Which particular ones do you recall?
Didn't Sarginson replace Mead at the Titans?

His Grand Final wasn’t just one kick to the corner though was it? He was sensational that night in all aspects of his play.

Let’s not judge him on one good game though. He has some limitations of course but he also has a lot of strengths. I can’t think off too many realistic options who we could bring in that could cover fullback, wing, centre and stand off as well as Sarginson could.

Does he fill me with excitement as a first choice centre? Probably not but as a utility option, I think it’s a cracking piece of business.

He was playing the centre role to perfection at that point. He’d got that frustrating step back in to the defence and away from his winger out of his game and he’d developed a cracking flick pass. After that season though he was shifted around a little and again developed those bad habits. He’s best at fullback for me but I’ve always fancied him more as a right centre (which is where you’d guess he’ll play going forward) because that natural step to his right will bring his winger in to play more often over on that side.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Gelling going forward. If he goes then clearly Sarginson has been signed to replace him.

If he has been signed on similar terms as he was on in 2014, and if no fee has been paid for his services then it will be a reasonable bit of business.

If Tony Gelling leaves, it should be in exchange for a transfer fee.

mead went on to bigger and better hardly in the same league sarge

I just can’t see the NZ Warriors taking Gelling on. Looking at their squad they have 4 or 5 options already.

I’d be amazed even further if they were prepared to pay for him.

I think some people’s expectations of who we can and can’t sign are unrealistic. Unlike the previous owner IL is abiding by the salary cap which is devalued year on year. Looking at our squad many of us, including me field we need a utility back. It looks like KR & SW felt the same. In reality who else can we sign that firstly we can fit under the cap and secondly wants to come?

Gone are the days of being able to have a squad with internationals in every position, no quality antipodean with a clean record will move from the NRL to SL, even the ‘bad boys’ command marquee wage. Sarg imo is on the better side of average and still has the potential to be challenging for England again.

Well in response to your first question since it was 2016 none specifically, I am not blessed with total recall (!) and YouTube tends not to have highlights of errors to assist the memory, but these stats tell me my opinion of him is not a figment my my imagination

In his last season with us Sarge made [u44 errors[/u, (second highest in the entire SL and 12 more than Charnely who was 2nd in this at Wigan) and he gave away [u20 penalties[/u (joint second highest at Wigan, Tautai top on 21) for a return for just [ufour [/utries. That is poor by any standards. So unless you think he made all those errors in one game the answer to your first question is that my recollection he was poor in most of them is correct.

As to replacing Mead, according to t'internet Mead left to join Brisbane so I have no idea if he was signed to replace him as in the Titans signed Sarge so they could offload Mead or if for some equally insane reason they thought he was good enough to do so just because Mead left. If he was any good they'd have kept him.

In his last season with us Dan Sarginson has a hell of a GF and posted the following stats.

530 Carries (most in SL)
48 Offloads (3rd highest in SL)
3561 metres made (6th highest in SL)

Escare
Davies (Manfredi)
Gildart
Sarginson
Burgess
Williams
Tomkins

Speed to burn!!

IIRC he had the knack of providing a pass to his winger that helped Burgess look really good. That is more than either Gelling or Bateman can manage.

How can you possibly say that? I was absolutely delighted when Sarge left in 2016. I'll be quite pleased if Gelling has done a bunk as well. Never sorry to see average and poor players leave

The downer is that if Gelling has done a runner it;s brought someone worse back!




Wigan already have a better centre pairing than those. It's Bateman and Gildart. I also don't see what is playing safe re-signing a player who has been out injured for such a long time and when he was last here was an error strewn penalty machine.

we have escare

I'm not really upset at the re-sign of Sarginson on its own merit, what does upset me is this is probably as good as it gets and this is the state of SL in general.

I usually agre with most of your posts but on this we are at opposite ends of the universe.
Apart from fitness Sarginson offers nothing, zippo, nowt.
If he is centre then I'm the heavyweight champion of world.
He lacks pace, has no step, can't kick, poor defence and can't pass. Apart from that he has a sensational game.
Sorry NK but another backward step from the 3 amigos who are sensational at marketing the club NOT.

