Noel Cleal wrote:I know, what the hell. He has not even been the best winger for Wigan this year. Amos Roberts (barring his injury) has completely outclassed him. I can only assume people that people would rather Stevo think for them rather than make their own minds.
I have to admit I can't ever remember thinking "Oh no here comes Pat Richards". He has run in some good tries and caught some good cross field kicks. His points scoring record this year has been impressive. But surely Wigans success this year has been more down to good coaching, the excellent playmaking of Sam Tomkins and the great running of players in the back rowers like Joel Tomkins.
To be honest it's been another tough year for me to pick, like last year. No player has truly stood out for me. Earlier in the year I agree Roberts would have walked it, unfortunately he ended up in a position where he couldn't walk, and it slipped away. A similar position may have appeared if the same hadn't happened with Eastmond.
I personally moved on to backing O'Loughlin for a while, due to his consistency, defence and assists, but since then his form has dropped a little back to his good but not great setting. I fear the same for Richards after some great point scoring form a few weeks ago, however he has come off this form too imo. Either of these would be deserving through consistency from Wigan, but obviously that is ignoring other players who have been impressive for other teams, for example McGuire and for bits of the season Pryce.
I'm just glad I'm not picking, as there is no obvious choice (eg. Barrett
)but personally I couldn't argue against Richards. As for being threatening, you don't have to look it to actually be it, I remember not being at all threatened by a minor comeback in the second half by Bradford over Wigan earlier this year. At not one point did I think they would score, and suddenly they had won. I woud say that feeling is probably what Richards causes for other teams all the time.
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