It seems your in the same situation as saints. Losing Hoffman, Richards, leuluai plus the loss of maguire will be worse than us losing eastmond, TP and Graham.

I think maguire is going to be your biggest loss IMO along with Richards ( if he goes).

tommy to the nrl?! where did that rumour come from?

I think Hoffman is easily replaceable with the talent we have in the second row here, we would cope without if he went now, still nice to have a world class player though.
Coley - Hock
Richards would be a massive loss it's plain to see te improvement already since he's come back.
God knows how we would cope losing deacon finch and Leuluai absolute disaster!

new full back in, put sam back at 6 with this mellor chap in the middle,
i agree it would be a shock, but i think we could get over most of the people going by just promoting the kids,
i would personally love to see that happen,

I know for a fact he's asked his Wigan girlfriend to move to aus with him next year, from the horses mouth so to speak

fair enough,
gutted but hes been a good player for the club, he will do well over there

I think lenegan better start getting some contracts signed our we will be in abit of bother looks like the revolving door policy at Wigan hasn't changed to remain champions we need to tie our best players down

This could be another mass exodus like 2004. It took Brian Noble, Stuart Fielden, Michael Dobson, three years, and a whole load of SC issues to come back from that.

Calm down boys and girls. Look even if all of the mentioned players leave and we dont sign a single player we could line up with ...

Without - Hoffman, Coley, Tommy, Pat, Finch, Deacon, Carmont and Gleeson.

1.Roberts
2.Charnley
3.J.Tomkins
4.Marsh
5.Goulding
6.S.Tomkins
7.Mellor
8.Fielden
9.McLlorum
10.Lima
11.Hock
12.Hansen
13.Lockers

14.Prescott
15.Mossop
16.Farrell
17.L.Tomkins/Tuson

That team would still compete with 90% of the league imo and thats without any replacements.

No backrow at Wigan or anywhere in super league is at the same level as hoffman so I'd disagree and say he's going to be tough to replace.

Plenty of Wigan fans knew of Hoff's reputation/ability and that, if he ripped up SL (which he's doing) he'd be back at an NRL club as soon as they SC space. Fortunately for us is a position where we're blessed with plenty of decent players; not saying they're as good as Hoff but they're all easily good enough for top 4 SL.

Pat's a loss if he goes (MoS and all that), Tommy would be because there's little in the way of decent halves about to replace him, Madge going could hurt alright but we didn't expect what we got so in IL we trust to deliver again.

One difference for me, Ian Lenegan, we've a Chair who's focused on the club and wants it to succeed. I don't think we have the same passion and commitment last time round.

Right, for a start lets clear a few things up.

Player Contract Type Offered Date Announced Ends
George Carmont 1 Year Extension November 2010 *November 2011*
Andy Coley 1 Year Extension August 2010 *November 2011*
Ben Davies 1 Year Extension Unknown *November 2011*
Ryan Hoffman 1 Year Initial Contract July 2010 *November 2011*
Stefan Marsh 1 Year Extension Unknown *November 2011*
Karl Pryce 1 Year Extension November 2010 *November 2011*
Eamon O'Carroll 3 Years Extension April 2008 *November 2011*
Paul Prescott 2 Years Extension April 2008 *November 2011*
Pat Richards 3 Years Extension April 2008 *November 2011



Tommy is under contract until NOv 2012. He may leave after that.

Finch is under contract until nov 2012. He also may leave after that.

I think that means the real posssible changes for next year are:

Hoffman
Deacon
Coley
Possibly Carmont.

We need to sign paaat, preccy and stef marsh.

Ben davies and eamon are anyone guess for me.

Pryce has gone already as far as im concerned.

That should leave some cash to extend lockers deal beyond 2012 and bring in some new blood.

If any player was to leave early before his contract is up i would suggest that player would be / should be Amos Roberts. For a high earning import he has done nothing.

Carmont, Deacon and Coley are going IMO.

Hoffman did sign for a second year in his favor, so there is a possibility he'll take the club up on it. He wouldn't have bothered about the second year option if he was determined to go after one.

Robert's, Finch and Leuluai still have a year each remaining on their contracts after this season.

Pat according to himself and Lenegan have already begun contract talks, and that was before he'd recovered from his injury. I'd imagine now he's back playing and Ian can see he's fully recovered, that deal will hopefully be concluded soon.

