Quote: Webbo "I wasn't aware I'd made a comparison to Saints' players in the post you've quoted (which was in response to some pie wittering about my appraisal of the wi*an three-quarters).
I've already said I don't rate Meli/Gardner/Shenton and absolutely agree our backline lacks pace. Maybe that lack of pace has dictated our conservative gameplan, I don't know. But I do know that most of the time over the last 3 or so years that we've moved the ball out wide, it's been not so much pedestrian in terms of leg speed, but in terms of speed of ball - something amplified (very visibly) by the fact we've lacked dummy runners/not drawn defenders in before passing/just passed the ball along the line seemingly for the sake of it.
But then contrast that to some of the plays in the Leeds & Wire games - we looked fast (both of leg and of ball!) and tore some mean defences to shreds (albeit from 20-40m out, I grant you).'"
We did play well against Warrington & Leeds. But let's also not forget that both Leeds & Warrington offered up some pretty mediocre defence, the former for most of the match whilst the latter at least half of it. Wigan's defence was watertight for 80 minutes. No limp arm grabs. No blown marker defence patterns. No dummies taken. Which meant the only way we were going to score was through a) weight of pressure, which haven't the kicking game to generate, and/or b) - class, which we lack in the backs and even if we did possess such we haven't the playmaker(s) to use.
Quote: Webbo "We do ideally need more pace in the side, I've not said we don't. But my point is that for the past 3 seasons, we've not deployed tactics and gameplays that have made the most of the players we have.'"
And yet we've consistently been there or thereabouts so our tactics can't be THAT far out. Given our paucity of genuine talent in the backs if anything I'd say we've overachieved these last two or three seasons. Indeed, my guess is in ten or twenty years fans will look back at today's squad and marvel at just how close we did get with what is - in relative terms - a pretty mediocre set of Saints backs.