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30 minutes ago, Balmainboy said:

Tigers fan. Hastings is a very good halfback - England would be mad to not pick him. Gildart is very clearly out of his depth at NRL. Poor decision making in defence, too small and not great at putting his winger away.  

If your putting Gildart on the scrap heap after todays game,there’s about 9 or 10 others you should be looking at.

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I think if we are being totally honest, Gildart has an uphill battle on his hands to shine in the NRL.

For a start, there are some absolutely superb centres in the league and (perhaps even more relevant) there are some monster edge forwards.  He will face quality every week and the one thing he cannot change is his size and he is clearly one of the smallest centres in the NRL.

But, no-one in the UK game expected him to tear it up.  His strength is in his footwork and he has shown examples of being able to beat his opposition.  If this bags him a try or two and his confidence goes up then he may have a good run.

Will I bet on him being a roaring success? No.  But I think it is too early to say he is out of his depth.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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52 minutes ago, Balmainboy said:

Tigers fan. Hastings is a very good halfback - England would be mad to not pick him. Gildart is very clearly out of his depth at NRL. Poor decision making in defence, too small and not great at putting his winger away.  

To be fair - Gildart wasn't a top player in SL - most over here were amazed he got a NRL contract and Wigan certainly were not in tears at losing him.

Horses for course though - John Bateman has been out of his depth in SL since returning from the NRL...

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1 hour ago, Balmainboy said:

Tigers fan. Hastings is a very good halfback - England would be mad to not pick him. Gildart is very clearly out of his depth at NRL. Poor decision making in defence, too small and not great at putting his winger away.  

Many on here said that when the news of him signing for West's was announced. I see nothing in Gildarts game that makes him a decent centre in the NRL. His last couple of years at Wigan were poor too.

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Elliott Whitehead and Dominic Young named in their respective teams this week.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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On 01/05/2022 at 19:14, Balmainboy said:

Tigers fan. Hastings is a very good halfback - England would be mad to not pick him. Gildart is very clearly out of his depth at NRL. Poor decision making in defence, too small and not great at putting his winger away.  

I agree about Hastings . Gildart to me is a marker to the WC for Wane … you need to pick size and physicality because you’ll be meeting size and physicality at centre and on the edge . 

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On 03/05/2022 at 10:42, DavidM said:

I agree about Hastings . Gildart to me is a marker to the WC for Wane … you need to pick size and physicality because you’ll be meeting size and physicality at centre and on the edge . 

Exactly right. Here are the profiles Herbie Farnworth and Oliver Gildart.

Farnworth: 6 feet 2 and 16 stone 10 lbs

Gildart: 5 feet 11 and 13 stone 8 lbs

If Gildart were faster or more skilful then there may be additional factors but Farnworth is one of the fastest players in the NRL. 

(Edited to update Gildart as 5' 11" not 5' 9")

Edited by Dunbar
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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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15 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Exactly right. Here are the profiles Herbie Farnworth and Oliver Gildart.

Farnworth: 6 feet 2 and 16 stone 10 lbs

Gildart: 5 feet 9 and 13 stone 8 lbs

If Gildart were faster or more skilful then there may be additional factors but Farnworth is one of the fastest players in the NRL. 

Gildart's official profile on the NRL website says he's 6 feet but even so, I agree he is too small. Farnworth is one of if not the heaviest out-and-out centres in the NRL and Gildart is probably the lightest and isn't exactly tearing it up so don't see how without Wigan bias he gets into the squad.

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17 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Exactly right. Here are the profiles Herbie Farnworth and Oliver Gildart.

Farnworth: 6 feet 2 and 16 stone 10 lbs

Gildart: 5 feet 9 and 13 stone 8 lbs

If Gildart were faster or more skilful then there may be additional factors but Farnworth is one of the fastest players in the NRL. 

Gildart is a lot bigger than 5’ 9 but yeah he’s far from being big by NRL standards,but they all aren’t hulking monsters.

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16 minutes ago, MatthewLoftus said:

Gildart's official profile on the NRL website says he's 6 feet but even so, I agree he is too small. Farnworth is one of if not the heaviest out-and-out centres in the NRL and Gildart is probably the lightest and isn't exactly tearing it up so don't see how without Wigan bias he gets into the squad.

There are 2 major reasons he might make the England squad & they have nowt to do with any Wigan bias,there called Lyne & Sarginson.

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Yes, Gildart is listed as 181 cm on his NRL profile.  That is 5' 11" according to a web calculator. 

"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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As others have said, Gildart was useless the last 2 years he was at WIgan, He was very good in the last decade though, and would still be a good SL player on his day. Like Farrell, though, you can’t put in what God left out and he will never be big enough. 

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26 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

As others have said, Gildart was useless the last 2 years he was at WIgan, He was very good in the last decade though, and would still be a good SL player on his day. Like Farrell, though, you can’t put in what God left out and he will never be big enough. 

If Bateman can get voted NRL 2nd rower of the year,I’m pretty sure Farrell would have been successful down  there.

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2 hours ago, Davo5 said:

If Bateman can get voted NRL 2nd rower of the year,I’m pretty sure Farrell would have been successful down  there.

Correct. Size is just one contributory factor to success and not the fundamental determinant. If you have other assets, then you can still succeed/thrive. Cameron Murray tears it up week after week

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Gildart didn't do much wrong against the dragons but  Zak Lomax easily had the measure of him - Hastings did more in that game than George Williams has done all season at wire 

see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

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7 hours ago, Davo5 said:

If Bateman can get voted NRL 2nd rower of the year,I’m pretty sure Farrell would have been successful down  there.

