Maybe so. It gives us plenty of options as well. We'd have Atkins, Bridge, King and possibly Grix who can all play at centre. I know you said Grix is a jack of all trades kind of player, but he's had a solid season so far. It gives us lots of competition across the whole backline really. Riley, Carney (?), Hicks, Penny (?), Bridge, King, Atkins, Grix, Briers, Bridge, Myler and possibly Mona's. I'm not quite sure if we'll have all of those, but still, we'll have competition for places and plenty of depth.

Got to agree. I think on current form, he wouldn't get picked, but to have all that competition, and vasatility would be great...

don't worry, our current centres would also be considered garbage within a few weeks if they left us:


King - came with a big reputation, spent a year and a half treading water then stuck his finger up at the fans before stringing together a few good games

Bridge - injury crock, disciplinary nightmare, we're better off without the bad egg in the camp

however they are still in our ranks so we have to stick our heads up their booties like we did with Gleeson "the best centre in England" until he left


Harsh truth is Gleeson was a much better player than Bridge will ever be, and he would have been first choice for our Wembley team if he was still here.

Exactly.

I know that there's folk on here who'd throw the whole 'depth - here we go again' argumant back, but that squad you list, would give you genuine competition for places in the backs.

Exclude Monas as either gone home/specialist nine, and exclude Penny say, him or Carney, you're still left with good options plus the pipeline of Hurst, Evans et al from the 21's down. As long as we end up with a squad, that doesn't need a PJ in the centres, or on the wing, we'll be cool.

Get a good crop of backs, get a good crop of forwards, make them fight for places, you're onto a winner. We're nearly there now, the improvement has been there for all to see. You lose your places, it's tough to get back, ask Rauhihi or Vinnie Anderson, then watch Higham & Wood have to bust their balls in weeks to come.

Yeah, but he isn't because he didn't want to be here. I would rather a Chris Bridge who wants to be here, who wants to improve and has shown willing signs to improve, than a Martin Gleeson kicking about the place feeling sorry for himself thinking "what if".

I know you like to wind people up and be sarcastic, but you've been pretty consistent with this view since Gleeson has left us. He was a quality player over the years, but seeing him at Wigan and then comparing him to King/Bridge at centre since he's left, I absolutely know who I'd rather have playing for us.

That part, that's probably pretty close to the thought process of Che's, when he arrived at the club.

The change in culture has certainly worked, hasn't it.

he`s not even the best centre in his family

we had plenty of options at fullback-pat -phelps-roberts.needed a good centre so got gleeson you needed fullback simple you got nice lump of cash as a wigan fan doesnt matter what cash lenegan throws around gleeson played poor on saturday but as improved team overall.

king will be starved of theball if so

There's double standards in this business about us releasing Gleeson because he didn't want to be here. Does Mick Monaghan want to be here? He's in the team every week, and his brothers off telling the Aussie media that he's unsettled at Warrington and will be back in the NRL next year. I thought he signed a four year contract starting last year, or am I missing something?

The club issued a statement when Gleeson left saying Tony Smith only wants players who want to be at the club, to be here, I wonder if there will be a similar catty barb aimed at Monaghan if its announced soon that he's joining an NRL club and we're getting Myler...?

The club also issued a statement that Gleeson had asked for a release to go to the NRL. Obviously it extended to SL too.

If Monaghan goes, he will go with my best wishes. He may be surly, but his effort is beyond question.

If Michael Monaghan doesn't want to be here, and Smith deems his effort not worthy enough to stay at the club, I'd wish him luck in the future, but I'd be happy as Smith would be creating a healthier dressing room. I don't believe Gleeson's a bad player because he's left, I've never criticized him as a player since he left.

I'm just trusting Smith's decisions, he's got rid of Gleeson as he didn't want to be here, if he sees Monaghan to be in the same boat, then I'd agree that it's the right decision. I'm not saying everything he does is perfect, but it's clear the mentality of the club has been lacking over recent years, if it means getting rid of Monaghan/Gleeson to do that, then I'll trust Smith.