Quote: MadDogg "Fair enough but who is this young player you speak of who's challenging for his spot? I don't see anyone who is on the verge of breaking through in that position.'"
Josh Vievers (I am going off what others have said here as I have not seen him play).
Quote: MadDogg "The quota issue like you say is very problematic with Phelps. You can't waste a quota spot on a utility player so it may end up sealing his fate. I do rate him very highly though and think in time he will go on to improve his defensive work and become a very good fullback, certainly one of the best in Super League. Do Wigan have the patience to wait for that to happen? And are they willing to sacrifice a potential quota signing in the process? Probably not in my opinion.'"
It depends IMO if we have any real ambition to recruit real quality overseas players and how many slots there are available when his contract is up. If IL won't pay the going rate for class players we won't be getting any!
Our quota players are Riddell, Bailey, Phelps, Feka and Roberts. Carmont doesn't count as he has a Samoan passport, I think TL is also none quota and Richards is "Irish". Bailey, TL and Richards are (I think) classed as federation trained so in theory I think that means we could sign all the out of contract players up again.
Riddell and Roberts are contracted beyond 2010 so if we are to recruit any overseas players then one or more of Bailey, Phelps or Feka must leave. If Feka's weight loss leads to an effective season from him I can't see IL not giving him a new deal so it's down to Bailey and/or Phelps to make way for one or two overseas star players. We ought to be able to fit two such players under the cap for 2011 so if what I say above is correct about who is on quota etc I can't see either of them staying if we do have real ambition to recruit top class overseas players because despite the pair of them having a really good attitude they are simply not International class and that is what we ought to be after in 2011.
Dave
Lost track of the amount of times i've rewatched highlights of our losses now, and i've still not found one that was due to the pack not providing enough go forward. I'll say it again, bulk of our games lost were due to giving away too many penalties and errors either defusing our own attack or putting us under repeat pressure in defence, combined with a poor medium to long range kicking game not delivering what we needed to relieve the pressure.
. He admitted that it was about finding the right balance of running in as hard as possible but keeping hold of the ball and as first receiver the last thing you need is to drop it on the first play. He also defended himself and his fellow props by saying people want more aggression from our pack but most of them are already topping the penalty chart and he felt that again it was a hard balance to strike.
