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.

Perhaps Juke, but I bet they don't kick up a fuss about it!

I didn't say he did but I did not imagine Noble virtually always ending on a negative when discussing AInscough in the press. It is as though it never crossed his mind just offering him some unqualified praise for once might be a good idea for his confidence.

As to being dropped he was dropped when Noble could play all his senior players.



We already know the andwer to that. He was wrong to drop Ainscough when Ainscough was on form IMO. If Noble picked on form he would have kept him in the side but we know from Nobles own words that Noble will always give his senior players the benefit of the doubt. That is the way he coaches and it is different from how Maguire coaches we are told. So if Roberts gets the nod it is because he will be on form in 2010 not because Noble was right to pick him in 2009 when he wasn't (on form) .



The only disappointment will be if Maquire "does a Noble" and ignores form. If he picks on form it does not matter who he picks. The criticism Noble got wasn't because he didn't pick Ainscough or whoever but because he kept persisting with out of form players and his "pick the first 17" philosophy meant there was no competition for places. Hopefully all that is a thing of the past but even if it is I don't think anyone is naive enough to think it guarantees Ainscough an extended run in the side.

For all we know Noble could have already ruined him

Dave

So would I. It's a fresh start for all players under a new management team. I can't fault the team we have named.

Got to say I agree with you on this one Dave.

Ainscough would of really kicked on last season had we left him in IMO. This season though I am happy to have Roberts as first choice, he was good at the back end of last season.

I'm just glad that we've got them both.

I always thought the 'Ainscough or Roberts' issue was being overstated - to me, Roberts was brought in partly as cover for full-back, Mathers clearly not having what we'd hoped for. He wasn't brought in to replace Ainscough. But there's no denying, under Noble you eventually got the feeling that Ainscough wasn't going to get a fair crack of the whip.

Hopefully that's now in the past, and selections will be made on merit. What could be better for Wigan than having two pretty decent wingers jockeying for a first team shirt?