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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