Farrell has consistently amazed me.  I have said time and again he isn’t big enough but time and again he plays better than bigger men.  Everything he does is full of quality. 

I still have reservations about his size an international level but I am sure he would play well for England.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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35 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Farrell has consistently amazed me.  I have said time and again he isn’t big enough but time and again he plays better than bigger men.  Everything he does is full of quality. 

I still have reservations about his size an international level but I am sure he would play well for England.

thing with this years  wc - if it goes ahead this time - there will be monsters on show from many countries that we have never seen the like of - while international rl has been sleeping the monsters have been mutating 

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see you later undertaker - in a while necrophile 

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12 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

thing with this years  wc - if it goes ahead this time - there will be monsters on show from many countries that we have never seen the like of - while international rl has been sleeping the monsters have been mutating 

You're not wrong - Tonga and Somoa will be 6'3 and 17st across the whole pitch. Recent years in the NRL are showing me that '13 big ones' beat...well anything! 

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12 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

thing with this years  wc - if it goes ahead this time - there will be monsters on show from many countries that we have never seen the like of - while international rl has been sleeping the monsters have been mutating 

It’s a fact , the physical attributes now are incredible . I can’t wait personally . This WC is shaping up to be the best 

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23 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

You're not wrong - Tonga and Somoa will be 6'3 and 17st across the whole pitch. Recent years in the NRL are showing me that '13 big ones' beat...well anything! 

While I agree that size and athleticism is a huge factor in modern Rugby League (and the last time I put an England 13 I went with exactly that) it is not all you need.  You still need game management and creativity, especially in the spine.  Just look at the Dally M leaderboard after round 8 and you can see the match winners... all but one in the spine (Siosifa Talakai the exception) and almost all of them creative players.

15 points — Ryan Papenhuyzen (Storm)

13 points — Ben Hunt (Dragons), Isaah Yeo (Panthers)

12 points — Mitchell Moses (Eels)

10 points — Nicho Hynes (Sharks), Daly Cherry-Evans (Sea Eagles)

9 points — Dylan Edwards (Panthers), Siosifa Talakai (Sharks), Jahrome Hughes (Storm), Sam Walker (Roosters)

8 points — Nathan Cleary (Panthers), Scott Drinkwater (Cowboys)

7 points — Damien Cook (Rabbitohs), James Tedesco (Roosters), Cameron Munster (Storm)

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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13 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Farrell has consistently amazed me.  I have said time and again he isn’t big enough but time and again he plays better than bigger men.  Everything he does is full of quality. 

I still have reservations about his size an international level but I am sure he would play well for England.

Farrell uses what he's got to good effect and his main asset is his line running. He runs great lines between defenders and offers a good option for his ball players. Where he often struggles though is helping his team out when they need to make yards up the middle, he's not very effective at that, which puts more pressure on a teams front rowers to make up those yards. He also struggles when faced with a team who have a big centre & 2nd row partnership down that side. I'm not saying he's a bad defender but his lack of size often leaves him struggling to shut down plays in a 1 on 1 situation which put more pressure on the guys defending outside of him.

I know Bateman isn't much bigger but his aggression in the tackle makes him a more effective defender and is one reason why he was a good player in the NRL and why I don't think Farrell would have ever made it over there.

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20 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

Farrell uses what he's got to good effect and his main asset is his line running. He runs great lines between defenders and offers a good option for his ball players. Where he often struggles though is helping his team out when they need to make yards up the middle, he's not very effective at that, which puts more pressure on a teams front rowers to make up those yards. He also struggles when faced with a team who have a big centre & 2nd row partnership down that side. I'm not saying he's a bad defender but his lack of size often leaves him struggling to shut down plays in a 1 on 1 situation which put more pressure on the guys defending outside of him.

I know Bateman isn't much bigger but his aggression in the tackle makes him a more effective defender and is one reason why he was a good player in the NRL and why I don't think Farrell would have ever made it over there.

I think that's a pretty fair assessment.  Farrell has been top quality for many years but if he were lining up againt a second row/centre combination of Haumole Olakau'atu and Kotoni Staggs or David Fifita and Latrell Mitchell (for example) I would worry about his size.

But against those combinations I would worry about most players.

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"The history of the world is the history of the triumph of the heartless over the mindless." — Sir Humphrey Appleby.

"If someone doesn't value evidence, what evidence are you going to provide to prove that they should value it? If someone doesn't value logic, what logical argument could you provide to show the importance of logic?" — Sam Harris

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Farrell and Bateman are identical in build and size, both are 6ft and 96kg. Its weird to argue one is big enough for international RL but the other isn't. I have doubts about Farrell's size too at international level but then I have consistently expressed doubts about Bateman's size and his effectiveness at that level too.

I've watched both for a long time and there is no doubt in my mind that Farrell is a better player than Bateman and he certainly has been since Bateman came back to Wigan.

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2 hours ago, Damien said:

Farrell and Bateman are identical in build and size, both are 6ft and 96kg. Its weird to argue one is big enough for international RL but the other isn't. I have doubts about Farrell's size too at international level but then I have consistently expressed doubts about Bateman's size and his effectiveness at that level too.

I've watched both for a long time and there is no doubt in my mind that Farrell is a better player than Bateman and he certainly has been since Bateman came back to Wigan.

Farrell has always been a top top player.

Still don't understand the Bateman love - just because the Aussies think he's the best 2nd rower in the world doesn't mean he is - Bateman just can't dominate SL like he did in the NRL and Farrell has always and still is a far better player than Bateman.

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