My cousin is mates with him, and was speakin to him at the end of last season and he said he was thinking about a season long loan spell with Salford. But this was before McGuire came in, maybe he has other ideas for him

I wouldn't send him out on loan. Its healthy having four lads fighting for three positions. Any of our back 3 get injured or their form drops then Shaun will be straight in. I think he will get atleast 15 games this year in league and cup and probably more if he can impress.

I'd start him instead of Roberts but I'm in the minority.

So would I

I would of done when Ainscough was playing well last season, I would of kept him in. Right now, I would play Roberts.

I hope he has shown up well in pre season training. I think he has the potential to become our best winger. A regular slot would make him a good bet for one of the top try scorers in the league.

on his day nobody can touch him the best try scorer around hope madge works with him and sorts out his defence as he was a bit of a liability every team targeted him with their kicking game but he has time on his side and he has the potential to be a wigan legend

Even with the negatives in his game was 10 times better than Roberts last season, Roberts is a cracking player just needs a bit more desire.

I hope Ainscough has worked hard on his dealing with kicks if he has he will be a world beater and a starting wing spot in place of Roberts. Don't get me wrong I think Roberts is a classy player it's just I would have Ainscough over Roberts when both are on form as Ainscough has desire in the bucket load.

competition for places can only be good for the team

The negatives in Ainscoughs game were overstated last season and blown out of all proportion IMO. Other players including Roberts had just as many if not more issues with their game defensively but an excuse was needed by some to back Nobbies ludicrous (IMO) decision to drop him for his senior player at the first opportunity. Due to this fiasco Ainscough went from a try scoring sensation to a player with issues.

The fact Noble justified his position by always seeming to end on a negative when asked about how well Ainscough had played by the press left the impression he was doomed to be dropped if he never made a single mistake in attack or defense.

Hopefully things like scoring four tries one week and being dropped the next won't have knocked his confidence.

Looking back on the Ainscough situation it's one of the biggest reasons I am happy Noble is no longer our coach and we have apprently entered an era where you get picked on form not reputation.



Roberts needs to up his game as well as do several senior players. Ainscough has the excuse of inexperience but he more than made up for the odd error in each game he played. I don't think the same can be said of the senior players who often were making mistakes but not scoring for fun at the other end to make up for it.

The comparison with Roberts is often put down because Roberts plays on the wrong side to get the opportunities but based on what I saw last season when he did get the ball the big difference between the two wingers was Roberts rarely backed himself and would cut inside and take a tackle whereas Ainscough had the confidence of youth to try anything. I hope he still has that confidence and for the good of the team I hope Roberts starts backing himself more than he did.

Dave

I agree with this.

Given Roberts was nothing special, I think SA was very unlucky not to get more opportunities last season.


I could see where Noble was coming from regarding the defence of SA, but as I said, Roberts offered not much more imo.

Ainscough wasn't dropped for Roberts last season, He was dropped to make way for Richards on the Left Wing.
BN never said he had a problem with his defence last season, he said he had "Areas of his game to work on". It was people on here who highlighted some of his defincies on kick return/Kick defence who then helped to spread the Myth that Noble had said he had dropped him for said reasons, he didn't.
I suspect EVERY player had areas of his game to work on & Noble used this as a way of not getting too much HYPE around Ainscough when he thought/knew there would be an inevitable Dip in his scoring rate.

I think Roberts was a better Right Wing option last season than Ainscough.

Plenty people agree, plenty people disagree.

Let's see who MM picks when he has a full squad available Eh? We'll then see who he thinks is the better "Right Wing" option.

Maybe then we will all see than BN wasn't so wrong with his picking of Roberts last season, or maybe we will?

But whatever the outcome is the coach will pick what he thinks is the best option for the team.

Individuals who think though that BN's decision to play Roberts/Richards on the wing & leave Ainsocugh out is proof that BN was the Devil Incarnate will IMO be in for a major disappointment "If" MM picks the certain players in certain positions tha BN did and Omits others.