I hope Deacon doesnt play on next, he needs to go out on a high before injuries catch him up. I've thought for a while now hes just bringing nothing to the team. I wish we had started to bring Mellor in abit half way through the season.

Deacs had a stinker today. He needs to get back to playing as a conservative distributor as he seems to think he's Sam Tomkins at the moment.

A lot of the lads are making uncharacteristic errors and taking poor options at the moment. Our problems lie as much in the head as the body IMO.

I dont see how Mellor can just slot in without ever making a SL appearance. We need to bring a 6 in to replace Deacon.

How about Finch and Burrows?

Have to agree with this, especially if Catalans go after Carney, any of their halves would be good enough imo.

(Plus Bosc would probably get injured enough to force us to blood Mellor too

)

Finch and Sam. We have no pace there and as we saw today better sides mark Sam out of it at full back. This has happened [ievery[/i time we have lost to Wire and Les Cats and it happened again today. Sam should return to 6 where he is more than capable of taking a game by the scruff of the neck and he has pace to burn.

We never make any mid field breaks from 6 or 7, only 9 and that makes it far too easy for team to defend as they can concentrate on the flanks. No substitute for pace and we have none in the half backs.

Deacon showed that next season would be a season too far. Teams can simply cover all his options and force him to run knowing he has no pace. We desperately need much more pace at half back.

Totally agree that we lack pace in the halves. But I wouldn't move Sam there personally. I'd much rather see Mellor come into the halves. He'll provide Wigan with that extra pace and deceptiveness that we're lacking at 6 and 7.

Sam and Joe would never have been able to work together effectively in the same team at 6 and 7 IMO. But with Sam at FB it means we can have the best of both worlds. I also think Finch is the perfect halfback partner for Joe, and between them they should offer all you could ever want from a halfback partnership. I've always been a fan of contrasting halfbacks playing together, as they both bring something different to the table. At present Deacon and Finch are to alike for me.

If there isn't a realistic option who we could sign then Mellor and Powell should be given the chance to battle it out for a place alongside Finch.

They could do for us what Gaskell and Lomax are doing for Saints.

The trouble with this is they have not been given a single chance this season and Deacon retires at the end of this one we assume.

That is also why I mentioned putting Sam back at 6 because I had assumed we were not buying anyone and you can't just chuck one of those two into the halves full time from day one next season and expect it to work.

We can't just give Mellor the 6 shirt without him playing a single SL or cup match before.

He's not ready for it - we need someone with experience to play there and then give Mellor a few games off the bench and then let him work his way in.

Deacon's role within the side is usually nothing more than passing during set moves and occasionally kicking cross field when close to the line. His input in the game has been diminishing this season and he very rarely seems to put in long kicks any more.
To have a player who predominantly just passes seems a little bit of a waste. Yes he has plenty of experience but I think if we are in the position where the club is desperate to keep him playing next year then that's pretty worrying. It's time for him to move on, he's past his best now and it's time for another player to step up. The main problem is that neither Mellor or Powell have been given a chance to do that.