i'd be surprised if we dont, but with a sports team it may be a little more fluid than what i am used to in business, and it is likely to start at the top with a plan for Matty Peet

so for Matty, it could be SoL, Tommy or bring in external. Obviously with Matty tied down to long term contract, the club arent envisaging having to act on this anytime soon, but they will be conscious that things change, and one of the current coaches needs to be in a position to take on the 1st team or we go external

Players are where its likely to be a little more fluid as injuries / loss of form. So for example Harry Smith could be our no 7 for the next 10 years, but we will be monitoring all the young lads coming through from scholarship into academy. The coaches can take a view on the ones most likely to make it, and even though we may bring in 20-30 young lads each year, we know that only 2-3 are likely to make it. If there is an outstanding talent that comes through, then it is likely that they would put pressure on Harry. Harry could get injured, short term, medium term loss of form, change of playing style doesnt suit, therefore we need to have someone ready to pick up that no7 jersey. Equally, we may know that we dont have any potential suitors to that no7 shirt, so we go for Nathan Cleary (only joking), so we would need to look externally for our replacement

the club(s) as i include all professional clubs in this, wont just be thinking player x is our player for the next 10-15 years, and therefore i am pretty sure all will have short, medium and long term succession plans in place for coaching through playing staff

I get your points and information, but the post I originally quoted implied we have a succession plan for every position (which may be true) but framed as if we didn't historically.

So my question is around how does he know we have a succession plan for every player and why that is different to anything we have had historically.

To highlight my point - What is the succession plan for Jai Field? And if the answer is X youngster in our academy or first team, how is that different to what we have always had?

If we don’t we have got very lucky of late!

Most clubs have a depth chart covering first team down to scholarship which would take up a major part of planning and recruitment/retentions and scouting.

In the James Graham podcast Penrith CEO was on and he said he knew what his starting 17 would be for the next 4 seasons more or less.

to be fair i'd be surprised if we havent had this for years(but i have no inside knowledge just my opinion based on work experience), we may just be doing it more professionally than previously. Its something i've been involved with for years at work, so would be shocked if professional sports teams dont have similar. However, i would caveat, that as we have seen at Wigan in the past, Leeds and Saints recently, that clubs arent always getting it correct as there would be a greater consistency in on field performance if that were the case. Sometimes there are emotions that get in the way where players are concerned that i dont think you would typically see in a day to day workplace

re Jai Field, the short term (injury) plan could be Bevan French or Zak Eckersley. Medium term say 12-24 months, they will have a view that Bevan / Zak could cover injury and also they have a view of what we have reserves, academy and scholarship. is there a player within the current structure able to take over at full back (not saying he will be as good as Jai at this point), so the club need to look and think Jai, Bevan / Zak, AN Other or recruit if salary cap available

coming towards the end of Jai's contract, do we offer him a new contract or let him go? Do we have a replacement for him (yes / no), do we need to recruit (yes / no) with both questions the club would also be querying what the impact is of Jai no longer being here i.e. he's rapid, and can do things other players cant, so what benefits does the player promoted / recruited have v what we are losing? Can the player be adapted or does playing style need to be adapted? Do we have a player in another position with strengths that we currently dont have

from what i've seen of Matty Peet he is a very shrewd man manager, and is most likely using tools from business / other sports to get the best out of himself and his players

Wigan will have succession planning in place by the fact they have an academy, scholarships and talent scouts in place, the unknown in all of it is the players themselves.

Bevan may decide to go back at the end of his contract so Wigan will in theory have someone in mind to take over, however Bevan may decide he wants to stay and if he is the best half back in the comp at the time, then I suspect Wigan would renew his contract unless of course they couldn't afford it, that then leaves the player coming through to replace him with a decision to make when his contract is due, does he bide his time or move on for regular games, all of these decisions are in the hands of the players, the club just has to have contingencies in place based on the variables, which I suspect the club and all clubs who have academies etc. will do