The lines Faz runs in attack are outstanding, just as good at it as Hoffman for me.

It's also easy to forget that he is still only 22 years of age.

Hope he does a hansen and keeps getting bigger.

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"Another 36 tackles yesterday at Cas with none missed again. Also our top metre maker. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8792'" Farrell definitely missed a tackle in the game yesterday because I remember myself and people behind me commenting when it happened that it was his first of the season Still great effort from Faz again and he been the best player IMO this season, if he keeps this up he has to be in the England squad come the end of the season!

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"Another 36 tackles yesterday at Cas with none missed again. Also our top metre maker. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8792'" Farrell definitely missed a tackle in the game yesterday because I remember myself and people behind me commenting when it happened that it was his first of the season Still great effort from Faz again and he been the best player IMO this season, if he keeps this up he has to be in the England squad come the end of the season!

Indeed. People could compare Hock to lots of hard working players or players who are consistent throughout a game but that simply isn't the type of player Hock is.

I find it surprising that so many think we'd be better off without Hock or that Farrell is much better considering Hock was good enough to make the Dream Team last year, was one of our best players overall, was no doubt quite high in the 1-2-3's after each game and was generally praised for how well he was doing after returning from his ban.

Farrell is doing brilliantly but there's a massive deficiency in his game and in that of Hansen, Hughes and Tuson too - they don't offload well enough, if at all. We caused so many problems with Hock taking the ball into contact and offloading to Tomkins and we just don't have that threat anymore. Farrell has only made 1 offload this year while Hock has already been creating tries for Widnes with his offloads.

Often second rows are about partnership. Potter the brilliant defender and Goodway the fantastic attacking runner. Farrell and Hansen seem quite similar. If you then had Hock off the bench then you would have a trio of second rowers offering everything.

if were playing this game, i think id rather have joel back than hock.

Farrell and Hansen and Joel. Nice thought.

Doubt it will happen but you never know.

The kids a machine. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8799

The kids a machine. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8799

In an ideal world you want forwards to excel at everything but I think Farrell would be a good shout in an England pack provided he's paired with someone who complements his abilities.

His tackle on Menzies last Friday was a game changer.
Had the Catalans man scored when we were 6-0 up it could have been a different game. I think Wigan would have still won due to far greater fitness levels but a score then would have raised the Dragons intensity and changed the nature of the game.
Well done Liam!

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"The kids a machine. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8799'" liam made 2 attacking kicks? i didnt go the game but whats that all about???

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"The kids a machine. www.superleague.co.uk/match_report/8799'" liam made 2 attacking kicks? i didnt go the game but whats that all about???

He did, wrong place wrong time

I'm sure he gave away at least 1 penalty as well.

Farrell has won Wigan's player of the month award for February and in a straw poll on twitter, taken by George Riley, asking who has been the best player so far this year, Farrell finished top with 30% of the vote. He had big shoes to fill at the beginning of the season starting in a position occupied in previous seasons by internationals Gareth Hock, Ryan Hoffman and Joel Tomkins and at the moment seems to be doing a great job.

To see how well he's doing in comparison to the last three premier second rowers we've had I've compared Farrell's stats per game so far with these players stats per game for the season they were a starting second rower, that is 2010 for Joel, '11 for Hoff and last year for Hock.



Although it's probably too early to draw significant conclusions, at the moment he is comparing favourably in most categories. He's averaging more metres, carries, tackles and breaks as well as missing fewer tackles (none) and making fewer errors. He is giving away more penalties though and not offloading anywhere near as much which may explain his low error count.

Is Farrell now as good as any of these players were for us and is he ready for a spot in the world cup team? It seems as though he may be, I hope he'll be able to play at the level he currently is for the rest of the year and many more and not leave after having one good year like the last three have.

Turning into a quality player is Farrell, works very hard in defence and has that cutting edge in attack. If he can develop his offload game a bit he'll not only fill the gap of Hock but will easily surpass him. Slightly surprised at the stats above of him giving away more penalties than Hock, I'd never noticed he gave many penalties away.

Haven't watched the TV coverage yet, but he was my MoM tonight, and yet again I don't remember him missing a tackle...

He was immense again tonight. A tackling machine!

best player form wise we have at the moment, and I agree with Phil Clarke, he has played better and better each game this year, As a second row at Uni I try to model my work rate after this type of player, so I massively respect him for everything he does at wigan, and if he maintains this will be a shoe in for england at the world cup this year

Faz is starting to remind me of Andy Goodway.

Not the same style of player for me but turning into a very good one nevertheless.

Reminds me more of Mick Cassidy.

I sincerely hope Faz is setting his sigths higher than "solid clubman", becasue that's all Cassidy ever was.

That's why I compared him to Goodway. A relentless tackling machine and carves through defences with ease, plus a born match winner.

Farrell is a fantastic second row and his attack and defence this season have been brilliant, I prefer him to Hock because his performances are more consistent, he also comes up with little moments of magic as seen in previous seasons as he is always in the right place at the right time, who'll ever forget his Good Friday try in 2011?