Gone under the radar a bit this season with the likes of Vaughan, Dufty and Williams etc getting the praise however what a great bit of recruitment this has turned out to be. He was brilliant yesterday. You can see him tearing it up in the NRL in a few years time. For a club that’s been criticised and rightly so for some of the signings in the past, it’s only right we give credit where it’s due. What were Wigan thinking letting him leave?

Now look lad we are WIGAN so you are going to have to wait your turn. Farrell will retire in a few years as will Isa and Bateman. KPP is off to the NRL in a couple of seasons so a bit of patience now will pay dividends in 4 years.

Yes. I watched him play loose forward for England Knights last year ... he was in the middle of everything & can handle it tough. He took his try well backing into the opposition (which he likes doing) & the week before he did a lovely inside pass (against the flow) to set up Dufty. He's definitely what we want.

He's another of those 'Wigan youngsters' who are from nowhere near Wigan.

Actually, this reminded me, I was gonna do a thread after the Salford game about what people thought of longstaff's performance.

The difference between Nicholson and him is ridiculous.

Yeah i've been very happy with him, i was disappointed when we let Holmes go as i think he would have hit top form for us this year. But now i'm not bothered as Nicholson is playing really well and is still really young so i'm happy as pie. He should only get better and better as he gets older aswell

Totally agree on Holmes he was shocking last season. Based on limited viewings admittedly I thought getting him in was a good move and could certainly understand why Powell wanted him here

Yes Holmes….
Never got my head around this.
A solid player at Cas, well, in the games I’d seen of him.
I assumed DP brought along with him his 3 pets.
However I judged him wrongly as it seems he doesn’t allow himself to get too close to his players.
Or perhaps I’m wrong there and OH was pushed from above??
One day I’ll ask DP.

Listening to KFP on a podcast a few weeks ago, he basically said Powell wanted to make a point in getting rid of Holmes to prove that he didn't have any favourites. Apparently it was very difficult as he's close to Holmes but he was badly underperforming.

I think I need to spend more time looking at what Nicholson does. I admit he's not been a player who has cauhht my eye.
If I didn't know the background to his signing or his age I'd say he'd done a decent job so far. Seems to get through a lot of tackling, has taken his tries well and doesn't seem phased by the fact he's in the 1st 17.
I wouldn't have said 'stand out' though yet.
It's often the 2nd half of the 1st season or during the 2nd season that new players find it tougher from what I've seen (as teams know more about them and how they play/what their weaknesses are). Many don't cope with it. The good ones - like Matty Ashton - do.
Good luck this weekend Mr. Nicholson.

I try & watch all games twice. It's much more relaxing and you can really watch what individual players do as you don't just watch the ball.
Mind you I skipped this idea on several occasions last year. This year it's been great.
I reckon Matty Nicholson has been a very astute signing.

He's not stood out in a negative way in a team that is currently top of the tree and he's 19 yo, I'd say he's doing very well. The only time I've been a little disappointed was his game vs Hull KR this season at their place. He just seemed a little hesitant in defence and they scored a couple of tries as a result of that Nicholson / Drinkwater combo. That could have been his first game back from his shoulder injury though tbf.

That said, he's 19 and played 5? SL games before the club felt confident enough to give him a starting spot, they clearly think a lot of him.

The relationship between Wigan and us has reversed now.

Before we used to sign their unwanted players and now we send ours to them.

They wanted Williams and Nicholson, but both players preferred to sign for us.

135 metres
12 carries
30 tackles
1 try assist

Stood up well under that onslaught.