Try one of these . or one of these ,

If you watch Roberts he to is not good at the high ball suported by Gleason

think everybodys jumpin the gun a bit on this ;its only speculation at the moment everybody chill out till we know for sure. then if it is true, what can we do about it? nowt. win or lose, with him or without him, nob takes the flak or plaudits. dont know how i want it to end now.

Roberts dropped what i'd call a simple-ish ball against Saints last time out to cost us the game so that shows he's not totally at ease under it either.

Richards made a schoolboy error running the ball out against Wakey

Phelps made a schoolboy error against Celtic allowing them to get an early score

With most coaches i'd really believe they were trying to protect Ainscough but with Noble i really do believe he's just not got the balls to tell the correct player(Roberts imo) that he's dropped ahead of a youngster.

Saying all that this isn't confirmed so we'll wait and see.

I'm not defending Noble. I'm merely stating what I assume his reasoning to be. He may be proved wrong, he may be proved right.

I'm guessing he'd argue that trying to devise a winning formula for Saturday is more important than 'being fair' to Ainscough.

It could also be, of course, that all the chat in St Helens about how they'll target Ainscough is a double-bluff, and that secretly they're scared of him because, even though just a kid, he's much more of a beast than Gardner - in which case Noble is falling for it hook, line and sinker.

Who can say> But for what it's worth, I'd have gone with Ainscough simply because his hunger for tries tops anyone else's in the team.

If Ainscough doesn't play but we win the game nobody will think twice about it after the game.

It's a big call if true though and coaches live and die by decisions like these.

We'll see.

In fairness to roberts on that one though he had actually caught the ball and then phelps got underneath him and tipped him slightly

I blame them both then

Heard from reliable source that Ainscough is not in 17.

Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere (but i couldn't find it).

Roberts should have missed for me, or Caront to at least have to have proven fitness(he is a quality centre though).

Hope this is wrong but i wouldn't put it past Noble

Roberts should have missed for me, or :2ttgjrjjCarmont:2ttgjrjj to at least have to have proven fitness(he is a quality centre though).

sorry can't even type so angry

Hear, hear.

He won't be proved right or wrong whatever the result because no one will be able to say what effect of playing him would have had on the result if he is left out. If we win, we may well still have won with Ainscough in the side. If we lose, we may well have lost with him in the side.

I am also getting a bit sick of this bandwagon that seems to be gathering momentum that Ainscough is somehow terrible under the high ball. He caught a steepler of a bomb v Wakefield and made 50m back up the pitch!

IMO the few mistakes he has made defensively are not serious enough to have him dropped from the team. His mistakes are no worse than other players have made yet his contribution on attack is far greater.

He should be in the team and Noble's dilemma should not be whether to play him or not but which one of Phelps or Roberts to drop. Simple as that.

Dave

Again I have to agree. As I said in a post elsewhere, it's not as if he is the only one that makes a mistake.

I just think Noble doesn't like "proper" wingers. He would probably have dropped Offia.

Well that really depends on what happens in the match, doesn't it.

If Ainscough doesn't play, and we fluff several try-scoring opportunities down the left, then it could well be argued that Noble has been proved wrong. On the other hand, if Ainscough does play, and lets in three tries because he's been caught out under the bomb, then that proves [uyou[/u wrong.

And before this draws another heated reply from the 'we hate Noble' corner, I reiterate that I disagree with Noble on many things, including this. I'd play Ainscough for his attack, and would risk him in defence. But he can look flimsy under the high ball. That's an observation, not something I've been told as part of a bandwagoning exercise.

I dont think its a straight choice of Ainscough and Roberts as they play on opposite wings, with Richards also a left winger, if he doesnt play FB then it will be Ainscough to miss out.

A lot of people wont understand how hard it is to swap sides when the player does a lot of things withoutthinking (stepping off their favoured foot etc), so it isnt just a case of putting them on either wing

A great topic this one about Ainscough....

Wire have similar problems with Penny He gets (well [igot[/i as he no longer plays) unfairly Criticised for having trys scored on his wing when it was in fact more down to King, Anderson or Monaghan being poor in defence.

Ive seen Ainscough make a couple of defensive errors but hes scoring tries early on in his career which is a good sign ......

the problem for both players could be the coaching...Jimmy Lowes dropped Penny when trying to improve our defence...we then Went on to have 40 and 48 points put up us in our next two games...!!

Penny was quite clearly not Jimmy Lowes type of player the same may apply to Ainscough and Noble....

whats worse for Ainscough now is if he gets a reputation of being a dodgy defender -even if he isnt- its almost impossible to shake off.

Ive only seen Penny knock on twice but after he did it in the cup match at saints, which they scored off, and all of a sudden everyone, even some of the Thicker Wire fans were saying he's got dodgy handling...!!!

Paul Johnson has been goosed on the outside, knocked on and had a try scored from it, and is as slow as a cart horse. yet he gets no criticism at all .....!!!

I would rather watch Kevin Penny any day of the week Ive seen a post on here say similar about Ainscough.

all I'd say is if he is costing you games then you cant let it continue ...if he isnt (as Penny Wasnt for us) then support him all you can and every time a nerd posts an Ainscough out thread which contains pure fantasy put em right....

I've read that Ainscough is actually a natural right sided winger playing out of position for the first time which makes it a straight shoot out between him and Roberts if it has to come down to that.

Maybe a regular reserves watcher could clarify that?

i think ainscough will be playing he s at the hotel so i think he ll be playing
tomoz

It does neither because given your scenarios there is no guarantee he would not have an off day and also have fluffed the try opportunities had he played, likewise you could not say the alternative winger would not have let three tires in either.

In other words no one with any sense will draw any conclusions based on this one game that Noble was right or wrong with what he does re Ainscough. However IF Noble drops him and we win, Noble will draw a conclusion and you can guess what it will be.

Dave

Well said. Looking at the TV from the Wakefield game I thought Ainscough had come in off his wing to cover the hole left by the centre the kick went over his head. To be getting as much criticism he has got for this mistake seems rather harsh from the coach and the fans.

I also find it somewhat strange that Noble seems to be OK with publicly critisising Ainscough whenever he makes a mistake. Not what I would expect a developing player to get, apparently when Millward did this in the changing room the senior players stood up for them, but it's different for Ainscough.

The Duke of Wellington would have liked you, Dave. He had a thing for men who would gamely try to defend completely indefensible positions, even if they failed miserably - as you just have.