Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:35 pm  

mistermoo wrote:

The MOD edited her post because it was a disgrace.

Hardly a disgrace. A lot less vitriolic than some of the stuff that's been spouted on here before now.

I've spent the last two years of my life in and out of employment so it's not like I didn't know what I was talking about.

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:39 pm  

Carlos Alberto wrote:

We are talking about the very best players we have to offer, who have trained as a team for a much longer period than the Exiles, being made to look idiots for the 2nd year in a row, yet there appears to be no pressure on McNamara when he shouldn't be within 200 miles of the international set up.

Christ, we might as well bring in Denise Betts to help him out.

I don't think so and neither does McBanana.
He said as much when I heard him talk about his selection process at a forum three days before he picked this Knight level team.

You have to think who out of that team would get in a first choice 17 for England.
Robes - Yes.
Briscoe - Probable.
Atkins. Carvell, Mossop, Charnley and Jones-Buchanan - Possibles.
Thats a long way from saying these are "the very best players we have to offer". OTT.

Is it 5 or 6 players who play in the NRL we have on top of those "rested" on wednesday.

It was clearly no more than a trial and unfortunately most of them failed. In particular Scott Taylor , Farrell, Smith (the goons are welcome to him on that performance) Brough, Ablett and I'm afraid to say, Wilkin were abject.
Of the fringe players I tohugh only Ratchford did himself proud.

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Thu Jul 05, 2012 8:43 pm  

saint at wire wrote:

Of the fringe players I tohugh only Ratchford did himself proud.

Ratchford impressed me. He looked like the only player who was really up for it in the England team. While he still has to sort out his defensive positioning a bit - something that will no doubt come with experience - I thought he looked good at fullback.

Pity we have two strong fullbacks and no halves! I remember when Smith was the national coach and he played Tomkins and Eastmond together in the Four Nations final at Leeds. I thought that at last we had found the halfback pairing for England. They were both still raw but they looked so good.

The fact that neither of them is playing at halfback for England shouldn't mean that we end up playing Sinfield and Chase there though. McBanana should choose the best English halfbacks, with a reserve, and stick with them for a while. Brough may be off form at the moment but that doesn't mean that given the opportunity to play with the team again he won't play much better than he did on Wednesday. Even Robes looked half the player he usually is so I think something more was off kilter on Wednesday than simply a question of playing staff.

The coach maybe? The limited preparation time? Being shoe-horned between two Superleague matches? Inexperience in playing together as a team?

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:02 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

I think something more was off kilter on Wednesday than simply a question of playing staff.

The coach maybe? ?

McBanana is a tool with a record of failure as a coach. We don't need a full time England coach and we certainly dont need a guy who fell flat on his face at Bradford. Getting someone who looks like they have the ability to mould a team together to do the job part time like the Aussies do would be my choice , pains me to say it but at least the Ape at Wigoon would have them fired up.

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:26 pm  

No1 Saint wrote:

McBanana is a tool with a record of failure as a coach. We don't need a full time England coach and we certainly dont need a guy who fell flat on his face at Bradford.

I can only think that there must have been nobody else available because otherwise it would be a case of only in rugby league would the national coach have the dubious record of his one experience in coaching being to take his club further down the ladder.

pains me to say it but at least the Ape at Wigoon would have them fired up.

I agree. However, would any Wigan players at all have played if he'd been the coach?!

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:33 pm  

No1 Saint wrote:

McBanana is a tool with a record of failure as a coach. We don't need a full time England coach and we certainly dont need a guy who fell flat on his face at Bradford. Getting someone who looks like they have the ability to mould a team together to do the job part time like the Aussies do would be my choice , pains me to say it but at least the Ape at Wigoon would have them fired up.

Smith wanted to continue part time but the fools at the RFL wanted someone full tim (what a joke). They picked McBanana one week before bradford sacked him for appalling results (what an even bigger joke).

They may as well given it to Goulding or Goodway.

I listened to McBanana at the wire v hull game and what a smug **** he came accross as.
He obviously can't believe his luck when he was so close to being unemployed.

And who was that on the bench with him? None other than Lowes - another poor excuse as a coach.

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:45 am  

SaintsFan wrote:

To repeat myself: time doesn't stand still. You were talking of an opinion I gave a couple of months ago. Many people were saying the same thing at the time and probably on that thread. Obviously, you didn't mention that bit as you were just having a go, and in a very childish way, as is par for the course.

You, Mugwump and St pete were the dissenting voices. Mugwump or St Pete aren't now saying that Wilkin has gone from a position where he was not helping the young players in his club side (which is part of the argument I had with you) to suddenly being a great candidate for England captain because of said qualities. I'd have the grace to admit that I was wrong originally because how anyone can see whether he now talks to players in a positive way or not is beyond me. I'm sure you realise that Wilkin missed at least 3 or 4 matches in this time as well, and when he came back he had a couple of quiet games. It makes your claims even more bizarre.

Oh, and DON'T accuse me of childish comments when YOU are the one who claimed that I was ill for daring to criticise your embarrassing u turn. This is a public forum and I pulled you up because when I debated with you on the original thread, I didn't agree with you. I wanted to know why you had changed your mind. You claimed I was ill, asked if I had a job (?) and spat your dummy.

SaintsFan wrote:

Ratchford impressed me. He looked like the only player who was really up for it in the England team. While he still has to sort out his defensive positioning a bit - something that will no doubt come with experience - I thought he looked good at fullback.

Pity we have two strong fullbacks and no halves! I remember when Smith was the national coach and he played Tomkins and Eastmond together in the Four Nations final at Leeds. I thought that at last we had found the halfback pairing for England. They were both still raw but they looked so good.

The fact that neither of them is playing at halfback for England shouldn't mean that we end up playing Sinfield and Chase there though. McBanana should choose the best English halfbacks, with a reserve, and stick with them for a while. Brough may be off form at the moment but that doesn't mean that given the opportunity to play with the team again he won't play much better than he did on Wednesday. Even Robes looked half the player he usually is so I think something more was off kilter on Wednesday than simply a question of playing staff.

The coach maybe? The limited preparation time? Being shoe-horned between two Superleague matches? Inexperience in playing together as a team?

By the way, I agree with everything you have written here.

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:13 pm  

I've deleted some more bickering posts, let the last one by St Helens RLFC be the end of it in regard to the bickering. If you've a point to make, make it in regard to his comment, any more pathetic bickering WILL be deleted.

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:38 pm  

Sthelens RLFC wrote:

Oh, and DON'T accuse me of childish comments when YOU are the one who claimed that I was ill for daring to criticise your embarrassing u turn.

Why is the changing form of Wilkin, and my changing opinion based upon that change of form, a u-turn? Is Wilkin's form not allowed to change? Am I not allowed to respond to that change in form? Does everyone have static opinions on here regardless of what takes place in the world around them?

Your comment was childish. Challenging me wasn't but the way you approached it most definitely was. In fact, the rest of the post I am replying to now is equally childish and so I am not going to dignify it with a direct reply.

Re: Wilkin Captain against Exiles : Fri Jul 06, 2012 6:20 pm  

SaintsFan wrote:

Why is the changing form of Wilkin, and my changing opinion based upon that change of form, a u-turn? Is Wilkin's form not allowed to change? Am I not allowed to respond to that change in form? Does everyone have static opinions on here regardless of what takes place in the world around them?

Your comment was childish. Challenging me wasn't but the way you approached it most definitely was. In fact, the rest of the post I am replying to now is equally childish and so I am not going to dignify it with a direct reply.

You need to grow up.