I never said that. I said I'll be backing Wigan players and a Wigan coaching staff first. With thiswe won't have Oz players coming over for a final payday or a coach who's using our club to try his hand at being a number 1.

What I did say is, how old was Miles when he came over? How long did he stay for? Say compare that to Edwards? We can all pick and chose our examples.

I certainly hope Shaun Wane gets the job because I can't help but feel utterly jipped at MM's decision to go back to Aus. Like it or not we cannot expect to field a team of Wigan produced players and expect to win things I wish we could but we can't, I fully understand the arguement for it, but sady its never going to happen. I cannot help but be disappointed that another influential Aussie (the most influential Aussie of recent times) has decided to get on his toes as soon as something more to his taste comes up.

Are we giving out three year deals with a "pi55 off when you feel like it" clause?

Totally agree. Can't see Wane, Radz Deacond etc pulling that trick.

Gene Miles for me was probably the finest centre I've seen at Wigan in thirty years and a legend of the game. When Offiah came to Wigan mid through Miles's season (91-92) he ran tries in for fun, most of them laid on by Miles (30 tries in 15 games), compared to Offiah only scoring 30 tries in 38 games the year after.

We should welcome quality imports - you tell me you wouldn't have a 30 year old Mark Gasnier next season on a 2 year deal to replace Gleeson's vacant centre spot? I bloody would....Goulding would score a panful.

Going forward i'd like to think we'll keep a good working relationship with Maguire and use his hands of knowledge in the NRL when choosing which players to sign.

Having that kind of guy on hand to give some advice can only be a positive thing.

Would depend on the contract he wanted, don't want to go back to the bad times when a few players earned a fortune whilst local talent fed every other team in Super League.

I think we agree within reason. I do see your point, but I would and will always back Wigan players first and foremost, more so in a SC era. I'd sooner see a Wigan coach and Wigan star players, it means more to them, this reflects in length of term at the club and key years spend in a Wigan shirt.

IMO it's better to invest in what we're developing rather than use that money on an Aus import looking for a final payday who doesn't care about the club in the same way.

Of course not. Just using his name as an example. Remember these are IL deals not ML/DW.

Exactly, imports and poor management of the SC led to our demise during a poor era.

You can't compare that era to this. Edwards,Schofield and Hanley and other GB players also went the other way to Aus on short term deals as well in the off season.

I agree, but I had to make a comparable point considering Matty was discussing Kenny etc. I think focusing on our homegrown talent is even more so important in the SC era.

Primarily it was poor SC management, if any quality import is willing to fit within the SC constraints they should be welcomed to the club.

I think the more UK (wouldn't restrict it to just Wigan - ala Mossop/Cumbria) players we have in our squad of 30 the better. I just think we should always have room for 3-4 "QUALITY" imports to complement them. I still think we have too many imports (currently 7), we should have 3 or 4.

By having only 3 or 4 we could perhaps recruit of a slightly higher standard than the 7. At the same time allowing three additional UK players to develop in the first team squad.

I agree, but not at the expense of strong Wigan talent. Hence my original post of focusing and welcoming a wigan coaching staff who will be more loyal to the club and help its development for the club, not to advertise themselves to the NRL.

Perhaps. I think we see each others points. Currently, out of our current team I feel only Carmont. Tommy and Pat are proven successes. Even Carmont came in the twilight of his career.

But TOP NRL players often only come to a UK club at the back end of their career, I'd sooner have a Wigan lad who it means something to taking up the cap.

There are several UK players not at Wigan who I would gladly welcome into the team and feel more comfortable about their length of stay and dediication to the club.