Thewlis over Miski this year is fair enough. He's been carrying a knee injury for a lot of this season though, and his 2023 form was outstanding. It remains to be seen if with a full off season he can properly recover and recapture that form, but if he can't I'd expect Eckersley to come in and take his place anyway.

I can 100% see why you'd say that about Williams. I'd still have French in front of him with my Wigan bias, but there's not much that you want from a half back that Williams can't do. Having Smith take responsibility for so much of the organisation gives us the luxury of having someone a bit more mercurial alongside him, whereas Williams probably doesn't really get that from Drinkwater as much as he should. What I'd say though is that French - for all he gets noticed for his individual attacking - has developed into a much more rounded player than I thought possible. When he was out for a couple of months we missed his right-edge defence as much as anything else.

Yeah he was at Rylands for a decade before being snapped up by Wigan.

I like the look of Leyland and wait to see how Russell & Johnson turn out. I reckon our coaching staff will have seen a bit more video etc. than all of us. I prefer to be positive. Lot's of times the new signings prove to be uneventful but sometimes you find a gem & often you don't. I bet when Dufty, Ratchford & Ashton were signed there would be one or two non-plussed. I did watch Tai last year (he'd signed but not arrived at Wire) & thought he won't play a game for Wire ... but wrong again. I won't judge Russell on two missed tackles. Everyone (who plays) misses tackles.

Yeah that's fair*.

*Ashton was Championship Player of the Year when we signed him so I think people were generally excited.

Plus we already knew about Ratchford before he signed for us.

Agree about Ashton, he was fast and scored a hatful. But there was always a lingering fear that he was very lightweight and could get found out like Kev Penny (who despite his limitations I really liked). Boy has he gone on to a completely different level and I rate him as best in SL this year.
But for every Ashton there are probably 4 Tee Ritsons