Hulse, Durbin, O'Brien we have form for "taking a chance". Maybe things will be different this time....

I would look to sign Williams and have Patton resting gidly for periods of the season. He had a great back end if the season and maybe a full season might be a tall ask right now but he should be looking to play in 50% of games.

We can hark back to other younger players that the club have brought thru into the first team that didn't work out but we should not have that as a reason not to give someone a chance and not just drop t gf em for one bad game, Lee briers is remembered fondly due to his latter years he could and did have some howlers and disappears in games too more so in the earlier years of his stay.


Or we make do and look to see who we want and when they are available rather than panic into a hasty desision

With a full pre season to work with Patton on a super league footing surely the best policy is to stick with a lad who is at least committed to the cause & pretty good on the injury front. Build the team round him.

I'm all for smashing the bank for Williams. Williams and Patton for 2018 coz Gidley won't be here

Todd Carney's looking for a SL club.
Would Wire be interested?
More talented than any names mentioned up to now.

I'm fairly sure Williams is just using wire interest for a new bumper deal at Wigan.. it seems to be what all good players do now near the end of a contract.

I imagine the interest from us is there.. our recruitment people wouldn't be doing their jobs if they didn't make a move for a good young player near the end of his contract.

You could always try and prise McGuire and Burrow away from the Rhinos.
Both played under Smith and he knows them very well.
Clarkey would do as bait

Isn't Carney due to fight our very own Chris Sandow for something undisputed on a date yet to be arranged ? Should work wonders for his pre season training.

Todd Carney is the personification of the malaise that derailed Catalans season last year.

Undoubtedly talented, but with a work rate that makes Leon Pryce look like Ben Westwood, durability that would make Gary Wheeler blush and a massive chip on his shoulder, by virtue of his, errm, uncivilised exit from the NRL.

Following the Sandow debacle, he is [iexactly[/i the kind of player we should be avoiding from hereon.

I agree that Williams & his agent will use us to negotiate a very lucrative deal with Wigan.

It then depends how much Wigan can offer him.......They already have Sam Tomkins as their Marquis player, they can`t have a 2nd one.

If it came to a bidding war then Wire could probably offer him a lot more money than Wigan could.

A significant transfer fee could tempt Ian Lenagan to sell Williams before his contract expires, & he leaves on a freebie

After last season, a lot of Wigan fans would probably keep George Williams before Tomkins. You just cannot buy talent like his at that age. He should be the Wigan & England stand off for the next ten years!

The arrogance of some of the posters on this forum is mind boggling. "I would look to sign Williams" is somewhat akin to a Stockport County supporter saying I would look to sign Ratchford from Manchester United.

Personally, I hope we [idon't[/i sign Williams. Not because I don't rate him, because I do - he is probably the best (only) naturally skilled British stand-off in the game.

The reason is I feel a slight sense of unease that every time we hit a bump, the answer is to whip out Simon's cheque book, start to write very large numbers on it and wave it under the noses of clubs who have done the donkey work in nurturing the talent. It all smacks a bit of Wigan in the 80's when every club lived in fear of Uncle Maurice turning up on the doorstep with a bin bag full of cash and his eyes on the family silver.

Personally, I'd rather us take a punt on a championship player, or better still devote every semblance of coaching and guidance we can towards developing the likes of Patton.

So it's basically karma, payback time