All this speculation is fun, but does anyone know how bad SMD's injury actually is?

I think in attack, physically it's probably just as difficult as any other nowadays. Wingers are expected to carry the ball loads on exit sets. However, there's much less thinking and decision making required, which is often where experience shows. Sets are controlled by the spine, so if it's a backs set you'll get in for a carry off the ruck and if not you will just wait for the ball from your centre.

In defence it's physically easier because of the relative lack of tackles made (though these tackles tend to be more important because if you're tackling the opposite winger, chances are it's a try scoring opportunity). There's a lot of decision making involved compared to other positions (see Makinson flying off his wing at Magic Weekend vs Jamie Foster's efforts a few years back). However, a lot of the time the decisions will be made by your centre and your halfback on that side; you only fly in if you're following them.

It's not that wing is an easy position to play, just that it's much easier than fullback, which has evolved as the most important position in the game today IMO.

If it's a ruptured or badly torn Achilles I'd say McDonnell has less chance than Lomax of advancing his career at Saints.

There are perhaps only two injuries which are more likely to end a career than cruciate ligament failure. The first is a badly dislocated shoulder. Once those shoulder balls pop out of the accompanying socket they never seem to fit back in as tightly leading inevitably to repeat dislocations down the road.

But far worse is the dreaded ruptured/snapped Achilles. That tendon is so fundamentally important to stability, speed, agility, load-balancing etc. etc. that ANY reduction in its effectiveness after repair and you're suddenly a fraction of your former self.

Recall, it was a blown Achilles which signed the death warrant to Newlove's career. He went from being one of the most fluidly agile centres the game has ever seen to someone who could only run in straight lines. Tragic, really.

If we are talking about a damaged Achilles then McDonnell's career is now hanging by a thread. If we're lucky and we get a good surgeon then he might return with 80-90% of his former skills. It's too much to think about the consequences of drawing a mediocre surgeon. However, even if we luck out and he somehow comes back unscathed - we're still talking about months on the sidelines, with a high probability of catastrophic relapse.

I think wing and fullback are two totally different positions. A good fullback Doesnt always make a good winger and vice versa.

Kicks and defence wise is the biggest difference and I think young Bailey pretty much showed that on Easter Monday.

I personally think we have much less respect for the wing position than the Aussies although we have more respect for it than we used to. The days when (internationally) we'd throw a big name player out of position on the wing rather than an actual winger.

In school the players that weren't as good used to get shoved out wide or would stand out there out of choice to stay out the way of the rough and tumble. And I think sometimes there are people who think you can just shove anyone out there to do a job

Fact is, the wing position is extremely demanding in defence, decision making, reading the game, positional sense, great hands, speed, courage etc etc A poor inexperienced winger will be exploited.

So in my opinion, you can't just shove a fullback on wing in a high intensity, demanding game against an experienced opposite winger, facing the likes of Sneyds and Pryce's kicks and not expect to look out of place.

Totally agree

The Aussies turned the winger into an irrelevance decades ago.

Which makes it all the more surprising that Warrington decided to fritter away the kind of money they desperately need to invest in a playmaking role on someone who is entirely dependent on a playmaker if Warrington are to see the full benefit of his talents.

How do you mean, mate?

Australia's first choice wingers are Brett Morris, a fullback, and Darius Boyd, a fullback. One of their wingers in the Four Nations was Alex Johnston, who plays wing for Rabbitohs because of GI. However, he is a fullback, hence the Roosters wanted to sign him to replace RTS, a fullback who started first grade on the wing and got moved because he gained experience and was wasted on the wing. There was also Mata'utai, who is a fullback/centre. Josh Mansour was the only true winger in their squad. Josh Dugan, a fullback, also played on the wing for Australia in the Anzac Day test.

QLD's wingers are Will Chambers, a centre, and Darius Boyd, a fullback.
NSW's wingers are Will Hopoate, a centre/fullback, and Brett Morris, a fullback.

It's much harder to play fullback than winger, so the NRL teams use winger as a place to play fullbacks/centres until they get a bit more experienced. RTS started on the wing, GI started on the wing, Brett Morris started on the wing, Jarryd Hayne started on the wing, Darius Boyd started on the wing - in first grade. These were all fullbacks/centres coming through who it was felt would find those positions harder to cope with at the start of their career than the wing.

Fullback is a specialist position...so is centre, and so is a winger. They're all difficult positions to play and some top quality players have the skill set and intelligence to play in all of them as you've used as examples above. Who's to say what position is hardest...different positions require a certain set of skills. You could have a fantastic scrum half but stick him on wing or in the centres and he won't look as good...every position is vitally important. What's the point in having a brilliant half back/hooker/full back etc when you're winger's letting try's in on his side and bombing chances

As soon as you disrespect the wing position you start to lose matches.

McDonnell has confirmed on his instagram that he has snapped his achilles and will face a long lay off. Surgery tomorrow.

Unbelievable!

Yeah, you would have to say it's at least 6 months.

Given Lomax is out for 9 months, it looks like it'll have repurcussions on us not only this season but next season aswell.

I don't know what we've done, but we've had no luck whatsoever with injuries in the past 2 or 3 seasons at all.

It's a credit to the club that we've still picked up trophies or been in contention for them.

It's a complete joke. I've been playing The Witcher 3 on the Xbox a lot recently and I think this bears all the hallmarks of a curse inflicted by a wraith. We're going to have to use our witcher senses to find what it is binding the curse to the team. We'll start with some blood letting on the Wigan populace, just in case.

Christ on a bike...

Any news on Swift? If this carries on, Ade Gardner will be pulling a shirt on.

Bailey
Fleming
Percival
Turner
Dawson
Burns
Walsh
Amor
Roby
Walmsley
Wilkin
Greenwood
LMS

Masoe
Richards
Savelio
Jones

Still enough to finish in the top 3, and who can write us off for another Grand Final?