Fair summary I’d say. I’m not too keen on the signing but you lose nothing and risk little in adding him to the options we have and you never know, he may surprise us all and thrive in a big club atmosphere.

What I would still like is another forward to come in. We’ve lost Sutton and Bateman from the end of last year and Joel mid season. We’ve brought in Greenwood and Joe Bullock so I still feel we’re one light to add depth and competition. You’d have to think Lockers will continue to miss games and that puts pressure on the senior back rowers with us being one injury away from having a youngster on the bench. The likes of Hamlin, Wells and Paisley offer good suppprt but I’d feel more confident with just the one more.

We've arguably lost our 2 best players/biggest contributors since 2018 in Tomkins and Bateman.

But still got Hardaker in and Greenwood. All depends in Hardaker behaving.

Of the 2 Bateman is the bigger lose. Its just a pity we cold not have Tomkins stay and go to 7 would have been a great spine. But Bateman will be missed unless we get someone of his style in. Greenwood is more direct so will be different to Bateman.

Still say our squad is better than Wire or Saints.

I agree with the Tomkins shout. Would have been perfect to have him as a 7 with Williams and Hardaker at 1, all playing under a more attacking creative coach.

The sum of the whole is often greater than its individual parts. This is my hope for next year with Sammut. I have learned to trust IL and Rad to do the right thing for the club and in the vast majority of cases, their judgment has been good.
IL knows far more about running a business than I do and Rad knows more about managing a Superleague team than I do. Both of them are Wigan fans at the end of the day and want what’s best for the club.
I was underwhelmed by the signing but I’m prepared to suck it and see! Hopefully with good players around him, running good lines in a flamboyant style the gets defences on the back foot, he’ll come good.

I thought Sammut came across well in his interview on Wigan TV. Also thought he summarised his current style of play well saying he has all the maverick/off the cuff stuff 'in his back pocket' but these days he's more of a team player and an organiser. Also says he know its important to play different styles at different times.

A classic example for me would be the Million Pound game when Sammut played a very intelligent and conservative game in which he directed the team brilliantly. You certainly wouldn't have recognised the maverick tendencies that people talk about in that game.

True but that's mainly restricted to the loons on the VT.

Agreed, all this talk of him being a creative player/maverick is true but like you say his organisation skills are often overlooked, he looks like he can lead a team round the park, he has plenty of experience and could be a very key signing for us

what if sammut isn't our starting 7 and we start with the super league winning 7.

think thats a fair shout in keeping Sam and getting shut off tommy who has just got a new deal which guaranteres a job after it and off loaded escare as well and maybe a winger.

Isn't that exactly the point? It doesn't matter their relative merits they all get equally lambasted with exactly the same criticisms if they sign for Wigan..

Going round in circles here mate.

My negativity/criticism or questioning of the signing isn't actually at Sammut, for the sake of the club and him personally I hope he's a superstar and does amazingly well when here at Wigan. It's a fantastic opportunity for him, after not really making it at 'lesser' super league clubs he finds himself suddenly recruited by the champs.

My issue is with the club. The recruitment and calibre of player we're signing.

Will I eat my words if Sammut turns out to be a star? No absolutely not. My judgement is based in the here and now, I, like many others in here can only discuss what they know about the signing and what the club needs as we type.

I can't speak for others, but I get the feeling the issue for most isn't really with Sammut at all.

Sorry for going off thread, but Vastman im sorry not one of Wakeys halves offer what Hastings does.

Whilst agreeing slightly with what your saying
Do you not think that ignoring the Signing of Hardaker, Greenwood & the resigning of Gildart/Davies/Marshall/Isa etc. all of which are internationals or juniors that would be sought after by other clubs is being ignored and we kind of portray a negative image of the club because we sign Bullock (Who I think everyone is in agreement is an exciting if yet unproven signing) and Sammutt, plus Hankinson if you want to go back to the end of last year.

We focus on Sammutt and ignore the 5/6 internationals that have been signed/resigned by the club in the last 6months.

This time last year I wrote a Topic about how Wigan get criticism for their lack of signings and we conveniently forget that the Juniors coming through are 12 months older, 12 months more experienced and In my opinion deserve their pay rises (So the difference in say Suttons Wage to Bullock's wage) will be spread across Partington/Wells/Field/Paisley etc. so although we see a downgrade from Sutton to Bullock temporarily actually it allows us to invest in 2/3/4 other youngsters and give them more time.

Gildart is another one - If Gildart on say 60k a year at 20/21 (I'm guessing) is out of contract and is worth 150k to all other SL clubs (And possibly the NRL factor) then Wigan have re-signed him at there or thereabouts that wage or risk losing him. I see these as NEW SIGNINGS
So for me He is a New signing and that extra 70/80/90 k (I'm guessing) needs to come from somewhere - It's come from John Bateman or Sam Tomkins etc.

Same for Tom Davies/Liam Marshall etc.

I think posters focus on what they perceive the negatives to be (I don't necessarily see them as negatives) and ignore the positives and not focus on what is a Much more complicated job of keeping the production line going and investing in that, giving the younger players time to mature and offer them a Progression opportunity through to the first team without blocking their prospects, keeping Senior players and also keeping them happy etc. all within a salary cap

Top line is, I don't think there's many clubs who have done this better than Wigan over the last 10 years? And it must Irk with some that they seem to get criticised for it.