This something I have already spoken about regarding the pack. We have no quota spots available and I’m not sure who is available over here that we could look to bring in. Even if there is someone available it would be cheaper than an NRL signing.

Front rowers we have - Vaughan, Harrison, Wood, Thomas, Philbin, Yates, Musgrove and Okoro - probably missed someone. Need a large unit off the bench but can't see where that would come from in this country.

Sam Kasiano too.

I'd like to think Max Wood will get more game time next year, He's had a good solid first year so looking forward to him develop more.
I think Burgess will be after someone propwise already, or there would be no real reason to offload Bullock if we aren't actively trying to sign a replacement. Unless we just wanted free cap space in case someone becomes available later in the year, Having Bullock as back up rather than nobody at all would be the better option, so i think we'll see another forward come in.
Unless like i've said before, Okoro and Wood and maybe Thomas/Whitehead are having faith put in them to step up and make the difference?

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-30266571

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-30266571

By some rough salary cap maths I reckon we have space for one more (starting 13) signing, For me it has to go on a back rower, we still look light there to me, Fitzgibbon could well suffer an injury recurrence and Russell hasn't got a great pedigree (so far). I think going in to the season with those two and Holroyd is a risk.

In terms of props, Vaughan & Yates starting with Musgrove, Harrision and Philbin coming off the bench looks 'ok' but I agree having someone who could cause some disruption in the opposition defence would be useful. If I was playing Fantasy Super League I'd swap out Musgrove for another NRL prop - but I can't see it happening and I don't think we have the cap space to do both (unless the salary dispensations mentioned earlier do come off, but seems to have gone quiet on that front).

Quote ="Big lads mate"Heard Oldham were interested in him'" About his level. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-30266571

Quote ="Big lads mate"Heard Oldham were interested in him'" About his level. https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... s-30266571

I honestly think Drinkwater in tge championship will see him back to his best.
He's got a good skill level and rigby brain but not the speed, but the championship is a bit slower than Super league so i think it will give him that extra second to react and make plays.
Same with Dec pattern, apart from the odd game here and there at this level he was always just slightly off tge pace for me. He's done better in the championship

In my view Patton was never good enough for a SL side with GF intentions. He's not good enough for SL.
Since us he has gone to Bradford -> Swinton -> Featherstone -> Widnes

But fair play he has a Wembley CC Final winners medal.

Think the issue with Patton and O’Brien etc was back in the day as a club we never shown faith unlike Wigan, Saints etc. But now with our club going in the right direction and using and looking after our youngsters better think they would have had a better chance here.

Mmm, under the current regime, only 1 year ago, we let Riley Dean go. He got 10 games in 4 years. I don't think he got much of a chance.

Not sure I agree, Ben Currie being the case in point, he was a regular first teamer at 18, he was clearly always going to be good enough and the club backed him. To a lesser extent, Philbin got plenty of game time as a younger player as well, he was always going to be a decent SL player.

Fact is for a long time the players coming through weren't good enough to be given the opportunity to step up.

On O'Brien and Patton specifically, they played 60 odd and 100 odd games for us, so they were given plenty of opportunity I think. O'Brien was the better of the two, but he wasn't good enough IMO to be considered a starter for a 'top 4 club'.

We have a long established track record of the following sequence with young players.

1. Promising youth player. Lots of hyperbole and exaggerated claims. 1st team contract.
2. Debut
3. Loan
4. Lots of argument about why they are not getting selected.
4. Another loan, maybe a few more games.
5. Exit to lower league.

As a teaser name the players in the last 25 years who have followed this sequence.

1. Promising youth player. 1st team contract.
2. Debut
3. Wins starting jersey / 1st pick.
4. International representation.

I can think of Phibin, Mike Cooper, Currie doesn't count as he wasn't home grown. Which others?

This my point I just don’t think we managed them well enough. I have often seen chatter about players we have signed maybe improving under our coaching, so the youngsters already discussed I think would have been coached better with the direction we are going now. As for Dean we had Hayes at same time and of course Drinkwater and club decided to go with Hayes. I think it was only fair to let Dean go because he was obviously going to be further down the pecking order barring injuries.

We have focused in the past on signing established players at the expense of developing our own players which was folly in a game that has a Salary Cap.

Some signings could be be classed in the vanity category but that was the prerogative of the guy who owned the club and we clearly missed having a Director of Rugby on our Board until Chambers was appointed.

Currie played for our Academy so I don`t understand why he doesn`t count in your post as a Wire developed player, as does Toby King who you haven`t included.

Rhys Evans?

Yes 3 games for Wales.

Chris Riley (England Knights 2012) ?

Josh Thelwis made the England squad in 2023 if that counts....?

I guess it depends where you think the issue is, for me it hasn't been about 'not giving them the opportunity' when a player has been good enough, he's been given that opportunity. We have underperformed for decades with our youth development, I think that issue is more related to Scouting / recruitment and development, rather than lack of opportunity. No point playing them if they aren't good enough can harm their development and could be dangerous for them.

I'm afraid reality is that there are always lots of promising youngsters who people bull up to be the next star. Wigan discard loads of youngsters and many are playing at various clubs. Perhaps the hyped up youngsters weren't world beaters to start with & we speccies are a bit gullible. When virtually all clubs fill their quota (of half their team) with foreign imports it tells you a lot.

Never give out any squad numbers again.
Hate the concept. Leave it to NFL.

I called it in 2022.
I said Dean is behind Hayes, because Dean was out on loan an Hayes wasn’t.
Hayes got his chance vs Salford away in the final game if the season.
I saw more raw intent in that one game from him, than I ever saw at any time from Dean.

Bloody hell RD I hope you haven’t hexed Hayes (ala D Patton).

Whisper it quietly, but even the mighty Wigan rugby sometimes overhype a youngster who doesn't end up cutting it.

Some lose focus, some stop growing, some get a bad injury, some just weren't all that to begin with. The trouble we will always have is that we don't have enough community clubs and schools rugby to develop this talent from an early age: until we match Wigan, Saints and Leeds I that regard we will always be having to sign up youth players from 'their' territory.

Anyway, I've seen this Bunty Afoa from NZ Warriors is up for grabs. He has a name that I can imagine being uttered venomously in the Lower Angel after a poor game, but is he worth a punt? 28 years old and 150 NRL games.

Interested to know which of their young players Wigan have overhyped.