A hooker. It's a specialist position and so important in modern day Rugby League.

Push comes to shove Lee Mossop can move up to prop forward and Ryan Hoffman can cover until Gareth Hock arrives mid-season.

Both would play prop not sure about Skuse, Nau is more dynamic but would require a quota spot. If true though it would seem like we are looking for a replacement for Fielden.

With my flag idea.

Strong rumours on the Hull board that Mr Fielden is set to join the B&W's. Anyone on this end heard anything about said move?

It gets a mention in the thread with the title: "Fielden to go?"...

Ahahah my apologies, just saw this at the top and had a quick look through it

.

If Fielden leaves then we need to bring a new prop in.

We can't go into next season with just Coley and Lima. How many times this season have we seen Coley or Fielden struggle when the other is injured or suspended? Both Coley and Lima will miss games at some point next season and we need to make sure we've got another top prop in the wings.

To let Feka and Fielden leave and only sign one player is crazy imo. No probs no pots simple as.

Lima
Coley
Fielden
Prescott

Is an excellent set of props but if you take Fielden out of there and replace him with O'Carroll or even Davis it starts to look a lot weaker.

Walker, Elima and Ainscough to Bradford Bulls.

Hansen linked with move to salford,

All these (rumoured) moves do show what a joke the "anti-tampering" deadline is.

Does Amos' interview on the website mean he's staying ?

I think so. Certainly that's the impression I got watching the video.

they are both big units, specialy Nau, i would say he is on a par with Inga (at his best) size wise, imagine somthing that big coming at you from dummy half

Saints apparently close to signing Luke Dorn as per Radio Leeds.

:s

Seems an odd one unless they are finally looking to get rid of the slug or move him forward into the pack.

I think Dorn is a pretty good player and slightly underrated but in all honestly I do not see where he fits in at Saints unless there is an unknown departure yet to be announced.

It is an exciting prospect and from what I have seen of both (which is limited) Nau is far better suited to league. My problem is though that he will take a quota spot, will probably be replacing Fielden, and will take some time to adapt to the code, so it is a big risk should we take it any further.

Yes.

Skuse is 30 i cant see us even entertaining the idea.

Out:
Riddell
Feka
Bailey
Ainscough
Deacon
Phelps
Howarth
Vievers
Thornley
Fielden?

In:
Lima
Finch
Hoffman

Thinking about it today and now looking at the above there's going to be quite a turn over of players next year at the club.

In truth only the 2 highlighted have made a real impact on our season although players like Phelps, Feka, Bailey and Deacon have all played less significant roles.

the 3 players coming in more than make up those that have left but I expect at least 1 more high profile signing and a continuation of the production line will see more players to fill the hole in the 20's left by the other players.

Excellent news. Our backline for next season looks excellent. The only aspect we've been critical of this season as supporters is our kicking game and sometimes lack of killer instinct & so Brett Finch has an important role to play in amending that area. I also think in certain games this season we've missed Amos Roberts. His offload to set Sam Tomkins off against Hull KR is just one example.

Amos Roberts
Darrell Goulding, Martin Gleeson, George Carmont, Pat Richards
Sam Tomkins, Brett Finch

Not many backlines are going to top that in Super League.

The forward pack has been missing two experienced players. Too much pressure has been put on Andy Coley and Stuart Fielden with Feka Paleaasina taking a few months to get up to match fitness. Having a third experienced professional in Jeff Lima just takes a bit of the weight from Fielden and Coley. Paul Prescott and Eamon O'carroll have been adequate this season, but neither look like making it as a top prop forward. I have more faith in O'carroll than I do Prescott. Ben Davies looks a little out of his depth in the few games he has played, but has been excellent at Widnes. The experience will have done him good, but he's still another year off at least.

In the second row we've seen Joel Tomkins establish himself as a senior leader, which is important given the departure of Phil Bailey. However he still only 23, Harrison Hansen is 24, Lee Mossop is 21 with Liam Farrell/Chris Tuson both only being 20. That next season would have been a very young pack. So the addition of Ryan Hoffman just brings a bit of leadership & direction to help out some of the young lads. He will have been brought over here to fill in the spot vacated by Bailey and hopefully bring along the young back rowers we have here at the club. By the end of his expected departure these lads will be two years older, which is a massive difference IMO.

The only area that I could see potential problems for us is at hooker. I rate both McIlorum and Leuluai. However, McIlorum has been crippled with injuries throughout his Wigan career, which has stalled his development. When he gets a run of games together he looks fantastic and produces some excellent displays that remind us why we brought him over from Yorkshire. Hopefully he can keep himself fit for the season. Thomas Leuluai I rate at hooker. He has shown better form at halfback this season, but still lacks a long kicking game. I don't think he is capable of starting matches and directing our forwards around in the early exchanges, but from the bench I think his footwork and pace could cause teams problems. I just wonder how long it will take him to adapt to the role full time. It's a specialist role after all. His defence is excellent, but I just hope he learns to add some direction and organisation to the team that Mark Riddell brings. In terms of cover if either get injured I think we are in a lot of trouble.

Fielden McIlorum Coley
Hoffman Tomkins
O'loughlin

Jeff Lima
Thomas Leuluai
Harrison Hansen
Paul Prescott/Lee Mossop

After all is said and done, it is still an excellent team we have next season & one that is much better than the one we've seen this season, which is scary when you think we've been the best team after 27 rounds and wrapped the league up a week early!

whats your opinion on fieldon leaving? just rumour or more?

Unsure. He could be trying to force Wigan's hand to improve their offer, as he was supposedly very happy here. But these days Wigan won't be coerced into paying a player more than they consider him to be worth. That doesn't mean, of course, that they won't prove to be a little bit flexible.