Because based on his performances for Wigan since he has been here he is IMO downright average at best.



There is nothing wrong with your logic about wanting to rest players, needing some size etc but for me Lauaki simply isn't the answer. When he gets tackled it's all arms flailing about and very showy but for such a big man he has very little impact when he runs it in. I reckon Dudson for example is already a much better player. If you reckon we need to add some size to the front row then we need to bring in a Pongia type player not rely on Lauaki.

As to the back row there is no doubt we will be better off with Hansen back so I hope I didn't give the impression I was saying otherwise. We will also be better off again when Goulding returns. So IMO the players to come back who will improve the side are Mossop, Hansen and Goulding. I have always liked Prescott as a player but am just concerned he will come back and be out again injured.

its always interesting to see how people view a players performance in a season (and there is no correct answer). i havent analysed these in much detail, but from 2012, here is the raw data for the forwards.
eric had a pretty decent year. good tackling, decent yards/carry and very few errors. I know that stats dont tell the whole story, but i think you are doing eric a dis-favour (eg just compare his stats with HH)

TK - MI - % - C - M - Av - E - P - RC - YC
Ben Flower 317 - 17 - 95% - 129 - 879 - 6.8 - 5 - 4 - 0 - 0
Chris Tuson 346 - 15 - 96% - 117 - 746 - 6.4 - 5 - 4 - 1 - 0
Eric Lauaki 330 - 14 - 96% - 229 - 1619 - 7.1 - 6 - 12 - 0 - 0
Gareth Hock 427 - 36 - 92% - 331 - 2238 - 6.8 - 32 - 24 - 1 - 0
Gil Dudson 141 - 2 - 99% - 66 - 494 - 7.5 - 0 - 3 - 0 - 1
H Hansen 584 - 24 - 96% - 260 - 1658 - 6.4 - 10 - 9 - 0 - 0
Jeff Lima 501 - 14 - 97% - 378 - 2910 - 7.7 - 15 - 10 - 0 - 0
Lee Mossop 433 - 13 - 97% - 248 - 1958 - 7.9 - 5 - 14 - 0 - 0
Liam Farrell 516 - 9 - 98% - 271 - 1908 - 7.0 - 5 12 - 0 - 0
Mike McIlorum 746 - 48 - 94% - 483 - 2210 - 4.6 - 13 - 28 - 2 - 0
Paul Prescott 139 - 3 - 98% - 92 - 708 - 7.7 - 6 - 2 - 0 - 0
Lockers 581 - 32 - 94% - 364 - 1894 - 5.2 - 17 - 18 - 0 - 0

Watching the highlights on Wigan TV, Bentham says "Forward" after Lockers passes to Tuson for his try, then says "OK" when he scores

If the stats of Lauaki and H are comparable then it only goes to show, as you say, stats [idefinitely don't [/itell the whole story.

I thought he was inconsistent with policing the high shots. We got pinged for two pretty innocuous ones and I felt he let at least two blatant ones go the other way. IIRC there were also a couple of obvious shoulder charges from Les Cats as well which are now illegal of course. Les Cats were also offside by yards numerous times.

I am all for less penalties for minor transgressions but I don't think that should translate to being inconsistent.

What was Elima binned for? Was that a shoulder charge?

I thought it was Pelissier who was the offender and Elima was binned for dissent (having been warned only minutes earlier).

Was Pelissier put on report for that?

i thought he was pretty poor to be honest and IMO the niggle that crept in was due to his poor officiating, however i dont understand why the Cats players were the ones getting niggly other than they were on the wrong end of a good pasting

He missed several high shots from Cats players, missed some Wigan forward passes, let Cats lay up offside for almost all the game, and never dealt with the bit of niggling from both sides that led to the hit on Sam and ensuing melee (cant call it a brawl)

I think he was, can't remember.

from the BBC report

"In the final 10 minutes, Eloi Pelissier looked to have put a fair hit on Tomkins but the Wigan full-back's team-mates disagreed and a melee followed. Referee Phil Bentham subsequently showed Olivier Elima a yellow card."

Two things possibily contributed to the superb performance Friday night.
First was the pace at which Wigan played the game in both defence and attack.
Second was their fitness levels which were far better than the Catalans.

In defence Wigan were putting three men into each tackle almost for the full 80 minutes. This prevented Catalans from offloads out of the tackle and also made them fatigue early due to the ferocity of the tackling. The game was very even and ferocious for the first 20 and was still tight up to 30 gone. Our pack had more than stood up to the Dragons forwards and had energy left whereas the Catalans were out on their feet in the final 10 of the first half.
The game was won in the 20 mins either side of half time when the score went from 6-0 to 28-0.

Attack wise Green and Smith are improving each game. Their kicking game is better than we've had for some years.
Catalans were often taking their first ptb inside their own 20 mtr area. That's a long way to go with only 5 tackles left. Not too many kicks went straight into hands on the full. Seven tries against that quality opposition is a great performance topped off by keeping them to nil which really does take some doing in modern day Rugby League. The teams fitness levels appear back to two years or so ago when they looked very fit indeed.

SW is missing seven out of his starting seventeen yet the replacements have certainly looked quality Super League players. It was excellent from all 17 who played.

rlA few match pics hererl