Sat 18th Feb: SL: Hull Kingston Rovers v Wigan Warriors KO 13:00 (C4)

[SalfordSlim]

1 hour ago, Jughead said:

Powell’s ######, if he hadn’t come through there, he’d have been bombed years ago. 

O’Neill looks very handy and they need to give Smithies, the Partington treatment aka get shot because he’s a liability and will give away penalty after penalty. 

Partington was pretty decent for Salford last night so I'm more than happy they go shot. As long as he can channel his aggression I'll be happy.

I've never got the hype with Smithies. He's always been a dirty git and rarely have I seen him do anything that suggests he'll be any more than an average SL player.

Powell has always been bang average and mystifies me why a club as big as Wigan can't produce/buy a better 9.

Salford-HKR on Thursday could be a belter. 

 

[bobbruce]

1 hour ago, SalfordSlim said:

Partington was pretty decent for Salford last night so I'm more than happy they go shot. As long as he can channel his aggression I'll be happy.

I've never got the hype with Smithies. He's always been a dirty git and rarely have I seen him do anything that suggests he'll be any more than an average SL player.

Powell has always been bang average and mystifies me why a club as big as Wigan can't produce/buy a better 9.

Salford-HKR on Thursday could be a belter. 

 

I think you are right I think Salford have got the pick of the bunch with Partington. Very surprised when Wigan let him go. Has a bit of work to do on the  balance between aggression and control but most young forwards do. 

[DimmestStar]

Satisfied with that.

I thought Rovers were the better team for the most part and thoroughly deserving winners. Wigan did lose a number of away games last season too, I am aware of that.

One game they didn't lose was the opener at Craven Park against Tony Smith's Hull KR. Rovers were competitive that day but never looked like actually winning. I think today we saw an altogether better team in red and white especially defensively.

Jessie Sue, James Bachelor and Tom Opacic are massive improvements on the outgoing players but for me the MoM was a toss up between Coote and Kenny-Dowall. 

Another thing that was never apparent in 2022 was an element of luck. Rovers had the very worst goalkicking record last year but Coote kicked 2 magnificent goals from out wide whilst Wigan were unable to convert anything on the first half. It made a difference.

All the same Wigan didn't breach the Rovers defence other than off kicks

 

 

[Wigan Riversider]

1 hour ago, SalfordSlim said:

Partington was pretty decent for Salford last night so I'm more than happy they go shot. As long as he can channel his aggression I'll be happy.

I've never got the hype with Smithies. He's always been a dirty git and rarely have I seen him do anything that suggests he'll be any more than an average SL player.

Powell has always been bang average and mystifies me why a club as big as Wigan can't produce/buy a better 9.

Salford-HKR on Thursday could be a belter. 

 

Cannot add to the comments about Powell. 

[daz39]

On 14/02/2023 at 19:37, daz39 said:

Wigan by 2 or 3 scores, Rovers fans to start booing on the 7th minute and abusing the ref by 18.

Wrong team but my other predictions were close - 3rd and 16th.

Credit to Rovers they played very well, so well i heard only 1 boo in the 2nd half.

[WN83]

2 hours ago, SalfordSlim said:

Partington was pretty decent for Salford last night so I'm more than happy they go shot. As long as he can channel his aggression I'll be happy.

I've never got the hype with Smithies. He's always been a dirty git and rarely have I seen him do anything that suggests he'll be any more than an average SL player.

Powell has always been bang average and mystifies me why a club as big as Wigan can't produce/buy a better 9.

Salford-HKR on Thursday could be a belter. 

 

I’ve watched both since their academy days and like both but there’s absolutely no doubt Wigan have kept the better player. The one thing I will say is that Partington is ideally suited to playing long minutes at loose forward and he will now get that and I’m chuffed that’s the case. It was doing him no good picking up a few minutes here and there as a prop at our place. One game doesn’t change what I’ve watched for the past 5 or 6 years but when you produce your own players in good volume, you can’t keep them all.

 

In terms of the game today, fair play to HKR. They were much the better team and wanted it far more. We just weren’t at the races in most facets. It looked like we might run away with it after that spell of 3 try’s (but no conversations) in the first half but as soon as HKR levelled we didn’t get another sniff. HKR, along with Salford look like they’ll have good years. As long as we use today as a wake up call, I think we will as well. 

[Oxford]

Well done HKR.

[Harry Stottle]

16 hours ago, Jughead said:

Powell’s ######, if he hadn’t come through there, he’d have been bombed years ago. 

O’Neill looks very handy and they need to give Smithies, the Partington treatment aka get shot because he’s a liability and will give away penalty after penalty. 

I just don't get this "love in" that Smithies receives from many quarters, he came on the scene and threw himself about in defence for a few games and that seems to be all he has to offer his offence is non existent, considering one of his coaches is one of the better 13's that has played in SL and I should imagine works extensively with Morgan nothing seems to be rubbing off.

