Thing with Hock is that he's missed 3 years out the last 11 seasons here at Wigan. 8 seasons playing = 0 trophies. 3 seasons absent = 3 trophies. Coincidence?

Probably yes. Unless you think he's the sole reason we didn't win a trophy in those 8 seasons..

Not entirely but he's missed 6 games suspended* playing for Widnes this year. That sums him up. Not got a cool enough head and thus makes him a liability. Shame because on his day he is absolute class but the sad reality for him is he is in danger of his career ending and wondering how on earth he won nothing. Sadly he only has to look at himself to why!

*He would of missed two of those 6 games anyway as he was ruled out of playing Wigan but was still banned for them.

Have we not tried the 'strong as possible' option already this season with Farrell or Tuson or Burke at loose forward and it's not really worked. If we do the same again we will get the same disjointed performances, i feel.
Also if you put Flower at loose forward then you still need four other props which means Dudson playing, who is a liability at the moment.
I'd still like to see Blake Green at loose forward, against Leeds initially to see how it goes.

Had all the physical talent in the world and could have been the standout backrow of his generation.

Sadly has all the mental talent of a fieldmouse with learning difficulties. A crying shame from an RL supporters perspective.

Yeah hope he is fit for the WC - for a lot of seasons I didnt get all the fuss around him to be fair, but last couple of seasons has really highlighted how important he is for you guys and would be a good shout for 13 in the WC

Still can't understand why we didn't bring Sam Hopkins to the club when we signed him. Wears the 8 shirt at Leigh but has played 13 most of the season.
No SOL but he would have been decent cover, he's a big man and has the skills.
Fitness would have been an issue and he probably couldn't have done 80 mins as Lockers does.
Still think he'd have been decent cover for SOL though!

I suspect that part of the deal to sign him would have been to leave at Leigh for the rest of the season. In addition if he had come to Wigan he probably would have spent a lot of it not playing at all as it is hard to see who would have been dropped to make way for him. Sure he could have been cover for SOL but when SOL was playing where would Hopkins fit then?

I think you're correct. Didn't the same thing happen with Chris Hill when he signed for Wire?

Also the possibility that we dont have enough cap room for him

I thought he'd be cover for SOL and also add considerable size and skill to our pack back row.
Although long gone, Gaz Hock was a big man and with Hasen and Lockers formed a formidable threesome in the pack.
A three of Hansen, Farrell & Tuson doesn't have the same size, power or skill.
If Hopkins had arrived then he could easily have fitted into our back row. Another advantage for SW would have been he can play prop too.

According to Wigan Today and the article 'Big Guns Back For The Leeds Clash,' Lockers won't make the game but everyone is hopeful that he'll be back for the play offs after another week off. Seems it is still his ongoing calf injury with no mention of an achilles problem which is good news, if true.

Having lockers fit for the playoffs will be the difference between us getting to the final or not.

He's been for a scan in London today according to the official site. It says its a new calf injury picked up in the cup final.

It seems very specialist to send him to London for a calf scan though so something smells fishy. I'm no medical expert but that would seem a pretty straight forward thing to get done locally?

Fingers crossed.

No, I know of a couple of the lads having scans by the specialist in Wrightington, as I had one too. He was chatting about the Wigan lads a bit but even he said that some of the bigger names always get sent down to London for the specialists opinions. So I think it would be correct that they would want the best diagnosis and no chance of errors in bringing him back too soon to do permanent damage perhaps.

Agreed

Out for the season according to Phil Wilk in the W.E.P.oh I wish Hock was back! Just what we need at the minute

With Hock & SOL in your pack the outlook for the play off's would be very different. But one thing that Wigan do seem very good at is adopting a backs to the wall mentality. It would not at all surprise me for Wigan to reach the G/F. This years play off's are the most open and unpredictable for a good few years.

As a best guess I think the G/F will be contested between Warrington and any one of Huddersfield, Leeds, Wigan with Saints & Catalan as the dark horses.

He's a big loss for sure. From the more obvious contributions, like the track back with Charnley at Wembley, to the positional & tactical nous, he's big for Wigan & England.

On the down side he is to blame for Sinfiled being at 6 because he's tying up his loose forward spot



Winner will come from top 3 this year. Wigan should win on Thursday.

That's us out of the race now IMO no lockers no trophies.

Why the hell did they release a statement saying he'll be right to play in 10 days, then two days later release another saying he'll be out for at least a month and 10 days?

Very disappointing blow for us that. It looks like he gave it everything in the CC final in the knowledge that it may end his season. At least we have that trophy in the back and the pressure is off going in to the play offs.

Who to play at 13 is the question! I'd be tempted to put Ben Flower there and play an extra prop. Andy Powell could be that extra man and maybe a surprise package for the play offs.

We should get through to the semis and then it's a one-off game where we won't be under any pressure having banked the cup. Wane says he's learned lessons from 2011. The more who write us off the better.

Massive blow and I think it makes our playoff challenge even greater. People always go on about how much we miss Sam, But for me O'Loughlin is someone we miss just as much if not more. The difference when he is in the team is massive and with Blake Green in poor form having O'loughlin in would have helped us going forward along with the defensive effort that he puts in.

I was pretty confident of doing the double this year with the players we've rested lately but losing Lockers is a HUGE blow.