in light of our recent performances ive been reading this board again on a daily basis - ive not been doing this for the last 2 or 3 seasons

think its worth for his and our sake to first of all caution against the sam tomkins hype thats taking over. do any of us realistically know he will be amazing? i hope he is, i really do but all this talk is building one hell of an expectation on the lad. he could turn out to be the next edwards or something but i just hope we dont build him up and knock him down in a luke rob/kevin brown way - both of whom were the local lad solution to our lack of creativity at times.

the other one is noble and the way fans have turned on him very quickly. i personally still thinkhe is decent enough and has done a decent job at the club as a whole. he doesnt have final say over transfer policy and this must be remembered when ripping into the ins and outs at the club. i agree aspects of our game are unacceptably poor at the minute but i struggle to see how an ellery hanley type character would do any better. if talk of losing the dressing room is proved to be correct then for the sake of the club then he should go, but tbh i am 100% laying the blame at the players door thus far. you dont really mind losing if its done with passion.

The longer he waits to give Sam a game, the more people will talk about it and maybe the more pressure on him to produce, especially if he is 26 by the time he makes his debut.
I say give him a game. If he performs...great. If he doesn't...so what. Drop him for a while. Simple.

He could easily get a game or two at wakie with our top 4 half backs all injured. his name had been thrown round and suggested by fans as someoe who could do a job in the short term and benifit both clubs in the grand scheme; ala Dave Halley and Braford.
Do you think BN or whoever has the final say on transfers would let him out on loan?

I say give him a try, he is 20 years old so he is not exactly a kid is he?.

We will never know if Sam is up for the job unless he is given a chance.

I would blood him in from the bench and let him on later in the game and see how he goes, but do not expect miracles straight away

i saw sam play in last seasons last game at sts hell and he played eastmond of the pitch give the lad ago

I'd rather blood him here but if we continue to omit him from the squad then trinity with a 24hr recall is a good bet.

Noble talks about not rushing him but he's taking the p*ss at the minute with him. If he's not in the side on Saturday i really do despair!

This is what gets to me about rugby league in this country. If we have a young lad who's obviously a class act everyone is nervous about rushing them but they aren't going to learn and improve by sitting in our sub standard reserve comp. Lets get them in the first teams and let them learn on the job. If they start to look jaded then take them out of the fire for a couple of weeks and let them rest.

When GB were half decent(yet still losing) back in the 80's and early 90's clubs didn't seem to have as much of a problem with putting the youngsters in.

Would you be happy with Sam, Ainscough, Goulding and Smith all in the backline on Saturday?

I would.. thats wigans future apart from Smith lets get the ball rolling and give Tomkins and Ainscough the starting spots.

Would you not be?

With the way we are playing atm, I would rather play all our players who have come through the academy plus feka and pat and carmont as I do believe that would be a better side.

I named a team in the Ainscough thread and didn't include Goulding so i suppose i'd have to say no. It's nothing personal against Goulding but i'd worry about our defence with all those lads in.

I put Bailey in at centre which to me would really help out our defence on that right hand side thats looked so leaky.

noble must think s tomkins ok but not a 1st teamer! he scored 5 tries in is debut

get S TOMKINS PLAYING NOW

Lets get them all in tomkins,ainscough,mossop,farrall if were going to lose lets lose with pride but know were building for the future.


COME ON WIGAN !!

That's a major concern of mine and why I would start with O'loughlin at standoff with Sam on the bench.

Great minds think alike

. Been saying this for weeks now. You can't have Smith and Goulding on the same side of the pitch in defence. It's just asking to be punished.

Is this definate?

As for Tomkins. Bench for him on Sat.

I too would go with this, it seems like a sensible option and one in which will help if/when Smith is targeted.

It is, Bailey in the centre is exactly what we need currently.

The way I took it from the fans forum was:

If Noble wants a player and Lenegan says we can't afford him we don't get him.

On the flip side if Lenegan wants a player and Noble doesn't want him we don't get him.

So basically it sounds like they both have to like the player and he has to be 'affordable'.

The only issue here is what is deemed to be 'affordable' because it the moment we just seem to sign squad fillers and no one of any real world class quality. I know the squad has to have balance but for me I would sacrifice two average players such as Mathers and Coley for example to bring in a world class prop/centre/stand off.

This is the problem that seems to be coming up with IL, everyone we sign seems to be a cheap version, on some kind of deal that benefits the club.

Yes, it has finally given us a big squad, but we now have more numbers than quality.

Not seen the squad yet for this week but heard a whisper sam is in the 17

From who?

I do not see any way that he cannot be, well apart from the fact our coach seems hell bent against it, but in the current circumstances there really is no other option.

Mathers?

Where do we play him? 1, 6, or 9?



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In all seriousness, with Riddell lacking fitness and McIllorum banned, Sam has to come in on the bench. With the pressure on Noble as it is, O'Loughlin to 6 isn't going to help in the overall relation to what we might achieve.

Is Sam a 6 or a 7?