Quote: Father Ted "Noble could only switch them as there was no one in the reserves to replace them with at full back, hence Ainscough was brought in on the wing.'"
In which case I don't see your point. We know he switched players because his f/b was suspended I don't see what this has got to do with dropping out of form players.
Quote: Father Ted "We weren't rubbish v HKR and playing Sam T in that game would have been wrong. The last 20 mins of the first half was the roughest, toughest I've seen in years. It was knock ons from both sides due to the torrential rain and poor pitch condition.
'"
Why would it have been wrong? So what if it going to be rough? What has the rain got to do with it? In order to justify this stance at the time Nobby would have had to have had a crystal ball and as it happened we looked flat and devoid of ideas. If it was wrong to play him them why will he be in the team v Saints and if we win v Leeds? These games will be the more intense than that.
Quote: Father Ted "Just because I see things differently to you Dave does not mean I'm blind. He dropped Ainscough after the Easter weekend and errors on the touchline in both the Saints and Catalans games. '"
Then why not drop other players for similar or worse mistakes? In any case if that is why he dropped that is pretty appalling IMO as it makes no allowances at all for his inexperience yet at the same time mistakes by more experienced players go unpunished. If you are right in why he was dropped you have highlighted how he treats the younger players compared to the senior players.
Quote: Father Ted "I started a thread on here suggesting Ainscough might be dropped as Noble did the same the previous season when Calderwood dropped a high ball v Catalans from which they scored the winning try. According to friends who went to Celtic Ainscough had a nightmare game there. His time will come as he's the most devastating try scoring winger in the game. '"
So why did he not drop Phelps for waiting for a ball to roll dead and letting the opposition touch down between his legs? Or why not Roberts who has had several games where he has been at least as defensively suspect as Ainscough? What about Feka or Riddell who look unfit? You can't argue the young players got dropped for mistakes when the senior players make the same mistakes and keep their places. It's double standards from Noble.
Quote: Father Ted "Yes ok go with three props and a front row as light and under powered as ours will get blown away. Send out three props and look at the oppositions team sheet and you'll find they're going with five. Bye bye two points! We did that v Wakey a few years ago. Only 3 props due to injuries and Tony Smith fielded five, a home banker turned into two points for Wakey.'"
As I said he was able to drop Coley and had opportunities to drop other props before O'Carroll got injured. Regardless of form he didn't.
Quote: Father Ted "Of course he's achieved improvement. He's taken us from a relegation team to a semi finals team. '"
That is the most over used cliche in the whole debate. We didn't actually get relegated. We finished just outside the playoffs in 2006 in 8th place having been docked two points for salary cap breaches which would have seen us 7th. If you consider going from 8th to 6th in three years worthwhile progress losing 11 or 12 games a season you are easily pleased.
Quote: Father Ted "To take us up another level to a final winning team we need quality signings and everyone including our chairman knows this. As for dropping out of form players, there are other threads discussing whether Noble should drop Joel T or Flanagan as both are not at the top of their game. Neither are but who will he bring in? Mossop and who? Into a play off semi final? The answer is no one after Mossop and he'd start to struggle after 15 mins.'"
That has not been the situation all season and you know it. Nor was it been the situation in 2007 and 2008 and yo know that too.
Quote: Father Ted "We have the best reserves and youth set up in the game but bringing lads out of the reserves into the first team is a massive jump. The gap is so wide it is doubtful it can be bridged under the current RFL/SL rules. This is why our lads are going out on loan. Mossop and Flanagan have benefited from this and are now gradually getting first team experience.'"
Where did Mossop end up on loan? Another SL side. The standard of NL1 is not SL and young players have been brought into SL sides by other teams and what is more to the point when Noble has no choice it has worked here at Wigan. The best two examples are the Tomkins brothers who got extended runs and made a go of it. I don't have a problem with players going out on loan but it isn't the only way to do things.
Quote: Father Ted "Any coach knows this and Anderson said whilst at Saints that younger players will give you a good game or two but then their performaces fade. This is the difficulty all coaches have and it's a major problem.
Brian Noble and the Wigan club are no exception.'"
It's not a major problem if you handle it right. There was no justifiable ( use the word deliberately) reason to drop Ainscough. What I expect to see is players picked on form and rewarded for good play.
With a few exceptions if a player comes in for an injured or suspended player then regardless of his age if he does well he should keep his place and the first team player should have to earn his place back. If the young player fades after a few games then he has lost his place for a reason not because he automatically gets dropped as soon as the 1st team player is fit.
The bottom line is we have a large squad at Wigan with no competition for places under Noble.
Dave
