Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:58 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Williams needs to learn that keeping it simple sometimes will make it easier for him when he does try to run the ball or kick the ball in behind. He’s putting no doubt in the opposition line at the minute because he’s pretty much shelved the option of playing a simple pass.

I wouldn’t be too harsh on the kid though. He was superb at Salford and against Hull and he’s followed that up with a couple of ordinary performances. He’s frustrating at times and a joy to watch at others but I’d much rather he played for us then against us. It’s up to Wane to get more out of him.

I know this is going to be controversial and am prepared to be shot down in flames but my impression is that Williams has not played anywhere near as well since Matty Smith left, he looked far better alongside Smith as Smith was doing the organising and doing most of the long kicking leaving Williams more freedom to concentrate on his own game. I am not saying Smith was great but as a partnership it seemed to work better (maybe it was also a time related thing as they had played alongside each other far more than Williams has anyone else alongside him since).

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 7:25 pm  

exiled Warrior wrote:

I know this is going to be controversial and am prepared to be shot down in flames but my impression is that Williams has not played anywhere near as well since Matty Smith left, he looked far better alongside Smith as Smith was doing the organising and doing most of the long kicking leaving Williams more freedom to concentrate on his own game. I am not saying Smith was great but as a partnership it seemed to work better (maybe it was also a time related thing as they had played alongside each other far more than Williams has anyone else alongside him since).

Exile, your opening sentence says it all.....

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 7:54 pm  

exiled Warrior wrote:

I know this is going to be controversial and am prepared to be shot down in flames but my impression is that Williams has not played anywhere near as well since Matty Smith left, he looked far better alongside Smith as Smith was doing the organising and doing most of the long kicking leaving Williams more freedom to concentrate on his own game. I am not saying Smith was great but as a partnership it seemed to work better (maybe it was also a time related thing as they had played alongside each other far more than Williams has anyone else alongside him since).

I’m not brave enough to put it as you have,but I agree with you.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 11:52 pm  

When Williams gets the ball he really only has two options, he can either pass or run. Good halfbacks need options provided by movement off the ball and we rarely do that. Often the dummy runner is the most underrated person in the move but also one of the most important. Our best plays make the opposition guess.

[DaveO]

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Mon Mar 05, 2018 3:32 pm  

Levrier wrote:

When Williams gets the ball he really only has two options, he can either pass or run. Good halfbacks need options provided by movement off the ball and we rarely do that. Often the dummy runner is the most underrated person in the move but also one of the most important. Our best plays make the opposition guess.

I thought we started doing this (having dummy runners) a bit in the 2nd half on Friday. There were a few attacks on the left where there were four backs on the outside in the staggered formation (as opposed to just flat seen far too often) and so that asked questions of the defence. It reminded me of the Madge era.

As to "Switcheroo" it's a complete and utter waste of time. It's not down to Powell being one of the ""Switcheroo's" either. It's just a daft idea in and of itself. All Wane is doing is replacing one set of players (SH, FB and hooker) with another set who are doing exactly the same job. The actual tactics don't change so we just end up with half a game with a less effective trio on the pitch.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:54 pm  

Levrier wrote:

When Williams gets the ball he really only has two options, he can either pass or run. Good halfbacks need options provided by movement off the ball and we rarely do that. Often the dummy runner is the most underrated person in the move but also one of the most important. Our best plays make the opposition guess.

In fairness to the team I think we’ve seen more off the ball movement this year already then we did in the whole of last season and it’s coincided with Williams best moments so it seems a very good point.

At Salford and against Hull Williams was superb. In those two games our running options and energy looked plentiful. We then had the Wire game and the Widnes first half and again we’d slipped back in to being a team low on energy and not wanting to break a sweat to make a run unless they felt the ball was coming.

It’s another reason why Williams needs to keep it simple sometimes. If you were playing alongside him and felt a pass was never coming then you’d probably give up making the runs.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Mon Mar 05, 2018 7:22 pm  

Levrier wrote:

When Williams gets the ball he really only has two options, he can either pass or run. Good halfbacks need options provided by movement off the ball and we rarely do that. Often the dummy runner is the most underrated person in the move but also one of the most important. Our best plays make the opposition guess.

Well, he usually has a good short kicking game as well, as evidenced by the number of tries he’s set up with kicks for Gildart, Marshall and Burgess in the past. His kicking on Friday, in contrast, was very poor, and a large reason why our moves failed at the last after often getting into good attacking positions. For once, none of our six tries came from kicks.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Mon Mar 05, 2018 7:48 pm  

The newly and brilliantly labeled “switcheroo” is a ridiculous ploy from Wane IMHO. It could disrupt the flow of our game and the direction from our halves.

Powell is not a Super League half back BUT he is a hooker. Tomkins equally isn’t a full back but a half back.

It didn’t take too long for the team to go back to last seasons boring, slow play and Williams’ hop/skip/dummy is back with a vengeance.

Sam Tomkins is becoming more and more irratable to me through his constant whining and paddying on the field. If he put half as much effort into playing as he does sulking he’d be a much better player. I’m at the stage now where I dislike him.

Despite all the pre season chit chat from SW saying we’d be a different side with a more exciting play it’s transpiring that it’s much more of the same from last season. This “switcheroo” is ridiculous and smacks of running out of ideas.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Mon Mar 05, 2018 11:38 pm  

If you dislike Sam Tomkins, then you have zero idea. How has the change inntactics slowed us down???? Last year it was non existant. In future think before you shoot from the hip, or go support some other club.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:54 am  

JonnyBroad wrote:

If you dislike Sam Tomkins, then you have zero idea. How has the change inntactics slowed us down???? Last year it was non existant. In future think before you shoot from the hip, or go support some other club.

I dislike his constant bitching and whining and acting like a petulant child to the referee and in general on the field. It’s embarassing and it must stop, especially for a player who is a role model. His game is worse for it.

You don’t think this “switcheroo” is bad? If you can’t see the issues you’re either blind to it or as you put it “have zero idea”. Powell is not a 7, he’s a 9. I don’t get why SW has altered his game so much to being a 9 for the past few seasons only to now revert him back to 7. It just doesn’t make sense, we don’t look fluid, speedy or unpredictable when he plays 7 - we look the stark opposite and it takes this utterly ridiculous switch to make us look anywhere near half decent. If this is SW’s grand master plan for Wigan then we truly are accepting mediocrity and SW truly has ran out of ideas.

The starting HB’s should be Williams and Tomkins with Escare at FB and Powell at hooker. It’s a shame that we all know it’s going to take an injury to someone before he changes that. That’s either SW’s stubbornness to change or his blindness.

Oh and just because your view differs from mine does not mean I should “go and support another club”. You’re embarassing yourself jumping to that statement without reason or proper debate.