Could we offer Tommy early termination and let him go home and begin rehab with NZ Warriors?? Not exactly what I'd like to be done but if he's out for the season and he's going there anyway on a selfish level what good is he to us now??

I would be absolutely amazed if Lenagan allows any Wigan player to represent the exiles, in any form, ever again.

I appreciate it's bad luck on our part that it's our player and such a bad injury, but when all's said and done, IL has a responsibility to Wigan, not England.

How does it help though?? Aussie based players will walk straight into the team/squad and they've not been part of the mid-season bonding. And if rumors are true and McBannana did go there with a list of "English" players we're going to get more players who only become available at end of season.

Correct me if im wrong on this but cant we de-register tommy and still pay him as none playing staff? Didn't Hull KR do the same with Dobson when they brought in big willy mason? Don't think the salary cap would be an issue if we were to bring somebody in.

His GF has said he will only be out for 10 weeks....this was after his brothers Twitter announcement!

I will admit that it is a major draw back having those players away from camp. I simply wouldn't include Widdop, Reed and Heighington, they have a very limited connection with the rest of the side. At the very least Graham, Burgess and Ellis at least have relationships within the squad and should slot in relatively quickly. Anyway, gutted for you guys to have lost tommy, from a selfish point of view, it's a big piece of your playmaking gone, but don't like seeing anyone on a long term injury list.

If we were to do that then we would have to pay a fee for Matty Smith for the last few months of his contract with Salford. Thats the best option if we could do it.

yesterday was nothing short of a farce!not only was the game one of the most boring games iv ever been to, the abuse sam and gaz hock got was a disgrace, how can our sport expect be taken serious at international level when your own fans boo an england player when he scores a try???

+1

Get him bought.

If he's out for the season I feel we must move early for one of our halfback targets for next year if we can fit them under the cap (pretty sure we could with the players that have already left and then Roberts went part way through the year).

Smith would be cheaper but Salford will want to keep him with them having an outside shot at getting in the play offs so Chase may be more realistic with Castlefords season being all but over already. If Wigan are prepared to pay money for him for 2013 I don't see any reason why they couldn't bring that forward.

Other then those 2 what other options are there? A bid for Gaskell? There's no way Saints would loan him to us so it would have to be fulltime, An Aussie/Kiwi who's out of favour down under on loan (Sandow) or just promoting from within with Mellor/Powell/Russell stepping up or Lockers going in to 6.

I'd say the favourite at the moment would be Lockers moving to stand off.

can he play in CC though?? If its true Tommy is only 10 weeks out he'd be back in time for play offs but will deffo miss the semi and possibly the CC final.

Apparently would be fit for Wembley.

Hopefully the news I posted re Tommy & 10 weeks is more accurate that that which Magrath posted on Twitter.

Not a chance on Gaskell, Salford will only let Smith go once they cant make the playoffs, so Chase would be the option, but Id worry about the disruption. Lockers to 6 makes the most sense as we have the quality in the back row, we need to protect Finch more than ever going into the second half of the year.

Unless Madge can recommend an NRL loan to Wane...

If it's 10 weeks i'd probably just crack on with what we've got unless there's a good option in the NRL.

There's no point us signing cup tied players as to be truthful, the cup games are the only one's that matter between now and September.

Agreed.