if we get beat by celtic at home EVERYONE should resign !

I think we are a bit light generally (apart from 2 fatties)
Prescott, Fielden, Joel and Hansen are lightweights, yet I believe they give their all and I won't criticise them.
Noble should look mat these and a light should come on. Let's move the other pack about with losts of switches and dummy runners. If any of the above 4 run into the usual 3 players (because it's so obvious who will receive the ball) who await them, they have no chance of making a break.
The much maligned Coley is our best forward at the moment because he has that extra bulk.
O'Loughlin also gives his all and is a tremendous tackler.
The 2 overweights should be given an ultimatum. Lose some weight or you won't be picked.

Fielden gives his all? Do you actually watch Wigan? Did you ever see the same man play at Bratford?
By fatty do you mean Feka? The man who's been our best prop for many years?

Seriously, if you need directions to the JJB I can help you out, you need to watch the team before passing comment.

I could say how long I've watched Wigan and whether I saw Fielden play in the magnificent Bradford pack but that is irrelevant.
What I see now is Fielden charging in with the ball with all his might but making no impression.
I also see Feka, a full-time pro who is huge and it isn't all muscle. I know he has been told to watch his diet. If he could lose a couple of stone he would be tremendous. He might even get picked for the Kiwis. He might be able to tackle Barrow players instead of letting them skip round him and under the posts.

More like someone who doesn't have the fight in him to do any damage to the defensive line. Someone who makes a shocking amount of yards, someone who hardly ever breaks a tackle, someone who never offloads is giving his best? Come on.

Feka is an impact prop. Why can't people understand the purpose of an impact prop? He's there to create an impact in different spells during the game, someone who can turn the game on it's head and in Wigan's favour. His drives get the fans out of their seats and raises the momentum of the team, he knocks defenders flying and nearly always has an arm free to offload, he creates an awesome impact.

Could he do all this a couple of stone lighter? probably not.

I still think part of Fieldens problems is coaching. The man tackles all day, therefore is not affraid of getting stuck in. The issue is his go forward, of which there is none at the moment.

His technique when running in has been all wrong for some time. As he hits the line of defence he stands as tall as he can and stamps his foot down to get some purchase in the ground to bump off the first tackler. now even if this happens and the first tackler bounces off and looks stupid, Fielden winning or losing this collision has come to a dead halt and then the second and third tacklers take him down for no yards.

Fielden needs to get his body psition down and drive throught the first defender, not this body check.

i think if he does this and breaks a tackle or 2 confidence will rise and we might see the Fielden of old (or a man some why to it).

Like it or not, slate him or not, Stuart was one of if not the best prop in the world a few years ago and by all accounts still trains like a man man. He is a proud man as well.

Add this together and you do not have a man who can't be bothered. In my opinion you have a man lacking in confidence and doing one of the basic tasks he is meant to do poorly due to technique.

Noble fixes this and he will make yards.

It's just not possible for someone who was as good as Stew to suddenly (without injury) become so bad.

I'm sorry to say that is exactly whats happened to him. Don't forget getting his bottle dropped by big Willie.
Fielden's head coach was the same man while he was at Bratford to what it is now...noble.

Same coach might be his problem. Noble probably looks at what Fielden does in training less than others and over time his ball carrying has gone to pot.

Yes he got dropped by Willie, but who wouldn't have to that hit?

I still say technique is stopping his game in attack.

I am happy for someone to tell me that what I say about the body check is not what he does. He loses all momentum.

I don't see the other top props doing this carry up.

Don't you think Noble watches the games? Don't you think Fielden would raise a point of concern after how poor he's been since signing? To think he wouldn't address this in training is absurd.

It was getting punched by Willie Mason that was the issue, it was how it effected him and how it has cost him his bottle.

Fielden looks to have lost about 2 stone of muscle since he left bradford. combine this with lack of form and you have a prop who makes no impact at all. with regard to noble, he will not be sacked imo. we will beat celtic on sunday and the usual tripe will be spouted ' our season starts here' 'we are showing improvement' 'we need to show patience '. this season is already a wash out and that will be confirmed when wakefield knock us out of the cup next month. noble will go at the end of the year when his contract is up, not b4.

So according to you there is no issue with what fielden does in technique?

Noble is far from doing things right at the moment, therefore he might not be dealing with Fieldens ball carrying.

Bottom line is i think if he got his head down and ran he would get go forward rather than what he is doing at the moment

i have just had a look at fieldens stats over the past six years. he has been suprisingly consistant. his carries per game has dropped slightly this season but his tackles per game his increased. his meters per carry has only dropped slightly (about 6 meters per game). Although his recent performance doesn't seem to relect these stats, these are facts and i think we should get off his back.

Regardless of what the stats say, is he playing to an acceptable level?

No he isn't which leads to the next question. Is the problem fixable?

I think certainly to a degree it is.

Your looking at those stats wrong. I bet if you looked at Peacocks stats over those same 6 seasons he has improved on each year (as a general rule), this is what most forwards will have been doing (like Graham) and slowly, because Fielden has just stagnated on the same level of performances everyone else has caught him up and eventually over took him due to improvement. Therefore what was a world class level of performance is now just average compared to the best out there.