He should be safe Roberts & Pryce will still be here.

I thought he was MOM by a country mile last night and from the first day he came he has always shown enthusiasm and commitment - well done that man!

I never thought Phelps would play this year - unless covering in the back line should we get injuries. Now ATM he would be my first name on the teamsheet. His positional play is excellent, as is his defence and he offers 10x more in attack than Pat ever did at FB. I think he deserves more than a 1 year deal. An absolutely amazing turnaround for the young man. Keep it up Phelps son!

10x the player mathers was, Mathers was nowhere in defence last night, and that high ball he missed, at least he's learnt to stay far enough away from it so it can bounce out of play.

The way Phelps comes up into the line is one of the best parts of wellens game in particular, which is one reason why he has become such a success there.

The more i watch him play the more i think he can be our fullback for the next 5+ years.

Get him signed up for another three years plus Flanagan.

Not up to us at all, can't wait for 2 years time when people add his name to the Wild, Robinson, Tickle thread. He wants to go to aus, and he's out of contract, and who would stand in his way even if he was under contract.

We'll get it from all angles when the Flanagan to OZ move is made official.

Nothing Wigan could do by the sounds of it.

To be honest i'd probably be annoyed with the club if they stood in his way to go down under even if he was under contract.

It's an opportunity to go and try and play in the best league in the world, where the game is of a much higher profile than over here, and where he's living in Aus not Wigan FFS!

The one thing wigan can do is ensure that if he comes back to super league we will be his first port of call. That's the only possible thing we can do by he sounds of things, but as someone else has said, for the lads sake i hope he never comes back. I hope he manages to make it big and has no need to come back here ever in his career.

You can't blame the lad in the slightest. I would imagine any move has been in the pipeline for a while and he wasn't getting a game here.

As a 21 year old lad he must be excited beyind belief about going to live and play down under.

Good on him.

I understand what you mean tbh when you say you hope he never comes back, because that would me he has made it and is good enough to play among the best in the world. And if thats the case then he will no doubt end up as a future GB/ England player on that basis the same way Morley did

Hes not that good. Ok, hes a totally different player to the one who couldnt get a game in the first team, but there are plenty of better fullbacks in SL

Mathers for one

Phelps or Mathers?

No contest.

Phelps has been excellent since settling into the fullback position.

Good luck to Flanagan. After being largely ignored by the Wigan club I have no real expectation of him coming back here, why should he?

Yet another reason to SACK NOBLE.

What I like about Phelps is that he links up very well when in attacking position and creates the overlap on either side which is why we have seen both wingers and centres score alot of tries since he's settled in at fullback. Very similar to what Webb does for Leeds, still has plenty of things to work on in positioning but I'll be very happy with him as fullback for the next few years if he continues to show the same form.

You are joking? It was Noble who brought Flanagan with him in the first place from Bradford. Flanagan is still only 21, and watching him last year in the reserves he didn't seem quite ready for SL just yet, this year completely different. Noble has done everything correct with Flanagan.

Mathers one on one tackling last night was as bad as it's ever been.

He looks to be more confident then he was in his time here but thats a part of his game that'll never be fixed up.

The Wire fans talk about the deal they got being unbelievable because of how poorly they think Gleesons been for us but in truth Gleeson has been solid and is improving whilst we've also found an out and out fullback in Phelps who is a better player then Mathers.

Everyones happy.

You cant say that, Noble doesnt know how to deal with youngsters.

It just shows that some of the posters on this message board dont know their backside from their elbow.

Flannigan would not even be at Wigan only for Noble!

He has, should he continue to develop, he will rightly be here for many years.

Phelps-looks good in attack, couldn't catch his dick in his fly.

Not safe under a high ball.

IMO something he needs to work on, but who better to work on it with his than Rads.

Agreed. But look at the state of this thread. It's always a case of extremes, either a player is terrible etc or he's outstanding, there's no middle ground.

Phelps is doing well in attack but not proven as a FB, a good half will kick him all over the park.

Some middle ground is needed on this one.

It is true he does look shaky under the high bomb BUT do you remember Kris Radlinski when he first started playing fullback? He couldnt even get near a high ball yet he made himself one of the safest catchers of the bomb ever to play RL.

It's the one thing he needs to work on but it's not been a major issue so far for us.

I think you could count his dropped high balls on one hand since he's moved to fullback which is no more then a guy that most people reagrd as superleagues best in Brent Webb.