Ah I get you, I think you know the answer to that Conroy....

Conroy?

yeah

100% Bibby deserves the first shot.

I might be mistaken, but did he not play centre for Salford and play well too (well enough for us to go in for him)? Pretty sure he scored a try in the GF from that position too.

In regards to the rest of his game, he's massively underrated imo. Very rarely, if ever, does his opposite man get the better of him. In fact, he's had plenty of media darlings (Johnstone) in his back pocket a couple of times.

I assume he's signed a new contract btw. Not that the club have bothered to mention it.

The question is, will we be looking for two centres or one?

Would you / anyone else give Halsall a shot above Thornely?

If you use Gildart as an example, he played 28 games in his 2nd season & never really looked back. I've been quietly impressed with Halsall and like how solid he is & how he goes about his business. Very rarely does he make a mistake, or get rattled etc.

I would certainly give Halsall some game time this year. Whether that leads to him being first choice or not I don't know, but he impressed me last season.

Quote ="sergeant pepper"100% Bibby deserves the first shot. I might be mistaken, but did he not play centre for Salford and play well too (well enough for us to go in for him)? Pretty sure he scored a try in the GF from that position too. In regards to the rest of his game, he's massively underrated imo. Very rarely, if ever, does his opposite man get the better of him. In fact, he's had plenty of media darlings (Johnstone) in his back pocket a couple of times. I assume he's signed a new contract btw. Not that the club have bothered to mention it.'" https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... e-21895701 Centre is his preferred position according to this.

Quote ="sergeant pepper"100% Bibby deserves the first shot. I might be mistaken, but did he not play centre for Salford and play well too (well enough for us to go in for him)? Pretty sure he scored a try in the GF from that position too. In regards to the rest of his game, he's massively underrated imo. Very rarely, if ever, does his opposite man get the better of him. In fact, he's had plenty of media darlings (Johnstone) in his back pocket a couple of times. I assume he's signed a new contract btw. Not that the club have bothered to mention it.'" https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... e-21895701 Centre is his preferred position according to this.

He was great in the centre for Salford it’s only really at Wigan where he has had to play centre.

His link with Hastings at Salford as half and centre was outstanding.

Shame we never really saw it at Wigan.

That lines up with my thoughts on the lad. I think that, if given a consistent shot, he'll be a success.

Leigh supporters seeing Lam as a messiah might be no different to some Wigan supporters thinking the same about Peet !

Bet you said the same three seasons ago!

I know centre is his preferred position but I like him on the wing to be honest. OK he isn't as fast as some wingers but he's bloody difficult for opposition wingers to stop if we get him the ball near the line, and he's hard to put down making the hard yards as well which is a big part of wing play these days. I think if he had a different background we would be calling him the tank on the flank. We just aren't used to a big winger who isn't an islander.

He’s not. He’s the next Shane Webcke

Spot on that. It’s clear from his videos he still has some development in him. He’s not going to be anywhere near a starting berth in 2022 (unless there’s an injury crisis in the forwards) but I imagine he may well get some game time, albeit probably less than 5 across the whole season.

I’m excited to see him develop. He looks like he [icould[/i grow into a good prop forward. But as has been said, it’s a project low risk signing in an area we needed to recruit for and build solid foundations for the coming years too. 3 birds one stone, I don’t see how any Wigan fan can be ‘underwhelmed’ by it.

I'm more underwhelmed by the large article on the club website trying to spin these signings as massive coups, when in reality we have signed a centre from Leigh who we've let go twice already and a forward who is completely unproven at championship level and has thus far only played for London Broncos academy.

Happy to eat humble pie in 2022 if Thornley scores a hatful of tries/assists and features in >75% of our games, but his past record of 45 appearances in 4 years doesnt suggest he will be a regular starter.

What do you expect them to say?

Just to confirm, the club have never let Thornley go.

He's left us twice and both times we had a deal on the table for him. It was his choice and reading IL's comments from the last time it happened, he was pretty miffed about it too.

Even if he plays 10 games this season, you'd hope that's 10 games where Isa doesn't have to cover and some young kid doesn't get over exposed. I'm more than happy with that.

It's a squad game and he's a squad player.

Damned if they do and if they don’t I guess. They needed to announce the Thornley signing and were being called out for not doing so last week and now they have. I think Jonh nailed it with the Thornley signing in calling it a ‘moneyball’ signing. Is he going to terrorise teams, lay 30 try’s on a plate for his winger and be an absolute game changer for us? No probably not but he’s going to play a part in fixing a huge issue for us and that’s trundling the ball away from our end. He’s a big body with a point to prove and he has a good try scoring record. He is a low risk signing IMO and I don’t think he’ll let us down.

The other lad is a long term thing. They’re not going to put a press release out saying ‘we’ve signed a young prop nobody has heard of to play reserves’ but I’ve seen clips of him and there looks to be some talent there. If it doesn’t work out then nothing lost but if he’s another KPP , it’s happy days.

I like Bibby don’t get me wrong but deffo see him as a centre. Slow and dreadful under the high ball so can’t stay on the wing for me.

Give him the number 4 shirt and a good run of games there and we’ll see him thrive.

Hopefully Miski is good and can make the right wing spot his own.

Our wages and salary structure are essentially out of kilter. IL explained recently that we are up to the cap because we are paying the likes of Partington, Smithies, Havard, Byrne, Shorrocks etc. more than they could really expect anywhere else. Obviously, the powers that be see potential in these young lads, don’t want to lose them and are paying them a premium because of this. Otherwise, we could no doubt afford to bolster the squad with a couple of ‘ready now’ experienced pros.

He absolutely 100% did not say that

My mistake if he didn’t then. From memory, I thought it was something along those lines.

He said they would have their salaries increased. I don't see why this is controversial to be honest. They came to the table for their initial contract negotiations having never played first team, just happy to get signed. They come back to the table years later as proven regular SL players. Obviously they would be worth more on the open market during the second contract negotiations so will be able to command higher salaries as a result. Some may take a bit less than another club might offer them if they are settled or have an affinity with the club, but I doubt they would take much less.

Yes
And he threw out a hypothetical line that said players such as KPP signs a contract and as you say is happy with that, but 1/2 years later after they come back and want 100k a year.
Now don't take that literally, he was just explaining that players want increases year on year as they are developing and that there is a cost/price to pay for that.

I know for a FACT Partington/Byrne/Smithies etc over the last 2 years were and still are on a fraction of that 100k that some people have jumped on and claimed they are all on.
Each is different but on average its half of that figure or less.