Didn't he start at home against Saints this season? That was certainly one of his best games of the year. I think this will make Philbin kick on, plus two starting Warrington born props is excellent....shove Walker inbetween them in some games and I bet that would be a first ever Wire born front three.

He did play well against Saints as a starter. And I agree it was one of his better games of the season.

Pretty sure he started at saints away as well. Seem to remember him putting the almighty walmsley on his backside with the first run of the match.

Could go either way this move. It either gives your pack a boost early doors and you get on top in games. Or the opposition matches your opening salvo and you are left very exposed as it leaves you with a weak bench. The sapping first stint could well take the energy and impact away from Philbin and there's not much left after that.

I wanted another experienced mainstay prop to complement Cooper and Mulhern, allowing Phibin to continue from the bench. However, Cas fans probably felt the same about Powell not replacing Daryl Clark when he left for Warrington. They wanted a decent established hooker and got McShane instead. Didn't work out too badly in the end though.

I'm prepared to give Powell a year to prove Philbn as a starting prop if that is indeed his plan. I gave Price 3 years to prove he could fix our attack, so I'm a hypocrite if I start judging Powell before a ball is kicked!

[*]

Hopefully Rob Butler might start to recreate some of his London form too

INOUT
I think Bullock will hit top Form under Powell, and yeah if we can get Butler back to fitness and form i think we're looking good in the forwards, just prop depth isn't great.

Bullock seems to have all the attributes to be a quality prop; size, good footwork, strength and power, he just seems to lack the belief and aggression from what I've seen.

Some of my Wigan relatives have said the same

Unless they've kayfabe'd his stats, apparently he's the same height and a bit lighter than walmsley.

The eyeball test wouldn't support that, him not running his size would also support that.

I think he’ll go well under Powell. He seems the type who needs a coach to put an arm round him and build his confidence, rather than a coach who couldn’t get the best out of anyone and was just happy to pick props who’ll try hard, even if it meant sticking a full pack of juniors in the 17.

There’s no doubt he lacks aggression and seems to lack a bit of confidence/belief but in terms of physical attributes, he’s got everything you’d want really. I can’t think there would be many props quicker than Bullock and he’s a huge bloke, so when you combine that, it’s an impressive base. I’m not sure he will ever have the personality/mindset to be be as good as he should be but I still think under the right coach he’ll be extremely handy.

I always like Nickys posts.
I don't always agree - as you'd expect - but I do find them thought provoking and insightful.
Respect.

Just going back to my point on the other page, how did he go 2019 and 2020? I was thinking he had done a part year under wane, but he's always been under lam,

Bullock and Lam both did three seasons with us. On that score how you judge a player, I don’t really know because of Lams inability to drag improvement from anyone.

Going back to those two years, it was up and down but far better than last season. He started really well. I recall his first couple of games were away at Saints and at home to Leeds and he played extremely well. It’s that next step he can’t seem to take because as the season went on, he seemed to go more in to his shell. His best season was 2020. I thought he’d cracked it and hoped 2021 would be the season he used that confidence he’d built up and hit a level I think he should be capable of (that’s playing for England by the way) but it just didn’t happen. He had a really strong second half to 2020, looked as fit as he has done, he was dinting the line and was defensively far better but again, it’s that next step and that consistently high level he’s struggled to reach. The Grand Final was a big let down for me. We needed him to thrive in that big game atmosphere but he was so quiet and went in to his shell again. His level of the previous month or two dropped off a cliff.

In short, it’s just been so inconsistent but the positive for you guys is that there’s some real talent there and if anybody can drag consistency from him, I think Powell can. I’m sorry to see him leave Wigan but in all honesty I think Wane/Peet would’ve been more ‘boot up the backside’ and fired him off anyway.