Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sat Apr 19, 2014 9:23 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

He also looks a natural leader to me which is a surprise when you consider that he doesn't seem the sharpest knife in the draw.

He reminds me a lot of a young Jamie Peacock. Peacock made a couple of mistakes early in his career but was surrounded by some fantastic leaders at Odsal and at Headingley. In my opinion he's made the transition from new kid on the block to natural leader almost seamlessly. I'm confident that Bateman can do the same.

Bateman has already captained the England academy side on a tour of Australia and I seem to remember him saying that he wanted to captain Bradford one day. He's surrounded by 'natural leaders' at Wigan with the likes of Wane, Deacon, O'Loughlin and Radlinski working with him on a daily basis. If he works his way into the England setup I'm sure that will only benefit his game more and more.

He's a been a fantastic acquisition for the Warriors and he is sorely missed at Odsal.

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:15 am  

Regarding the squad for tomorrow, does anyone know why Ferguson is missing? There's a list of injured players given in reports on both the Bulls and T&A sites but he's not included.

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:24 am  

Whatever the result is, I would rather see 17 players give heart and soul for 80 mins.

If that squad is made up of 'regulars' and academy lads so be it, but just go out and run your blood to water for the cause - that's all as fans we can ask for at this stage I think.

All the anger, frustration that is currently around the topics will I predict will be massively reduced.

No one ever died from hard work and genuine hard graft and funnily enough opposition teams find it really hard to play against 13 absolute never say die grafters ... Funny that isn't it!

Let's start with the most basic of all human instincts passion and desire to do something (eg mindset) and physical means (hard graft) as one feeds the other.

[Bulliac]

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:12 am  

Bullnorthern wrote:

Regarding the squad for tomorrow, does anyone know why Ferguson is missing? There's a list of injured players given in reports on both the Bulls and T&A sites but he's not included.

Pretty sure he left the field with a 'knock' on Thursday. If I were Franny, there's no way I'd risk anyone who wasn't 100% in a game where we have no realistic prospects of taking any points.

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:41 am  

Bulliac wrote:

Pretty sure he left the field with a 'knock' on Thursday. If I were Franny, there's no way I'd risk anyone who wasn't 100% in a game where we have no realistic prospects of taking any points.

... which begs the question as to why Gaskell is in the 19

[Bulliac]

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 9:53 am  

paulwalker71 wrote:

... which begs the question as to why Gaskell is in the 19

Well, it could be that the injuries have been further assessed since Thursday's initial verdict, which I would certainly hope is the case, or it could be that he has to put out 19 names and he knows full well he won't play..got to say I wouldn't risk anyone not fully fit.

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:03 am  

Gaskell went from limping to actually putting weight on his ankle whilst on the sidelines. Hopefully it isn't anything too serious but I wouldn't risk him if there is a slight doubt.

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 7:54 pm  

Hope the youngsters get a chance to play a fair chunk of minutes tomorrow. Give it their best and enjoy. That's all we can ask for.

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:01 pm  

Bulls are 21/1 to win tomorrow!

Re: Squad announced for Wigan : Sun Apr 20, 2014 10:57 pm  

Bully_Boxer wrote:

Bulls are 21/1 to win tomorrow!

Just looked on Oddschecker

Bulls are 33-1 to win
Wigan are 1/100

Wow! Those are amazing odds for a two horse race