Assuming you are referring to kick returns, he was already doing that before he went to NZ. I think it's probably because:

A - Given his size, he is less likely to win the collision and get a quick PTB to start the set off well
B - In that situation, the opposition know he won't pass, and there won't be gaps for him to step through, so they basically get a free shot at one our best players if he returns the ball. If they give a penalty away, who cares? It's deep in our half, worth it to intimidate him.

I get why it annoys people, but I think it's the right call, use players to their strengths.

I think that you may be correct although personally I would love to see ST at 6 as he has for me a natural RL brain and we need someone in the middle with that capability because SOL is likely to be off the pitch more than he is on it and without someone like him on the pitch for 80 minutes we are truly useless.

I have never seen Escare play 6 so I cannot comment on his capabilities with ball in hand however, I think he his capable of having a good kicking game so this maybe part of the thinking of playing him at 6.

My worry is that we may have Powell & Williams in the halves or god forbid Williams & TL as per last season.

MM leaving weakens the tackling strength in the middle as we saw last year so much. Everyone moaning about him and SOL going off at the same time but now people dont seem to be bothered about it...weird

Tommy can defend in the middle, no problem. He's done it on the biggest stage playing for NZ. If the new combination offers a lot more flair but slightly less aggression in defence, I'll be more than happy. Last season was boring.

Blog piece on the two leaving [urlhttps://wiganrugbyfans.com/2018/01/04/a-goodbye-to-mickey-mac-and-anthony-gelling/[/url

hes our 7 though so powell and ganson will be the hookers

I'd say there are only one or two who aren't actually bothered. But sometimes you just have to accept reality, even if you don't like it, and that may mean looking at alternatives and seeing potential positives if there are any.

We can vent our annoyance all day, but that isn't going to change the Chairman, and by the looks of it, not even the coach, so ultimately it amounts to a waste of breath.

Personally, I'm sorry MM's gone - more so than Gelling - but that doesn't mean he added a great deal to our cause last season. I appreciate that some will claim it was down to the coach, but the player has to bear some responsibility too.

My main worry about all this is that, on paper at least, we now look even weaker than we did last season ... but I'm hopeful that we haven't finished recruiting yet, plus things may be different with a whole bunch of players back from injury. There are some reasons to look forward to this coming season.

Williams and Sam will be our halves. Tommy will be 9

And we'll be much better for it as well. I'm personally really excited to see Sam back at HB. It sounds strange saying it as he's had a great career, but i still think it was a mistake moving him from there all those years ago. For me we've not seen a top class 6 come through the club since Long. When one comes around, especially one like Sam, he should have never been moved.

Also another thing to touch on is what this means long term into 2019. If Escare struggles this season i wouldn't be surprised to see Sarge moving to FB and us being on the lookout for a real top draw centre.

For me it depends on Tomkins' pace/speed. If he can find his pace his best position is FB. FB doesn't have to do half as much tackling as any player in the line. A top FB can communicate with the line in defence and attack, Sam can do all of the above as he is an excellent reader of the game.

A FB attacks both sides of the pitch, linking outside of the 6 and 7 as a second if not third receiver joining the attack where they see fit. Sam is perfect for this, has great hands and a great attacking rugby brain.

If he has pace why limit him to a position where he only features on one side of the pitch and has to do a tone more tackling? Doesn't make sense.

However, if he's lost his pace he'll be partially ineffective as a FB, his plays will be read and he won't have the pace to beat outside backs or make cover tackles in defence. He might as well play at 6 or 7 and create plays for others.

I agree with moving Tommy to 9. I believe he's the best 9 we have, including a massively overrated Micky Mac.

The issue for me now is Escare, not good enough to be a FB for us, and to the best of my knowledge has none/limited experience in the halves.

I hope so I just cant see wane doing it

The comments on McIlorum’s departure were that Leuluai and Powell are hookers so it sounds like TL is definitely moving to 9.

When Escare played FB at the start or the season we did not loose a match until he was injured, then we went down hill.

Just watched the Tommy and Wane interviews on Wigan tv and both Wane and Tommy said Tommy will be at 9 ... Wane mentioned Ganson but not Sam Powel maybe Powel will be given a shot in the halves at some point though Im hoping for a
1 Escarre, 6 SamT, 7 Williams, 9 Tommy/Powell/Ganson and 13 Lockers .
I would still want Powell to do an 80 if at 9.

I'm a fan of putting Escare at full back, but that's not true. We went 4 games without a win with him at FB between March and April. He was also at FB for the Cas hammering when the wheels really fell off.

I wouldn't read into that too much considering how bad he was v Cas when we were hammered, or how Catalan deemed him not good enough, eventually bringing in Tony Gigot. They didn't even consider him good enough to feature on the wing.

I thought having him as a back-up was a good bit of business, just not a starter.

How about:

1 Williams
6 Tomkins
7 Powell
9 Tommy
Interchange Ganson.

Maybe Williams would be better as a free running fb...

That’s exactly what I’ve been saying for nearly 6months now and it’s exactly what should happen too.

It wasn’t really a case of Catalans wanting to let him go, it was more to do with the circle of friends and outside influences he had around him from his youth that were deemed to be holding him back.

They tried on several occasions to adjust his mentality but he kept going back to the same group.

It was deemed by Catalans and the player who wanted to break away the only way this could be done was a total move away hence why he ended up with us. Were his off field situation sorted he would be a Catalans player now.

We’ve been crying out for a kicking 7. We still don’t really have one but Tomkins is miles better than Powell at it. Powell just can’t get any length to his kicks although I do like his kicking close to the line. Surprisingly Escare did some great field kicking from FB last season.

I do think that when comparing Escaré and ST at full-back, opinions were coloured, not unreasonably, by the relative expectations for both players and the size of their pay-packets. Escaré looked a risk, to say the least, and people were pleasantly surprised when he proved much better than expected.

Does that make him a better full-back than Sam? Not so clear-cut, to say the least.

Escare isn't a better full back than Sam but the balance of the spine looks very good with Morgan, Sam, George, TL and Lockers.
That looks like the best spine of any team in SL.
To make them play at their best we need the front row and the whole pack to get us on the front foot and going forward with power and pace. The backs have real pace and it all needs us getting our act together.

Spot on FT. If we can have a bit more luck with injuries and keep key players fit, we’ll not be far off. I may be in a severe minority but I can’t wait for the season to start.

I just hope the players are buzzing to get going. They’ve looked like their minds are elsewhere at points these past couple of years and as though they’re struggling to motivate themselves for anything other then the really big games. We can learn a lot from Cas last year and how they seemed to enjoy each other’s success and celebrated try’s as a team.

If we can get a good spirit going and some excitement in to the players, we’ve got more then enough talent to not only win games but to entertain.

There’s definitely something in this. If we look back 2 or 3 years it was almost as if there was a forfeit for being last to join the celebrations! They were running in from everywhere and laughing their heads off!