We've managed without him for half a game pretty much every game last season due to his lack of stamina. No point having a part-time hooker on big wages when we have two others who can do his job.

Hey, I'm not shedding any tears over MM! But as when any player leaves, you like to think he is being replaced with someone better. And the point about considering the opposition before praising him to the skies for the World Cup is a fair one. Ashton Sims looked good for Fiji in the World Cup; should we rush to sign him?

Don't think that Gelling would do that not that sort of person.

It is a sad day when the manager of the Lloyds Bank is controlling our squad selection.

Since when was Mcilorum one of our best players? He's not even our best hooker. Having said that, I don't get the logic in this, surely there isn't time to take advantage of the cap space.

Salford didn't with Moon, Saints didn't either with Luke Walsh.

I wonder if this is the start of a big change over the next 2 -3 years. Looking back at Wigan's most successful periods they very rarely kept players over the age of thirty. Even the likes of Hanley, Gregory, Lydon, Edwards etc were let go.
This has been a relatively young team that has evolved over the last ten years, but I expect there will be big changes in the next couple of seasons.
One thing they have done well is to bring the academy players through, it'll be interesting to see which ones make the grade and how many Wigan have to "bring in from the outside"

Just having a conversation with a friend and discussed the impending player turnover I expect Wigan will have in the next 2-3 years.

Obviously Locky and TL will be finished and we will also be in a position to re-evaluate our marquee signings. If Williams plays like a marquee player he will be off to the NRL I expect regardless of what we through his way and I doubt Tomkins can expect marquee status next time around.

Bateman will be off within a year or 2, FPN will be gone, Joel’s contract can be renegotiated.

All these lads will be taking up a massive slice of the cap. Bringing players through but also bringing in real quality marquee signings will be a very important period for the club and how they manage that going forward. Massive opportunity but massive risks involved also.

Sutty will go next year and Bateman may very well follow him to Australia, Tommy and Joel will probably retire and Lockers will play in 2019 if his body is up to it, FPN will leave at the end of the season. Add all those together and we could be looking for a new pack in 2019! IFL and Rads need to be recruiting.

Has he been there long enough so that only half his wages count on the cap?, assuming that dispensation for long serving players is still in place.

Didn’t the shareholders get told at a recent meeting to expect big changes on the playing front in 2019? There is apparently plenty of players off contract and the club I presume is looking around for potential targets.

We’ve gone back in to that type of club where players coming off contract up their games to earn new deals and then put their cue on the rack when they’ve signed. We saw it last year with a couple of players and unless we’ve managed to revert to a better culture we’ll probably see that again this year.

It’s always a pretty big sign for me that the group isn’t as focussed and driven towards winning trophies as it should be.

Quote: old frightful "Has he been there long enough so that only half his wages count on the cap?, assuming that dispensation for long serving players is still in place.'" Long service allowance was for a maximum of 50k across all players at a club who had been at the club for longer than 10 years. That would have been eaten up by SOL alone I imagine. All that being said, I am 99% certain it got replaced with the club trained allowance and the (first) marquee signing rule back in 2016. The 2017 cap rules can be found: www.rugby-league.com/operational ... html#p=276 (I cant find the 2018 ones yet, but given the link, I assume thats because no one at the RFL has gotten around to writing them yet).

Quote: old frightful "Has he been there long enough so that only half his wages count on the cap?, assuming that dispensation for long serving players is still in place.'" Long service allowance was for a maximum of 50k across all players at a club who had been at the club for longer than 10 years. That would have been eaten up by SOL alone I imagine. All that being said, I am 99% certain it got replaced with the club trained allowance and the (first) marquee signing rule back in 2016. The 2017 cap rules can be found: www.rugby-league.com/operational ... html#p=276 (I cant find the 2018 ones yet, but given the link, I assume thats because no one at the RFL has gotten around to writing them yet).

Who's our best hooker then? Powell > McLlorum, not for me. Leuluai who has barely played a game at hooker for the last 2-3 years or Ganson a young lad who has maybe 5 first team appearances.

McLlorum may not be the most flashy or talented player but that's not the main attribute he brings to a team. Our pack only stands up when McLlorum is firing, now our powder puff pack is even more soft.

Regardless of whether he has been used there, Leuluai is/was still the best hooker at the club. Leuluai hits harder in defense, has more skill in attack, better fitness levels and has a kicking game.

I agree McIlorum is aggressive, but that's it. Surely we can expect more from a starting hooker at a top SL team, when our competitors have the likes of Roby, Parcell, Houghton and Clark. I just hope we see:

1 Escare
6 Williams
7 S.Tomkins
9 Leuluai
14 Powell/Ganson

rather than what I expect:

1 S.Tomkins
6 Williams
7 Leuluai
9 Powell
14 Escare

Technically probably Ganson but he has a lot of maturing to do.