I wouldnt be surprised to see us move for the older burgess from leeds.

No thanks. Prescott and O'Carroll are already better than him.

At the end of this season i would let the following leave:

Bailey,
Coley,
Pryce
Flannagan
Smith.

I would then sign a top quality 7 and a top quality hard agressive prop.

Petro isn't to old imo. I’d say prop is the only position on the field where you can play on for much longer into your 30’s mostly because you normally only one of four people in that position in the team. No other position on the pitch has three other people doing the same role as happens in the front row. Also the attributes that go first due to age such as a yard of pace don’t effect the front row as much as they do other positions.

No where else on the pitch would I advocate signing a player at Petro’s age as I agree with the principle of continuity and not having short term fixes but if we could get in a young class HB to partner Sam long term then we could easily make a very strong case for signing a legend like Petro.

If we were to sign Orford tho I wouldn’t take Petro as it’s all about getting the balance right and as a team as I said before we can carry on player like Petro who is at the end of his career.

Btw as a side thought is Asotasi not coming off contract at the same time as Fielden? He’d be one of my top targets that year.

Players out of contract in 2010:

Lee Mossop
Harrison Hansen
Eamon O'carroll
Paul Prescott
Darrell Goulding
Michael McIlorum
Sam Tomkins
Feka Paleaasina
Stuart Fielden

Apart from Harrison Hansen, Stuart Fielden and Feka Paleaasina. All the players mentioned have options (in Wigan's favour for 2011) for contract extensions.

Didn't Hansen sign a contract extension to 2011 last season?

Ones in bold should be given extensions and unless Hansen(although I am a big fan of his but with Farrell and Mossop coming through), Goulding and McIlorum show great signs of improvement they shouldn't be kept

Personally I would send Goulding and McIlroum on loan to super league clubs for next season and see how they go

Shame its not this season because he would go straight to the top of the list IMO

I think whether we get him next season depends on who we bring in to replace Coley. If we bring Luke Bailey or Petero then we should look at LMS instead (off contract at end of 2010) but if we bring in Lynch or someone like that then we should definitely go for Asotasi. Although the thought of Asotasi and Luke Bailey/Petero in the same front row is a frightening thought (for opposing teams

)

Props for 2011 season

Bailey/Petero LMS Feka Prescott/Eamon
OR
Lynch Asotasi Feka Prescott/Eamon
OR (for the optomists

)
Bailey/Petero Asotasi Feka Prescott/Eamon

A front row that might actually strike a bit of fear into other teams

My bad he did.

I understand what your getting at and think it would work well if we could get the right players in. To start with we would need a top class Enforcer (Luke Bailey being my preference) but with the impact prop apart from Fuifui Moimoi (who probably wouldn't get a visa) who else is there available.

I personally get the impression that the main tasks of the enforcer is to lead the pack and make the hard yards and get the team on the front foot. If you look at the stats for Bailey and Petero they average around 8.5 metres per carry with about 25 tackles per game. That shows to me (along with when I have seen them) that for a prop playing around 55-60 minutes per game the amount of tackles isn't as many as you would expect but the metres they make are outstanding and both being captains of their respective sides show they are leaders too. If you look at a workman props stats such as Lynch, so far this season he has averaged just over 40 tackles per game. I think a combination with an enforcer(eg Bailey), worker(eg Lynch), impact (Feka) and youngster (Prescott/Eamon) would provide a hardworking, metre making front row which would give us constant go forward and solidarity for 80 minutes instead of 40 at the moment when Feka is on

Pryce is part of a long term plan and could be quality he is worth a shot over a few years IMO.

Flannagan has not even had his chance yet.

Flanagan should be re-signed given the fact that we paid a fair fee for him and he has not been given a chance yet. But should we re-sign him he should be sent on loan for a full season elsewhere otherwise another year in the reserves will be just a waste of cap space.

Leeds Rhinos:

Enforcer: Kylie Leuluai
Worker: Jamie Peacock
Impact: Ali Lauitiiti
Youngster: Luke Burgess




I Don't think so but that's just my opinion of course...

I don't think Prescott and O'carroll are better than Luke Burgess yet however I believe from what I have seen from all three players that Paul Prescott has the most potential.

Prescott is older than luke bruges.

True...

Paul Prescott: January 1, 1986 (1986-01-01) (age 23)
Luke Burgess: 20 February 1987 (1987-02-20) (age 22)
Eamon O'Carroll: 13 June 1987 (1987-06-13) (age 21)

to me they can no longer be classed as youngsters.

Maybe for a front row they are still young, but a player at 23 is not a youngster.

Real top draw Players make regular games in super league at 18 and 19 years old so at 23 it is now or never for prescott i think.

Stats according to[url=http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_player.php?hs1=2007&hp1=2424&hs2=2006&hp2=2304&stat=tries&season=2009...[/url

Paul Prescott: 41 Super League Apperances (2004+)
Luke Burgess: 29 Super League Apperances (2007+)
Eamon O'Carroll: 44 Super League Apperances (2006+)

In prop terms they are babies and they will all probably(and hopefully) be around for the next 10 years at least

Prescott will be a fantastic player IMO, hope he can develop into our own Graham/LMS/Sam Burgess
I hope Eamon continues to improve and finds that bit of aggression and then he will truly be a class player too
Luke Burgess will most likely always play in the shadow of his brother but will too be a classy player

Prescott played in 2004

Didnt know that.

The quota comes down next year as well which is something we will have to consider. At the moment it is 8 overseas players allowed in your squad. At the moment this is what we have:

Pat Richards
Amos Roberts
George Carmont
Tim Smith
Thomas Leuluai
Mark Riddell
Feka Paleaasina
Phil Bailey
Cameron Phelps
Harrison Hansen

Now I think Harrison Hansen and Thomas Leuluai don't count on any quota.

The five overseas players we have at the club at the moment are: Tim Smith, Phil Bailey, Mark Riddell, Amos Roberts and Cameron Phelps.

With George Carmont and Feka both having Samoan passports. Pat Richards being Irish.

Next season we will only be allowed 6 overseas players which so far we have:

Mark Riddell, Amos Roberts, Feka, Richards

We have 4 overseas players out of contract in George Carmont, Tim Smith, Cameron Phelps and Phil Bailey. Now out of them I would only like to sign up George Carmont and release the rest which would leave us with:

Mark Riddell
Amos Roberts
George Carmont
Feka Paleaasina
Pat Richards

Which only leaves us with 1 more overseas player we are allowed to sign for next season. So if we do need to recruit a prop forward and a halfback one of them will have to be British.

I hope that is right.

Lynch + Halfback/ Other player

Jamie Peacock is the enforcer.
He is the one other teams will fear, he is the one who leads by example and is the first to get suck in when the fists are raised.


Ali Lau is a SR, It's Ryan Bailey who is the other prop.

That or Myler and an Aussie Prop

(Myler's running the show against leeds atm)