I'd rather have Lauaki on the wing than Jamie Foster.

Did someone seriously suggest Jamie Foster? The amount of tries he would cost us due to his poor defence would negate any goal kicking.

Anyone mentioned paddy ah van yet? Heard he is pretty much paddy Richards mk2.0

plus, he has a better beard.

Much rather have Scott Mcavoy tbh!

Oh dear.

Way I see it is for the next 5 years we've go a strong core of genuinely good players who IMO will stay at Wigan, just need to replace the gaps with quality signings every few years:

1.
2. Charnley
3. Goulding
4. Thornley
5.
6.
7. Smith
8. Flower
9. McIlorum
10. Crosby
11. Farrell
12.
13. O'Loughlin

Obviously I'd like to keep Sam, Hansen and Green as long as possible but the above is a good strong core who will be the backbone of our team for a long time, along with other guys like Dudson, Hughes, Powell, Logan etc

The key to 14 is keeping Sam. If we lose him I think it will be years before we are as strong again. We pretty much lose every time we play without him now, don't we?
If he stays, then it looks to me that the only gap in the squad I can see would be for Richards - while we may be without Mossop, Lauaki, Gelling and Pat's wages (I am assuming Powell is on Hock's money). Sure we must pay Burke, Faz and co more now they are first 17 players, but there should be enough there to sign a good winger. If there was something left for a hooker, then I could see us winning everything.
I must say I don't think we would miss Hansen - Burke, Faz and Hughes will be better than him in no time.

you know not what you have done.

I am guessing that mine is a view not shared by many...

You seem to be making a lot of assumptions...

1. Hampshire
2. Charnley
3. Goulding
4. Thornley
5. Burgess
6. Green
7. Smith (Kicker)
8. Crosby
9. McIlorum
10. Flower
11. Hughes
12. Farrell
13. O'Loughlin

14. Tuson
15. Dudson
16. Burke
17. L. Tomkins

Assuming Sam and Hansen do leave that would be my match day 17. If we have young wingers coming through why not give them a chance to take Pat's spot?? I must admit though to having never really seen much of Hampshire but I have but him in just by going off how others how spoke about him.

Forget goal kicking wingers - we need a replacement winger. We'll find a goal kicker internally, most probably in Matty Smith. Tom Briscoe's name has been mentioned and Jodie Broughton is a player I'd like to see us look at.

With Mossop and Hock gone we lack any senior forwards bar Prescott, Hansen and Lockers (Lauaki possibly). Hansen and Prescott for that reason need to be kept. I'd like to sign another experienced prop forward along with Andy Powell to just provide that beef and experience up front with Flower, Dudson, Taylor and Crosby.

Centre is still a difficult area to overcome. Thornley is going o.k for now but defensively he does struggle against stronger sides. Experience will see him improve. Gelling needs to be given a shot at centre at some point to be kept on at Wigan IMO.

We've transfer money and salary cap space to spend so retaining what we have, signing a winger and a prop forward is the priority for me moving forward. Keep Sam for another year (unless we receive a ridiculous offer like 250K + 2 players etc) and move forward in 2014.

No way are Hampshire and burgess ready for a full season in super league!


Dpending on what players leave we definitely need some new signings, at the moment nothing has been announced about Sam or Hansen so...

Tomkins
Charnley
Goulding
Thornley
NEW SIGNING - Briscoe?
Green
Smith
Flower
McIlorum
Crosby
Hansen
Farrell
O'Loughlin

Dudson
A. Powell
Hughes
Tuson
S.Powell
Tomkins
Gelling
Burke
Prescott
Lloyd
Williams
Greenwood
Etc

If Sam leaves we will obviously need a replacement, if Hansen leaves we have Hughes, Tuson, Burke, Gelling and Lloyd all ready and waiting.

I think now is the time to give Hampshire and Gelling some proper gametime at 1 and 4 respectively (Thornley to 5) to see whether we can promote from within to replace Sam and/or Pat. If we sign a full back and a winger there's little opportunity for either of them for quite some time due to the age of the squad. We have also yet to debut Burgess or Manfredi. Let's have a better look at whether we have ready made replacements before we rush to sign someone, we don't want to lose these lads I've named before they've been given a chance.

FIOS have you forgot about Taylor.

Taylor is now known as Etc........

What is happening to Lauaki? Rumour may be false that Wakefield interested in one of your props. Could be rubbish.

He's either been out injured all season or dropped due to a fall out with Wane depending on who you ask. The official line seems to have been that he's been two weeks away since January. IMO last season he tried hard but just wasn't strong enough to succeed at prop. He may be a handy second rower though.....

Jack Murphy's been recalled from his loan with Salford, but not sure if that means he's still in Wane's plans or the Reds don't want him...

would we be wasting our time by sending him to Scorpions if we didn't want him, played at the weekend 1 try and 5 goals

I quite like Murphy as a full back could probably do with a full season loan somewhere though.

I like Murphy when he gathers the ball but the amount of errors he makes for a fullback is criminal. I've only really seen him in the first team at Wigan and Salford though so maybe regular watchers of the U20's in previous seasons could give better judgements. He's looked a bag of nerves at times but maybe that is understandable after having his confidence knocked in that Leeds game last year.

A game like tomorrow's wouldn't be a bad time to let him have another crack in the first team.

Weaker.

However it wont matter because Super League gets weaker every year and as a top side it subsequently wont make a scrap of difference.

Very true, but in fairness, even Sam isn't the greatest in that department either. It's always a balance with what they offer in attack, and the role of the fullback has changed a lot in recent years.