansen, Goulding, MMc, Mossop types - some great young kids, and some living off past glories - Richards, Luauki (sp). You desperately missed O'L and Tomkins.

Im still a huge fan of Green and I think its unfair the stick he is getting. Last night he was missing Smith, Lockers and Sam out of the attacking line, he was trying everything on his own in the second half. Every time he looked to hit Farrell on the outisde he was either stood still or ran the complete wrong line. Green must be really frustrated at the minute, the first half of the season I think we saw the real Blake Green, a classy 6 who can hit his outside runners and create space.

One problem I think I can see is the difference how Wigan line up in attack when Sam plays and when he doesn't.
When he plays Wigan seem to position themselves deeper which gives the second rows and outside backs that bit more time to see the gaps for Sam and other players to exploit.

When he does not play Wigan are so flat that when an outside player receives the ball the defence is in his face, hence the amount of ball dropped in the man and ball collisions.

When Wigan tried to get in Hudds faces their halfbacks kicked us to death with their little chips through, Wigan only seem to try the little kicks when they are within 10yds of the line.

Richards hasn't done anything wrong, he might stand a chance if he ever got the ball. He must miss George Carmont like mad (as do we all)

+1, add on top of that the really poor performance from Powell who isn't ready for SL just yet, Hampshire on the other hand is. Blake & Smith have suffered from injuries (from late shoulder charges) and shoudlnt be too harshly judged, however as a fan its sooooooo frustrating to watch.Farrell & Green need synch training they are on completely different wavelengths at the moment. They lads know they are better than the last half a dozen peformances, but I'm getting a sense that either Wane hasn't learnt anything from these last few matches or he hasnt got any other choices available to him- and that would be a sad situation to be in for the business end of the season.

I have seen him get the ball plenty of times this season, when was the last time he went round his opposite winger? There are many times when Charnley would have finished the chances that Richards has had. He is still solid, reliable etc but just hasnt the pace these days to be a top winger. In fact I am staggered that he has got a gig again in the NRL.

Pat used to get a lot of his tries by catching a bomb to the corner. I don't remember the last time he got one of those.
As for his pace, he lost that after the Grand Final. He's been a great servant to the club for many years, but it is time to replace him.