I had some regrets about renewing my season ticket however, this signing just about confirms to me that the club is more interested in the bloody Aussie trip than resolving the blindingly obvious deficiencies in the squad.

Radlinski recently emailed me about the farce of the academy final non broadcast and I think he spent more time emailing me than he has on recruitment. Oh I forgot we've got a part time kicking coach for a month or two so Radlinski has been hyper active on the recruitment front.

I just hope there are other signings around the corner but I won't hold my breath.

Underwhelmed . And what is this cliche "good bit of business" malarkey, being repeated here ? I have followed Wigan for over 50 years and whilst it 'might' be a business for the directors. I as a 'speccie' want to be entertained.

Re-signing yet another player, and who is injured, is not going to increase the season ticket sales or pack the stadium next season.

IMHO the club is just 'going through the motions' and is not desirous of providing us, the spectators, with exciting rugby league football. It's going to be more of the moribund and dour stuff we have had in recent seasons.

I wouldn’t say he lacks pace at all or that he hasn’t got a step (he uses his step too much at points if anything).

It’s all about his role for me. If he’s brought in to be a starting centre with Gelling leaving then I don’t think that’s overly exciting (but is still probably as solid a replacement as you’ll get at this point) but if he’s been brought in as a utility player to provide back up then I think it’s a very shrewd signing.

He certainly divides opinion! I’m not sure why because whilst he’s not the best player in the world, he’s certainly not the worst.

He won't be a utility player though will he?
He will join the jolly bunch of a guaranteed match irrespective of form or performance.
I'm just sick to death of the same old cap tugging greyness in the squad.
I genuinely believe that our recruitment policy for the last 4 years has been awful.
It's not just the resigning of Sarginson it's the whole conservative approach and treating fans as if we are total idiots and will roll up whatever shoite is put on display.
How the football echo anyone with half brain thinks that having a part time kicking coach on a short term contract will fix our lamentable kicking game is is beyond any logical thinking yet the 3 amigos think it's perfectly logical.
The whole club reeks of complacancy and make do that is what is frustrating many supporters.

Welcome back the step off the left back into the defence. Sarginson is one of the most run of the mill players I’ve witnessed and in terms of a “good bit of business” he’s hardly going to drum up many season ticket or shirt sales. If he was as good at Rugby as he is at arguing with fans on Twitter I might have been half excited.

I totally agree that his signing won’t be half as impressive if he has been brought in to play at centre and centre only but we’ll have to wait and see.

I agree with a lot of the other things you’re saying as well. I’m as frustrated as anyone with how a lot of the returnees have gone and I was crying out at the end of last season for us to sign a couple of big forwards and a halfback with a kicking game. What we have signed is a small project forward and a utility back.

I also wanted a new coach to come in and look at the attack and there was quite a bit of talk about Michael Monaghan joining the club but that’s gone very quiet which is worrying. In Shaun Wane you sense we have the worlds most stubborn coach and that may end up being his downfall.

I also share your concerns with the kicking coach appointment. It’s a bit of a token gesture for my money but if it were a long term thing I could understand. As it turns out, the talk is that’s it’s just a short term move for a month or two and considering that our two main goal kickers of last year (Escare and Williams) aren’t available to work with him currently then I see little value. I’ve seen Hodgson working with Tomkins and Powell and with all due respect the bloke can’t perform miracles!!

I’ve gone away from the topic there but I just wanted to point out that I don’t say I’m happy with the Sarginson singing because I’m some sort of happy clapper. As a utility option I think it makes great sense but I do hope that’s what he’s been brought in as.

Probably because they have continued to roll up. Even taking a home game to the other side of the world doesnt put many off buying an overpriced season ticket.

Until there's a significant (ie >20%) drop in ST sales and match-day attendances, the club will continue to treat the fans this way.

Which won't happen as the majority of season ticket holders are happy clapping sheep who won't have a single bad word said about IL or the club IMO

The club tried to recruit a coach but he went elsewhere. It wasn't MM.

Season ticket sales are up on last season.

How many season tickets so far.

Please point me to where this has been confirmed by the club