Just got back. It finished Wigan 72 - Wire 6. A totally dominant performance from Wigan. I don't know what it says about the competition as a whole as it's 2nd v 4th but without knowing the comparative age groups of the two teams it's hard to judge.

Rogues is there any chance that Fell may be given a game this season for the first team? What do you think of him as a future prospect?

I would love to see one of them given a chance against Salford. We haven't debuted anyone this year. The amount of confidence they'll have after a 72-6 win against Wire could be exactly what we need.

Unbelievable.........
Our squad is probably the youngest in SL and still the call for more won't go away.

Not really.
It's just a question of who's good enough. If Waterworth is possibly a better option off the bench than Powell, then he should get a chance.

After Salford we have Wire, Leeds, Widnes, Hull and then the Super 8s. It's unlikely that we're going to give a debut in any of those games.

I'd be disappointed if we went a whole season without giving at least one debut after all the talk Wane gives before a season.

What has that got to do with the price of coal?
We have tried two full backs so far this season both of whom are poor defensively therefore, what is wrong with asking how our possibly only regular fullback in the club is performing.
You are Alan Hansen and I claim my five pounds.

And it's people like you that have probably ruined Hampshire's career and you want to throw another lamb to the slaughter. You probably want Gildart in there now as well. Whilst we have IMO the most enviable production line in this country you can't flood the team with them - even the ones born in Wigan, though I realise that for some this is added proof of the readiness and infallibility. IMO you're lucky if two per season make it and this year the two taking their opportunity to become long term, regular squad members are Williams and Manfredi. I'm happy with that success rate, though it inevitably means the majority of our kids leave us.
Re the fullback slot in particular, we have struggled with both Hampshire and, to a lesser extent IMO, Bowen. This will be sorted next year so we should look to deal with the rest of the year with our current first team squad. We have injuries atm which preclude any of our three wingers being given the gig so we will persevere with the only two viable options.

I will immediately contact Ryan Hampshire's mam and apologise for ruining her son's career. I did the same to Lois , Andy Gregory's mam when he was thrown to the lions at a tender age.
I'm not asking for 17 under 21's to play but was enquiring from Rogues who has far better knowledge than myself of the current young crop if Fell would be worth a slot against maybe Salford knowing that when the top 8 or whatever we call it kicks SW will stick with the older heads.
I am in if they are good enough they are old enough camp and won't apologise for it but would not advocate any youngster to be pushed forward unless he was ready for it physically and mentally. Re Gildart no I wouldn't push for him to be a first team starter as his performance versus Leeigh demonstrated that he isn't physically ready as yet for first team football.
With regards Hampshire I would play him at 6 and Williams at 7 versus Salford because at some point you have to give this pair a go at halfback and that game is probably the last game this season we can experiment as a choice rather than be forced into it due to injuries.
The problem is at the moment we have no reserve grade which I think we would both agree would be a more preferable route of developing our youngsters.

Just to answer your question, I don't think Fell is ready. He's a bit like Matty Russell and personally think he's too small. Gildart looks to have "filled out" but he's still only 18 years of age, a first team bench spot could be good for him but under the current format that may be difficult.

Of the other players Joe Bretherton at prop (or second row) looks an outstanding prospect, although he is out for about 3 - 4 weeks with ankle ligament damage. I've said many times on here that Luke Waterworh has a superb passing game from #9 and providing he bulks up could be a very good player. Nick Gregson looks as though he could make the step up.

Another couple who have impressed are Liam (Brucie) Forsyth a tall rangy centre with good pace and reminds me of Joe Burgess a bit, and Jack Higginson who although he played on the wing yesterday, looks a very promising centre.

There's a few more who you could probably put at the top end of the junior players in the academy comp. but as JJ says any more than two in a season coming through is a BIG bonus. I don't envy the coaching staff having to pick "the keeps" and at some point they'll get one or two wrong, but up to now they appear to know what they are doing.

Yesterday wasn't probably the best day to judge as Wigan were on fire and Wire were disappointingly poor. It was a bit like the Catalan v Wigan game a few weeks back where everything they tried came off.

Williams played 23 games last year, which is most of the season. Manfredi played 14 which is almost half.

Pressed post by mistake but you get my point.

Thanks for the feedback. I aiways appreciate your views on the youngsters coming through the system

Ryan Hampshire could have had a more competitive game today for Wigan's partnership club Workington against Featherstone but once again for the umpteenth time Mr Wane withdrew Connor Farrell and Ryan Hampshire from the Workington 19 man squad. Hampshire could have had a game against Gareth Moore and Marginet of Fev at number 6 but it wasn't to be. Town fans are now saying that this partnership is all one way with Wane dictating. Our 19 man squad is named at 2pm on a Friday for the Sunday match with the names provided to us by Wigan. This weeks squad included the two just mentioned but by Friday night they had once again been withdrawn by Wigan.

I think Fell is more disciplined in his play than Russell was at that age. Russell seemed to want to step his man every time he got the ball (which he usually could do) whereas Fell seems more willing to pass and has good handling ability. He's a smart player. The only issues could be his size (although he's strong for his size) and whether he's got enough outstanding qualities. He's got plenty of skills but whether he has that something special to set himself from the rest at the highest level is another matter.

Waterworth is a great prospect. His passing is so accurate and he's incredibly smart. The only thing that might hold him back is his size but he faced a huge pack of forwards when playing the Aussie schoolboys and had no issues. In fact he was excellent in those games.

As usual we seem to have plenty of good prospects in the back row. Gregson, Sherratt, Davies, Moore and Shelford all look promising.

How many minutes last year, how many starts? It's this season that their chance of long term permanence has come, as evidenced in Williams' case by him getting the number 6 shirt.