Can see Eseh and Chan becoming fan favourites.

Chan seems a right character from what I’ve seen on socials.

I think Esehs will be targeting 12/15 Wigan games with his big breakout being in 2025. Still a baby for a prop and will take a year to learn the Wigan way.


Roll on the preseaon games!

I’m the same mate, so ready for the season to get going now.

Isa a good chance of a bench spot in the team IMO, bit of versatility if an outside back or second rower gets a knock.

Yes, Junior is only due back at the wend of April. No need to rush him, it is a long season.

Noticed a picture of Havard from today and he looks to have filled out a bit too.

Looks like our performance and strength and conditioning departments have been very busy pulling this pre season together.

Nice article on Chan today too, living with Dupree and sounds like there is a real good core of lads that are around the same age that have all become very close away from the pitch.

He mentions he sees himself as a middle predominantly and that is where he wants to play, however also says he has been training as an edge forward too.

We have a fantastic pack this year,so looking forward to see what they can achieve

I’m glad he’s training as an edge. Last year we had Smithies who was a middle but could comfortably play on the edge. Shorrocks too.

With Nsemba injured we are down to 3 with Isa Farrell and Walters.

Can’t really see Eseh, Byrne, Cooper, Ellis, Dupree, Mago or Thompson playing on an edge. Maybe Havard at a push.

If Chan could slot in there at an emergency that would be helpful.

The team for the start of the year isn't that hard to predict really - we may have a lot of depth but the first choice players are pretty clear. With the Havard and Nsemba injuries there are essentially 18 players to choose from. I think Isa will play against Penrith - if so it will be one of Cooper, Byrne or Mago to miss out.

My god, we have built a serious team for this year haven' t we? Insane when you see it written down.

Majority of teams in SL would kill to have that whole bench in their starting pack.

Dan was right in 2022 when he said what he said about 2023 and 2024

My thoughts as well. I’m not sure if Isa will start games or come from the bench early in the season but I’m pretty sure he’ll be involved. I think Peet will want that Wigan experience he brings, especially with so many new forwards likely to be in the team.

My guess to miss out would be Cooper. He has produced miracles by the sounds of it to be on track to be available for the start of the season but it’s a massive ask to be ready for a WCC after that injury and in the back of possible minutes in a friendly and at Cas.

Isa also brings flexibility to the squad, covering back row and centre. I think the bench across the year will tend to be two front rowers, a back row and a hooker. When Nsemba is fit he needs to be prioritised for the bench back row spot.

I think Cooper's a wait and see scenario - as you say sounds like his rehab has gone well but the friendlies will tell us where he's at.

Burgess to HKR after being sacked by Salford.

That home grown left edge of Williams, Farrell, Gildart and Burgess.

The young 3 should have followed Farrell’s example and had a long successful career.

Now they are floating round at mid table clubs they have no connect to whereas Faz is winning trophy after trophy with his home town team.

Lesson to the younger lads.

I get the point but not sure about Williams in that equation. Whilst I’d loved to keep him at Wigan he went well in the NRL and is the current captain of England.

Where one friend goes, the others seem to follow.

George next? Seems unlikely, but then look at the silverware he voluntary surrendered to play for Wire.

Yep, same with Charnley (wasted years at Sale and Wire) However he did manage to win a Challenge Cup with Leigh unexpectedly.

Burgess and Charnley were both fabulous wingers. If they had taken different paths they could have been great wingers. Charnley’s full length of the field try in the CC at Wire was brilliant.

Burgess and Charnley were both fabulous wingers. If they had taken different paths they could have been great wingers. Charnley’s full length of the field try in the CC at Wire was brilliant.

I will particularly never understand the career path Budgie took. In his early days at Wigan, he was one of the best wingers in the country, and looked to have huge future potentially filled with international honours. A number of poor decisions on his part then seemed to bring all that to an end long before it should have.

The downturn in Charnley's fortunes appears to have been his brief stint in Rugby Union. Perhaps they made it worth his while financially, but playing-wise, but he never seemed to hit the same heights on his return.

Great one that also the one against Saints at the DW when the ball bounced in our 10 mtr and he caught it and went through the middle to go the full length,loved that one.

Appreciate Burgess and Charnley are picking up some criticism but would be interesting to know what the clubs stance was at the time.

Whilst they were in the system we also had Davies, Marshall and Manfredi coming through the ranks.

Most clubs have depth charts when looking at development and recruitment/retentions.

I’m guessing that both Charnley and Burgess’ worth and salary demands were compromised probably below market value with us having such depth in the wing position and as such I doubt (don’t know) that we wouldn’t have fought too hard to retain either of them given what we had coming through and the need to invest in other areas of the squad.

I can see this with Charnley. Seem to recall he'd been around the first team a bit longer than Budgie, and while he was regarded as a good first team winger, his defensive shortcomings were well known.

But Budgie had future international written all over him. He had exceptional speed and was scoring tries for fun in his first season. I'd have been surprised if the club hadn't tried to keep him. They seemed to welcome him back from Aus, but that attitude wasn't apparently reciprocated by either the player or his agent. The rest is history.

The Club definatley wanted to keep him, and offered him a much improved deal, not too disimilar to what Rossters offered
He wanted to go

I can’t help wonder if Burgess would make different decisions if he had his time over again. I suspect he probably would but who knows. I honestly thought he’d go on to be one of the best wingers in the world and have multiple England caps to his name.

When Burgess first came on the scene he was the first winger in years, certainly at Wigan, who was happy to take his opposite winger on the outside at every opportunity. I loved watching his faith in his pace to beat the opposition. With right application and dedication he could have been a tremendous player.

Watched a good podcast a couple of years ago with Charnley (Might have been Out Of Your League) and he said he had to go and tell Shaun Wane he'd decided to go to Sale for a new challenge.

We definitely would have kept him otherwise