Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sat Mar 03, 2018 4:31 pm  

Thought Powell went well at 7 in his second spell. Thought Sam struggled a bit defending in the line but I think he’ll get better as the year went on.

Next week I’d go

1.) Escare
6.) Sam on the left
7.) Powell on the right
9.) Tommy

14,) Williams ( hooker)

Very bored of Williams since his contract extension, zero long kicking game, does the left foot step which doesn’t break tackles anymore. Predictable kick in behind.

Spell on the bench might make him buck up his idea.

Also if we are trailing a game we can chuck him and Tommy on.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sat Mar 03, 2018 4:41 pm  

I’m pretty sure Williams knows his form isn’t great but there is absolutely no chance I’d start a game without him. He’s by far our most creative player these days and is our best attacking threat. His form will turn but no if he’s sat on his hoop watching!

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sat Mar 03, 2018 6:55 pm  

You need your best players on the field. Escaré is one of our best players. He needs to start.

Possibly very controversial but I’ve never seen a more overrated half than Williams.

He is a strong defender but his passing lacks accuracy. His decision making is bizarre at times and his main attacking weapon is very hit and miss.....more miss.

He is very robust and strong and possibly a victim of our coaches philosophy but I really don’t get the hype.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:15 pm  

Powell was truly awful last night.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sat Mar 03, 2018 8:33 pm  

I might be wrong, not watched tv coverage yet, but from memory 4 of our 6 tries were when Powell was at 7 and Sam at fullback. I though he had a pretty decent game, especially compared to Williams who was not as effective as usual, particularly with his usual grubbers for Gildart and Budgie, which were way off target last night.
Having said that, at one time the only way we could score was from a kick, and last night none of them were.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 12:01 am  

Powell’s first stint at 7 and then at 9 were pretty poor. Passing from dummy half was really bad and wasn’t asking any questions with the ball. His second stint at 7 was much better. I’m not sure what changed but at least it shows what he can do there, just needs to be more consistent.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:01 am  

First few games it has worked better with escare on, but on friday it worked better when he went off. Its good to have these options. If your the opposition its difficult to prepare for. Once escare is fully fit again we might see him start and powell or tommy on bench. Lets not forget escare had a bad bad injury to recover from. If henplays too much and breaks down again then you will all say waneys pushing them to hard to come back, we are 3 from 4, lets take all the possitives forward and leave the negatives behind us.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 3:59 pm  

I know that last year we moaned about there being no plan B but I still do not see this as the answer. Plan B is needed when plan A is not working not because the clock says so. A second issue is that it also dictates our bench. Personally I agree that some players play too often but rather than being in the make Super League smaller camp I would like to see players rested. To do this we should utilise two from three of Tommy, Powell and Escare each week and a rotation of our bench forwards. I do not mind if Sarginson has to be moved to fullback with a second row going into the centres if a back is injured during the game but we need big bodies on the bench if our props/middles are going to do so few minutes. At some point we will lose Sean O'L and we have still not seen anyone who looks like a natural replacement so rather than overworking the same group of forwards perhaps we need to build in recovery to our teamsheets.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 5:47 pm  

jonh wrote:

You need your best players on the field. Escaré is one of our best players. He needs to start.

Possibly very controversial but I’ve never seen a more overrated half than Williams.

He is a strong defender but his passing lacks accuracy. His decision making is bizarre at times and his main attacking weapon is very hit and miss.....more miss.

He is very robust and strong and possibly a victim of our coaches philosophy but I really don’t get the hype.

I've been a fan of Williams in the past, but like many others, my patience is running out. I have no questions about his ability to defend but that's not really what you're looking for in a half-back who's a marquee player. IMO he's not really progressed as an attacking force in the last two seasons. On the other hand, I wonder about the way he's being told to play - it's good to see a half-back taking on the line, but what's the point when there's never another player in support? His decision-making and pass selection can be very poor but I think the lack of second phase options sometimes make him look worse than he is.

As for the switcheroo, I'd give it another few games before drawing any conclusions about the Powell and Tommy as starting halves.

Re: The "Switcheroo" : Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:19 pm  

phibes wrote:

I've been a fan of Williams in the past, but like many others, my patience is running out. I have no questions about his ability to defend but that's not really what you're looking for in a half-back who's a marquee player. IMO he's not really progressed as an attacking force in the last two seasons. On the other hand, I wonder about the way he's being told to play - it's good to see a half-back taking on the line, but what's the point when there's never another player in support? His decision-making and pass selection can be very poor but I think the lack of second phase options sometimes make him look worse than he is.

As for the switcheroo, I'd give it another few games before drawing any conclusions about the Powell and Tommy as starting halves.

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.