Widdop
Goulding
Gleeson
Atkins
Hall
Tomkins
Eastmond
Graham
Sinfield
Morley (capt)
Ellis
Burgess
O'Loughlin

Bench

Roby
J.Tomkins
Fielden
Westwood

Dependant on weather you want two props or to backrowers on the bench. It really would be harsh on Westwood if he doesnt play for England at the end of the year as he has had an outstanding season for Warrington this year. I personally think we will have 3 props rotating due to the fact Graham, Morley and Fielden can play long minutes and Burgess can allways do a stint in the front row if required. Darrell Goulding has got the nod for me because he has been in great try scoring from for Wigan this year and has had a good partnership with Martin Gleeson. The only positional change I would make is Sinfield starting at 9 with Robes coming of the bench when the Aussie/Kiwi forwards are tiring. IMO we have the best set of forwards in the world that should be able to dominate Australia and New Zealand. The backs are a totally different kettle of fish because with the exception of Eastmond, Tomkins, Hall and Gleeson I doubt Australia/New Zealand will be quaking in there boots at facing Atkins, Goulding and Widdop but unfortunatley they are the best in Super League that we have to offer in the present time. Weather Eastmond will be fit for the Four Nations is another matter because I have heard that he is out for the season with Saints which would be a blow for us.

I'd take a squad of (positions not neccessarily where they would play, just showing the depth):

Full backs
Widdop
S.Tomkins

Wingers
Hall
Briscoe
Fox
Riley

Centres
Atkins
Gleeson
Shenton
Yeaman

Stand offs
Eastmond
Sinfield

Scrum Halves
Brough
Burrow

Props
Graham
Morley
Crabtree
Lynch
Fielden
Scruton

Hookers
Lunt
Roby
Moore

Second rowers
Ellis
Burgess
J.Tomkins
Jones-Buchanan
Westwood

Loose forward
O'Loughlin
Harrison

I wasn't suggesting Deacon should play for England, I was merely asking who will replace Eastmond if he isn't fit enough. Deacon's name just came to mind. There arn't many options after Eastmond really.

Considering this thread is on the Wigan board and given his try scoring record this year, I'm suprised there's not more clamour for Goulding to be involved.

Haven't seen any mention of Farrell either - he's looked mighty impressive whenever I've seen you play lately.

Goulding would be in my squad without doubt.

As for Farrell he's been exceptional but the competition is so strong in the backrow and I couldn't leave out somebody like Westwood, Harrison or Joel Tomkins to fit him in.

He'll be in the squad next year with an extra 12 months under his belt imo.

Fair call, you see him every week. That's probably a similar veiw that Saints fans have of Paul Clough. I must say, with SOL at 13 and Mossop, Tomkins and Farrell in the squad, its an impressive backrow set.

Clough's turned out a cracker for us, but looks to be a future prop. Our trio of Dixon, Ashurst and McGennis are a little younger than the above, I think, but here's hoping they turn out in a similar way.

As ever the country is churning out top class forward after top class forward but we need some backs.

Both Wigan and St Helens squads are shaping up to dominate superleague over the next 10 years imo. They have the best 2 reserve set ups and have their best first team players yet to hit their peaks(Graham, Roby, Lockers, Sam and Joel Tomkins etc). I think Wire will be about to challenge for a little while but they'll struggle to fill the gaps left by guys like Briers and Morleys retirements(which must surely come in the next 2 or 3 years).

JTomkins, for me, epitomises this. I know his hands aren't the best at times, but I just feel that if he'd come through down under, they'd have brought him through as a centre.

Agreed.

Joel is a huge lad but is an athlete and has good pace. He would be a devastating centre and would cause any opposing centre all sorts of problems but we always seem to turn these big lads into forwards.

Down the line at Wigan with all the backrow options we have I wouldn't be suprised to see him get a run at centre if we get any injuries. He also wouldn't be a bad shout for centre in the Four Nations if we had many injuries.

Joel is a very good player and is suited to the back row at the moment.
I don't reckon him at centre in the 4N at all.
He is big and great going forward, he is also slow on the turn.
Centres like Inglis (if fit) Gasnier, etc then the Kiwi lads would turn him inside out. Let him do the business in the back row.

A lack of quality backs is no reason to play back rowers out of position and where they've never played for their club. Joel at centre would be a mistake.

Its like the coach looks at him and says "you're big, get in the forwards" when sometimes he should be saying "since you're fast, get in the backs".

Sorry, I'm not suggesting we play Joel out of position.
What I'm talking about is that why we end up with plenty of mobile backrowers but no big centres?

Josh Charnley looks like a lad that could turn out to be a big, athletic centre for us. I was suprised just how big the lad was when watching him for HKR and then us a few weeks back.

1. Widdop
2. Briscoe
3. Glesson
4. Atkins
5. Hall
6. Tomkins
7. Eastmond
8. Morley
9. Sinfield
10.Graham
11.Ellis
12.Tomkins
13.O'Loughlin

14.Roby
15.Fielden
16.Crabtree
17.Burgess

I'd take Crabtree out for Westwood. I just think Crabtree is massively overrated, whenever i've seen Hudds this year i've always been incredibly underwhelmed by him.

Burgess could operate as a prop if needed to, but Graham should be able to count as 2 anyway as he's just a machine.

The aussies didnt have a clue how to deal with Crabtree last year and was along with Burgess or best two players IMO.

But i wouldnt complain if westwood gets in..hes been good this season.

It's a pity we're losing Thornley; he's even bigger - in fact he's been playing 2nd row the last couple of games.

That shortage of good young backs will be sorted in a year or two, with the likes of Charnley, Marsh, Lomax & Foster coming through.

We've been saying this for a while now, and we're still just as bad in the backs as ever. We may have players in our youth set ups that look a class above at that level, but who's to say they'll be able to make the transition. Until those players you've mentioned above (on other prospects at other teams) prove themselves to be good enough to play for England then I don't see how anyone can say our problems in the backs will be sorted in a couple of years.

Fair point, and a lot depends on whether McNamara gives them a chance, of course. I do think that we have a lot more excellent prospects, in all positions, than we had a few years ago, and I hope that will continue as the RFL's quota reductions start to take effect.

Which demonstrates my gripe.

I'd imagine its also because most of the 2nd rowers (Farrell, Tuson, Mossop etc) are playing first team or are injured now, and he's leaving us anyway so we can stop developing him as a centre!

Not wanting to sound like 'Leaguefan' as long as you have teams like HKR and Wakefield with 9 or 10 overseas players in their team it won't make difference if McNamara picks them or not because they won't be playing enough SL games to justify selection.

For me the biggest improvement that needs to be made is in the standard of our reserve and U18s competition, at the moment its pretty awful and the step up to SL is far far too wide at the moment.

Partly, yes, but also to accommodate Roberts at fullback as he continues his rehab, which means switching Veivers to centre.

Going off what I hear on here about Roberts, do you think the club would want to offload him if they could? He seems to be taking an extraordinarily long time to recover fully.

No. It was a bad injury, and the way we're managing OK without him, I'd much rather see him properly recovered, so he can start next season as he did this one.