Last Son of Wigan wrote:Ideally we need to concentrate on a SH who is around the 23-25 year old mark. Someone who has experience but who is young enough to play for Wigan for the next 5,6,7 years with Sam.
The only way to make this possible (sadly) is by throwing money at the players club and the player, if they are Aussie, make it worth their while to play for Wigan.
Contracts can be broken if the money is right for the player and the club.
We can't achieve this with Orford, despite being a great player we'll only get two years out of him tops.
So who are the targets? Players who can't play Rep footy, players who can't get into the state team, this doesn't mean they are bad players, just players who aren't as good as, primarily, Lockyer and Thurston.
So who fits this bill?
Dobson
Soward
Finch
Cronk
Herbert
etc
Yes the majority are contracted but contracts will be ended if the money is right. Make Wigan desirable for the player.
Agree with you there.
Unfortunately there aren't any quality half backs around of a good age and we so desperately need a general half back to lead us around the field for us to move forward as a side.
Contracts CAN be broken but the deal has to be a good one for the selling club so we would need IL to reach deep into his pockets for someone of the very top quality.
All of the 3 highlighted would be absolutely perfect for us. Dobson has just signed an extension so it seems unlikely. Maybe if IL could persuade Justin Morgan to be our next coach Dobson may want to follow him? Soward is an outstanding young player with one of the best kicking games in the world, but it would be a suprise to me if he doesn't get to play rep rugby in the near future. Cronk, for me, is ideal, good age, undoubted class, every attribute we are looking for. He's done everything at Melbourne and because he is behind Lockyer, Thurston and Prince at Origin level he isn't going to get a game there, neither for the Australian national side. It would take a really big sum to get him here but there is no doubt he would be worth it.