What did rogues say that was wrong? I pretty much agree with everything he said tbh but this doesn't mean i don't think ainscough is a good winger.

id stick my neck out and say i see shaun in our first team before the end of this season. that could come through long term injury or loss of form, but if he has a good month at cas (maybe a bit longer, with the option for us to call him back at any time) then he will certainly be the next cab off the rank.

and as we have all seen in ainscough, when he gets his chance in the first team, he takes it (try's on his first start for wigan, widnes and cas) this next month will really help him to grow up. last season there was so much hype around him, and even when he was playing well got dropped. i think now he realises exactly what he has to improve on. last season will of hurt him, so when he gets his next chance he wont want to let it go. so he has to do everything to keep hold of it, which means improving his defence.

i thought that tonight his defence was top notch except for one thing, sadly, like a goal keeper in football, if your a winger and you mess up, it will cost a try. that doesnt mean that other wingers dont mess up. KR targeted him tonight, and he did really well.

in attack i thought he made all the right choices, especially the kick he put in, which if he was playing for wigan, i could see ending up as a try. the cas players didnt seem as alert in attack as they could have been. his kick returns were great.

great game from him, keep it up and it wont be long before he is playing for wigan.

3 tries for cas should have 4 but for ganson.great attacking player but is defence is not the best. if he can improved his defence should be in warriors first team

He didn't say anything which was wrong but imo too much emphasis is put on Ainscough’s occasional faults and in no way do they cancel out the excellent things he does in attack.

Although he never actually stated it I took his post to suggest it was Ainscough’s fault that cas lost based on the notion that he said if they had Roberts they would have won. Ainscough was no more to blame for the loss than any other Cas player and I’d suggest he did his bit for the team more than most out there.

Ainscough had a quality game tonight and I honestly think if it would have been anyone else not much if anything would have been made of his one defensive mistake.

This is a huge problem for Wigan - some may say it is a nice problem but a problem it is.

I have constantly championed Phelps on these forums - in my opinion he will be the top fullback in Super League in 1-2 years. I believe it would be a disasterous decision to release him.

That being said, the talent of Ainscough is clear to everyone and who from Super League would you swap for Richards or Roberts at the moment?

Quite frankly I don't want any of the four to go anywhere and I want all of them in the side. But this would seem impossible. The suggestion of Phelps at centre is a poor one - he is wasted there. Maybe a small possibility could be a move to halfback for Phelps but like many now I prefer Leuluai at 7, not 9.

I haven't a clue what the club will do about the situation over the next few years.

Roberts is a winger. Richards is a winger. Ainscough is a winger. Phelps is a full back.

Hence, if the coaching staff are convinced Aniscough needs to be given a starting shirt in the next year or two, it should be Richards or Roberts who loses out.

To release Phelps would be a mistake, unless we have someone to replace him at full back.

Richards' contract expires at the end of 2011, Roberts' at the end of 2012 and Aniscough's at the end of 2011.

So, one of the three is going to have accept they won't be playing first team rugby for almost two seasons, and one of the three is going to have to be released at the end of their current contracts.

If Ainscough isn't an option for relase (for the record, I'd say he is), then I'd suggest it would have to be Richards to go at the end of next season. Big call for the management.

He should be in it anyway at the moment with Phelps out. The way some people go on about his defence you would think no one else in our team ever missed a tackle or was responsible for the opposition scoring.

His poor defence is nothing other than a bandwagon and one which I can't fathom why anyone wants to jump onto.

Goulding was nothing special on Friday in both defence and attack but he hasn't got a label hung round his neck in the same way Ainscough has.

I like both players but IMO the debate about Ainscough all started when certain Noble defenders had to look for an excuse to justify Noble dropping him and what I can't believe is now Noble has gone Ainscough's defence is still under a microscope that no other players defence is subjected to. It's ridiculous.

Dave

Glad you aren't on our management. Richards will become a Wigan legend if he finished his career at Wigan.

That's my point. Richards isn't an option for relase.

I just don't see how Ainscough can get into the team for a few years yet.

exacly, he should at least be in the squad to cover for the inevitable injuries that we will get, hes a proven try scorer no one can deny that

And at 20 years of age he could serve us for a good 10-14 years, most people around here seem to struggle with the long term future, they should remember that success is built on the long term, letting ainscough go would be hypocritical aswell as a blow to the club for the medium/long term.

Releasing Richards may sound totally daft but he will be another year older come 2011 and will be 29 (I think). Roberts will be 32. So do we keep wingers of that vintage in favour of a Ainscough who will be 21 in 2011? How long a contract would you give Richards for 2012? A couple of years? If that meant losing Ainscough for the next 8 would you do it?

We went through a period of releasing players of around that age regardless of form when were on top of the pile in the 80's and 90's and NRL clubs do it all the time. Senior pros still performing very well are moved on in the NRL in favour of the young prospect coming up.

It's not just as simple as look at how well a player went in the season but you have to consider quota spots, salary cap and age.

Dave

By sending Ainscough out on loan, Michael Maguire is the second coach in a row to decide that he isn't ready for the Wigan first team.

I find it difficult to believe that he has the same unreasonable downer on Ainscough that Noble supposedly had.

Maybe there's something at the root of this, which we don't notice when all we see of Ainscough are his heroics on Sky TV.

Could it be an attitude problem? I don't know, but perhaps the time has come when we should trust the coaching staff's judgement. They are much closer to Ainscough than almost anyone on this board will ever be.

For what it's worth, I don't think Ainscough making comments on TV about not liking being sent out on loan, or even giving that impression, will help his cause one little bit. I get the feeling that Maguire runs a tight ship, and prefers people who are on message.