To be fair though Stewart and especially Slater are truely amazing players and probably the best 2 in that position in the world at the moment. The pair of them are a class apart from any fullback in this country.

We obvioulsy can't afford to have the best player in the world in every single position and a prop and a halfback are needed before we move onto looking for a fullback.

Options of Phelps/Richards/Roberts and even Sam Tomkins(as you've pointed out) will more then do for us at fullback in superleague.

In your opinion maybe.

Sam may do well at full back but his best position is half back and thats where he should make his name for me. Would be a bit of an unnecesary move as well considering he is doing well at stand off.

Myler is a scrum half not a stand off. Moving players into positions they don't prefer is not a good thing to do especially when they are young players and such key positions.

Long is a good player but past his best, getting worse each season, wants a 2 year deal which means he would be 34 when he leaves, does he even want to come back to Wigan? Is it wise to let him lose with Gleeson?

For me Matt Orford would be a much better option (and yes I do watch NRL) IL should go all out for Lockyer IMO but that is unlikely.

If we went with your idea as well that would mean getting rid of Phelps who has done well for us at full back. Maybe not a big loss but sends a negative message to players playing for contracts when they see a guy play well and not get rewarded. It would also leave us with Roberts, Ainscough and Richards as wingers. Roberts is on a long term contract and will not be released same goes for Pat and Ainscough will also not be let go.

If we went and brought Long AND Myler then this would leave less room on the salary cap for the main position we need to strengthen in, PROP FORWARDS

Myler is a 7 I totally agree, that's exactly why I suggested split halves not a 6 and 7? see what I mean?

Losing Phelps isn't a bad thing. You said it doesn't send a good message to other players playing for a contract, but I think replacing an average Aussie with a good promising young Wigan player is a good thing, a positive. Always like to see promising Wiganers in the team rather than average Aussies regardless of how hard they are trying.

I don't see your point about wingers, what is wrong with having
Roberts
Richards
Ainscough

to cover the wings? Seems a position taken care of for me.

How much do you think Orford would want to up root his entire life to come to Wigan?

Remember we have a few players coming off contract this season, there is room to bring in players and a prop.

You're thinking of him as a saints player, not what he could offer us to help us improve.

See Edwards and Greg.

Didn't realise you suggested split half backs. However I hate split half backs

one of the points of putting Sam at full back would be to make more options in attack but playing split half backs just totally cancels that one out really.

I agree promising youngsters should get in ahead of 'average aussies' but in there best positions. One thing you didn't answer from my post was moving around players in key positions especially to less favourable positions?

We would have 3 wingers and as (I hope) you know there is only 2 wings meaning one would have to miss out. If it was Ainscough surely he would start looking elsewhere, I don't know your stance on Ainscough but imagine the uproar if we let him go. With Roberts and Pat on long term deals and not going to get released, it would either be a waste of quota, cap space or both. Can't see it happening.

I don't know if Matt would want to come to Wigan but I presume IL is over there trying to find out. Same applies that you don't know that Long would want to come to Wigan so that cancels that out ?

We do have players coming off contract yes but what I mean is say we got rid of Coley, Bailey, Phelps and Smith. Improved contracts for Ainscough and Sam would be given. Getting both Long and Myler (they would both be on a good wack) would mean there would be LESS money available for a prop which we need more than anything.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying.

Split halves can be really successful, having an attacking FB would compliment the split halves, a 1 receiver at either side of the dummy half (Long and Myler) with an attacking FB as a second receiver to either Long or Myler with another second receiver (loose forward) on the other side of the play. This would present the dummy half with lots of different options to attack with.

I've been very impressed with how Cronk and Finch are working split halves at Storm the defense is having trouble reading were the play is going.

You talking about moving players around from their less favorable positions. And you make a good point about moving Sam to FB, but remember how Wigan brought Edwards in as a FB and how he benefitted from that position, similar to how Lockyer progressed so well from FB, I believe the same structure and time at FB will help develop Sam as a thinking rugby player.

I'm a big fan of Ainscough and too would be in up roar if he were to leave, but throughout the course of the season Richards, Roberts, and Sam will undoubedly pick up knocks and need resting, having quality cover in the backs is a good thing.

