Agree with Cherry and White above in regards to our recruitment. It feels such an alien position to what I've always been used to, in that I can't realistically think where we're desperate to bring somebody in. That's not to say there aren't players who would be big upgrades on what we have and it's certainly not a Saints fan claim that we have the best player in every position in Superleague but in a salary capped sport, how do you improve what we have?

At the end of the season I'd expect Cooper and Isa to be the outs, with maybe Hampshire following them and I don't think anybody will come in. We'll see Hill, Eseh and Chan move up spots and we move from there. The squad is young as well, so there will be natural improvement and the vast majority are tied down long term. Unless players leave before the end of contracts (which is a real possibility) there is only Liam Farrell from the first 17 who will probably need replacing in the next 2-3 years. Full credit for Rads, Lenagan Peet and now Danson for getting us in this position.

We don't need Bateman, but I'm not sure if not signing anyone for 2025 is the right option. You always have to keep refreshing imo.

With that in mind, IF we had to point to our weakest position squad wise, I'd say it was at 13.

Ellis has done a great job, but after him, I don't think we've got the quality depth that we have in other positions. Don't get me wrong moving O'Neill or Thompson there is fantastic, but they are also among the very best in their preferred slots. You could also make a call that Ellis is a better prop than LF too.

I'm pretty certain Radlinski and co wont be going anywhere near Bateman. We had the best years out of him, made decent money from him and most importantly doesn't warrant a return to the club.

They can’t rest on their laurels for sure and usually I’d agree that you should always be looking to sign players but it’s quite a unique position we’re in because the squad is not just littered with talent, it’s littered with young talent. That means there will be natural improvements but it also means there will be demands for more money.

The wages of Isa and Cooper I’d imagine will be swallowed up by incremental increases for lads already signed up, like O’Neill and Nsemba but there are more lads behind those ready to come in and who could make a big impression (Eckersley, Douglas, Farrimond etc) and then more contract talks and more space will be needed. We may make one squad player type signing for 2025 but I doubt we’ll see anything of note until 2026 at the earliest and that’s fine by me. I think we’ve planned well ahead with signings like Eseh and Chan.

Time to entice Victor Radley out of his contract and over here

Now that would be nice Whiffy but we don't have any marquee spots available.

Didn't end well last time with Bateman but he contributed a lot to Wigan in fairness. Was part of 2 title wins, a Challenge Cup and a WCC. We also received two sizeable transfer fees for him from Canberra and Wests.

He wouldn't be of interest to us now though. If he was available there would be a lot of SL interest you'd imagine. Hull or Leigh might be the best bets.

Personally I wish Ken Davey wouldn't waste his money on Hudds and just invest in Bradford. If the right man would have taken over Bradford Bateman, Burgess and Whitehead could have all been in Bradford colours in 2025.

People talk about creating a buzz. Imagine what that would look like.

I think the longer term plan willl be to move Brad to 13 and Leeming and Forber as 9

Batemans first spell he’d be in conversation to be in our all time SL team.

2021 he was really poor. 2022 he was good not great but didn’t hit the heights 2014-2020 (Canberra included).

I still think an NRL team would come in for. Would be a brilliant signing for Leigh though, they’ve money to spend.

Personally don’t see Forber as a Wigan regular.

For me its far, far to early either way for Forber but if I where to toss a coin i'd agree with you but we shall see

I like Forber from the bits I've seen but he turned 21 yesterday and it feels like he's fighting a bit of a losing battle here for a spot. They won't move Brad O'Neill to 13 this season and I doubt they will next season and him, Leeming and Ellis have long term deals. It feels like it'll be a case where you just can't fit them all in and Forber will move on. I'd take a punt on him ending up in the Wigan B team at Salford. They're losing another Wigan produced hooker in Bourouh and he'll need replacing.

Longer term, I could see Tom Ratchford being the hooker who comes in should O'Neill move to 13. He looks a real prospect whenever I watch him play and things can sometimes be about timing and he's at an age where things could work out.

Good post and it was kind of what I was getting at. He’s a decent young hooker but the clock is ticking and he’s not going to force his way in ahead of O’Neil and Leeming. Like most things in life it’s a lot to do with timing and I just don’t see it at the moment. If he was coming through 5 years ago he may well be our starting 9 today.

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