Gadwin Springer apparently signing for Trinity. Can't judge our recruitment yet but as it stands he is a player I'd love to have seen in our squad.

No chance of an assistant with more clout than Waney, Waney rules the roost, no challengers allowed, only friends and Waneys yes men..

Doesn't really looked to have kicked on to me, even in an environment at Cas where everyone seems to improve drastically.



Much rather we went for Bousquet if we're going for Frenchies.

I agree but how good is Wakey's recruiting the last couple of years? I reckon Horo will be a cracking signing for them.

Was thinking more of a squad project player instead of Hamlin.

Brough was a suggestion I'm afraid. Top goal kicker and long range kicker. Would be perfect til Sharrocks is ready.



When FPN goes, I'd be looking to sign David Fifita ( I know he's signed a deal 5 months ago but what do contracts mean these days)



Fifitas agent has just put a highlights video on YouTube check it out, a true wrecking ball!



In



Brough

Fifita

Hamlin



Out



Leaulai coaching

FPN

Breatherton

Shelford

Tierney

Naverrette



1.) Tomkins

2.) Davies

3.) Gelling

4.) Gildart

5.) Burgess

6.) Williams

7.) Brough

8.) Flower

9.) Powell

10.) Fifita

11.) Bateman

12.) Farrell

13.) O'Loughlin



14.) Tautai

15.) Clubb

16.) Mcilorum

17.) Sutton



Escare

Isa

Hamlin

Marshall

Manfredi

Sharrocks

Ganson

Forsyth

Wells

Field

Gregson

Joel Tomkins

And the new academy lads



Good deep squad with lots of competition for places, metre eating wrecking ball prop, goal kicking issue sorted, long kicking game issue sorted (taking the pressure of Williams allowing him to play freely).



Would be contending for all honours.

For me the logical step would be to put Sam back into the halves at 6 moving GW to 7 and keeping Escare FB - similar to Darren Lockyer’s move from FB to HB. Therefore TL ought to be looking at retirement or a move to hooker. Let’s be honest he offered us nothing last season and we sorely missed Matty Smith.



David Fifita I absolutely agree is a signing we should be looking at. Alongside Hamlin/Flower/Clubb and FPN we’d have a bloody good prop set up with competition for places also.

I completely disagree about Smith. He gave us nothing at all for the vast majority of games. He's slow, poor passing accuracy, poor kicking game and is defensively weak. TL is a far better player and even those who don't like him can't argue that at least TL can tackle!

TL can tackle.



That’s about it though. His kicking game was awful and the link up with GW was non existent. Though I can partially agree with what you said about Smith, his organisation and link up play with GW was far far better than TL’s and it has shown with how GW has played this season. Far too many times we’ve seen TL throw a bad pass to GW who’s left with no other option than to do his now trademark and predictable dummy and jink before being tackled.



Sam is a much better half back partner to GW than TL.

Agree with this. I honestly can't think of a worse 7 than Tommy in SL. He's truly terrible, and yes Smith is a way better 7 as he's more successful at the attributes of a 7, but as we know there's far more 7s out there than Smith and Tommy.



Tomkins to 7 with Escare coming in at 1 is worth a try, dropping Tommy has to be priority number 1.



I'm also concerned with how we 'wait' on young players coming through, when in reality they might never be good enough, now it's Shorrocks etc.



We need to deal with the here and now.

Smith and Leuluai have been as bad as each other these past two years for me. Matty Smith made far more errors in 2016 then Tommy did last year but he probably came up with a few more moments of note, simply due to his drop goals and the very odd decent kicking display. Tommy was just none existent last year. Not too many errors but it was just a nothing season in the main. No appetite to take on the line, not many assists, hardly any try's, a poor kicking game and even his defence didn't really get going like we know it can (in a hurtful sense) until later in the season. I think the jaw injuries knocked his confidence and meant he played within himself. I also think he'd got used to be second fiddle at NZ Warriors behind Johnson and playing very safety first but that's not the Leuluai we know and he's not very good at it.



Ideal world, we sign a new scrum half but that looks off the table so the next best bet is Escare at fullback with Tomkins and Williams in the halves and Leuluai getting minutes at hooker. I was very impressed with Escare's kicking out of hand last season and him and Tomkins taking that on will be a real improvement on this season. They could do with a prop or two to get us on the front foot though.

Hock released by Leigh. Wants to finish his career in SL.



The writing is on the wall. Surely Wane wouldn't be so stupid... would he? He has all the aggression that Wane wants. I can just see this happening to spell Lockers. Please no

Though that myself when I just read it. I very much doubt people above Wane would give the go ahead anyway.



Hock will forever go down as a wasted talent but what a player. I can't think of many I've enjoyed watching more.

If he committed to preseason, got himself fully fit and was happy to sign a pay as you play contract on the right money, then at prop then its a no-brainer for one-year! gives us some aggression going forward.

I think we ought to learn recent lessons on players coming back - don’t

Agreed, but actual quality like Hock does not come available often and as I said, pending him committing to getting fit he would actually be a great addition to the pack. However, I have a sneaky suspicion, Wire will take him

He had quite a few injuries this past two seasons.

Widnes or Salford may offer him a pay as you play deal perhaps.

I would think twice about signing him even if he was in his form before his ban. He left a massive sour taste.

He's nowhere near as good now so shouldn't even be considered.

FPN has I believe returned home to get married and wont be coming back.

His partner apparently hated Wigan and couldn't wait to get back to Aus.

I don't think that the rest of the squad will be particularly unhappy that he wont be returning.

Not sure why club hasn't announced this and can only think that he has time left on his contract therefore, until all the legalities are resolved they will not give any statements on this.

Whilst it would seem the most logical to put Escare at FB, Tomkins at HB and Leuleuai at HK (or keep MM/SP there and Leueuai goes into coaching) I do worry about Tomkins' ability to put in the defensive work of a 7. He's extremely lightweight which is fine in a way at FB but I think he'll be bulldozed in the middle.

Memory may be playing tricks, but I can't remember it being a big issue when he broke into the team in the halves. At least he has two strong defenders either side of him in Gelling and Bateman

many folk saying that even now there are still a few unsettled players in the sqaud, Currie being one of them. I've even heard a far fetched rumour than Wigan have already made an offer to him but it will not be dealt with until after the WC, presumably when Wire could potentially have more reason to haggle.



don't shoot the messenger, not sure what the Wigan stance is now we have brought in Hamlin to be fair. certainly a good centre in the vein of Gells, i.e. specialised second rower moved to centres. currie could be a potential future 13 to replace lockers too!

What happens to MM/Powell? Who both are clearly among Wane’s favourites.

It won't be any issue whatsoever. He was fine defending in the line last time and he's bigger and stronger now.

More likely for me would be for TL to start to make the move into coaching which means the start of his gradual retraction from playing in a ‘squad player’ type role rather than starting position. That gives us versatility in the halves and hooking position if needed.



Touching on the Currie rumour I’d be astounded if Warrington let arguably their best player go to a huge rival in Wigan, even with a substantial transfer fee. I’d be delighted to have him in our squad but it means displacing Faz/Bateman/SOL. Notwithstanding that Currie has the potential to be better than Faz/Bateman, who do you drop to accommodate him? A player like Currie signed for a huge fee and on an equally huge wage doesn’t just sit on the bench.



I don’t think we could reasonably sign Currie without letting Bateman/Faz go or unless SOL retires. It’s a very very tough call to make.