Quote: Stu M "The issue we've had and one of the many mistakes Wellens has made is his lack of rotation pre all the injuries. He had opportunities to give the likes of Robertson 20 mins here and there against London and Hull earlier in the season. We were 1st or 2nd for a long while earlier in the season and had some of the kids been integrated into a winning team with lots of experience around them, they would've been in a better position
Instead he flogged the likes of Welsby, Sironen, Clark etc and surprise surprise they've all suffered injuries. This meant that Robertson made his debut away at Wigan and whilst he did well he's suffered since by playing in a team with lots of injuries and low on confidence
What Peet has done well is to dip his young lads in and out, like Douglas, Farrimond etc rather than a concerted run of games where a dip in form can be disastrous.
I don't think its a case of the kids not being good enough, its more of a case of how they have been blooded.
A lot is made of Wigan's Academy and production line and rightly so but lost amongst this is us making the Reserves Final again (finishing top) and the Academy finishing top for the 3rd successive year and winning 11 out of 12 games. We regularly have lads selected for England so the production line is there its just not been managed well
Compare and contrast how Woolf blooded Welsby and Dodd and its night and day. They played a variety of positions in a winning team full of confidence and experience'"
The problem with this, Stu, is Peet has had a winning team full of confidence to bring them into. Woolf the same. I'm not sure Wellens has. Whether that's his fault, injuries, a team not operating at previous levels or a mixture of all of these is subject to debate. Even when you were winning early doors, I don't think anyone thought you were playing well, certainly in attack, or even knew your best combinations. Bennison or Ritson, is Lomax the player he was, Hurrell's weight, Blake, has Dodd properly recovered from his injury and is he already on the plane anyway, Blake, is Wellens really the man for the job, Blake again etc. etc. Meanwhile Wigan were piling trophy in trophy with a fully firing team and a settled and successful coach.
The two situations aren't really comparable and, although Wellens has undoubtedly a part to play in that, I think it's equally a combination of factors that have contributed to the situation.
