[Uncle Rico]

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Mon Oct 05, 2015 8:25 pm  

[quote="lefty goldblatt"]

Sacrilege possibly but I'm with The Railwayman I used to get frustrated watching Westwood when he first signed and played as a Centre no lack of effort but my memory was error prone perhaps trying too hard?

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Mon Oct 05, 2015 8:37 pm  

I thought he did pretty damned good at centre, and was deserving of the jumper, considering some of the outandout dross we employed in that position over my RL watching lifetime. He was a big lad, and used his size to get over the line. Never let anyone down, and scored a few good tries.
True, he was no Gene Miles/Steve Renouf/Mal Meninga, but, iirc, we paid a reasonable transfer fee for him to play at centre, which he did. One of the FEW success stories that season.
I can't say the club's hierarchy at the time thought "Great idea. We'll buy that crap centre at Wakey for a decent amount of money, but just kid everyone that he's crap, and then we'll play him in the back row in a few years"

A crap centre, he was not.

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Mon Oct 05, 2015 9:25 pm  

I hope Westwood leaves just so we never have to witness an adult type "Superben" on here ever again.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Tue Oct 06, 2015 11:05 am  

he was a crap centre, spent most of the time in 02 trying to not get sent off (usually at widnes), then in 03 got farmed out to the right wing.

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:13 pm  

He was very very average in the backs, and was well on his way out of the club until Cullen gave him a shot in the pack. Goes without saying that he has never looked back and is one of my all-timers.

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Tue Oct 06, 2015 1:32 pm  

Westwood as a Centre was bang average at best... you could make a case for him being poop.

As a 2nd row he has been one of, if not our best player over that period of time.

When TS first arrived, Ben Harrison looked like he was going to go on and be one of the leading forwards in the league. However he has suffered alot with injuries, which have left him short of pace and always seemingly playing catch up in regards fitness.... He has to go down as being one of those players that never really fulfilled their potential.

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Tue Oct 06, 2015 2:07 pm  

2010 edition ben harrison was ridiculous, his defence and big hits were punishing.

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Tue Oct 06, 2015 5:39 pm  

Harrison was deservedly in the England pack at one point. He was a real damaging forward; always sent players backwards in the tackle no matter who they were and made good metres himself.

Four knee injuries later and even though he's still decent, he's not the same player.

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Tue Oct 06, 2015 8:20 pm  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

2010 edition ben harrison was ridiculous, his defence and big hits were punishing.

that hit on Fielden was a classic... He didn't know where he was after that.

Re: Ben Westwood and Ben Harrison. : Wed Oct 07, 2015 7:13 am  

This might be harsh but for this is exactly the kind of player we don't need, we cannot wait forever for someone to return to their best form after a series of injuries. I too liked the Harrison of old but that's what it is old form before injuries, with each injury he has got slower and slower and in the current game mobility is everything. We have given him as a club time and he has given his body and effort. Sentimentality does not enter the arena otherwise we are doomed. I know they are on contracts and its difficult to get out of these, but its easy enough for a player break one when he wants to. Players with long injury histories should be looked at very closely at the end of every season.