Building for the long term is a good idea, but that also involves actually hanging on to the players we bring through. Losing Hock now (although not necessarily Wigan's fault) we've lost a star player just coming into the peak of his career.

It might be really tough to build for the future with the way RL in England is now. Any really talented players can just get better offers from Aus or RU. If we just lose them, it has no more longevity than bringing in star players, plus we probably wouldn't have as much success as the players are developing.

In the last 2-3 years Leeds have lost Webb, Donald, Senior, Smith, Diskin, Buderus, Lauitiiti, Luke Burgess, all of whom have been pretty good for us, plus a few lesser acts.

With the squad we have I'd be disappointed not to finish in the top four.

Once in that top four then obviously it's a case of what happens on the day. We'll be there or thereabouts again this season.

Oi! Stop being reasonable! It's a FARCE! We didn't win a major trophy so we need some big signings, then if we don't win anything with them then we need to get the kids in!

Especially in this league.

Exactly.

While it is true several existing squad members have improved I think that misses the point. We have replaced the ones who have left but how good are the new players? We have some potentially very good players like Hughes and Burke but there aren't really any who you could honestly say are as good as the ones who have left.

So while Micky Mac and Faz are better players it is falling on their shoulders to carry a lot of inexperienced players. Our most experienced prop is Lauaki and he is Mr Average. Smith and Green looked quite good v Salford but that wasn't hard. They were not playing behind a beaten pack and I am not sure they will get that luxury against our main rivals.

We will see but the fact we have not got the likes of Joel, Lima, and Hock here compared to who we have instead is worrying. Those players would stil be here if their contracts had been honoured and if they had been our problems would be much less.

Well when Shaun Wane took over the job from Maguire he inherited a very strong squad of players and did a good job in making sure that Wigan finished the season at the top of the pile.

At the time I was reminded that although Wane had done a good job he had done so following changes implemented by the previous coach, particularly in terms of the way we defended and our plays going forward although it was good to see that we looked even more entertaining in attack.

I think that given the recent changes to the squad including the departure of Hock we will now see just how good Shaun Wane is as head coach because the season is looking more and more challenging.

I now wonder if the expectations of the majority of Wigan supporters has now changed? will they expect Wigan to again finish top of the league and win one or both of the major competitions? Or perhaps some will be satisfied to consolidate until 2014? Either way I think Shaun Wane now has a more difficult job than he did the previous year.

Its worrying that we have lost so many good players but it will be interesting to see how this effects Shaun Wane and the players - particularly the new signings from Hull K.R. who will play a key role in the new season.

I think we are in for a compelling season with a lot resting on how Green and Taylor perform.

This

In a funny way seasons like this are more enjoyable as a fan. don't get me wrong it could go completely Pete Tong, but on the other hand this rookie team might just do the business.

Its going to be interesting

The only irreplaceable player Wigan has is Sam Tomkins. With him on the field you have a chance in every game. The other losses apart from Hock are all emminently replaceable IMO, and it's not down to lack of ambition, money or anything else that Hock has left either.

What's also missing from any discussion of players 'lost' since 2010 is the unique circumstances that brought several of them to your club in the first place - i.e. the Storm cap scandal. Without that, Finch, Lima and Hoffman would have stayed in the NRL and never played for Wigan at all.

Clubs not signing lots of shiny new players isn't actually a bad thing IMO, but it will take SL fans a while to get used to it. As a sport we need to find the next Tomkins, Schofield, Gregory and Hanley - not the next Brett Finch, Brent Webb, Barrett, Lyon etc.

That's putting a positive spin on things, which I don't disapprove of per se, but it will get very frustrating very quickly if we spend time and money finding the next Tomkins, Hanley, Gregory etc - only to see them spend the bulk of their career in the NRL. Once we've found them, we also need to find a way to keep then in the UK. The ways things are at present, that will be even more of a challenge.