He's nowhere near as good as Mellor or Powell. It would definitely be a mistake to take Leuluai away from the hooking role where he's been pretty good this year. McIlorum and Tomkins at hooker wouldn't strike fear into a Championship side.

Is Deacon remaining at the club in a coaching capacity?.

Yes. Juniors mostly with a little first team action.

Yes, well played Deacs.

I bet he never thought he would end up with a GF and CC winners medal with Wigan.

Deacon has been immense since he signed and played a major part in us winning SL last year. I never in a million years expected him to have the impact that he did. It's unfortunate we only managed to get him so late in his career, God only knows what could of happened had he been here sooner.

Gutted he's retiring and he's put in some brilliant performances in over the last few years and brought a kicking game to the table that we simply didn't have before. to be perfectly honest I don't think he had another season in him. Not as a first team player every week anyway.

Thank you for 2 great years Deacs

Can't say I was too excited when he his signing was announced two years ago. I figured he would cover any injuries and play half a dozen games or so over the one year we expected him to figure in. Started slowly, had a few injury problems but come through strongly twelve months ago culminating in a well deserved Grand Final ring. This season he has played more often than not and his direction and kicking game has been invaluable on the field. Poor games can be counted on one hand (Stains playoff the only notable one). I'm pleased that the guy eventually played (and won trophies) for the team he supported as a kid.

May he continue to contribute to our club by passing on his knowledge to the youngsters coming through, he's a born winner and like Radders has that 'culture' in abundance.

Well put.

Any halfbacks he coaches will no doubt pick up so much from him, and I'd be more than happy for them to develop his kicking game.

Turned out to be an awesome buy, delighted he got to retire after winning both cups with Wigan.

He is a great addition to our backroom staff.

Im a massive Bradford fan and have the upmost repect for Deacs as a player and a person.
In his bradford days before the recent descent of fortunes, he was amazing. I had 'Deacon' '7' on the back of atleast 1 bulls shirt every year. He is a legend and will always be my favourite player.

I hope to see him back at Odsal in some capacity in the coming years but if he passes all his skills and general attributes im sure he will have all the success he had as a player in his new coaching role at Wigan.

Wish he had been at Wigan his whole career. He would have been a true legend up there with the likes of Edwards, Farrell and Radlinski etc. I'd go as far as saying we would have won a few more trophys between 2000 and 2009 if Deacon had been here.

Legend. Will be missed on the field! a great player to grace superleague for many years

Well done to Paul.

He deserves his retirement as a great player.

Its a shame but i dont think he ever did the old trademark at Wigan ie High bomb, case the kick and banjo the ball catcher just as he collects it.
Was great when he used to do that.

The signing of Deacon showed how shrewd Maguire was when it came to getting the team play to his plan. He knew he had guys like Sam Tomkins and Tommy Leuluai to blow games open and used Deacon as a guy to simply provide them good quality ball.

He turned out to be a super signing and he must be as made up with how it went as we've been. He's had a great career and hopefully his coaching career will now go as well.

As for his replacement all the noises out of yesterday make it sound like it's a fight for one place between Mellor, Powell or Logan Tomkins (the last one pushing Tommy back in to the halves).