Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:30 pm  

Looking ahead to the coming season thought i would put across my positives for 2015

* We have a settled squad, not many comings and goings, just where needed.

* A good pre season where we have most players in, last year alot were on world cup duty and having surgery.

* We have more options with Ellis coming in, in the past we have struggled when we have an injury to brough/robbo/lunt, we now have cover if this happens, throw in wood too.

* We have cover in every position now.

* We have young and hungry players, hughes has a point to prove and its great he will do it with us... some talented youngsters raring to get the chance too in roberts, dickinson, mullally and the like... competition for places!

Re: Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:44 pm  

Squad is improved over last year - especially in the pack
Plenty of options in the halves with Ellis coming in and Wood recovering from injury
Senior players more rested with no world cup - hope to see Leroy back to his best
Next crop of exciting young players threatening to emerge
Still below everyone's radar

Good position for top 4 again
Building blocks in place for the future

Re: Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 15, 2014 6:45 pm  

Leroy having a good rest will make the world of difference.

I also think Kyle Wood will have a big year, looks to have bulked a bit which was needed.

Wardle is a year older.

The chance to utilise Broughtons pace, we seemed to be using it more towards the end of the year!

Hoping Connor gets a chance and cements a place.

Biggest positive for me is that expectations amongst us seem to have lowered, we all felt a little underwhelmed last year, deep down I think we could still surprise a few this time around.

Re: Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 15, 2014 7:32 pm  

agree, the huby signing will be bring alot to our forward pack

could see cudjoe back to his very best after a rest

broughton looked to be getting the hang of things towards the back end of last season, just needs to work on those high bombs

nobody is talking about us at all so def going under the radar this time, more so than ever before

Re: Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:00 pm  

Bookies have us as 5th favs for the league at 6-1 and 6th for the grand final winners at 12-1. That was bet365 btw.

I would guess those are fair, I think Wigan and Saints are going to be 1 and 2, then the rest is between us, Leeds, Wire and Cats.

Salford will be much improved, but still not top 4 and with the changes Cas have made I'd expect them to drop a few places too.

Looking forward to a good season.

Re: Positives for 2015 : Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:14 pm  

If Hughes can stay clear of injuries he will have a big year for you.
I think he gets an unfair press with a lot of Wigan fans who seem to forget that he is still a young guy who effectively had a year out when the experiment of him playing at centre clearly didn't work out.
He is a tough guy and with plenty to prove will be a real handful next season.
I'm not sure about Brough for you guys this season. I am a fan but at the end of last season that extra bit of pace that made him special seemed to have disappeared. Not sure if was injuries or age catching up with him

Re: Positives for 2015 : Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:53 pm  

Itchy Arsenal wrote:

If Hughes can stay clear of injuries he will have a big year for you.
I think he gets an unfair press with a lot of Wigan fans who seem to forget that he is still a young guy who effectively had a year out when the experiment of him playing at centre clearly didn't work out.
He is a tough guy and with plenty to prove will be a real handful next season.
I'm not sure about Brough for you guys this season. I am a fan but at the end of last season that extra bit of pace that made him special seemed to have disappeared. Not sure if was injuries or age catching up with him

looking forward to seeing hughes, sounds like exactly the player we need with being tough and aggressive, anderson spotted this too. He is a cup and grand final winner too which not many giants players can say.

Brough did have an injury back end of last season, still a top player, recently took player of the tournament in the internationals between scotland, france and wales.

Re: Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:08 am  

Looking ahead to the coming season as always, and agree with the cautious optimism.

A settled squad is a big plus, with huby, Ellis and Hughes all adding quality, and more options.

Hope the injury God smiles kindly on us this year. I do feel a big difference for us last year was Lunts injury, which he never really recovered from. The Lunt of 2013 was superb , and really lead the pack around the field.

Roll on new season, and I do think the every minute mattering concept will help us too...

Re: Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 29, 2014 9:57 am  

yes i agree about lunt, he was a miss for most last of last season with his injuries, if he can keep injury free it will be a big boost for us.... in what i think will be his last season at the club. ooc at the end of the season.. so are some other big players for us so hopefully we can get some early announcements on those during the season to stop rumours rocking the boat. crabtree? cudjoe?

Re: Positives for 2015 : Mon Dec 29, 2014 6:22 pm  

Leroy didn't have a great season last year, thought he'd kick on from the world cup but it seemed to have an adverse effect on him, hopefully he'll be back to his best after a decent pre season. Same with Lunt, a injury hit season and we never saw the best of him, never looked fully fit when he did play. Big Eorl, Kopcak and the rest of our forwards didn't exactly set the world on fire and imo didn't perform up to their usual standards, when a bit of mongrel was needed we were found unusually lacking, hopefully the new recruits will add a bit of fire to the forwards. Wardle with another years experience and the internationals behind him could kick on and become the player that teams dread playing against, big lad, strong runner and a no nonesense hard hitting defender, he's got the firepower and now has that bit more experience behind him, I expect a big season from him. Hope Smurf gets a fair crack of the whip again, Mr consistant last season wherever he played, great season from him a real Mr reliable. Lets hope we've got the flair players on board who'll help Broughy drive us on this season, thought too much burden was put on his shoulders last term, how many games did he play looking as though he was carrying the rest of the team on his back, he deserves better, let's have a bit of urgency about our play {not some of the suicide rugby we saw though} Amazed we finished where we did last season, we coughed and splutted through a lot of it and for one reason or another we fell short in far too many games and too many players "blew hot and cold" throughout, hence we never got the performances and momentum needed to be a real threat in the playoffs.
Hopefully our coach, his staff and the players have put the dissappointing end to the season behind them and will come back even stronger and more determined than ever to get us some silverware.
That's just my frustrated opinion though, I thought we flattered to deceive for a large part of the season, I think we've got the players, let's hope the players have the attitude.
Bring it on, can't wait for the season to start
Hope you've all had a good Xmas and I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year

Now COME ON YOU GIANTS