What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with Fozzard's running technique......

Right..but what about losing 36-38 or something? I think he needs a bit more practise in the reserves first to get his technique (or lack of) sorted out. Especially when we are able to cover that position. Just MHO though.

Saying that though I hope to see him back in the first team very soon.

I would pick Ainscough.

In place of ... ?

Why change a winning team ?

Roberts would seem the only guy at risk.

Saying that whilst watching the game live i though Roberts had been very quiet on Saturday but after watching the replay he actually did pretty well. He mades rafts of yards and came up with a couple of very important tackles late on.

Saying his defence is a liability is completely overstating the case.

If this bandwagon carries on he will end up believing it. His coach uses the excuse (and it is an excuse - he's ready) he isn't the finished article not to play him and some fans have decided his defence is a liability when he has made no worse defensive errors than many others in the back line such as Phelps, Roberts and even Pat.

Dave

Totally agree with this point.

I don't remember Nobby using his defence as an excuse though.

Personally I don't know who'd i'd place in the back 3 positions. Phelps has proved himself at FB, Richards, Roberts & Ainscough are all decent wingers. I suppose the obvious one is Roberts to miss out but I'd doubt anyone playing on our right wing would have done better. He doesn't get the same quality ball or space as the left wing.

Agree with all of that.

To me he's made a couple of errors from kicks in his time in the first team and then all of a sudden he's being made out to be this fumbling idiot in comparison with Kevin Penny in some parts.

You can't help but feel that the next time he plays for the first team all eyes will be on him now and the pressure will be huge. If he makes any sort of defensive error he's going to be bashed from pillar to post by all opposition fans and his own coach the man that should be protecting him has done him no favours.

It's a good job the lad looks mentally strong because he's going to need to be.

and bring me your fathers gun...etc...etc

,
How much reserve / academy rugby have you watched? Ainscough is a great prosect but has severe flaws in parts of his game.

He will get further chances this season, but IMO he needs a lot of work doing on his game.

Be honest, how many of his tries have been walk ins?

His time will come.

If you had been there v Saints reserves last week then I'm sure you would have seen why I'm saying this.

Yep, much like Martin Offiah, really...

Exactly. The attention that has been focused on his few errors is over the top.



Spot on. His defence was no worse than others in the side so was IMO a none issue in that sense. Of course he needs to improve it but so do some of our established players. He is no different from them.

Unfortunately there is now a body of opinion that he has a serious issue and as you say he will be under the spotlight when he does return.

And you are dead right Noble has done him no favours because it looks as if he has been left out because he has this problem with his game so the spotlight will be on.

What Noble should have done is simply not dropped him and if questioned about the odd mistake simply dismiss it as something we can live with because he scores more than the lets in or some such words. Off field of course he could get Rads working with him but I see no reason defensively for him to be dropped or to have remained out of the side. If he was still in the side under those circumstances and scoring tries there would be no pressure but now when he comes back what is everybody going to be doing? Bombing him with kicks and the fans will be watching him like a hawk.

In short this was IMO a none issue until our esteemed coach made it one to justify his selections.



I hope so because if he starts to worry about catching bombs more than scoring tries it will be Dodgy Hodgy MkII in the eyes of some fans.

Dave

I don't rememeber too many Ade Gardner style walk ins tbh.

His first try against Cas was a beauty, his 2 at Quins were superbly finished, his second against Saints was an awesome finish, one of his 4 at Wakey was superbly finished down the line, a couple of his trys at Barrow in the cup took some finishing ect etc.

So he had an off day in one game. If you watch a lot of reserve RL how many times has he done that? I do not recall any posts from people who regularly watch the reserves qualify their calls for him to be included in the side before this season that he was a great prospect but had has severe flaws in parts of his game.

Having watched him this season in SL I do not believe he has "severe" flaws at all. No more so than Phelps who while a good attacking full back isn't the most solid in defence IMO and has yet to be severely tested.

