Totally agree.

Smith, Sam, Tommy and Piggy should be our halves for as long as possible imo.

Is adequately Good Enough?

I don't see it with McCollorum at all, Good honest tackling Hard worker but I don't see anything else?

on the other note with regards to Lulu I think it's fair to say that IL doesn't seem to have piad "Over the Odds" as far as we know wages wise for anyone yet and has even been criticsed for Not splashing the cash by some on here.

If i were a betting man I would guess that Tommy may have a 3 year contract in his pocket but it may be on reduced terms ala the Richards contract extension 12/18 months ago.
2010
FB Richards
Wing Roberts
Cntre Gleeson
Cntre Carmont
Wing Ainscough
SO - ??????????
Scrum Half - Tomkins

New prop??????
Riddell
Prescott/Fielden
Hock
Loughlin
Tomkins

Feka
Tommy
Prescott/Fielden/O'Carroll
Hansen

Squad players
Pryce
Goulding
McCollorum
Plus the other Younsters Farrell/Mossop etc
Bearing in mind some of the above & others may go on loan etc

Out (Or drastically reduced money)

Phelps
Bailey
Coley

With the above players leaving I would go for a 6 & a New Prop

I wouldn't think we would be too far away then.

I thought Ainscough was on the accelerator programme so tied to a longer deal

Defiantly deserves a new deal imo if he isn’t.

If we intend to use Leuluai as a hooker rather than a scrum half then it is brilliant news.

I think thats the question really, most of the fans see him as a potentially world class hooker, whereas i feel he hasn't got the vision and technique that a true 7 (smith for example) has, and hence if he plays in the halves we will struggle to play fast flowing rugby. Saying that, I think he is a class player, and will continue to improve. People keep referring to Prescott as a talent who should be given time, but TL is a similar age.

Add coley to your two and I'd agree.

If he has been signed up as a seven then I will be very annoyed because as you have mentioned he does not have the qualities of a top class seven and if we intend to play him there for the next three years unless we see a drastic improvement in his game at seven we will continue to struggle.

I hope that he will be used where he is most effective and wants to play I believe at hooker. If this is the case than McIlorum will have been deemed not good enough. Riddell 2 more years , Tommy 3 years would suggest so. Which given the current situation I hope is the case.

Great news.

Hope he gets used at hooker mainly, but whereever he plays you can be gauranteed with Tommy that'll he'll give 100%.

Really pleased we have secured him at the club and hope it's at a wage that suits both parties.

It has to be. That is the point being made. You can't have two senior players sharing a position at hooker.

For this reason I suspect what will happen is Smith will leave at the end of the season and our hookers will be Riddell and McIllorum and the half backs TL at 7 and Tomkins at 6.

If I am right then we are stuck with a player not really good enough at 7 who's best position is 9.

Dave

didn't realise he was out of contract at the end of this year. I really do hope we don't end up with another Chris Ashton on our hands.

As for the other i'd 100% sign up Carmont and probably one of Phelps or Pryce as cover.

The others should all go for me.

alot of people talk about mcilorum, and how unfair it would be if he were to be released. we need a world class half to partner sam, people forget how young tommy is. he is head and shoulders above young mike and still has a long career in front of him. he might not be from wigan but he would bleed red and white and thats what we need. if its one or the other than for me mcilorum misses out. let the lad get first team football elsewhere. we cant hang on to him just because he came through the ranks and show that he MIGHT be good enough. we already have a young player in that position who has alot more to his game.

You say that but Saints have Cunningham and Roby, both among their top eschelon and Leeds now have Diskin and Buderus (ditto) so why not?

This occurred to me as well. Plus you can't overlook the fact that having an abundance of riches is better than having a dearth.

Tommy is a better hooker but can cover scrum-half as well. Piggy can cover hooker and second row (or so I'm told). McIlorum is only good for hooker - thus far.

If we can accommodate all three, that would be great. I'm not sure McIlorum would be happy, but there's rarely a time when someone isn't injured and opportunities don't subsequently arise. Isn't this what having a decent sized and decent quality squad is all about? When we didn't have one, people were going ballistic about it. Now we're apparently complaining because we've got too many good players for too few positions ...

Let's get real. I'm told that Tommy is really happy at Wigan. His past differences with Lenagan are long ago patched up, and that he desperately wants to win us some silverware. Sounds good to me.

..and me! I'm sure TL's contract will have been negotiated downwards anyway if IL's comments at the forum are anything to go by in which case I'd hazard a guess that our 2 hookers in Piggy and TL will take up less of the cap than either Leeds or Saints pairings and, more to te point, gives us a pairing that has some chance of competing with those two, wheras in all honesty I don't think Piggy and Micky Mac do.

KFC has had new deals since his prime and presumably they have gone downwards in money terms. We also don't know when Roby's current contract was signed. Likewise we don't know what Diskin is on. Both Riddell and TL's comtracts are "new" and Riddell won't be here on peanuts and despite a probable reduction you don't sign players who can point to being a current World Cup winning international for peanuts either.

The thing is though the players involved in the positions of half back and hooker are Smith, TL, Tomkins, Riddell and McIllorum.

TL's new deal makes it increasingly likely IMO Smith will leave at the end of the season as he is the only one out of contract.

That would mean Riddell and McIllorum at hooker and TL at 7 with Tomkins at 6.

So regardless of whether or not we can afford Riddell and TL both as 9's it looks increasingly unlikely that is what will happen anyway IMO. And that is before we consider which of Riddell or TL would be happy as a back up hooker.

IMO the evidence points to TL having been signed as primarily a 7 and that is, if correct, IMO a mistake.

Dave

Given Lenagans obvious love for signing backs and the fact that McIlorum must be on a paltry deal i'd expect to see a new halfback in cherry and white next year.

Not saying it will be a high earner but somebody who could fill a gap.

best news for a while IMO. One of our best players over the last 3 years and a true adopted wiganer. I'd just keep hoping we'll get rid of that fat waste of place currently playing hooker and give tommy the starting berth.

Pig boy out and tommy to his natural position, a WC S/O in next season (Lockyer / Orford / Bosc) to play with Sam in the middle and we're starting to look like a team.

Tbh. I didn't think he was that great at hooker for NZ, WC winner or not. NZ looked far better when Luke came on and replaced him. He looked solid enough, but not like the world class player you all seem to be touting him as on here.

Great News.

Tommy plays his heart out everyweek, goes well at 7 and very well at 9.

Tbh you can think what you want.

So what your saying is, We Don't know????

Maybe we should leave it to someone who does then, Like IL for example???

Dave, that's just a load of supposition, so why argue it? As I said, the liklihood is that neither of the top teams is paying peanuts for their hooking partnerships and neither should we. I'll bet you a pound to a penny we have a new half next season.

See my post above!

Exactly what I thought!

Well I don't lke to mention "great minds"..*COUGH*

IMO If we want to move forward and push for the challenge cup/grand final then I feel we need to keep players like Tommy at the club. Players that want to play for Wigan and not here just for the money but are here because they want to put Wigan RL right back up their with the best. Hes a fantastic player and one of the best players we have at wigan and at the age of 23 he can only get better.

Heres to a hopefully good future for us Tommy.