Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 10:36 am  

I agree with Jools, I thought Kyle Wood looked very comfortable at scrum-half with some crisp passing and intelligent kicking.

Leeming is injured, no?

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 10:59 am  

I honestly don't understand why Wood ever gets any criticism... He's a quality player! One of our best, and I get the feeling he has a lot more to give! Would like to see him take the line on a bit more though. For his size he rarely misses any tackles either.

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:18 am  

jools wrote:

Having watched leeming play for the academy on many occasions I can tell you that wood offers more! (By the way you did notice he wasn't playing at hooker yesterday did you???)
Some of kyles passing yesterday was absolutely top draw! Leeming doesn't have that speed to his passing that Kyle has- although he is accurate. Woods defence hasn't let us down either and he's been targeted as robbo is.
I think our biggest let down has been our line speed. It seems the tactic again this season is to stand our ground and let teams run at our line. It means we conserve energy? (Although how much given the increased momentum of the opposition) but concede ground- that coupled with our poor discipline has meant the other side have been in our half of the field far too often.
Keep hearing from the players nowts won in April-which is correct - but nowts won in October if you don't make the 8!

Kyle Wood has been very good for us this season. He has come in and done the job asked to do and you can't really ask for anything more. I would say that he has been one of our better players. Unfortunately, for some reason, he seems to be one of those players that people "don't get" cos every week irrelevant of how he or the team plays people want to drop him. It's quite bizarre.

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:37 am  

I agree Wood has looked better this season, and I think he has looked better at Scrum Half than Hooker, maybe leave him there and use Robbo with Lunty?. However we still have to find out whether Leeming is upto SL or not, and the only way to find that out, for others as well, is for them to get some game time. My worry is that we can never find the "right time" to play them and we arrive at the start of a new season with untried youngsters, who may then end up playing elsewhere, and leading to the question - why develop them at all?. I'm noy advocating we put teams full of kids out, but a gradual introduction as subs on a regular basis - i.e 1 kid per game. If such as Grix is injured (easy example)don't move othere around just put Connor straight in. To me Johnson has looked good when he's played and added more than Koppy at the moment, and Im sure Fairbank would offer a lot as well. Maybe the problem is with the structure in RL - i.e 19's straight to SL with nothing in between. there must be a lot of players kicking their heels every week.

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 11:46 am  

That structure was voted for by the clubs to save money when sportuk pulled their funding! Anderson regularly goes to watch the academy play- and sees them train every week and I'm pretty sure he knows whether and who is ready. I also think that our poor start has perhaps forced his hand a bit. There's a lot of stuff goes on that we don't know about- if PA doesn't think their ready then that's his decision to shoulder.

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:39 pm  

think we should of given connor a chance at full back by now..if not at the start of the season then when? back end when its getting to big games?

disagree on kopczak, he will come good again and still puts in some big runs.

wood for me has been poor in defence last two games, been targeted and not matched up the way robinson does.

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 12:56 pm  

You sure about that brearley?
Wood 286 tackles missed 14
Robbo 182 tackles missed 25

And just to really put the point home
Lunt 140 tackles missed 13

Please now tell me wood doesn't match up.
He's struggled the last two- but remember how many 80 minutes stints he's put in in the middle of the field recently!!!!

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:53 pm  

I think the problem with Wood is that in the 2 positions he covers - Scrum half and hooker, we have been spoilt with 2 very, very good players there and Kyle isn't at the same standard as those 2, so when he does replace them we look weaker with him on because he isn't Robbo or Lunty, he's a decent player who's ok as a squad member as cover though.

As for the youngster's apart from Bruno, Eorl, Leroy and Jerry how many youngsters have we actually given a chance to in SL ??
We've never been reknowed for given our home grown talent a chance in the 1st team and players never fulfilled potential and ended up at Chaampionship etc, whether they genuinely weren't good enough for Super League we will never know as none of em ever got more than a handful of games.
Johnson, Leeming, Connor, Miller, Aspinall etc should be playing SL or at least blooding them in gently rather than having them in the 19's or at Batley - they will get match fitness there but not the intensity needed to find out if they are cut out for this league.

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:50 pm  

blooding youngsters didn't do do wigan any harm last season! it didn't do them much harm playing the kids on monday either!

Re: KidsPlay....or not! : Tue Apr 22, 2014 6:25 pm  

jools wrote:

You sure about that brearley?
Wood 286 tackles missed 14
Robbo 182 tackles missed 25

And just to really put the point home
Lunt 140 tackles missed 13

Please now tell me wood doesn't match up.
He's struggled the last two- but remember how many 80 minutes stints he's put in in the middle of the field recently!!!!

wood does a job i suppose but nothing flash and he just seems steady, ok if you want to stay a mid table team.. you can tell when lunt is on the pitch at hooker

same with robinson, notice him in attack but havent really noticed wood in attack last two games.

but have noticed his poor tackling..gave him benefit of the doubt against salford with it being hock but again on sunday he was singled out by the wakey 2nd rower who had a belter of a game.