Spoken to a friend of mine that was at the wire game he said he did not see Gleeson there. Think I.L. might be working one of his big surprises by announcing him just before the barrow game tomorrow from what i have been tole he signed before the 5pm deadline so he is eligible to play for us but don't know if they will play him. Would be a great publicity stunt for the club to announce him just before the game run him in the pitch in his kit for a lap around the ground but not play him as he wont know all our calls and moves yet he can then work on them in training all week before the saints game.

Sounds a good bit of business for both sides, something to help out one of the smaller clubs in these hard times, and a decent player coming the other way.

That would suit me. I don't particularly want to see Goulding go for good, and all the whispers out of Wigan are that they don't either.

Bailey will go into the back row with Hock IMO.
With all the back rowers we've got I can't see Bailey being around all that long.
His benefits were that he could play centre and back row as well as having a wealth of experience.
I like Bailey though, hope he stays but can't see it now!

Gleeson was contracted until the end of 2010.

It just means competition for places which is great.

I think Noble will always play Bailey for his experience and defence although I think our whole squad will be better off without his wages and non-world beater style of play although I do like the guy.

As for Gleeson I wont believe it till I see it, but to me it looks pretty clear he will sign from what I have heard but Im not getting excited till IL says it in a press conference.

How can you possibly say that, your head is well and truly in the sand if you take that stance.

Its in the bag, trust me!

If we can get rid of Mathers, its excellent work.

Goulding, whilst a protected creature by some on here, isn't good enough and wouldn't have played with Gleeson on board anyway, so its no loss.

True but we already had that without Bailey moving back there

Hock
Tomkins
Lockers
Hansen
Mossop
Farrell

The last thing we need is for Bailey to move back there and hinder the development of someone like Tomkins right?

Strange that it wasn't Bailey we were looking at offloading instead of Goulding imo. It would have made a lot more sense due to Age, Wages, Ability and future potential.

Not if Wire didn't want him it isnt.

On another note we are enquiring about Matt Orford and other NRL players for next year, yet this will be rubbished by some numptys on this board if he hasn't signed and playing gainst Barrow.



Looks like IL and BN do have a clue after all eh?

Same source as the Gleeson signing by the way, just call me the oracle.

not in the sand pal just realistic ... when there is an official statement then i will believe it . till then its a complete crock like many dead on certs we have so called signed

Agreed - if Goulding is retained, he's going to get scraps of game time before leaving in a couple of years anyway. He must be about 7th choice in the threequarters now.

It's a difficult one with Goulding as he was one of the juniors you would have put your money on to make it and was highly rated by many on this board only two seasons ago.

I still think we should keep hold of him and send both him and Pryce out on loan next season to SL clubs with the understanding that only one of them is gonna be coming back to take over from Carmont when he leaves.

Lets see what they BOTH can do with a full SL season under their belts cause the last thing we need to do is replace Carmont with another aging centre. We should be looking at one of either Pryce of Goulding to make that step up imo and cement themselves at our club for the next 7-8 years.

Pryce & Goulding are far from the finished article so lets not be to hasty to cast them off. For once lets play the system in Wigan’s favour by sending them out on loan and seeing what happens. If they fail then so be it nothing has been lost or damaged at our club and if they are a success lets take them back and build a team round them.

Yes, but had an agreement to walk away at end of this season for free to NRL. Seeing as another SL club came in for him, we have issued a fee which you have paid. I have been told it was 60k and 2 players but lots of others are saying £100k and Mathers. Either way, both clubs get what they want. We get rid of a player who doesnt want to be at the club & you get a far far better centre than you have at the mo. If you keep him away from Long and the beer off the field & he sorts his head out, you will have a star

That must be right next to his 'finish outside the top 6 clause'



For what it's worth he does his socialising in Wigan, everyone knows what he's like and equally that that's unlikely to change.

Never doubted they had a clue but they really need to get the recruitment right for next year and deliver what we need, not just talk about it.

Its a great opportunity for them when you consider the players that will be leaving.

The press conference is on Monday.

In that case, if you know what hes like, your welcome to him. He will be a star but only when he can be bothered

So that's Wigan and about 4 other SL clubs then?

Look, you don't have to believe it if you don't wany, But surely you can see that some deal has been going on for the last week whether you belive it has/hasn't happened is another issue!

FWIW It's definate - You wouldn't like to have a little wager with me would you?

If we sign Gleeson that is the sensible option. I can't believe people are dismissing Goulding so readily as having failed to make it or saying he is not good enough. He is 21 and has not exactly had a lot of time to prove his worth particularly with Noble's distinctly odd selection policies.

He not a protected creature as AJ put it but one of a crop of young players who the club IMO need to give more time to not get rid of.

Goulding burst onto the scene in 2007 with some good appearances off the bench. He then got dropped in his first full season (200icon_cool.gif about half way through arguably harshly.

He got two more games in 2008 and played well in both then got dropped again and again harshly. This season he has played twice and done well both times but got dropped IMO for Smiths failings and then got injured.

It is far too early to write him off when you consider how he has played when he has been in the side and the way Noble treats him.

He is another example of why I do not rate Noble. Noble will for example continue to give Smith chances IMO whereas Goulding who has shown nothing but professionalism gets messed about.

If he goes Goulding just adds fuel to the fire Wigan do not hold onto the players they produce and it sends the wrong message to the rest of the young players.

Dave

Exactly - Lenagan has so far been beaten by the competition in his pursuit of quality players in the main.

Its all right showing interest, they need to follow it through this time and deliver the players we need.

can only be bothered sometimes where you lot are concerned he wont have that issue playing for the team he has always wanted to play for and if it werent for the strop the saints directors had he would have been with us rather than you anyway.

Gotta agree with you there.

Goulding may not be a superstar at this moment in time nor may he ever be one in the future but how can we honestly make decisions about how he's gonna progress until he has a continuous run of SL games.

It just doesn’t make any sense what so ever to cast him off now on a permanent basis imo. There will always be clubs like Wakey, Salford & Quins who will take him for a season and give him plenty of regular game time.

It’s much more of a benefit for us to let him go on loan so we can watch how he copes. Like I said in my op if it doesn’t work out then so be it as he’s not playing for us and his bad performances aren’t impacting us. But if it does work out then we simply take him back.

Bout time we used this option rather than getting rid of them straight away.