He did o.k but he was playing centre and it was five or six years ago
I may actually have got him mixed up with Karl Olstrom who also played in Wigans academy a few years back and was also from Cumbria. I'll check on Bilkos site when I have time.

Now when did Wigan go full time pro?

If he did OK then why did you initially say he really impressed and then after Saints signed him say that he was only average?



Hahahahaha. Priceless.



Not sure on the exact date without checking. Why do you ask? I'd have thought you'd know that already.

I have indeed got him mixed up with Karl Olstrom.
Amor only played one game for Wigan academy away at Leeds in 2008 which I wouldn't have seen.
Olstrom played eight games for Wigan academy scoring four tries and two goals in 2009, and I did see some of those games at Orrell and at Saints (he looked o.k) I think he is now playing for Workington.

Look at you being all cute trying to lump Saints in with the teams competing for the title.



It's not 2006 anymore, you're an afterthought

10/10

And they cheated the salary cap whilst winning it that year.

Haha. We'll see. The bookies seem to think we are in the mix anyway.

i can't see beyond it being much the same as last year. we'll probably have the same 8 in the top & the only unknown will be who can spend enough to avoid relegation (although i've a sneaking suspicion that salford might just scrape in at 8th)

I agree Salford may sneak in, at the expense of Hull or Catalans maybe, but it'll be close.

I can't see beyond Saints, Wigan or Leeds for the title. Huddersfield just don't seem to have the big game mentality yet and I think Warrington may fall away slightly with the loss of Briers and the other experienced players.

If Roby and Mclorum were put up for sale which one would Koukash pay a million quid for and name a horse after......clue...it wouldn't be Mclorum.

Anyway on this head and shoulders thing weren't Huddersfield head and shoulders above everyone else throughout the season they won four more games than wigan and finished 7 points in front of them in the league standings....

you would be right if i said the squad, i said the spine and Huddersfield spine played together a lot more through out the season. Cant remember how many points we was in front on the table before literally the whole spine got injured. When the spine played together we won all the trophies on offer.

you wouldn't pay a million for either of them, maybe cameron smith but thats only a maybe. McIlorum suits Wigan needs and style more than Roby ever would.

Out of interest, what does McIlorum do for Wigan that Roby couldn't/doesn't do? I'm genuinely intrigued, this isn't the start of another 4 page argument!

Lets not kid ourselves, hooker is a position we really struggle with. Micky Mac is a good tough hooker, like Terry Newton but without the attacking flair.
Roby is a good all-rounder, with a good energetic style of play, and excellent at linking.
Both have strengths, neither have many weaknesses (now that Macca has sorted his temper out).
However, neither team has a good back up hooker. I would love to have Roby at Wigan, but as a complement to MM, not instead of.
Roby, by dint of his experience and proven record is a better all-round hooker than MM (which was also shown in the WC), but MM showed in the big matches last season that he now has the temperament to handle the big atmospheres.

Wigan forwards and Shaun Wane like to play very aggressively and McIlorum 9 times out 10 leads the line on that, not saying Roby isn't a good tackler because he is but McIlorum likes to belt people in the tackle and it sets a tone of aggressiveness.
Roby likes to jump out of dummy half and put people on the back foot it works well for saints but that would take time away from the 6,7 and 1 at Wigan and that is the way we score most of the tries. I also Believe McIlorum has better distribution from dummy half (even tho he acted a pr*ck before the world cup and played poorly in it) and this gives a lot of time for the halves and full back to cause havoc outside.
One thing i would like to see from McIlorum what i noticed Roby does very well is look and read when people are going to offload to many times he is looking at the side of him when the player isn't even tackled.

I wasn't particularly over wowed with Roby for a couple of years until the world cup i though his overall game looked fantastic but when i have been watching him for saints to many times he doesn't look up to see whats around he just steals 5 to 10 meters and it doesn't become effective when your players are losing the ruck.

OF COURSE THIS JUST MY OPINION.

Haha. It'd be boring if we all had the same opinion.

I'd agree that McIlorum is a more aggressive player and comes up with some big hits. But sometimes this can also work against him because in attempting to come up with a big hit all the time lead him to being 2nd in terms of missed tackles in SL last season.

To be honest i don't think i have seen him mis many, what i have seen is players bouncing off each other but he gets a away with it usually as there is 2 or 3 in the tackle. I just signed up for Wigan Tv and listening to shaun Wane talk about the Manly world club challenge and its easy to see he really loves aggressive defenses probably the biggest reason why i would say McIlorum suits Wigan more than any other hooker in the league.

I don't remember him missing many tackles either, I certainly wouldn't identify him as a weak link. Like others have said, his defense is brutal at times. You can hear the contact from the stands when he puts a big hit on.

I'm just going off the stats on the SL website, McIlorum is 2nd highest for missed tackles.

Maybe people don't tend to see faults in their own players as much.

Maybe McIlorum misses most tackles because he pays a huge amount of minutes for Wigan as Tomkins et al are not quite up to the job and his misses are due to fatigue in games.
If I was coach I'd certainly run at him a lot as he is key getting Wigan moving forwards

Roby's runs from d/h are often at an angle going forwards and he misses out the first if not second receiver before passing. That suits Saints as they don't have a quality pair of half backs and haven't for some time.
McIlorum's runs from d/h are direct when he sees that the markers are not square or not there at all. His GF try an example. He usually gets his d/h pass away to the first receiver and Wigan's play builds from there. We have had capable halves for some years with this year Smith having an excellent season and Green coming good towards the season's end.
Two different players both suiting the needs of the way their teams play rugby.

I'm not sure what you've been watching but to claim that Roby often runs on angle and then misses one or two players out is completely inaccurate. And that comes from someone who attends 99% of all Saints matches.

I don't attend 99% of Saints matches and from the little I've watched he does do that.

You've probably seen him do it once and based your opinion of him on that.

Far, far more than once YG!

OK. You know best.