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No problem, he said quite a while ago he was likely going back. What we need to do now is keep Bowen on for another year (there's a clause in his contract, but I'm not sure in who's favour). Then we can go:
2015: 1 Bowen 6 Hampshire 14 Powell/Williams (bench hooker)
2016: 1 Hampshire 6 Powell/Williams 14 Powell/Williams (bench hooker)

That doesn't look too shabby at all to me as long as we can keep hold of Bowen. Losing them both in one year could be too much.

Hes rubbish anyway

They could at least make an announcement to say when they're going to make the announcement.

You're probably right, like you say I'm just a big fan of him and think it would be a waste to have him sat on the sidelines for the majority of another season when IMO he would give nightmares to even the top SL sides already if we gave him a run of full games. I also think it may be handy for him to initially get the experience of attacking at SL level without the added pressure of defending at full back, which can be a very exposed, unforgiving position

Losing him is understandable and suits both parties to a degree IMO although I wouldn't have been against one more year.

Totally different set of circumstances to losing Taylor who's departure really doesn't suit us at all and is pretty surprising.

We are now desperate to bring in some top quality players.

Tautai brings us athleticism that we lack in the pack, but we cannot continue to lose players and promote from within without expecting a drop off in quality.

I am comfortable for Powell or Rocky to step up but we need to add quality around them.

It is becoming a very concerning situation the player drain that we seem to be experiencing and if rumors are to believe will continue to experience.

I always wonder what Wanes thoughts on the situation are! He talks of trying to build a great side and how we're nowhere near yet and if that is his aim we won't get anywhere near unless we can try and keep a pretty settled squad for a number of seasons.

If I we're Wane I'd be fuming tbh and would be looking for a bit of clarity from Ian Lenagan as to what the future plans are. It's a very simplistic view to say Leeds keep their players so why can't we but seriously why is this?

Losing an Aussie to go back to one of the top NRL sides when his contract is up is quite different to losing say Hampshire or Taylor.

I'd say it is a year too early for us ideally, but it does mean that the very talented trio of williams, powell and Hampshire will all have significant targets to achieve in the next year - hopefully they are able to step up and deliver.

To be fair they've lost a few over the years (Lee Smith, Greg Eastwood, Luke Burgess, Gareth Ellis, Danny Buderus) but they do seem able to keep their top British talent.

I think a lot of that is timing though - had Oz had their current TV deal at the time that the likes of Burrow, McGuire, JP, Hall where coming through and making a name it might have been different.

The acid test will be whether they can keep hold of Hardaker, Watkins, Ward in the face of continued English success in the NRL.

Then again, Yorkshire lads do seem more backward when it comes to leaving Yorkshire.

My concern is Greens attitude and agenda when we signed him, and in turn wigans attitude knowing Green simply saw Wigan as a stepping stone to pit himself back in the shop window for an nrl return.
Are we now simply billing ourselves as the best UK shop window for the NRL and even Union?

What about signing players who actually want to play for Wigan and see it as an achievement and goal to play for Wigan?

We can't have stability in the halves if we only hold onto our halves for 1-2 seasons.

IMO Green was brought in on a 2 year deal with the knowledge that there was some outstanding juniors coming through who would be ready for first team action at the end of Green's contract. The club wouldn't have wanted to bring someone in for too much longer if it was going to hinder the development of Powell, Williams and Hampshire, so the deal at the time suited both parties. Personally, from the club's POV, I think him staying on another year would have been good, just because of the lack of experience we have in the current squad.

I hope Williams can make a good go of it over the next year or so now going off what people know of him in the juniors etc as I haven't seen much in him since he has started to gain 1st team experience and I wasn't too impressed with Saturdays performance at 6 either, although in fairness I wasn't with nearly all the team.
wigan definitely seem to be promoting a lot of home grown talent like they have always done, but of late there is a trend of signing big game "stars" with the previso of simply using them to show the youngsters, who they hope to retain long term, how to do it.
pretty gutted to see green go but it was inevitable, he's been a good player for us and definitely has done no worse than some or our other signings over the last few years.
good luck Blake, get yourself fit and healthy and sign off with another SL medal please!

Whilst agreeing with you, I don't think Green would have accepted a one year deal. He'll be 28 later this season, so it's probably his best chance to get a contract in the ARL. He wants to test himself over there and he's served his four year apprenticeship over here.

I would expect that Wigan will try to keep Bowen for one more year which will allow Hampshire, Williams and Powell to continue to grow into the team.
I suppose the other option would be to try and get an experienced #6 in on a one year deal but I don't really see that happening. Another interesting point will be what happens when Matty Smiths contract is up in 2015. Will he be released to make way for a Hampshire/Powell/Williams/McIlorum combination which I think could very well be the long term plan.

If we do go that way then I expect us to change our style a little as we will have running halfbacks so will need to bring in a couple of bigger forwards to create the space for them.