[Szymala]

17 hours ago, Jughead said:

Think they’ve gone under the radar a bit this year, KR. Their recruitment has looked very good and they’ve retained some key men. Wigan won’t be the first or last to struggle at KR this year.  

Hasn't the Show Me The Money agent tipped Robins for top 3 ? Certainly a much better start than a year ago against the same opposition.

[Jughead]

55 minutes ago, Szymala said:

Hasn't the Show Me The Money agent tipped Robins for top 3 ? Certainly a much better start than a year ago against the same opposition.

No idea. I don’t listen to him. 

[WN83]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

I just don't get this "love in" that Smithies receives from many quarters, he came on the scene and threw himself about in defence for a few games and that seems to be all he has to offer his offence is non existent, considering one of his coaches is one of the better 13's that has played in SL and I should imagine works extensively with Morgan nothing seems to be rubbing off.

One of his coaches used to get this sort of tripe thrown at him as well when he was 21/22. They different styles of 13’s, so in terms of ‘nothing rubbing off’ you’ll be disappointed if you’re expecting 20 metre cut out balls. 
 

Smithies is a fabulous young player. He was fantastic for us last year and we’re lucky to have him. 

[Harry Stottle]

14 minutes ago, WN83 said:

One of his coaches used to get this sort of tripe thrown at him as well when he was 21/22. They different styles of 13’s, so in terms of ‘nothing rubbing off’ you’ll be disappointed if you’re expecting 20 metre cut out balls. 
 

Smithies is a fabulous young player. He was fantastic for us last year and we’re lucky to have him. 

All about opinions '83, but you are paying to watch him I'm not so I will leave it that, but still to be convinced.

Edited February 19, 2023 by Harry Stottle

[WN83]

Just now, Harry Stottle said:

All about opinions '83, but you are paying to watch him I'm not so I will leave it that.

I think that’s probably right. I’ll be the first to admit, it isn’t flashy what he does and maybe you do need to watch him every week. He is so important to us, very much in the way Knowles is important to Saints. 

[EagleEyePie]

59 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I think that’s probably right. I’ll be the first to admit, it isn’t flashy what he does and maybe you do need to watch him every week. He is so important to us, very much in the way Knowles is important to Saints. 

I'm amazed anyone is suggesting Partington is better than Smithies having watched both of them for years. Though perhaps it's because one still plays for Wigan and the other no longer does.

Smithies was one of our best players last year. He was strong going forward which Partington was really weak at, his defence was probably up there with the best in the league (best tackle success % in SL for forwards who played more than 4 games). He was in that Bateman mould of a few years ago where even if the team was playing badly he'd be noticeably putting the effort in and getting himself about the field. Both Smithies and Partington are liable to do stupid things but Smithies conceded surprisingly few penalties last year too. It's that tendency to do something massively stupid every so often which is his biggest drawback because he wasn't among our worst offenders in conceding penalties. Still a bit to work on in terms of handling and offloading ability but he showed a bit more of that when playing in the academy so he's got the ability but just needs to bring it into his game at Super League level.

Partington does have some good handling skills though but his lack of impact going forward meant Smithies was always going to be more effective than him whether at 13 or as a prop. Smithies also much more consistent in defence too, as mentioned he had the best tackle success of any regular forward in Super League at 98% whereas Partington's was 2nd lowest among Wigan's forwards last year. I reckon Partington will be a late bloomer though and he'll do well for the increased game time he'll get at Salford. He's not a bad player, just couldn't outperform Smithies at any point and they pretty much had the same role for the team.

[dkw]

Smithies needs to get back to playing and stop with the messing around that suddenly appeared in his game under Lam.

[FearTheVee]

Smithies has lots of improvement in him.  People shouldn’t expect a line breaking back row but I think he absolutely has the potential to be a very very good 13 in the Morgan Knowles mould.

I also agree he has some nonsense in his game he would benefit from sorting out but the same is often true of lots of young Wigan forwards for some reason. They often want to spend too long proving how tough they are. 

[Superb Chops]

56 minutes ago, FearTheVee said:

Smithies has lots of improvement in him.  People shouldn’t expect a line breaking back row but I think he absolutely has the potential to be a very very good 13 in the Morgan Knowles mould.

I also agree he has some nonsense in his game he would benefit from sorting out but the same is often true of lots of young Wigan forwards for some reason. They often want to spend too long proving how tough they are. 

Agree with this from FearTheVee.

To add... suspect the reason for the regular nonsense is when the Wigan forwards collectively know they cannot overcome the opposition forwards that day. As needless penalties have happened far too often for too long, I fear it suggests a lack of nous and too much self-regard that hasn't been earned. 

