I wouldn't say he hides from attacking work, there seems to be a reluctance from our dummy halfs and half backs to give him the ball at certain times

as i've mentioned earlier in the thread, if anyone has the game on sky+ or recorded, watch it back and in the second half on 6-7 occasions he was available for a carry and they passed the ball past him to someone else

It is obvious that Fielden is not the player he was. That's for sure. But the key question is: WHY?

Most - including myself - have cited burnout, but whilst it's an easy label to apply, the evidence supporting that disorder seems less than perfect. Which means whatever treatment is most effective for it can never be an absolute panacea. Psychological burnout seems akin to something along the lines of depression. And that cannot be fixed - only treated.

That leaves injury. Given the expert level of medical care available to professional sportsmen and the now considerable length of time Fielden has been underperforming it is unlikely he'll suddenly spring back into being the Fielden of old. I remember Paul Groves going from the being the best hooker in the league to one of the least effective and staying there because of a long term debilitating back injury.

If Fielden has a smashed back (something like what ended young Mark Welsby's career at Wigan), or a troublesome groin (Hanley) or a painful Achilles that's pretty much it as far as his career goes. Current medical technology simply hasn't reached the point where those problems can be rectified.

Quote Rogues Gallery="Rogues Gallery"I just thought I'd see how bad / good was on comparison to the other Wigan props. v Coley [urlhttp://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2009&hp1=420&hs2=2009&hp2=29&stat=marker_tackles&season=2009[/url v Prescott www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2009 v Feka [urlhttp://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2009&hp1=1135&hs2=2009&hp2=29&stat=marker_tackles&season=2009[/url Now those stats suggest to me that he is still our best ALLROUND prop particularly defensively around the ruck. What he needs to do is cut out the errors and penalties.'" Coley - beats him for metres per carry, offloads, clean breaks, makes less errors and misses less tackles. Fielden makes more tackles and marker tackles as expected. I refuse to believe the tackle busts stat, they must work it out in a weird way because I don't believe that Stuart Fielden busts about 4 tackles a game. Prescott - exactly the same as above, except clean breaks as neither have made one, also Prescott gives away less penalties. Paleaaesina - exactly the same as above, Feka's made 3 clean breaks and scored a try too. To conclude, all 3 appear to be better in attack, but worse in defence, and give away less penalties and make fewer errors. As nearly everyone said before checking out the stats. Having said that the tackle busts one does appear to go against what I say (except for Feka, who still beats him on tackle busts) but I don't believe it to be accurate, apparently Fielden has bust more tackles than Peacock, Graham and Morley, get him in an England shirt!

Quote Rogues Gallery="Rogues Gallery"I just thought I'd see how bad / good was on comparison to the other Wigan props. v Coley [urlhttp://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2009&hp1=420&hs2=2009&hp2=29&stat=marker_tackles&season=2009[/url v Prescott www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... eason=2009 v Feka [urlhttp://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2009&hp1=1135&hs2=2009&hp2=29&stat=marker_tackles&season=2009[/url Now those stats suggest to me that he is still our best ALLROUND prop particularly defensively around the ruck. What he needs to do is cut out the errors and penalties.'" Coley - beats him for metres per carry, offloads, clean breaks, makes less errors and misses less tackles. Fielden makes more tackles and marker tackles as expected. I refuse to believe the tackle busts stat, they must work it out in a weird way because I don't believe that Stuart Fielden busts about 4 tackles a game. Prescott - exactly the same as above, except clean breaks as neither have made one, also Prescott gives away less penalties. Paleaaesina - exactly the same as above, Feka's made 3 clean breaks and scored a try too. To conclude, all 3 appear to be better in attack, but worse in defence, and give away less penalties and make fewer errors. As nearly everyone said before checking out the stats. Having said that the tackle busts one does appear to go against what I say (except for Feka, who still beats him on tackle busts) but I don't believe it to be accurate, apparently Fielden has bust more tackles than Peacock, Graham and Morley, get him in an England shirt!

I think they count people not tackling him and by that I mean when he bumps off would be tacklers, which he does a lot.

That's true when you watch him he bumps off the first tackler nearly every time but instead of continuing forward he just turns 90 degrees and runs laterally, hardly making any meters at all.

Although it's not ideal, it does make the defenders work twice as hard.

True it does, but it also makes Fielden work twice as hard as well, and perhaps it's the reason why he look's lethargic and is dominated a lot in the tackle area.

The problem with his technique is he doesnt bump that man off by charging through them, he hits the 1st man turning all his speed into a stomp that means that the 1st man almost always bounces off and he says stood. But the problem is then he is stationary and the next man puts him down much easier.

Compare that to Feka's technique of driving into the tackle and making sure his legs keep on pedalling, not only meaning he keeps moviong forward but also makes it hard to grab his legs while their still moving. This IMO is a perfect driving technique for a prop.

IMO if Fielden did this rather than his stomp and stop style he would be far more effective as im sure he would still bounce the 1st man off if he was running full speed just as he does when he stops to brace for the tackle.

Coley is a great example of how driving in the tackle is so important, he doesnt exactly run with all his effort into the tackle but once men are on him he always pushes them back by continuing to drive hard with his legs.

The tackle busts reflect how broken Fielden is. He is now afraid to try to run through the gap/at defenders so he either does his bump ploy or he hits the ground upon impact. He has little natural RL skill because he did not play the game seriously until his late teens.

Hang on a minute that sounds like the kind of advice a coach would give to a player to improve his game, right another thing to add to my list of why I want Noble out, "Not coaching the players correctly" oh hang on a minute that was the first thing I wrote on my list, that he's not improved players personal performance while he's been at the club.

Whether we like it or not he will be here next season.

There really is no excuses for IL at the end of next season because we have so many players coming off contract and there are many more quality players going to be available.