Is it me or do we rarely ever throw dummies these days? I watch old Wigan videos from the era of John Monie and the thing that stood out was the dummies thrown and dummy runners. What happened?

You're right - probably the last Wigan player to throw a decent dummy was Blake Green. Easy, low risk and effective and we don't use it. I was hoping Adrian Lam would bring far more variety to our attacking game but instead we seem to have restricted it further. Pretty much our sole attacking play currently is a flat ball to a second rower.

Good thread but modern day coaching tends to nullify most dummies, only tends to work nowadays when its 2 on 3 or 1 on 2 and the defender has a late decision to make.

But surely a dummy is a dummy be it a simple dummy pass or dummy runner? The idea is to trick the defence into being in two minds for that split second? Surely no amount of coaching can stop a players natural instinct to think twice?

The last dummy Green threw, he scored a try in the GF.

I watched a few old matches of Lam and to be honest, im not sure he was the player we like to remember. In one game i watched he was very poor and the others his main strength was his kicking game, breaking the line and back up play. He certainly didnt stand out as a creative 7 as per Andy Gregory that could throw miracle passes or put players through holes. Not saying Lam was a bad player, just that he didnt play the game as we are hoping for him to coach it.

Don’t think it’s just Wigan that don’t utilise the dummy, I don’t see it used a lot these days, the step is much more utilised way of trying to break the line. Pretty sure there will be a reason for this and stats will probably tell it isn’t successful.

You need option runners to throw a dummy, and just like the last few years under Wane we don’t have any.

No player is going to buy a dummy if there is nobody there to actually pass to.

If you watch the NRL halves throw loads of dummies as they have bodies in motion around them. Thrusting always threw dummies due to the fact the test of his team ran option lines.

No such thing as a dummy runner in rugby league. All players have to run options and it’s the ball players responsiblity to hit the right runner. We simply have 1 or 0 option runners so no point throwing a dummy as it won’t be bought.

Edwards will bring back the dummy

Perhaps IL will bring in a dummy and tell you all it's Edwards!

The game has changed a lot since Andy Gregory’s days. Defences are far more organised and teams attack with much more structure. Maguire brought in ‘block’ plays and lead runners which is where we have 2 lines of attack and the passer has to make a decision to make a flat pass or go out to the 2nd line of attack out of the back. It worked phenomenally well in Madges era but now all clubs do it.
It’s funny seeing this thread, Williams was hammered on here not long back for stepping and dummying too often!

I think a few dummies may be spat out after tomorrow’s result

Lam was the best 7 since Edwards and has been since at Wigan easily. He was all class.