It may take some time but he's a natural talent - sooner or later he'll be an automatic choice for the 17.

If he is back in training today, what on earth was he doing in Dominos the night before he is about to train for Madge for the first time?!

No news yet, still waiting for reply.

Correct. Gareth Hock would be absolutely devastating in the NRL. Sometimes Gareth Hock was made to look daft when offloading the ball because no-one was backing him up. It is a two-sided coin. If someone backs him up and we get that second phase Gareth Hock is praised, but if he offloads and finds the ground with no-one reacting quick enough then Hock is scolded. I noticed from the WCC match that the St. George players were like a school of piranhas latching onto the ball from the offloading player. Now while Wigan have definitely improved in this area since the Noble days, we still have a tendency to sometimes be lethargic in support. I still believe that we can improve this area of our game. St. George were far superior to us in this department.

I just hope that we don't expect too much from Gareth Hock too soon. The expectations on this forum is astronomical. The lad has been out of the game for two years and I don't care who he has been working with, how much he has bulked up or how much talent he undoubtedly possesses - he wont be match fit and for a good while too. He will have to spend a few weeks - possibly months - in the reserves and will need a good few weeks - again possibly months - to get up to speed with the well formulated systems that Madge/Wane have put together. Plus he has to get in front of some damn good players who have been performing very well since he's been gone. I hope that fans are able to have patience with Gareth Hock when he returns & not just naively expect him to start running rings around opponents for the remainder of the year. Rugby League just doesn't work like that.

I expect Hock to be used very much as impact from the bench and for that reason I do not think he will be spending too long in the reserves.

I think the game plan will be very simple. Hit it up hard and defend down the middle. I do not expect him to even attempt to throw any offloads as he will need time to get up to speed and the pace of the games.

To me Hock and not Lima will be the Feka style player replacement offering basic hard powerful hit ups, but in more sustained periods than Feka could and with more agility in defence.

I know its old ground and all done and dusted , but I still don't think what he did deserved such a long ban.
It was not performance enhancing drugs that he took and as such in my mind the sentence that he got was harsh.

By the way I am wholly and totally against any sort of illegal drugs.

The ban is standard for all sports signed up to the WADA code of practice of which rugby league is one.

The problem was he threw the offloads even when there wasn't anyone there. Not to mention he tried to offload when his arm wasn't free. He often played like it was the 5th tackle every time he carried the ball.

Under MM i would hazard a guess that Wigan offload less than most teams and when we do it is only in high percentage situations. We look far more concerned with getting a quick PTB and a implementing structured attack as opposed to continuous broken field play.

If Hock comes back and starts chucking wunder offloads across the park, i am sure that MM will have a word.

Get him used as a battering ram first and foremost. Get him hurting people.

I am not worried about his offloading, its his lack of concentration in defence and his high missed tackle count that will count against him if anything.

I am sure it is not hard for MM to say "Gareth........NO offloading"

Quote: tugglesf78 "Under MM i would hazard a guess that Wigan offload less than most teams'" www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... 11&hp2=400 Little offloading certainly contributes to our low error count. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... 11&hp2=550

Quote: tugglesf78 "Under MM i would hazard a guess that Wigan offload less than most teams'" www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... 11&hp2=400 Little offloading certainly contributes to our low error count. www.superleague.co.uk/statistics ... 11&hp2=550