Regards KR, I was impressed by them being significantly the better team, plus the visit itself. An August date next season would, however, be preferable to another season opener. 

[WN83]

1 hour ago, dkw said:

Smithies needs to get back to playing and stop with the messing around that suddenly appeared in his game under Lam.

He did last year and was excellent. He made a daft challenge in the cup final but besides that he was clean as a whistle. 
 

He gave away 4 penalties in the whole of 2022 and had zero yellow or red cards. You’d think he was James Bentley the way people go on. Bentley had 1 red and 3 yellow cards and gave away 23 penalties by the way. 

Edited February 19, 2023 by WN83

[WN83]

2 hours ago, EagleEyePie said:

I'm amazed anyone is suggesting Partington is better than Smithies having watched both of them for years. Though perhaps it's because one still plays for Wigan and the other no longer does.

Smithies was one of our best players last year. He was strong going forward which Partington was really weak at, his defence was probably up there with the best in the league (best tackle success % in SL for forwards who played more than 4 games). He was in that Bateman mould of a few years ago where even if the team was playing badly he'd be noticeably putting the effort in and getting himself about the field. Both Smithies and Partington are liable to do stupid things but Smithies conceded surprisingly few penalties last year too. It's that tendency to do something massively stupid every so often which is his biggest drawback because he wasn't among our worst offenders in conceding penalties. Still a bit to work on in terms of handling and offloading ability but he showed a bit more of that when playing in the academy so he's got the ability but just needs to bring it into his game at Super League level.

Partington does have some good handling skills though but his lack of impact going forward meant Smithies was always going to be more effective than him whether at 13 or as a prop. Smithies also much more consistent in defence too, as mentioned he had the best tackle success of any regular forward in Super League at 98% whereas Partington's was 2nd lowest among Wigan's forwards last year. I reckon Partington will be a late bloomer though and he'll do well for the increased game time he'll get at Salford. He's not a bad player, just couldn't outperform Smithies at any point and they pretty much had the same role for the team.

I really like Partington and I’m happy he will now play in his rightful position at loose forward and do the big minutes he needs to do to prove his worth. Everyone at Wigan knows he’s not as good a player as Smithies though and that’s why he’s at Salford. 
 

Funny thing is Partington was getting called out for the niggle last year and before, much in the same way Smithies is now but he’ll avoid that now. I wonder why? 

[dkw]

53 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I really like Partington and I’m happy he will now play in his rightful position at loose forward and do the big minutes he needs to do to prove his worth. Everyone at Wigan knows he’s not as good a player as Smithies though and that’s why he’s at Salford. 
 

Funny thing is Partington was getting called out for the niggle last year and before, much in the same way Smithies is now but he’ll avoid that now. I wonder why? 

Amazing, you can see into the future, must be the tinfoil hat you're wearing.

[WN83]

28 minutes ago, dkw said:

Amazing, you can see into the future, must be the tinfoil hat you're wearing.

Noticed you didn’t respond to my comment about Smithies 4 penalties, 0 yellow cards and 0 red cards in the whole of 2022, after you called for him to stop messing about in games. 

I don’t need to see the future, it’s all too predictable. 
 

 

 

[Tippytoe]

6 hours ago, FearTheVee said:

Smithies has lots of improvement in him.  People shouldn’t expect a line breaking back row but I think he absolutely has the potential to be a very very good 13 in the Morgan Knowles mould.

I also agree he has some nonsense in his game he would benefit from sorting out but the same is often true of lots of young Wigan forwards for some reason. They often want to spend too long proving how tough they are. 

Bateman, Knowles,Smithies,Bentley and the likes all have what you can't coach a bit of nasty if channelled the right way is an asset. 

[Liverpool Rover]

Rovers teams in the past few years might have folded after that last Wigan try, so to be resilient and get that last try to put Wigan away was pleasing. There is definitely an improvement in the forwards from last year and to me there seemed to be more aggression in defence.

[ATLANTISMAN]

Great day at Rovers fantastic atmosphere at all 3 matches we went to overall i would say that Rovers topped it with Leigh and Wolves a close tied second:)

Paul

[Hull Kingston Bronco]

3 hours ago, Liverpool Rover said:

Rovers teams in the past few years might have folded after that last Wigan try, so to be resilient and get that last try to put Wigan away was pleasing. There is definitely an improvement in the forwards from last year and to me there seemed to be more aggression in defence.

Yes I'd back this up, more grit in there it seems. Think we've a much stronger middle than previous years, enables us to stand up in the sticky moments, plus people forget we didn't have Coote or Abdul in that many games last year and their sort of calm intelligent leadership in terms of attacking and defensive decision-making is needed in tighter games.

Peters seems to be aiming for a better balance between structure and rigour, and risk-taking. Think we saw that in some people saying Mikey Lewis had a quieter game - I think that was  a question of strategy rather than him having an off day.