I doubt anyone realistically expects any (hopes maybe...) - Wane is nothing if not consistent and will stick with the same players in the same positions regardless of results and performances.

True that. We can talk all we want about who we want in certain positions but ultimately I think we all know it'll be Tomkins at fullback and Leuluai in the halves. I've noticed Phil Wilkinson mention Escare as a bench option on a few occasions as though he's been dropped a hint. I sense we may see him coming on in games with a reshuffle of Tomkins in to the halves and Tommy in to hooker.

All we can hope is Sam and the rest of the lads in now get through pre season ok and the World Cup lads come back in one piece. If they do then hopefully we'll be able to build some momentum.

Does anyone remember the 2013 Challenge Cup game at HKR. Wigan were really struggling after Rovers decided to "mix it" and Paterson took Blake Green out of the game with a late tackle.

After about 30 minutes Wane moved Sam Tomkins into the half backs and he tore Rovers apart. I think he score three or four tries to turn the game into a comfortable Wigan victory.

I hope that's still in his memory bank.

I remember that quite well. Tomkins was outstanding in the halves that day. I genuinely can’t see a reason not to have Escare at the back and Tomkins back in the halves, IMHO it’ll be utterly ludicrous to have it any other way.

Shaun Wane will be the reason why you won't see this happen especially if he knows its the fans that are wanting it.

He did it back in 2013, why would he not want to at least give it a try next year?

He'll probably have to try it in pre season with Leuluai and McIlorum away (and not joining up with the squad until late doors) so all we can hope is that it works and forces his hand.

If we go along the lines of giving a short number out based on how they perform, give Davies and Gelling squad numbers 8 & 10 respectively with our props being given the warriors fans shirt, seeing as they do little else when on the field.

We have too many players not performing and put it all down to Wane and his drab and somewhat odd game plan. Have props who don't take the ball in, wingers who do the props job, and 7 and 9 who offer no creativity at all, but hey they can put shot in so they'll do for Wane.

Drab it may be but it is no different from the majority of NRL teams. Why is that odd?

And four of England's to five metre makers are Jermaine McGillvary, Ryan Hall, John Bateman and Kallum Watkins

When I think back to last season we started really well, we were strong defensively and fluid in attack. Once the injuries kicked in I don’t know if Wane changed the game plan to compensate, whether we lost confidence or it was just the numbers missing but we never got that form back.

I don’t know whether to fear the worst for this year or to be cautiously optimistic. I’m genuinely intrigued to see how the team plays.

It is really exhilarating to watch and is the only way to play


Don't know about anyone else but after 20 minutes of the Lebanon game I had effectively stopped watching as it was pretty painful to watch.
Coaches are absolutely killing the game

I haven't watched ANY of the world cup yet, I have just lost total interest in the game over the last 12/18 months due to the boring turgid nature of our play

And yet, the worst game of rugby league is still more exciting to watch than any game of football or union.

I enjoyed the England v Australia game and the Ireland v Italy game. I've also enjoyed the games involving Fiji, Tonga and PNG. Can't wait for the NZ v Tonga game this weekend.

Yet you're still posting on a rugby league forum? Why bother if you've no interest at the moment?

I agree with the last poster - the England v Australia game was good and the games involving Pacific Island nations have been entertaining. There's obviously some really poor teams in there - Wales, USA, Scotland, Lebanon. Would have expected a bit more from France as well but I wish they could get a full side out there for once - put Escare, Duport, Casty and Springer in there and it would help them out a lot.

As for Tomkins, wherever he plays I'm quite hopeful that he'll have a much better year in 2018 if he gets through a full pre-season unscathed.

We played well on the opening day at Salford (a Salford team who after that day up until the super 8's would go on and have a top season) and put in a huge performance against Cronulla then it went west.

I think a combination of the effects of the Cronulla game and some injuries killed the bit of momentum we had a few weeks after Cronulla and it never got going again. We may have to deal with a similar energy sapper (both physically and mentally) next season with us travelling down under. Once the bright lights, beaches and sunshine haze has faded, I just hope the players have it in them to switch on for games against Wakefield, Huddersfield, Widnes etc in the cold of England. They seemed to find it very difficult to raise themselves at times last year and they can't let that happen again.

I watched Part 1 of the season review on Wigan TV last night, and it struck me, we actually were playing some decent stuff at the start of the season! Even FPN looked like he could be d for a few games.

[url=https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-league/wigan-warriors/wane-excited-to-try-out-new-combinations-1-8862884Maybe he isn't completely stuck in his ways after all.[/url This sounds really promising to me that he appears to have acknowledged the issue and be willing to look at ways to solve it.

This fills me with hope for next season. If we can keep them all fit. Personally I am still quietly confident Sam will impress with a full pre-season. He's not had one now for what 4 years? Maybe more?

1. Escaré
6/7. Williams
6/7. Tomkins
9. Mickey/Leuluai

That looks pretty formidable to me, not forgetting about Powell and what will Shorrocks bring to the table? Is Tomkins' long kicking game strong enough for a starting half position? Lots of questions I'm looking forward to finding out the answers to.

We basically just need to try every combination and go with the one that works best.

A few clubs have used halves off the bench recently with decent success so like Wane says Escaré off the bench could be interesting.

Another area we need to have a clean slate with is prop. I don't have a great deal of confidence in any of them tbh but we'll need to pick four so the friendlies should be an open audition. If Wells, Hamlin, Field etc out perform Nuuausala, Tautai and co then get them in the team.

If nothing else comes from a poor season last year then I hope it's taught Wane that you can't always have this attitude that X, Y or Z have done well for me in the past so they'll get selected. I can only think of Tom Davies, Gildart, Farrell and Bateman who I'd personally say earned their shirts for next season based on this years performances. The rest should start afresh. If Marshall outplays Burgess in pre season then get him in, if Forsyth outshines Gelling then pick him. Make players earn their shirts and fight to keep them. Our pre season should be one big audition.

The change of view by Waney is good that he's thinking of moving players positions who were previously unmovable.
We can have a top class spine of the team and remove the predictability that has restricted the team for some time now.

You don't think O'Loughlin earned his shirt NK?

I obviously meant that it goes without saying



It does though.

I was at a sportsman's dinner on Friday and Shaun Wane was guest speaker. He was asked this very question about fitting Sam and Escare in the team and said that they were looking at the different combinations for them, mentioning that Escare had in the past played at #1, #6, #7 and #9.