None of us really know how much players are on or how much they want to come to a club, we can speculate, but never know.

Personally I am not a fan of split half backs and would prefer to see link up from the 2 halves and the loose forward or full back if possible.

Finch has been great for Melbourne and taken a lot of pressure of Cronk but it has to be remembered that they are a top side. We have used split half backs quite a lot over the last 2 seasons with not much success.

I would rather see Roberts given a shot at full back and see if he could make it his own and bring in someone to play with Sam in the halves with a pre contract agreement for Myler or sign him and send him back on loan. This would be a lot less risky option for me. However both of our ideas seem unlikely to happen.

A move to Sam COULD turn out well for him but what if it doesn't? I would prefer a safer option of giving him a run in the halves with a quality partner who would let Sam play his own game, that is how I think we would get the best out of him.

Providing he does well enough for us for the rest of the season Ainscough should be starting winger for us next season. I just couldn't see us having him as a back up winger for the next 2 or more seasons.

We don't know how much the players are on but we do have a pretty idea of if they're a big earner or not

Agree 100%

The Ainscough situation is a tricky one. He is superb in attack, one of the best attacking wingers we've had for sometime, (the leading try scorer) back that up. It's almost like Wigan didn't count on him being as good as he is, so they bought a 28 year old Aussie winger in (Roberts when they already had wing options in Richards, Ainscough, Pryce and Phelps.

But as it stands Roberts, if you like him or not, has a 4 year contract so we're stuck with him. Ainscough has issues in defense which he needs to iron out, rotating him with Roberts and Richard for another season before he becomes the finished article might not be such a bad thing. I don't really see it as picking Roberts and Richards over him, just playing who is right for that particular game. All three have their merits.

I see the logic in putting Roberts at FB, but it didn't really work when he was played there before, hence why noble swapped him round with Richards.

If it doesn't pay off putting Sam at FB we have other options for the position, then Wigan could look to rotating Sam, Long and Myler resting players when needed and bring one off the bench. Leeds gradually developed the Burrow McGuire partnership and it's paying diver dents ever since.

I would love to see Lockyer at Wigan, a player who myself and practically everyone in RL admires, but signing Lockyer (which is unlikely anyway) has it's issues-a MASSIVE chunk of the CAP more than Long, and signing an over 30 Lockyer is only a short term solution, yes he would help develop Sam, but what when Lockyer retires? We'd be on the look for another 6 or 7, chances are we'd once again look to Myler, who by then would demand more money or would be contracted to a rival club of the likes of Wire or Saints.

I think split backs (even though I'm not a massive fan) can work and would work with two good players like Myler and Long, both great halves.

last season I'm convinced we only really played with one HB-Barrett. He controlled everything.

Before that we had Dobson but with Orr and before that Orr and Moran, Can't remember the last time we had 2 good players who played well together at 6 and 7.

I agree Roberts was an unnecessary signing but we have him for a few years now and I do like him as a player. Roberts had 2 games at full back and only had 1 game prior to that on the wing. He simply had not settled in at Wigan. Now he has settled and the weather is getting to the time where the aussies prefer it. He has good defence, seems fairly safe under the high ball, has great speed, is a very good broken field runner and can (supposedly) play stand off so surely he would be able to link with the halves well. 2 games when he's barely been in the country 5 minutes is not a fair chance at full back and he needs to be given a proper shot.

I suggested bringing a Lockyer/Orford over and buying Myler at the same time and loaning him back to Salford whilst Lockyer/Orford was with us. Yes Lockyer would command a big chunk of the cap but it wouldn't be far off what Long and Myler would be on jointly and the difference in quality would be huge. Nevertheless it is unlikely.

I've already said what I think about split halves but for me I would prefer to see Sam with somebody like Orford to lead the team around the field and let Sam be the dynamic runner and support player he is for now. Then once Sam has learnt for a couple of seasons he can only be a better all around half back

You make some good points.

However, I don't know if Salford would let us buy Myler then loan him back to them.
And I don't know if Lockyer would come. On top of that Lockyer is a 6 and so is Sam.

Maybe we'll see more of Roberts at FB in the future, however Noble seems to prefer putting Pat at FB when cover is needed, he probably feels Roberts' speed is more beneficial on the wing than at FB.