Whilst Riddell may not have hit the heights that some expected the plus side is that he is already better than Higham was.


When did Higham in his 3 years run 35 metres for a try for Wigan?
Riddells passing is infinitely better than Highams.Wigan are scoring more tries out wide now, is Riddells better distribution a factor? He is also conceding fewer penalties, which is another bonus.

You'll make his family members angry with facts like these RG

Excellent points which can’t be ignored when discussing Riddell.

I mentioned on another thread about the range of passes he can give and the marked improvement he has in reading the game.

No doubt in my mind which is the better player

That is quite simply not the case. And by quite some margin.



You really do have to be very selective in your statistics otherwise you might have to admit you are wrong

Whether he is better than Higham isn't the issue. Riddell has been a major disappointment. I fail to see how anyone can conclude otherwise. Making a 35m run then having to have a rest for the remainder of the game isn't good enough.

Hopefully he will improve as we have him for another two seasons but after 11 games we really ought not to still be waiting.

Dave

It is the case tho. Riddell is twice the player Higham will ever be.

Higham always was and always will be a one trick pony who runs from DH. This may impress some people like Stevo but give me Riddell any day of the week as he possesses the ability to read the game and select the right man to pass to.

It's took Tony Smith about 3 weeks to drop Higham to the bench and replace him with Jon Clarke.

Higham replacing Newton was the worst bit of business Wigan have done since letting Long go to Widnes.

To be fair IIRC he's already been put on the bench by the time Smith arrived at Warrington!

But when DaveO can say that Piggy does a 35m run and then Has to rest for the rest of the game when that is clearly not true but yet he can state things as Fact and your not allowed to have a different opinion you find yourself realising that it's a bit like Banging your head against a wall!

If Piggy Under performs for 2 1/2 seasons then I too will be saying that we made a Mistake!
Not in Getting rid of Higham but in the choice we made to replace him!

Just a few question...
Why would you have to wait so long? Is Riddell's only target to be better than MH? Can you hand on heart say he has so far been even satisfactory in his total contribution?

For me I have always said he is little more than a journeyman at this stage given that he could only get 20 mins at hooker for Para in his last season. Having said that, I expected better from him than has been evident thus far.

Did I think we needed to replace Mickey? Reluctantly, the answer is yes. He is a great bloke and tries 100% but we needed more.

Am I happy with Riddell in terms of performance and fitness? Most definitely not.

Maybe a wrong choice of words there!

Here goes.

If Piggy is under performing like Higham was under performing after a period of "Settling in" time (I would say give him 1/2 season??) then I would say he may have been the wrong choice.

The reason i mentioned 2 1/2 seasons is that is what it took Higham to bring some kind of Variety to his play in the Opponents Half and actually started to Boss the team around in his last 10 games or so.

Do I believe that Piggy Will be a Better hooker over the 3 years of his contract than Higham, Definately so!

Do I believe he is going to be the Best Hooker in SL over that time, probably Not!

Luckily for me I am not a Black & White kind of guy and can see that there are variations and grey areas to arguments!

What if Piggy played with better forwards than Higham or Vice Versa?
What if the Opposition teams he played against were better or worse than Higham or Vice Versa?

At the end of the day I have seen improvements week on week in Piggy and do believe that he will be a Good Aquisition.

The reason I mentioned Higham is because of the Mickey one dimensional one scoot fan club that constantly bring up the argument!

Me personally he's gone and won't be a great Loss, if we could have kept him as a back up/Bench 9 with a salary to reflect that then No probs!

He went to Wire to get starting games and can't do it there!
Yet people seem to think if he came back he would have improved us this season! Not a Chance!

He didnt go to Wire to get strating games he went for a job as Wigan didnt even discuss a contract with him (so he says).

Went to Wire for 35k a year not a bad bit of business for them as he outplayed Roby in the WC and missed 1 game in 3 years at Wigan.