jameswk wrote:as you may know mathers played in the reserves this week .
according to form he had quite a poor game from what i have been told.
nobby was at the game. with richards performing so well at fb and ainscough doing a great job on the wing. does this spell the end for mathrs ?
even if ainscough or roberts got injured, pryce (who did have a strong game in the reserves) could go on the wing .
mathers was even put in at 6 for a while and his distribution was shocking .
Mathers just does not have the qualities expected of a fullback. Certainly from what I have seen of him in Wigan colours.
Fullbacks have to be good ball catchers and more importantly clinical tacklers as they are the last line of defense. Mathers is neither. He looks nervous everytime a kick is put his way and he certainly is not a clinical tackler. Just look at Pat Richards compared to Mathers. I feel much more confident with Richards at fullback than Mathers.
Also in attack a fullback is supposed to make runs into the attack or support a runner in anticipation of a pass out of the tackle.(Hock and Feka) Mathers again doesn't do this either whereas Pat Richards does.
I don't know how he made his name in rugby league and to think he was snapped up by the Aussies just seems unreal. There is a good player in Richie Mathers somewhere but I just wonder if he will ever fully recover from the knee injuries he has had.
