What has Bibby done to not get a shot at that shirt?

He has grown into the position nicely and will be an asset in 2021.

We use our wingers as ball carriers early in sets Field nor French are that guy that does that.

I’m expecting Field to drop in the halves with Hastings and Tommy off the bench sharing duties with Smith.

There is a lot more to wing play than speed.

Field isn’t that player despite the speed.

Looking forward I think the succession plan is in place to have Field and Smith as starting halves in 2022 assuming Hastings heads home and Tommy retires.

178 metres for Bibby last night and the scorer of our only try. He has got better and better in this spell and I have no fears over him starting the season on the wing. In saying that though, I do fear relying too heavily on Manfedi’s fitness. I don’t think we will mind. It sounds like Hankinson will be moving on as well and I just can’t see is going in to 2021 with zero senior back up for either the centre or wing positions.

I'm not as down on Bibby as others but he doesn't look a winger to me. I'd only be happy with a slower winger if he is really strong to the point where it's like tackling an extra forward coming out of yardage and he's not getting stopped from 5 metres out. Hall, McGillvary, J.Carney, even lesser guys like Ah Van, I get that. Bibby isn't in that bracket though, I don't think he's strong enough to make up for the lack of speed, and he doesn't have another string to his bow like agility/aerial ability/Makinson-like finishing. I think a proper winger would have done more with some of the ball he got yesterday. From memory (can't bring myself to rewatch the whole game) he overran his centre for one pass to touch, dived way too early for one opportunity, and fair enough scored a good try.

I don't mean to slate him so much because he would be my plan B if Field didn't work out, I agree he offers a lot in yardage and I do think he may make it at Wigan as a centre (maybe replacing Gildart if/when the NRL come knocking).

He gave it his best shot last night and that will do for me. I prefer speed on the wing but I'm old school.

I agree, there is no way field will play on the wing. We could have done with him yesterday, running at a tired Saints defence.

To start off by saying you are not as down on Bibby and then absolutely dismantle him as a player is somewhat strange.

I wasn’t combined with him on the wing but he has grown into the role very well over the last few weeks since called upon.

He did overrun his centre as did Burgess who you would call an out and out winger.

We are a salary capped sport in a time when finances are under pressure.

We have had 4 frontline wingers at the club before...it doesn’t work.

Field is not a winger. Never will be.

Sticking someone on the wing because they have pace doesn’t make sense when they are a half.

George Williams had a bit of toe, but you wouldn’t put him on the wing would you?

Fair enough, I can't argue the point too strongly because I'm literally judging him from a highlights reel.

Spot on, and you are right about Burgess and Clarke, but try telling it to some on here who think that the club never make bad signings.

Remember, Dennis Moran, Frank Paul-Nuuausala, Eddy Pettybourne, Karl Pryce, Jerry Scuseu, Tim Smith to name just six!

Bring in Inu and Kasiano, Job sorted

For the past 10 years we haven't had to "buy" a winger. Charnley, Burgess, Manfredi, Marshall and Davies have all fitted the position admirably.

With having no academy/reserves or scholarship this year it's hard to judge what was coming through. Cian Tyrer looked useful and quick but lacks size and I was looking forward to seeing how Joe Robinson would progress.
I suppose it all depends on IF Marshall AND Manfredi recover. I've said previously Tom Davies IMO should be our no.1 target, big, fast strong and an excellent finisher.

I would agree with all of that, now that Tom has proved that he has recovered from a bad injury I would be on the phone immediately if I was Rads. I think Tom has another year on his contract at Catalans.

I think Rads, IFL and Lam will have learned a lot from the the Grand Final and they will be plotting to put it right. Four things that I would want to sort:
(a) We need more punch down the middle when our starting props leave the field, that means getting Burgess fit or replacing him and finding a replacement for Clubb.
(b) Our halfbacks need to take on the defensive line more. Field's speed and making more yards down the middle should hopefully resolve this issue.
(c) We need genuine finishers out on the wing. We need to recruit a winger.
(d) We need a more consistent goal kicker and we have to improve our kicking from hand. Let's get a specialist coach in.

Sam Tomkins goal kicking improved massively after we brought Charlie Hodgson in.

Get on the phone.

I didn’t think we would see as poor a signing as Frank Paul so soon now Wigan have 2 of them in Burgess and Clarke and even in saying that Frank arrival he was pretty good,did all that was asked of him the other 2 have been pretty much a disaster so far.

Re. the prop situation, it's not as if we need a superstar, a steady eddie who can defend and get us 70/80m a game will do the job nicely with what we've got in the back row next season.
There must be someone like that knocking around who won't cost the earth.