Joined: May 31 2005 Posts: 291 Location: Warrington
I'm not sure why drinkwater is being picked up on his kicking? His kicking tonight was in a par with what Hayes has been serving up all season and I've seen nothing but compliments about that.
Our short kicking game is fine but I think our long kicking game needs work. Almost every kick from DW or Hayes goes straight to a player. Watch Harry Smiths or Sneyds kicks. They put them into space or behind players and it slows the ball return down a lot more, allowing the chasing players to gain more ground on the attacker. The most effective player at longer kicks this season has been Danny Walker.
Might be me being a bit harsh but, for a centre, I am seeing very little creativity from Toby King. Yes he has physicality but is making few breaks or making room and space for his winger. I know with the new rules he is not taking up a lot of space on the salary cap but he is still one of our highest paid players. Hope he makes me eat my words in the big games coming up.
That all rests on an incorrect belief that all kicks are made on the same level. The most important ingredient in a good kick is a good preceding play the ball.Put Wigan's pack under pressure and Smith doesn't find grass. Likewise, the kicks by Walker you mention come from when he gets out from DH with no set markers.
I don't agree that most of our kicks all go straight to a player, but we haven't been as good in the last few games at creating that space as we were earlier in the season.
49er wrote:Might be me being a bit harsh but, for a centre, I am seeing very little creativity from Toby King. Yes he has physicality but is making few breaks or making room and space for his winger. I know with the new rules he is not taking up a lot of space on the salary cap but he is still one of our highest paid players. Hope he makes me eat my words in the big games coming up.
You won't see any creativity from him. You will get 100+ tough metres per game, better than most of the forwards, 10 tries per season, and good defence. That's enough for me and it was enough for Wigan.
I also thought Roderick Tai was much improved on his previous appearance - some decent defensive reads and hits and injected pace into the line which created the space for Thewlis’s third try.
Quite a bit of negativity here - some justified but not all imo.
1. Pre match Burgess/Myler incident - I don't know the full details but from what I have seen /heard someone at the club made a mistake - a very basic one. Now if Hull weren't in such a dire position and scrapping for every single small advantage I think they would be more likely to agree to Burgess's request. But they are where they are and in all honesty I don't blame Myler. It was a Wire cock up.
2. Given the conditions we were very unlikely to put 50 on Hull, but it was a 'flat' performance. I do think that with a bit more composure if Hull play like in future they'll win.
3. We had 9 dropped balls / knock ons, and 2 penalties (one for a flop and one a high shot). The conditions dictated the former and that gave Hull some breathing space.
4. The in goal kicking for the repeat sets we had at the start of the match was impressive - even though it only resulted in 1 try at the time I think it gave us benefits later on.
5. Dufty is revelling in his role but I wouldn't be surprised if he has a week off next week as he appears to have quite a few knocks - but that could depend on if Thewlis comes through.
6. Thewlis - great performance, BUT he takes far too many head high shots. Not his 'fault' (would a head guard help?). Whether the offenders should have yellow/red is one point, but the more serious one is concern for his long term welfare. I am very uncomfortable with this.
7. Hull try seemed to me to be a mistake by Lindop coming in when there was no need, but apart from that I think he did ok.
We need to be more consistent in our performances. At the moment we're not playing at the right level to win trophies.
Call me crazy but I think Thewlis leans into a sizeable amount of those high shots. I think he is by far our top penalty winner because of this. He is quite the drama queen and will stay down at the slightest bit of foul play. Brilliant lad and don't blame him as such but if he were on any other team we'd be shouting bloody murder at someone playing for penalties like he does lol.
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