This place is not a dictatorship and as TB pointed out it is not about coaching but sharing opinions and another of mine I will share with you for free is Eric Lauaki has been average, never awesome (Lima has been, as have HH and others) and he isn't as good a prop as Lima, Prescott and Mossop. I would have kept O'Carroll.

And why wouldn't we compare Smith to current or past players? We do it with every signing we make and every player who progresses from the juniors to the first team! Or is it not allowed to compare Sam to Radlinski or as I am sure we will be doing one day, to Shaun Edwards?

It does make me laugh though that people keep talking about moving Sam back to stand-off at some point as if this is the final piece of the puzzle, which Wane hasn't quite worked out yet.

Only in Wigan ...

The guy is looking better at full-back than almost anyone I can remember in a Wigan shirt, including Rads, who was a great attacker but - let's be honest - not in the same league as Sam.

And people still want to move him somewhere else!!!

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but some leave me gobsmacked.

Ha Ha Ha! You lot are sooooo funny!!! You get on your high horse about everyone is entitled to their opinion but at the start of the season when someone new to this board commented on the quality of the current replica shirts he was totally berated!

You preach about everyone is entitled to an opinion and then berate me for having my own - priceless!!!

Sam is a full back and he will always be a full back! I fully agree with Cruncher - the guy is outstanding in this, now his preferred position. Shaun Wane will not move him to half back - get over it!

Eammon O'Carroll before Eric - really????? What a shame Shaun Wane doesnt read this!

very much agree with this comment and i think although it seems to be happening don't think he could ever live up to the hype or the famous Wigan number 7 shirt

I don't understand all this stubbornness from people regarding the possibility of Sam moving back to 6, if Finch leaves along with Tommy. When you are signing one new half that we think is Smith and we still lack depth / experience in that area it makes sense that our best player moves to a playmaking role in the halves, particularly when we have a potential replacement FB (Russell) ready to play. In my view it's whats best for the team in the long term. Sam will be wasted at FB if we have no direction in the halves. A combination of Smith and Mellor or Smith and Powell is far too much change in the pivotal roles.

This is my thinking, Sam is allowed to show his brilliance because he's working of the forwards hard work and linking up with Finch and Tommy without the this halves combination his talents wouldn't be completely realised. I believe Sam is both a runner and a ball player he can utilise both of these assets of his game playing 6 or 7 in a similar way to Benji Marshall and Shaun Johnson, he'd have a lot more influence on a game in this position I feel. Concerning Russell I've heard of too many good things from respected people to assume he won't be our future fullback.

Spot on.

Its a bit disrespectful to Sam to think he wouldn't also be a world class HB. He's got every trick in the book needed to be a class 6.

I'd certainly prefer a world class 6 to a world class 1. If that makes me stupid then so be it.

We've got other options at FB in Russell but very few options to replace Finch.

Its not rocket science

Sam is one of the most dangerous full-backs in the world.

He's not just pretty good at No 1. He's totally astonishing. He's mastered that positon a la Billy Slater - (not as good as Slater yet, but certainly getting there) which almost nobody else in my memory of British players has ever managed to do.

And people want to move him?

I understand that sometimes needs must, but surely a better option would be to find another good halfback?

And please don't tell me, folks, that one of the motivations for moving Sam would genuinely be so that Matty Russell would have somewhere to play? For me, Russell may need to earn his first-team corn in another position.

Thats my thoughts too. I was actually one of those that wanted Sam to stay at Stand Off originally but I am now firmly converted to the Sam at full back camp. Russell I am still far from convinced about and he would have to improve his all round game a great deal before I would even think about moving Sam.

I see no reason to suggest why he couldn't end up being one of the world's best HB's as well.

Who was the last great English 6?

And what if he doesn't? How much time will we have wasted finding out?

It's only my opinion of course, but I don't see that "maybe he'll be a great stand-off" is an adequate reason stop him being a genuinely great full-back.

World class FB are a lot more common than HBs.

You get even a sniff of an opp to create one then you go for it.

Radders, Hampo and Lydon have all been produced by Wigan. Sam is better than these but they are still great players.

The last great HB was Edwards.

That for me shows how rare a quality HB is.

I think you are comparing apples and oranges there to be honest. I wouldnt say that Rads, Hampson or Lydon were great full backs if we are talking about them in a world class sense.