The Pat Richards signing is a damn good one

M

MacDougall

New member
In England Pat Richards is a former Man of Steel. Wigan fans are lamenting his loss more than that of Sam Tomkins, seriously. He's the best goal kicker in the world and on the regular puts drop outs 60 on the fly (sometimes more). He is a very big winger, is still pretty quick and gun under the high ball. He was awesome when he was here too and is the try scorer of the most important try in the club's history. If he stayed here I am quite certain he would have ended up playing for NSW and Australia.

I know people are quick to point out that the ESL is incomparable to the NRL and that even though he was dominant there he won't be as effective here, and they say it as though that means he's a useless bargain bin signing. There have only been two England signings in recent memory I can think of that weren't great and they're Mark Flanagan (who still managed 27 games in two seasons with us) and Scott Moore. Neither were stars in England. Every other player I can think of off the top of my head who has come here from the ESL has been as good or even better in the NRL than they were in the ESL and they were rated there. Gareth Ellis, James Graham, 4 Burgi, Jamie Lyon, Thomas Leuleuai off top of head.

When players are stars in England it historically translates to the NRL and Pat Richards has been one of the best in the ESL for years. He'll star here for mine.

Read some fans opinion http://www.wiganwarriorsfans.com/wigan/?s=Viewtopic.1&o=876015
 
ha ha… i like your plural of burgess: burgi!

i wasnt all that keen on richards being signed either until i watched bonstonkers great highlights video of him. now i am hyped!
 
I think he will be very good, but not a superstar. If only we'd got him a few years ago or he was a few years younger (preferably the latter)

Key is keeping him fit, I'm not an expert but I'd say he shouldn't play the 9s tournament and only 1 trial match.
 
Will give us a good balance in the backline. Nofa and Simona are our x-factors, but you need quality reliable finishers to compliment them
 
My only concern is we have Lawrence, simona, koriobiti, and Richards all who play on the left side. Nofa is a right side player, so who do we shift to play over there? Maybe Lawrence?

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
 
I think he will offer a lot of good experience to the younger backs. It's a damn shame he spent so much of his career in England. Could have been a star of the NRL.

ps I think you're selling Mark Flanagan short. Imo he was very underrated.
 
@fainty said:
My only concern is we have Lawrence, simona, koriobiti, and Richards all who play on the left side. Nofa is a right side player, so who do we shift to play over there? Maybe Lawrence?

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
Click to expand...

Simona is going to be out injured for half the season. Which side does Lulia play? IMO if you don't think Lulia will be in the starting side next year you are kidding yourself Potter coached him at Bradford and wouldn't of just bought him for depth.Also Re: Richards being a good buy, I think he will be one of the buys of the season,He has so much experience so he can give the youngsters some much needed guidance and is a Great goal kicker (IMO he is one of the best if not the best Goal kicker in Super League he has scored 899 goals in Super League.(I couldn't find he's career Goal kicking percentage but i bet it would be in the 80's) And he knows how to get across the try line as well (he has scored 167 tries in 8 years and scored 16 tries and 6 try assists this year).
 
It's often a case of "out of sight, out of mind". Most of us don't watch ESL regularly and tend to think that people doing well there are just playing in a league of mugs.

Certainly many UK halves fail to produce consistent excellence outside of the ESL - e.g. Danny McGuire, Sean Long, Rangi Chase, Chris Thorman. But for forwards and backs is can be a totally different story; some of their best are indeed world elite.
 
@MacDougall said:
In England Pat Richards is a former Man of Steel. Wigan fans are lamenting his loss more than that of Sam Tomkins, seriously. He's the best goal kicker in the world and on the regular puts drop outs 60 on the fly (sometimes more). He is a very big winger, is still pretty quick and gun under the high ball. He was awesome when he was here too and is the try scorer of the most important try in the club's history. If he stayed here I am quite certain he would have ended up playing for NSW and Australia.

I know people are quick to point out that the ESL is incomparable to the NRL and that even though he was dominant there he won't be as effective here, and they say it as though that means he's a useless bargain bin signing. There have only been two England signings in recent memory I can think of that weren't great and they're Mark Flanagan (who still managed 27 games in two seasons with us) and Scott Moore. Neither were stars in England. **Every other player I can think of off the top of my head who has come here from the ESL has been as good or even better in the NRL than they were in the ESL** and they were rated there. Gareth Ellis, James Graham, 4 Burgi, Jamie Lyon, Thomas Leuleuai off top of head.

When players are stars in England it historically translates to the NRL and Pat Richards has been one of the best in the ESL for years. He'll star here for mine.

Read some fans opinion http://www.wiganwarriorsfans.com/wigan/?s=Viewtopic.1&o=876015
Click to expand...

Jason Cayless was a massive dud for us when he came back to the NRL.
 
He will solve the goal kicking problem give some much needed experience in the backs
Looks like he may end up in the centres -looking forward to have Nofo and Koribete on the flanks with a fully fit Teddy at the back
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Total: 438 (members: 13, guests: 425)
Back
Top