do you think we will reach are potential this year for Mr wane? with the injured players coming back and some very good talent look set to get a few games this season? I cant believe either us or wire didn't win superleague. so far we have;



1.sam staying for at least one more season

2.richards need to get hes speed back never looked him self this season

3.carmont not sure if he will be up for it the whole season

4.undisclosed but if joel leaves or no new signing id let charnley play here was great at hull kr

5.if charnley moves to time for amos roberts to fully repay back what i know hes capable of

6.mellor?

7.finch full fit pre season to get the backs going?

8.mossop deserves it

9.tommy

10.lima, fielden needs to earn back hes position i am sure he will

11.hansen.

12. hock maybe? if not prop?

13. sean

14.prescott needs step up a little bit more this season

15.fielden lets see how he is

16mcllorum

17. farrell needs to show who we should keep him or tuson....



is this strong team than this season? i think it is this team is another season older and should gel more hopefully...

feel free for any suggestion in personel just want to hear people ideas on the team.



i think we should be front runners this season warrington losing matt king will be huge on there sqaud and hodgson was looking old at the end of the season. st helens and leeds will be interesting to see how they develop on last season will they be more consistant?

Centre position is our biggest concern. Joel looks likely to go and for Carmont it might be one season too many. At the very least he will need backup during the season.

Can't say there is much backup ready for Superleague in the u20s either. Maybe Charnley can fill in?

We might need one more prop if hock is to be used at second row.

Other than that let's give the young lads a go- Powell , mellor, king are the three obvious ones.

Who plays at halves or at hooker could he an interesting one. I'm sure it was suggested when Wane was announced that it would be McIlorum and Logan Tomkins at hooker with Finch and Leuluai in the halves.

I seriously hope that isn't true because it's madness. Leuluai has been so dangerous at hooker and was influential in some big wins and to move him from that position would be daft, especially to accommodate McIlorum and Tomkins whose quality is debatable. When you've got two halves like Mellor and Powell the sensible option is give them the game time and keep your best hooker in his best position.

Powell would be a very good replacement for Deacon given the similarities in their game although Powell has a little bit more to his game and could also be used at hooker.



In theory at centre Goulding or Marsh should be fine there most of the time, it's just against the best teams where there could be problems.



I do hope we sign Gil Dudson though as there isn't much depth in the forwards now that Hoffman, Coley, J Tomkins, Davies and O'Carroll have gone. A big young prop would be good back up and quite cheap.

Mr wane is on a hiding to nothing. The squad has got progressively weaker over the past 2 years.

Have Wigan signed anyone for next year?

Yes, they just haven't announced it. I would expect it a statement in the next week as that's when all current contracts expire. (end of October I think)

possibly. but they wont announce it until the inks dry on the contract.



we learned that lesson a long time ago in the early days of Jack Robinso and MO

We may well get to see two of our supposed signings in action today. In Ben Flower and Gil Dudson. I'll certainly be keeping a close eye on the two of them, assuming their picked of course.

Is ben flower and dudson the only players expected at Wigan?



Any other players other than Hoffman, coley and deacon leaving?



We've brought hohaia, laffranchi and Flanagan in which is pretty good but the fact we've lost about seven players is a worry.

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Yet we won the Grand Final and the Challenge Cup ???

Is that an announcement Brian ?

He certainly has a weaker squad to work with. Progressive improvement was supposed to be the idea and IL has said he expects more consistency next season than we had this which is expecting a lot when you lose the likes of Joel, Hoffman, Deacon, Coley and have not replaced Gleeson. The fact we have Hock, Fielden and possibly Roberts back doesn't make up for it.



I'd pick Joel or Hoffman before Hock any day of the week because while Hock can have great games he is too much of a hot head and inconsistent. The other two are just smarter RL players.



It's anybodies guess if Fielden can find any form.



Same goes for Roberts but in his favour his knee problem was finally diagnosed correctly and fixed so we can hope.



Even if my reservations about those three proved unfounded it still leaves us with problems in the centres and half backs. I'd love to see Sam and Finch in the halves with a fully fit Roberts at full back and Mellor and Powell give the kind of introduction they should have had last season. That would fix the half back slots for me but centres?

Many problem areas for this season and next.



We are looking at:

New FB WHEN Sam leaves: Poss Matty Russell?

Charnley

NEW CENTRE

NEW CENTRE 2013

Richards

NEW 6 2012 Poss Joe Mellor?

NEW 7 2013

Fielden (? over his future after a season out at the back end of his career)

Tommy (off to the Bunnies 2013)

Lima

Hock(Still a ? over his game after 2 years out)

Hansen

Lockers



And that's just the starting 13. We are losing our stars at a shocking rate.

I agree with the vast majority of this.



Wigan desperately need a big name signing. It's no good relying on the "youngsters" coming through, this should just be a bonus. The two things are not mutually exclusive.



Hoffman, Gleeson, Tomkins gone. There surely is enough money under the CC to accomodate at least 1 big name player (preferably a centre).



Hock- jury still out.

the one name who saints will struggle to replace big time is james graham! who is going to make all of them metres that he makes next year for saints?

Highly unlikely I know BUT I think Jack Reed would fit in nicely

I have never seen you talk any sense on this board. Ever.

1.tomkins

2.charnely

3.tomkins

4.carmont

5.richards

6.finch

7.tommy

8.fielden

9.mcllorum

10.lima

11.farrell

12.hansen

13.oloughlin

subs

14.hock

15.presscott

16.tomkins

17.mossop

I thought Dudson was excellent today for such a young prop playing against far more experienced opposition. Hardly noticed Flower though to be honest.

Matty Russells heading over to the NRL now isn't he?

It's going to be huge loss! His workrate can never be replaced that's for sure. His metes, defence will be missed but so will be his leadership skills.



No player could replace Graham for his meters, hit ups, defence etc. The only way we can can cover such work is by sharing his work load out between perry, TP, Lms, laffranchi and clough. I think the signing of flanaghan will compensate loss of some of Grahams work rate.

well i feel alot happier after seeing dudson play not overly sure on flower or luaki, just one or two more signings and i will be very happy after all we must have a fair chunk of change left to spend.

Still a long way to go recruitment wise



Hoffman - Lauaki

Davies - Flower

O'Carroll - Dudson

Coley & Cross - One awesome prop

Joel - Hopefully Lenegan can find another George Carmont type centre in the NRL

Deacon - I reckon we will start the season with Tommy at 7 and McIlorum doing the 80, then ease Joe Mellor/Logan Tomkins in.



1. Sam

2. Charnley

3.

4. Carmont

5. Richards

6. Finch

7. Leuluai

8. Mossop

9. McIlorum

10. Lima

11. Hansen

12. Farrell

13. O'Loughlin



14. Lauaki

15. Fielden

16. Prescott

17. Mellor/Logan



If Mellor and/or Logan take to Super League well that could be one awesome bench, Lauaki may not be the best at the moment but with the right treatment and him coming on to a tired defence he could be devastating if we use him right.

When he first came to Hull he was full of aggression,tended to flare up and give penalties away.Looked like he could be a handfull.Then the refs got on his case before he even touched a ball.It looked like he had been told to calm down by the coaching staff as well. If let loose he could be an asset I.M.O.,but speaking for myself I thought he was a disappointment for us.Maybe a change will do him good.

Since when have Leauluai and Finch announced that they would be leaving?