Quote: Last Son of Wigan "I actually agree with the meat of your post. Makinson is a better player, but I agree Davies has potential and younger. I read that you thought Manfredi was the best English winger, I disagree with that due to the points raised about Hall, but Manfredi wasn't a million miles away.
I do disagree re-Marshall. For his age, compare his to Tom Johnson, both 22. Johnson is considerably better in all aspects of his game. Or Charnley or Burgess when they were the same age.
Marshall is better at creating chances? In all honesty as a winger, I don't know what you're referring to. Making tackles stick? Again I don't see that at all.'"
Johstone is a fair call, he's quality. He did get dropped earlier in the season supposedly for not playing well enough but I haven't seen enough of him this year to know why Chris Chester made that call.
In terms of creating chances, I mean when Marshall makes a break it doesn't end with him, as it does for quite a few highly rated wingers. In my opinion when Marshall makes a clean break he's better than most of his rivals at creating a try scoring opportunity out of it, even if he doesn't finish the move himself. His ability to kick the ball accurately at pace, pick out accurate passes to supporting players and produce offloads in the tackle is something that shouldn't be overlooked. I know there's more of a focus these days on being flawless defensively and making good carries (and that's what makes Davies so impressive) but Marshall's attacking game is definitely worthy of high praise.
With regards to tackles we can agree to disagree. I happen to think it's an aspect of his game that he's greatly improved this year. I don't think Marshall has the same potential as Grace though, and I think Marshall will never properly become number 1 winger at a top Super League club simply because he's always compensating for his lack of height. No matter how well he plays there is always a greater chance that he'll be beaten in the air or overpowered by a bigger winger. I do like that Marshall doesn't let his head drop, and that after a bad mistake against Wire he responded with some good takes under pressure. I just don't think the effort will be enough to reach the level of consistency required.