Jukesays wrote:
And who's bigger.
Ps
If I had the option of choosing who to sign tomorrow, a 24 year old John Bateman our a 24 year old Sean o loughlin I'm afraid there'd only be one winner by a country mile.
Around 2007/08 when fans of other clubs were still ridiculing wigan for their last 4/5 years of abject failure he was by far and away the best loose forward in the game over here. Lockers got caught up a lot in that ridicule and criticism and although I do believe he did carry on improving at 24/25 he was still seen by many experts in the game as the best loose forward in Britain.
Selected for GB in 2004.
Don't forget he played in the win in Sydney for gb in 2006. Man of the series against New Zealand year after.
The fact wigan were in disarray in 05+06 and a year or so before and after that were more off field issues than reflections of him as a player or captain/leader.
I think the team around him and the club in general improving heeled him mature but he was always going to be one hell of a player.
He's a great player no doubt and imo better than Bateman, now and in the past. That's not to denigrate Bateman by the way, SOL was born with more natural talent, it's just the way it is.
Hope he carries on playing for as long as possible.
