No, we let one of the best organisers ever (and a mean kicker too) on the spurious grounds that he was too old and finished. Just a difference of opinion between a team that is now a disorganised shambles, and a team which may win all the pots.

But of course if they do, it will be [idespite[/i Deacon, rather than anything to do with him. Just like we managed to overcome the handicap of him playing for so many years of almost unparallelled success.

Good luck Deacs - you deserve it, and you deserved better than you got from us.

Deacs was class for us, despite what tigertot thinks! Although i have to admit that the Wigan pack do make him look better than he would behind our pack!

Seconded.

I'd be happy for Deacs if he rounded off this year with Wigan winning the double. He's been a fantastic servant to our club and was a great leader.

2 years on and we're still struggling to replace him.

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... ul_Deacon/

www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... ul_Deacon/

I have always been a fan of Deacon and was sorry to see him leave the club. It's good to see him doing so well now.

i always have and always will be a massive fan of deacs. Was sorry to see him go without playin 1 last game at odsal. yeahh he is playin behind a much harder pack than we could give him at the time especialli. Hope in the future to see the gud man return in some capacity

I thought Deacs was fantastic both on and off the fied for us. He was very underated by many. I wish we had kept him and told Orford to bollox I think this issue is one of the maior reasons we are where we are now.

We could have certainly used him in the last two seasons instead of the headless chickens we have had in place.

I doubt keeping hold of Deacon would have made a huge difference in all honesty. He would have still have been playing alongside some very average backs. Hopefully we will have some improvement in 2012.

Finishing just outside the play offs last year, maybe a "huge" difference was not required. I think his ability to lead a team around the park would have been enough to get us into the play offs last year and I still think he is better than any of our halves this year.

We finished 5 points off the play offs last year. Some of the games we won earlier in the year, Orford was the difference. I am pretty sure in my own mind that having Deacon there instead wouldn't have been the difference between the top 8.

It is working out well for Deacon at Wigan and I am pleased for the guy because he was a great servant.

WIsh Deacs wuz back here

Let's not forget who Deacon's replacement was, and that until he got injured we were in 4th place. The club were not to know, unfortunately, how that was to pan out.

Deacon has benefited hugely from having O'Loughlin, Finch and Tommy L on the fringes acting as a placebo or alternative attacking option. The depth of play and varying lines run by the Wigan forwards and backs have given him far more latitude which he simply didn't have herel in the last 2 years. Primarily due to lack of quality in the team and poor coaching by SM.

Underused, undervalued and overly criticised in his last 2 seasons at Odsal. Pity. Superb player and bloke.