I think we have to give him a fair crack of the whip.
A good friend contacted me after Saturdays game, saying Bowen's going to get some stick (scapegoat) . He then reminded me of how a lot of Wigan fans were on the back of Gene Miles in his first couple of months at Wigan.

He didn't turn out too bad did he?

It's too easy to scapegoat individuals.
From what I saw there were a few players who made individual mistakes that cost us and some great efforts that saved us.
IMO they would have beaten us without the mistakes, we aren't working as a champion team yet and lacked a bit composure, too many changes to the line up.
Both Huddersfield and the Roosters have settled sides and FWIW it showed.
Hopefully we will sort it out as the season goes on.

I thinlk that the definition of a scapegoat in this context would be - blaming someone for the defeat. If you read the posts carefully, no-one is seriously blaming Bowen for the defeat, certainly not me.

However what people are questioning are two things; firstly - Bowen's attitude, and secondly - Bowen's performance. The first is hard to judge, but he certainly looks disinterested. The second is, in my view, taken in the context of his pedigree. We were led to believe that he is world class. Now people are offering all sorts of excuses and that is fine, it's good that people are not writing him off and are showing support.

But with a world class player in our ranks we may have beaten Huddersfield and pushed the Roosters a lot closer. Ryan Hoffman didn't need time to settle in, he played consistently well right through his one year contract and gave everything, always giving the impression he was glad to be here.

Interestingly, Mr Hoffman has commented negatively on Twitter about the criticism that Bowen is getting.

Of course he has, he's a fellow pro.

Anyone who has ever seen Bowen play in the NRL as recently as last season must know what a talent he is. However, this is possibly what is causing some of the consternation. He is clearly struggling whereas young Sarginson has slotted in immediately, giving lie to talk of how long it takes to get used to new systems, etc. It's frustrating but I hope he comes good soon. There are many examples of fine players who just don't end up delivering the goods. I seriously hope Bowen isn't one of them.

Sarginson is starting to annoy me.

He needs to go and watch videos of what made George Carmont the best centre we have had in living memory, ie the ability to hit the line, draw a defender and choose when to make the pass.

Looks to have pace to burn, but also greedy and looks like someone trying too hard.

Give Bateman a crack at centre

Are you serious with this? Sarginson has been one of our better players over the last few weeks.

On top of that you would think people would remember the Joel Tomkins and Jack Hughes experiments at centre. Defo time that we left our 2nd rows in the 2nd row!

Some people just don't have a clue

This depends how old you are! I'm 43 and remember Gary Connolly, Gene Miles, Kevin Iro, Dean Bell, Va'iga Tuigamala to name just a few better centres than George Carmont. George was awesome and I was a great fan of his but certainly not the best centre in living memory for me.
Sarginson is doing well but I agree his decision making could be better but that'll come as he settles into the team. Leave him there and watch him grow! Bateman is gonna be a world class 2nd row and we should leave him there!

WHAT?????

help ma boab.

I suppose it does depend on how long you've lived!!!

(Dean Bell for me FWIW)

Thought Sarginson did well on Sat. Made a few breaks and, although he didnt get his winger away too many times, if he had of passed them Burgess wold have been bungled into touch each time so i thought he was quite smart in cutting back inside

Certainly showed a turn of pace to chase down Jennings

Agree with this. It's far too early to be criticising a promising youngster. I thought he did well and certainly didn't let the side down, and for me is an improvement on Thornley and Gelling. I do like Gelling, especially his enthusiasm, and would be happy to see him play at 3 if Goulding is injured on Sunday.

Sarginson has looked decent so far. There was one occasion on Sat when he had an overlap and chose not to pass, which was frustrating, but he looks to have loads of potential. Was really disappointed by the kicking of Smith and Green though. We need someone we can rely on for goal kicking too...