It has to be. That is the point being made. You can't have two senior players sharing a position at hooker.

For this reason I suspect what will happen is Smith will leave at the end of the season and our hookers will be Riddell and McIllorum and the half backs TL at 7 and Tomkins at 6.

If I am right then we are stuck with a player not really good enough at 7 who's best position is 9.

Dave

didn't realise he was out of contract at the end of this year. I really do hope we don't end up with another Chris Ashton on our hands.

As for the other i'd 100% sign up Carmont and probably one of Phelps or Pryce as cover.

The others should all go for me.

alot of people talk about mcilorum, and how unfair it would be if he were to be released. we need a world class half to partner sam, people forget how young tommy is. he is head and shoulders above young mike and still has a long career in front of him. he might not be from wigan but he would bleed red and white and thats what we need. if its one or the other than for me mcilorum misses out. let the lad get first team football elsewhere. we cant hang on to him just because he came through the ranks and show that he MIGHT be good enough. we already have a young player in that position who has alot more to his game.

You say that but Saints have Cunningham and Roby, both among their top eschelon and Leeds now have Diskin and Buderus (ditto) so why not?

This occurred to me as well. Plus you can't overlook the fact that having an abundance of riches is better than having a dearth.

Tommy is a better hooker but can cover scrum-half as well. Piggy can cover hooker and second row (or so I'm told). McIlorum is only good for hooker - thus far.

If we can accommodate all three, that would be great. I'm not sure McIlorum would be happy, but there's rarely a time when someone isn't injured and opportunities don't subsequently arise. Isn't this what having a decent sized and decent quality squad is all about? When we didn't have one, people were going ballistic about it. Now we're apparently complaining because we've got too many good players for too few positions ...

Let's get real. I'm told that Tommy is really happy at Wigan. His past differences with Lenagan are long ago patched up, and that he desperately wants to win us some silverware. Sounds good to me.

..and me! I'm sure TL's contract will have been negotiated downwards anyway if IL's comments at the forum are anything to go by in which case I'd hazard a guess that our 2 hookers in Piggy and TL will take up less of the cap than either Leeds or Saints pairings and, more to te point, gives us a pairing that has some chance of competing with those two, wheras in all honesty I don't think Piggy and Micky Mac do.

KFC has had new deals since his prime and presumably they have gone downwards in money terms. We also don't know when Roby's current contract was signed. Likewise we don't know what Diskin is on. Both Riddell and TL's comtracts are "new" and Riddell won't be here on peanuts and despite a probable reduction you don't sign players who can point to being a current World Cup winning international for peanuts either.

The thing is though the players involved in the positions of half back and hooker are Smith, TL, Tomkins, Riddell and McIllorum.

TL's new deal makes it increasingly likely IMO Smith will leave at the end of the season as he is the only one out of contract.

That would mean Riddell and McIllorum at hooker and TL at 7 with Tomkins at 6.

So regardless of whether or not we can afford Riddell and TL both as 9's it looks increasingly unlikely that is what will happen anyway IMO. And that is before we consider which of Riddell or TL would be happy as a back up hooker.

IMO the evidence points to TL having been signed as primarily a 7 and that is, if correct, IMO a mistake.

Dave

Given Lenagans obvious love for signing backs and the fact that McIlorum must be on a paltry deal i'd expect to see a new halfback in cherry and white next year.

Not saying it will be a high earner but somebody who could fill a gap.

best news for a while IMO. One of our best players over the last 3 years and a true adopted wiganer. I'd just keep hoping we'll get rid of that fat waste of place currently playing hooker and give tommy the starting berth.

Pig boy out and tommy to his natural position, a WC S/O in next season (Lockyer / Orford / Bosc) to play with Sam in the middle and we're starting to look like a team.

Tbh. I didn't think he was that great at hooker for NZ, WC winner or not. NZ looked far better when Luke came on and replaced him. He looked solid enough, but not like the world class player you all seem to be touting him as on here.