I personally think the way we are playing without Hock highlights the fact he is a Prop and would be best used there for the balance of the team.

As for some of the rumours i have to take them with a pinch of salt he way have had a bust up but more often than not these are sorted quickly, but as for turning up and leaving when he wants, there are things the club could do to prevent this and i am certain they would.

I was thinking the same myself.

If he's to come back to the club it should be as a prop who'll cause loads of damage around the middle. I hope the club get him to use these 2 years off to bulk up and bring him back to play in the front row.

His running game would cause so many problems up the middle and he'd make metre after metre.

Sounds like the classi reverse-engineered rumour - "we've won games since he left therefore he was part of the problem".

I imagine bust-ups happen virtually every day in training

Important points made there

First time hes ever been away from family for such along time. 4 months without seeing your family plus a child only born a few weeks before he left

It would effect me i dont know about the rest of you

Given his likely ban for 2 years, its not a stretch to say he might have been part of a problem!



Exactly and who wouldnt be affected by that, recently his form has been excellent and I look forward to a top class performance from him on Friday, its taken us years to have a quality back 5 and all people want to do is find fault with it.

I've not managed to get to any games recently, last one i saw was HKR on the box.

However, in that game he had a mare. Was a fault for the first two tries and then on two occasions was in clear open space and should of used his so called pace to pull away to score. OK he was caught by Fox who in his own right is a speedy winger but Roberts didn't get anywhere near the line. Dare i say it that Mr Calderwood would have scored.

What has he done in the past few games to improve so much?

Made most of his tackles, scored tries and generally looked very busy. He's not giving world-beating performances, but he's certainly improved on the HKR game.

To be honest, comparisons with Calderwood don't hold much water. Calderwood left because he and Noble didn't get on. It wasn't because we were planning to bring Amos Roberts in.

You're probably right that comparisons to Calderwood are pointless but for me its no contest - Roberts all the way.

I'll tell you the one thing Calderwood never seemed to be able to do which irritated me - he never dived for the try line. The last two tries against Bradford and Catalans for Roberts Calderwood would never have scored - they were smart, low diving finishes. Lost count of the amount times Calderwood could have squeezed in at the corner but bottled in and cut inside. The CC semi final at Warrington would be one example.

Neither because you know as well as I do Roberts poor form can't be explained simply a lack of any relationship with his centre. Are you seriously suggesting that is all there is too his lack of early season form?

I was making a general point anyway that there is no excuse for an NRL pro to take the best part of a season to settle in. And IMO there is not.

We have had plenty of players over the years who have settled in right away as has already been pointed out on this thread by others. Did Dallas have such a shaky start? Not that I recall. Barrett playing a key role at 6 was up to speed as soon as his calf injury cleared up, Robbie McCormack was an instant hit at hooker. The list goes on. Even Phelps made an impact from the start of his career here.

Any experienced pro be they from overseas or UK who joins Wigan and is poor for the best part of a season can't be excused for taking that long to adjust.

Dave

He was played at centre and was poor, got switched to his correct position on the wing and his form nearly kept Dallas out of the side when the latter was ready to return from injury. Not a coincidence because Richards is never a centre but is a winger.

If I had a pound for every time Richards gets held up as an example of a player taking time to settle in that conveniently ignores the fact he was played out of position I could buy Wigan a top class prop.

Dave

And don't let the fact most players do adjust quickly get in the way of the over the top support of Roberts and Riddell. Still, I suppose people have to make up excuses for them or they would have to admit these players are not what they cracked them up to be.

Dave

Alright then, what about Lammy and Craig Smith? It took them a season for us to see their true class, especially Craig Smith. I remember lots of fans unhappy with Smith after his first year and wanted to see him go.