Easy to forget Welsby is still only 22; still plenty of development in his game and he knows that. Given Wigan fans saw the rise of Tomkins (the talented one not the other two) I’d have thought Wigan fans would have understood that maverick and smart arris are the different sides of the same coin, depending on the colour of your shirt. Like him or loath him his time is now; he’s top of the try assist charts, becoming ever increasingly senior in the Saints squad and his personal highlights reel is basically complete already, scoring down under in the WCC, at Wembley and the match winner in the 2020 GF.

Obviously being in the hunt for a historic quadruple makes next week huge for us, but it’s the trophy of least concern for me. Given how congested the league is at the moment I don’t think the usual “just get top two; get the home semi and plan from there” is going to work; it’s going to take a run of performances and most likely finish top. We have both an advantage and a hinderance at the moment with the game in hand. If us being knocked out the cup gets the game arranged as not a midweek dirge, then that’s a small silver cloud.

We won the GF last year with long term injuries to Grace, Dodd and Walmsley. The year before it was Fages and Bentley. If we lose Lomax, of course it’s a blow, but we adjust every year, and it’s far more about combinations of injuries which become a concern. Last year ahead of the CC semi we lost Hopoate, Bennison, Dodd and Lomax’s left arm all in rapid succession. The spine was our weakest depth already and we ended up with Davies in the halves and having to hide Lomax at fullback so he avoided contact on his arm. Still took a poor individual performance from a kid on the wing and a rogue one armed pass from Lomax for us to lose that day. Fast forward and we beat Warrington with basically our first choice pack and backline missing. Attitude is everything at Saints this year and we should be confident if Wellens gets that right (that I am less convinced on…) irrespective of who is or isn’t on the field

Knowles is more of an immediate concern as there is an option on Lees for next year. Ideally both will sign again but couldn't begrudge either of them an NRL move. We've 18 players off contract in the next 12 months, and up to 5 quota spots to play with. Of those there's only four I'd definitely want to keep and another 5 who should definitely be let go, so we should be salary competitive with recruitment and retention right now.

[quote="SFW":2hy1wqo0]Knowles is more of an immediate concern as there is an option on Lees for next year. Ideally both will sign again but couldn't begrudge either of them an NRL move. We've 18 players off contract in the next 12 months, and up to 5 quota spots to play with. Of those there's only four I'd definitely want to keep and another 5 who should definitely be let go, so we should be salary competitive with recruitment and retention right now.[/quote:2hy1wqo0] There is a guy ITK on the other Wigan forum, who is very well connected, and he is saying that Knowles to Dolphins and Lees to Wire are done deals.

[quote="SFW":3rf0gwz5]Knowles is more of an immediate concern as there is an option on Lees for next year. Ideally both will sign again but couldn't begrudge either of them an NRL move. We've 18 players off contract in the next 12 months, and up to 5 quota spots to play with. Of those there's only four I'd definitely want to keep and another 5 who should definitely be let go, so we should be salary competitive with recruitment and retention right now.[/quote:3rf0gwz5] Jeez that a lot of players. Possibly looking at a further rebuild. What’s McManus said on all this, has he lost interest?

[quote="Zig":cyzw6dh3]There is a guy ITK on the other Wigan forum, who is very well connected, and he is saying that Knowles to Dolphins and Lees to Wire are done deals.[/quote:cyzw6dh3] The guy from fir tree farm?

[quote="[Gareth]":3nv2a2ae]The guy from fir tree farm?[/quote:3nv2a2ae] Yes.