Dave

Quite a few, unfortunately.
At the moment he is third behind Richards and Robers in his "all round game"

But, he has time on his side and I'm sure will return to first team action at some stage in the season.
I'll let you know how he goes on Saturday, why don't you come down and see for yourself?

Based on what I have seen which is SL he is at least Robers equal all round and far better in attack. He can even catch the odd bomb as he did v Barrow and make 50m's returning the ball.

You are the first to my knowledge to state he has had quite a few such defensive lapses in the reserves. I know Geoff who posted above watches them so perhaps he would care to comment?



I can't, there is a limit to how much time I can spend travelling from Chester to Wigan. I hope to be at the Chester Gladiators fixture instead!

Dave

A couple of errors, no more, and in those extremely windy conditions that was a pretty good effort. If anything, it was the missed tackle on Eastmond that bothered me more than the two mistakes under the bombs.

Incidentally, for those who say most of his tries were walk-ins, he also leads SL in clean breaks, and from only 9 appearances.

Geoff it was also the lost ball just before half time that led to Saints second try.

Vievers rescued him by taking the difficult bomb but then Ainscough ran from acting halfback along his own line and lost the ball.

As I have said so often it's work in progress. His time will come.

He's not the biggest lad, but neither was Robinson.

What is more worrying is that he doesn't seem to compete under the ball really. He rarely gets off the ground, I have been to a few reserves games, but only really picked it up this season. So I haven't really seen more than anybody who only watches the first team of him.

Still, the lad is only going to stagnate in the reserves. I think he'll still get played this season, it will only take a knock to Roberts, Richards or Phelps and I'd stick a tenner on him coming in and having an absolute stormer and cementing his place.

Alla Mcilorum, who surely can't be dropped after his performances. (step up nobby)

IIRC I don't think Noble actually said his defence needed working on???

Didn't he say there were a few things to work on but isn't that the case with any player???

Isn't it the Fans on here who are the ones who have picked up on his missing of 3 or 4 kicks and made it into an issue? I don't remember Noble actually mentioning his kick defence!

Certain people keep piping up with "Noble uses the excuse that he's not the finished article" as though Noble is saying he won't pick him until he's perfect. Well he didn't!

He said he has areas of his game that he needs to work on.
He didn't say he wasn't ready/Good Enough/ Better or Worse than Roberts/Richards or anyone else.

Isn't the none selection of Ainscough just another reason for the "Noble Out" brigade to gather their pitch forks?

NOBLE SHOULD PICK THE TEAM THAT HE THINKS WILL WIN US THE UPCOMING GAME! END OF!

Thereis no conspiracy against Ainscough, there is no pig headedness on Noble's behalf in not picking him, there is no problem with Ainsocugh's game that means he can't be selected in future "IF" Noble thinks he is the Best person to do the job for Wigan for that particular game!

He just thinks that Phelps/Roberts/Richards is the better option for this game.

End Of!

And Rogues, your wasting your time mate!

The constant regurgatating of any possible Bad Press on Noble is what some people want!
Please don't feed them, It's not worth it!

as much as i dont understand why he was dropped in the first place, we've then not lost a game and played well in all/most of them.

Therefore i can't really have a go at noble for dropping him because its obviously paid off. You can say we don't know what would have happened if ainscough was still in, but we couldnt have done any better with him in could we? We've won every game.

For the first time in years we start to build a squad that has cover in it, and all people can do is moan !!!

The whole point of a squad is that you have people in the reserves to cover injuries, losses of form and burnout.
The lad will just have to wait his turn. The same way that Tim Smith did.

If he is to become a decent pro, it is part of the game he has to learm. This is his first full season - lets just enjoy the fact that we have good reserves for once.

Exactly.

I'm not moaning that he should be back in because i don't think he should with the way things have been going but then i don't really think he should have been out in the first place.

To be in this situation is no bad thing as we have 3 very good wingers and all of them would get in most if not all the other superleague teams sides.

What a load of rot! I'm getting quite sick of seeing this on this site tbh.

He missed a couple of kicks to the corner, I've not seen him miss a tackle though. Besides when you average nearly 2 tries a game...