Amos for me.



Don't want Goulding on the wing.

Amos Roberts.........has made over 200 NRL apprearances at fullback.............. as well as playing some of the best fullback rugby I have ever seen at Wigan............ last season. This indicates that he might be capable of playing.................fullback.



Danny.......Brough's........kicks were some of..........the best I have seen. Any............fullback woul.......d.............have struggled with those kicks....plus there was no kick pressure.................................



Overall I thought he had a good................game. He ran the ball back well..........made over 200 metres............and as we put kick pressure on Danny Brough..............he dealt with everything else thrown at him.................



Sure he lacks confidence........but he is our best option at the moment...............as Matty Russell has never played anything other than U20's..........................and is not on dual reg........Pat Richards offers no attacking threat from fullback........and is more effective on the wing.



Pat Richards is wasted at fullback...........Amos Roberts is wasted on the wing...............IMO.

So what was I watching when he supported Goulding's run and got the ball and scored on Sunday? I thought he did quite well to move up into the line from FB, especially as he wasn't expecting to play there.



Whether he is more effective on the wing is a matter for discussion, but to say he offers no attacking threat from FB is quite clearly untrue. Plus he is our best player at catching the bomb. If Sam does miss out, I'd be surprised if MM went for anyone else at FB.

It's incorrect to say Richards offers no attacking threat from fullback, but I think to say he offers very little threat would be more accurate. What he demonstrated when supporting Goulding's run was simply good support play, something all players should be capable of. What lets Richards down at fullback is poor passing in the attacking line and an over reliance on simply driving the ball in rather than looking for the pass. It's hard to do a sweeping attacking move like the ones involving Tomkins when Richards is coming into the attacking line. That's where Roberts offers far more than Richards. Richards also doesn't really have much of a step or much agility, which I think is pretty useful for a fullback because often they are well marked and a player will charge out of the line at the fullback expecting them to get the ball. Tomkins gets caught out quite often by this but he can also step the challenge, whereas Richards isn't quite as agile and can be closed down too easily.

Why ?

Completely agree Cherry.Pie.



As for Goulding, whilst he hasn't done anything wrong at Bradford, in fact he had a very good match: Carmont is the better centre; Richards is the better winger. He would be my pick ahead of any other players for those positions, but the issue is we may have lost a full back. Beyond this position we just play our best.

It's obvious Richards is a different type of player to Sam, which makes comparing the 2 a little problematic. Support play is something we don't do as well as other teams, and it's easy to underestimate it's importance - in fact, a lot of players have made careers out of it! Pat showed on Sunday that he knows the right place and time to chime into the line in attack, which can be very useful. I agree that he doesn't have the stepping ability/elusiveness of Sam, and it would be hard to find a more effective attacking full back in SL (than Sam) - and I also believe Richards is better suited to the wing - but without Sam, Pat would be our best option at FB imo. Granted other players can play there, and if MM believes that Roberts is doing enough in the U20s to warrant another go, then so be it. I'd just be surprised, that's all.

That's not the Maguire way though, is it?! He's shown on many occasions that he's happy to change a few people about to cover for 1 injury (Lockers at 6 for example). The balance of the team is most important, and if that means a bit of shuffling, then that's what MM will do!

I agree with you in terms of what Maguire will do (although Lockers at 6 isn't exactly a new idea) and I do expect he will leave the team as it was at the end of last match, with Carmont coming in at centre, if Sam is injured.



I just can't see it as the best option for us, removing one of our best attacking threats as a poor substitute for another.

Dont you know? Goulding will always be a scapegoat amongst some fans on here no matter what he does. The 2 tries that Goulding set up were about as good a piece of centre play that you will see and if Carmont had set up those 2 tries then he would have rightly been praised to the heavens. However because it is Goulding some would rather just focus on the one bad read Goulding made in defence, and it is not like other Wigan players did that on Sunday is it. Likewise Joel has done one decent flick pass to set up a try while at centre and, despite fluffing quite a lot of chances there by being greedy, he can do no wrong there with some. Different rules for different players.

Amos at his...............best would be my..............numb..er one..................fb but...it's been a while...................since he was that.........................good.

I've just seen some brilliant Wigan kids on tv in the Widnes game, then come on here and people are still harping on about Roberts. For gawd's sake, move on.