Barring any injury / loss of form we should do everything to convince Carmont and Deacs to stay one more year.

Give Richards an offer but if he wants to go nothing can be done.

Roberts can go, Charnley and Goulding cheaper and better options.

Coley will probably retire after he was close to it last year.

Praying Tommy stays. Hoffman can be replaced from within, if Finch doesnt want to be here let him go

And you have enough of your own problems to worry about us....

I think we're more or less certain to lose Hoffman, Coley & Deacon at the end of the season. I'm sure I read somewhere that Lenegan expects Carmont to retire at the end of this season and return to NZ.

If both Roberts and Pryce can find another club, we should be looking to offload them to free up space on the cap. Also, if it's true that Finch hasn't settled in the UK then there's no point having a player who's unhappy as their mind won't be 100% on performing for the club.

Whilst I believe it's vital we retain the likes of Richards & Leuluai I would hope we don't fall into the trap of our previous owners of paying too much to a few players so the squad as a whole suffers.

I'll back Lenegan's judgement on getting decisions correct, he seems to have done fine so far. Any decisions he makes, no matter if they prove to be controversial with fans will be in the best interest of Wigan.

I think the first piece of the jigsaw will be appointing Madge's successor once they are in place then decisions about the 2012 playing roster can be made.

The only player coming OOC in Super League who I think we should persue is Ratchford from Salford, a talented versatile player and a Wiganer too. I know that Widdop from Melbourne is OOC in the NRL but it's highly likely that he'll remain with them.

I would agree with all that.

That team is nothing like good enough. Nowhere near.

I think the uncertainty brought about by Madge leaving has caused everything in terms of player recruitment ten times worse, we know Pat has spoken to IL about staying, I'm sure that negotiations with those the club want to stay are underway, as seen with Sam/Joel/Faz etc.

Obviously Hoffman is a favourite to leave, Lima I dont see it, Finch possibly if the fans dont get off his back. I can certainly see Roberts leaving, but dont see Madge taking him with him. I would be massively disappointed though if Madge was trying to tempt several of our squad with him during the season.

Whilst I'm sorry to see that Madge will be leaving at the end of the season I certainly don't blame him for taking up an opportunity to coach a team such as the Rabbitohs.

The only thing which would sour it for me, is like you say, if Madge negotiated to take some of our players with him.

Tho top players id look at recruiting for next year are

1) tom briscoe we meesed up we should have offered gleeson and cash but like lms of saints he want to win trophys so might be interested in a move replace gleeson.

2) paul johnson of wakefield a good solid young prop replace coley

3)a full back id gor for shaun briscoe hull kr ooc at the end of year a good solid player

4) the only overseas player id go for is widdop been outstanding for the storm or stefan ratchford of salford repalce deacon

All english players three young and experienced players and i think we have a realistic chance of getting them all.

Paul Johnson isn't good enough. Decent player in a poor side imo.

Shaun Briscoe - also isn't good enough. Defensively sound but lacks the attacking qualities we need from a FB.

Briscoe - absolutely. Widdop we have no chance, storm are gonna build the next gen of players around him by the sounds of things.

One lad I would go for though is Tom Burgess, that lad looks a beast and is still in his teens.

Agreed. If we were to lose all those players we would simply need to sign overseas/others in SL. Our reserves are good but not ready for that yet!! Hopefully Lenegan will move heaven and earth to keep Richards, and we could do with Finch and Leuluai honouring their contracts. Then we are only a Halfback/Hooker (depending on where tommy plays) and a centre short of a great team still:

1. Sam T
2. Charnley
3. Joel T
4.
5. Richards
6. Finch
7.
8. Fielden
9. Tommy
10. Prescott
11. Hansen
12. Farrell
13. O'Loughlin

14. Lima
15. McIlorum
16. Hock
17. Mossop

18. Goulding
19. Tuson
20. Marsh
21. Davies
22. O'Carroll (cant see him getting a gig anywhere else and we could get him really cheap hopefully with his injurys behind him)
23. Mellor
24. Logan T
25. Crosby
26. Powell
27. Hughes

etc.

And to think several Wigan geniuses questioned my preference to backing and investing more in Wigan trained players!
This says it all!

Err...so Wigan trained players never retire or move to another club?