I said Joel's a class player, I'm not criticising him. There seemed to be a hint of criticism from Yed's post towards fans who 'compare Joel to speedsters'. I don't compare him to speedsters, but I don't think it's an unfair criticism of Joel to say he isn't quick. Some people prefer pace out wide to punish a poor sliding defence, but I'm really happy with Joel and think he's class. Basically, I was playing devil's advocate to try and stick up for some people who dare to have a different opinion. Joel's the best winger in SL for me and I'd love us to keep him, doesn't mean he can't be compared to a quick winger though.

Jodie Broughton certainly has exceptional pace, Tom Briscoe is someone i'd describe as very quick as well as Josh Charnley, the same can be said for Ben Jones Bishop. Ryan Hall is a similar build to Joel Monaghan, he doesn't have a problem with long range tries as well as breaking the line on a regular basis.

Broughton, definitely very quick the kind of player I was thinking of. Fundamental flaw though, he isn't very good. Briscoe, Charnley and Hall are not particularly quick, certainly not as quick as Broughton, but are much bigger. Jones-Bishop is very quick, but is being deployed on the wing as a waiting game for fullback, his natural position, to be vacated.

Roddy, we might not agree on this, but it is good to see a little bit of lively debate back on the Site, long may it continue.

Wouldn't say i was criticising the guy, it's obvious he's no speedster.

I think he's great at what he does best, comparing him to Hicks though and i would definitely agree Hicks shades it.

Hicks shades it? By a country mile in every department

Hicks is the best winger I've seen at the club (watching since 1993).

If you were looking at the best wingers in that time, Monaghan would still be in the top 5, possibly top 3. That he isn't Hicks isn't really his fault.

It's a valid opinion Browny, might have a think about my top 5 , although from a slightly longer perspective. I was responding to Yed's use of the phrase " just shades it", pedantry perhaps.

I've been critical of Monaghan M only to be met with the stats don't lie argument, fair enough and I've eaten a slice of 'Teesside's humble pie', based on recent performances. Long may that continue I don't want to see the guy 'fail', it was his attitude and demeanour I questioned.

Against Salford, I was sat in a spare seat in the North (instead of my usual spec standing in South), so had a different view when dropped a kick off return trying to catch it in front of his forehead, a school boy error.

I held myself back from a rant and was heartened by the obvious disappointment on the guy's face. As stats apart, I want all of our players to be interested, committed and to give it their best for the P&B. Errors occur in all walks of life, it's how you respond that counts.

I agree about Hicks, what a winger he was. Responsible for one of the most exciting and elating moments in my whole history of watching the Wire; the clinching try in the CCSF against Wigan in 2009.

Criticism would be fair if we new how much money he was on. If he was on top wack, you could say "hang on, I want someone with pace on the wing for that"

Monaghan has no pace at all, but he is strong and appears to get going quickly. The hits the line at pace as well, and reads the game well. Very rare I think to myself, he should have scored there, especially from short range.

The only issue is when he is supporting a break. A few times this season, I've seen players make breaks, and they have had to slow to wait for support.

I don't get the criticism of Myler. He hasn't really kicked on this season, but most of the squad has been disappointing for the majority of the last season.

Myler's pass is very good, he links superbly on the left hand side, we have undoubtedly missed him in that regard. His short range kicking is pretty good, but Briers takes care of that when he plays.

Briers missed plenty of games last season and we scored plenty of points with Myler calling the shots. Including against Saints and Huddlesfield at home, where I recall him setting crucial tries and being very influential?

Whilst I think some of the criticism of Joel Monaghan is over the top on here I do agree that on the evidence of what we have seen at Wire, Chris Hicks was better than he was, which makes you wonder why Hicks never got any representative calls.

Joel Monaghan played State of Origin and for the Kangaroos, Hicks played a couple of times for NSW Country in the City v Country game, that was the closest he got to representative honours.

Monaghan's try scoring record was better in the NRL, 92 in 173 games compared to 81 in 201 for Hicks, so perhaps he caught the eye more. But given how good Hicks was here you wonder why he didn't get further in the game in Australia.

I would also say the same about Pat Richards tbh as well, how come he never played State of Origin? I would have put him ahead of Joel Monaghan, I would have put Darren Albert ahead of him too and he never played for Australia. JM played for Australia at a time where they were pretty strong in the outside backs so he must have been impressive in the NRL.

I think it was 13 games into Hicks career with us before he made a mistake. At all. Sublime player.

Just take a look at the comedy antics from Greg Eden, Anthony Gelling, Josh Charnley, Luke George etc tonight for the proof.

the hicks v j monas debate is fascinating..agree with hicks being better cos of the trys in the final and the one that sunk that lot at widnes but now the lad has gone and many thanks for the memories..we now have joel whos scoring some great trys..for me hes the best winger in super league atm...

Didn't he play in the centres during his time in Aus? I believe that's where he got representative honours. Hicks/Richards were both out and out wingers, so perhaps making comparisons with them during their time in the NRL is a fruitless task.

Hicks may have had more pace/agility but you can't argue with the quality of Joel's finishing, both this season and last. I was concerned with his level of performance earlier this season though (I would have dropped him after that awful showing against Widnes, where he didn't look interested) but he's really upped his game in the past few weeks and won back my admiration.