No sign of a half-back then.



Perhaps this is now business concluded for 2015.



I would have expected us to try and bring in an experienced old head similar to a Paul Deacon type organiser but could only see that happening at the right price.

Smith is our organising half back, don't see the point in having two of them, what we need IMO is someone with a bit of a spark who can take the line on. Powell, Williams and Hampshire have all earned the right to compete for the stand off spot. No point at all in producing talented lads from our academy, giving them plenty SL gametime then just bringing in a signing anyway when a spot becomes available. Particularly as the opportunity to sign proven quality players is pretty slim anyway these days with the NRL cap being so much higher than ours

We're still in an era were we can afford to give young lads a shot due to the overall quality of superleague being at a low point. By teams doing that hopefully the quality of the league (and the national side) will go up given time but at the minute these young lads can cope.



10-15 years back I'd have been very nervous throwing kids in to try and take on guys like Long, Martyn, Briers, Harris, Paul, Lam and so on but that quality isn't there at the moment. Saints have Walsh who is top class and Catalans have Carney but besides those two there isn't a single halfback in the league that really puts me on edge that these guys couldn't take them on. There's some good ones like Brough, Burns and Smith also but these lads are talented and will play behind a top pack including Sean O'Loughlin who helps take the pressure off.

Cory Paterson has signed for Salford,another good addition to their pack.How much of a threat do people see them next year?

I don't see them as a threat in terms of making the top 4 or beating us in a knockout game. They could upset us in a regular season fixture but then so could any Super League team

Thats a great post.



Fully endorse what you are saying

If the report in this mornings Express that Fuifui Moimoi is to sign for Leigh later this week proves to be true, it will make the Leigh v Wigan warm up match in January a lot more interesting. Well done Leigh for trying to raise the profile of the Club.

I thought Wire were after him?

they have paid a fee to secure his signature for the 2019 season

I assume thou jesteth, kind sir. He'll be pushing 40 - he's not Stanley Gene (unless there's something in the water in Tonga)

Wane doesn't think so. He has already said expect to see less young players given games next season due to it being important go well in the regular rounds with P&R back in the picture.

Did he say less young players or less debutants? I seem to recall the latter, which doesn't really apply to Powell (39 apps) or Williams (26 apps)

Didn't he say he'd give less debuts not that he'd play less youngsters? Guys like Hampshire, Williams, Burgess, Manfredi, Sutton etc will still get plenty of games. Due to Thornleys injury I'd expect Gildart to debut pretty early next year but granted not many others may be given their bow due to the new structure. I wouldn't say that's the only reason though, another is the fact that the ones that are ready or nearly ready have already debuted and the next batch of kids like Shorrocks, Waterworth, Gregson etc are all a couple of years off being ready.



We'll still have a very young squad and team next year, possibly the youngest.

While young I think some of our young players have quite a few games under their belt such as Burgess and Williams (who has been given the 6 jersey anyway) and are established first team members already. I assumed Wane and you were referring to players with far less experience than that.



I will be interesting to see if say Bowen is injured whether he puts an established player like Sarginson at 1 with Joel moving to centre rather than play a much less experienced player like Tierney.

In my original post I was talking more so about young halves then in general but the point still stands that the league is still weak enough to allow us to keep developing guys like Hampshire, Williams, Manfredi, Sutton and so on. All have debuted already and I fully agree it may be more difficult now to give debuts (although in truth we don't have that many lads ready now who haven't already had their debut) then last year but I don't see no reason why these lads can't keep developing.



They're all still juniors for me(apart from maybe Burgess who is fully established) and will continue to get games. 10 years ago I certainly wouldn't have classed a lad like Williams as established and I still don't now. He's got a way to go to get to that level but we can give him a chance to do that were ten years back I'd have been calling for us to sign a replacement for Green. At the moment I don't feel there's a need for us to do that.



I still think Wane will put faith in young players in the correct positions to stand up in the event of an injury like your Bowen example. If he was out I'd expect Hampshire to play, if Charnley was injured I'd expect Manfredi to play, if Sarginson was injured I'd expect Gildart to play and so on. Gildart would be the only debutant on that list but giving him a 4 year deal is a sign they think he's ready.

Heard Paul Wood has walked out on Wire, contacted Wigan to enquire about a move but was told we had better options. Not sure if that will change now Eddy has gone

Don't rate him at all.

Would rather give Sutton and Greenwood a chance

I've heard he's taken his ball home.

Bit below the belt that is Matty, but you could say that what you are saying is getting to the cr#tch of the matter.

A little rumour in the Manchester Evening News today states that Wigan are looking to a replace Pettybourne with an Australian.

Although I don't see a position crying out for reinforcements, a big earner has gone and as a fan you'd like to see the club spending the full cap on the squad.



I suspect we'll leave it for the time being though, see how the season transpires and look for a player when/ if it becomes clear someone is needed.



I'd like to see a replacement hooker who can really impact the game rather than someone who just 'does a job' while Mcilorum rests.

To be fair MM did a job whilst Riddel was off the field once upon a time. Worth developing the lads and I hope Powell has been conditioned for a hooking role in 2015 along with Logan, who I still think may do a job for us.





As for a replacement for Eddie, unless we have the cap to sign quality no point signing anybody.

In todays Daily Express (27/12/14) it says that Catalan Dragons have joined the race to sign Gil Dudson after Wigan told him he was free to leave.

There's a race? Jeez.