Thank you.

Gildart's form was in decline well before he left Wigan and first went to Wests. Don't know that I'd want him now, but I have to say I've been pretty unimpressed with King in an Ireland shirt.

The main reason his form dropped off is because he was moved from the right where he was playing well to the left. He will be playing on the right for us.

His move from Warrington was nothing to do with form, his move from Warrington was purely due to relationships with the coaching staff and the fact he chose to be in the Cooper camp and not the Powell camp.


Not wanting an outside back to have pace is an odd comment.

There is no substitute for pace is a saying for a reason.

A few times during the World Cup he had space and failed to make the most of it due to lacking pace, he’s never been rapid but he has looked faster than he did over the last few weeks.

Not sure if you actually read what I posted, or if you just don't want to acknowledge it?

On the one hand, you say he's been out of form - that's something we can all agree on, although it's an understatement. On the other hand you're saying his move "had nothing to do with form". I've got a direct quote from the coach, which says differently. It 100% played a part in it & I'm not sure how you can deny that. Notice the "played a part" wording, as these things aren't as black and white as some guy down the pub with "inside info" makes out.

Also, I never said I didn't want him to have pace. I'd love it if he had everything, but in regards to parts of his game that's missing - pace isn't something I'm worrying about as much as his inability to tackle. As I pointed out, you can still be a good player without pace and Carmont was the shinning example of that. You can't however be a good player if you can't defend. Odd to suggest otherwise really.

You can teach players how to defend.

King was moved on because of his relationship with Powell.

Powell can say what he wants publicly but he would not have moved we’re it not for that.

The thought you expect Powell to come out and say “half the dressing room can’t stick me and there is a massive rift which is causing huge problems and is the reason despite our huge spend we are going to finish 11th in the table.”

If King smashed it next year, gets an England call, ends up top try scorer and is named golden boot he will not return to Warrington unless Powell gets sacked.

I watched all the Ireland World Cup games, his defence was fine.

The main issue for me was his lack of pace, he’s never been rapid however he looked to be noticeably slower than he has been which makes me wonder if he was carrying a knock. He failed to convert some chances which I feel he would have taken had he not slowed down a little.

He was still offloading down the middle of the field and working hard on his carries.

And neither does writing a player off before they’ve pulled on the shirt for us.

Haha so you're advocating just ignoring the fact that we've seen him play? Yeah that's really clever.

You want to get out of Peet's a$$ and have an opinion of your own.

I’ve watched King play plenty of times and my opinion has always been that he’s a good player when he’s motivated. He didn’t look that last season and didn’t look like he’d been motivated to get himself in good physical condition going in to the season. We’d have to back our coaching staff to motivate him and to get him fitter and if so, he can be a handy player for us. A longer term deal than one season would be risky IMO because he doesn’t seem capable of stringing good seasons together but I think we can get a strong year out of him and then see where things stand.

Ultimately if the lad doesn’t get fitter and doesn’t play well, we have other options like Thornley and KPP, so it’s all on him.

We are in a pretty much 'no lose' situation here though. King isn't our player, if he does nothing he goes back after a year but we have all seen that he can be a good player. A very good player actually. If he can't find motivation at Wigan then he won't find it anywhere else and there is nothing down for him. I suspect we will work on his fitness and aggression as soon as he arrives with the squad and just take it from there. He is good in the air, can put his winger away and score a try or two himself so the core is there, the rest just needs nursing out of him. French new deal and Wardle signed. I would have been delighted with just that so now we have King in there too it's just like a little added bonus for me with the caveat that he could just turn out to be a very astute signing. As mentioned. We have other options there he doesn't cut the mustard.