Thought he was great. Played great. scored 2 great tries. Earned himself a signature.

tbh id rather keep it like the second half and have joel going centre with gleeson on the wing than put pryce in. Despite laughing at first joel went pretty well at centre last night, far better than pryce has done.

Id say either go as we were or go with PR to FB and lets give ainscough a run. If roberts can transform into such a player under mcguire, ainscough should be world class this year as the only failing he's ever had was under the high ball which he must have worked on under the new regime.

I've actually said before I wouldn't mind seeing Joel Tomkins get a regular run at centre if we had an injury there. He's got the pace, the hands and he'd be huge in comparison to most of his opposite numbers.

He's obviously going to be a second row/loose forward in the main but it's always nice to have options.

Would be a good idea if Joel was on same centre as Kings wing. His strength would be vital./

He is a different player to the one we saw last year that is for sure. Last year he would not take the man on down the wing and didn't look half as interested as he does this year. I'd love to see how many touches of the ball he makes this year compared to last year. It just goes to show we were right to question the reasons for his failings, because the quality has always been there, but for some reason or another we just didn't see it! I'm with DaveO on this one and think the answer is definitely in the coaching. What else can it be?

During all the flak he took last year I always remembered a little piece of play he'd come up with against Cas in his 2nd or 3rd game for us that gave me hope he could be an exceptional player for us.

He was playing at fullback against Cas and shimed into the line. He put on some of the best footwork i've ever seen to get on the outside of his man and put Pryce over in the corner. It was my favourite try of last year and it showed he's got huge talent.

His attitude and fitness are now matching that talent.

never mind him being fit enough, he aint good enough! to come back into the pecking order Vs Wire would be a big gamble, tbh i dont think his hart is in it.

saying that i would love to be proved wrong and have him come back and run all over them

And there far more examples of players who are up to speed form day one and that is the THE most pertinent fact in this debate because that is how it should be.

God knows where this notion came from that it was acceptable to wait a season for an experienced overseas player to settle in came from.

In any case you are being disingenuous bringing up names like Smith because he carried an injury for virtually the whole of his first season here so he had an excuse and Richards was played out of position by a poor coach and as soon as he went to the wing under Nobby he was a different player. A change of coach that did Richards good looks to me have done the same to Roberts.

As to Roberts his family arrived here long before the end of the season but he didn't gain an extra yard of pace when they did. It's as plain as day he looks a completely different player and IMO it's little to do with settling into living here but down to good conditioning in the off season, good tactics and a proper game plan now IMO. If that has nothing to do with it then clearly our new coach doesn't have a great deal of influence on the squad which is plainly not the case across all the players not just Roberts.

Joel Tomkins looks a much improved player as well. I suppose he's been homesick for Warrington or wherever he was born these past few seasons



Dave

Roberts was bedding in well from mid season onwards last year as far as i'm concerned.

Exactly..unfortunately we signed this fella when we got Karl Pryce...



He needs to find the yellow brick road sharpish IMO or he should be gone!

He looks dangerous, and more importantly the players inside him look interested and look like they know how to play the game and thats good for him as he gets the ball in decent positions.

He looks dangerous and very committed. he looks like he's starting to enjoy it now.

He's a new player under maguire!!

There was a group on front of me who made me smile when they started singing "You're not Amos anymore".

Correct, and he was, and still is, the best all round winger at the club.

I said after last week, I hope we where starting to see the Amos Roberts that we signed. I know that Maguire has come in and given everyone a little but he looks to have done miracles with Amos.

I think we all knew he has talent but under Noble the tactics starved his game and he had low confidence and didn't seem that interested, this season it’s like we have signed a new player I hope he keeps it up as he will be a great asset throughout the season.

Two words, coaching, fitness.
Great work Amos , have you been on the phone to Brett Dallas.

No he wasn't and everyone knows that. There has been a big change around but if you keep insisting he was a good player last season no one will take any notice of what else you say.

Dave

I'm sorry but everyone doesn't know that.

Amos Roberts was a good player last season. His performance levels were lower than the exceptional ones set so far this season but in no was not a good player last season.

For a start he was a marked improvement on the woeful Calderwood and Colbon and his form last season was that of a good if not exceptional SL winger.

I can't see how you can say otherwise?

Because, like Rafa, DaveO's opinions are FACTS!!!



Roberts is like a different player, and his first two performances have been a joy to behold.

No Dave you are wrong, again. There were quite a few of us telling you last season that Roberts was the best winger at the club. It's just that you had your Ainscough eyes on, and then blamed Noble.

What will be your thoughts if next week Maguire picks Goulding or Pryce on the wing?

It will be a toughie, becuase its will be the well its not Noble argument v the Ainscough love in. I predict no comment!

Well said fully agree keep it up Amos, I did feel sorry for Amos last season the skill was there but didn`t seem to come out and sometimes he was the scapegoat when things went wrong, But well done lad long may it last.

Well we will just have to disagree on that because he was nothing special at all last season and I have no idea why anyone thinks he was a good player for us in 2009. Those signing "Your not Amos any more" or whatever mentioned earlier in the thread are not wrong!



What's has being better then them got to do with it? It's about being good enough in absolute terms and I am confident the vast majority of Wigan fans were none too impressed with him last season but are pleasantly surprised so far this. And that is not just based on what I think people who post on here think about it but the opinions of people at the DW/JJB last season and this.

I can honestly say no one sat around me was impressed with him in 2009 but everyone is now singing his praises. What on earth is wrong with acknowledging he was nothing special in 2009 but looks a different player in 2010????

Dave

I have to agree he was a little off last year he looked poor under the high ball, teams often kicked to him, and although chasing back his pace did get us out of trouble sometimes (which Phil Clarke often went on about), going forward he seemed to lack that killer edge. This year he seems to me to be a little bit fitter a lot keaner and a damn site better, he came with a big reputation and scored a lot of tries down under, he can be forgiven in his first year (like Richards), as long as he kicks on from now on, he has made a good start I just hope he continues because if he is scoring and Richards is scoring and Gleeson and Carmont weigh in with their fair share of tries then we are in for a good year.