Ratchford was the best Wigan player by far in the Academy play off semi last season and always impresses me, what’s his contract situation at the club?

Ratchford is likely to play on Friday.

Rightfully so as well. This is why we have reserve/junior sides. We need a hooker so play 1

Shifting players and playing a non hooker there would weaken us much more IMO

Rightfully so as well. This is why we have reserve/junior sides. We need a hooker so play 1

Shifting players and playing a non hooker there would weaken us much more IMO

My worry was how ready he would be for the step up, especially stepping up into a game like a derby game vs. Saints in front for a 20k+ crowd.

But if Peet believes that he is ready then i trust his judgement 100%, i think he has probably earned that

He's been hugely impressive whenever I've watched him Ratchford. I'd probably just hold him back slightly and use him from the bench, with maybe Faz going in at 9 for the early part of the game but I've no doubt Ratchford can make an impact when he comes on. I just hope he backs himself and plays his natural game because if he can get out of dummy half and take the line on, he'll cause them plenty of problems.

Ratchford not in the squad which is a blow for him personally, also seen a rumour Forber is signing for Salford from next season.

Saw that with Forber. It's a shame to lose him but it's obviously been coming and I think Salford get a potentially good superleague player there. I think it's time Wigan starting asking them for something towards the running costs of our academy.

As for Ratchford, if he's available, I guess they think he's not quite ready physically. He's certainly not the biggest. I'm not sure if he's still eligible for the academy games but I did notice he wasn't involved in our game at the weekend, so maybe he's injured (if it's not just a case of being too old).

Not a reliable source the lad of twitter.

It would make sense though

i suppose the good thing for us will be the lack of turnover and continuity in playing squad, with it likely Cooper and Isa from 1st team to move on, and perhaps 1 or 2 fringe players.

Hull have a massive turnover, Leigh appear to be losing and signing lots, Salford losing players, Leeds announced several players to leave

so given our continuity i would expect us to hit the ground running next season and not be too disrupted as we have in recent years, with replacing key positions seemingly every season

We signed both Eseh and Chan to bring them into
Our system to give us a year to replace Cooper and Isa.

Gave us time to get them into our system and mindset.

I’m not convinced about Chan I think he’s is struggling with the transition from a middle forward and wouldn’t be concerned if he left as long as we replace him with another secondrow.

As mentioned on another thread I wouldn’t be against Davies from Saints however I think he will rightfully be looking for guaranteed first team rugby next year which we won’t give him.

It's an alien position to be in for us in that we likely won't sign anybody for 2025 and even more alien is that I think pretty much every fan will be fine with that. We certainly don't need to sign anybody at prop, even though Cooper is going because now is the time for Harvie Hill in particular to be pushed up the pecking order. We really do not want to be losing him and he needs that promotion to keep progressing. The only area of potential concern is that second row and if Chan is up to that 4th spot in the pecking order as Jonh mentions above. The lack of a player like Shorrocks has caused us a couple of issues this season, as seen by the likely move of Keighran or Hampshire to hooker on Friday. He was invaluable in that regard with us being able to play him anywhere from 8 to 13 pretty much.

Not forgetting the job he did in the halves NK. That's some versatility and difficult to replace in a single player.

Farrimond coming in and proving to be a realistic option at HB has really helped us out. It lets us free up French to cover 1 and also gives a talent like Farrimond the opportunity to get game time. It's been a massive development for the balance of the squad.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Douglas. He's probably ready to start somewhere, or at least play more than what he's doing now. If he leaves, could we get someone that covers wing and FB? Maybe with an eye to replacing Field in a few years?

Second row has been pointed out. Maybe second row cover djth someone who can cover 13 too? Ellis is great, but after that Harvard has played there. Not sure if that really works?

Wouldn't want to lose Douglas. He has the makings of a top player.

Neither would I, but at the same time what's he going to do? Sit around for 2+ years and not play 1st team? He isn't replacing Marshall, he's the cultural heartbeat of this side and Miski recently signed a new deal.

I'm sure Douglas might also feel somewhat slightly aggrieved that he's not played more than he has. Miski has played busted a couple of times this year and we've not rotated loads either.

This is why I like Davies, can play pretty much every position across the pitch except prop and wing.

Would be another project signing but a year or 2 in a good system like ours over Saints could really see him become a very useful utility player.

I think a utility forward would be more pressing than a utility back like Davies (who I don't think is a Wigan or Saints standard player anyway) tbh. When we had Shorrocks he could cover every forward position and also stand off and even centre if needed but now you have Eckersley and Farrimond looking the part, you don't really need the backs cover. Keighran is probably the guy who offers us that flexibility now but in the backs and by the sounds of things, maybe at hooker. I don't think we really need any signings and I don't expect any but if we did make one, a guy who could cover second row, loose forward and hooker would be handy. To say guys like that are thin on the ground is an understatement though. Maybe the young kid in the squad for tomorrow (Kerr) could be that man in time.

When we're going in to detail about maybe wanting a utility man to cover a few spots as 2nd/3rd back up, you know you're in a good place.

Wow. We really have fallen from grace. Suddenly our systems are no good.....

I've no idea how we manage to bring international players through our systems.....

Thanks for the bite…took longer than I thought.

Reality is though you are a club in decline so clearly the systems at the moment at Wigan are far superior that’s all
I was suggesting.

Putting a fringe player like Davies in our system more than likely improves him and gets him closer to his potential than what Saints can get out of him.

Watson gone at Hudds, might be a while before he gets another head coach job

I wouldn't say they are far superior at all but each to their own. You'll find as many Academy players selected for England from Saints than at Wigan if not more (without checking exact numbers)

No doubt Wigan are back on their perch, no doubt at all that they are a better team but to suggest your systems are far superior is disingenuous

Not really seeing Davies to be honest Jon. He may well cover several positions but he does them all to a pretty average standard. I think we've let better utility forwards go such as Partington and Shorrocks and also have better players coming through the system. I can't think of a single position where I'd play Davies in preference to what we already have at 4th or 5th choice, let alone further up the pecking order.

Fair play, I felt he showed lots of promise when Wolfe was at the club and had been the victim of some poor management since and had maybe not progressed as he maybe could.

I’ve seen him play a few times this year for Swinton, first time was against Trinity and he went very well playing as a free playing loose. I didn't realise it was him until after the game. Trinity have a ridiculous pack this year for Championship level one that would trouble most teams in SL particularly around the middles and they also have plenty of SL experience in the 2nd row and I’ve not seen a forward as effective as him against them in 2024 and include the game Wigan played against them all be it, it was a friendly but we went very strong in the pack that night.

I haven't seen him in any of his championship games so I'm basing what I said purely on what I've seen at SL level and I can't say he's ever shown anything that made me think he had anything special in the locker. I suppose there have been many players who have shone at championship level but weren't able to transfer that to the higher grade. Maybe he's one of those types? I'm not claiming to have any insight beyond what I've seen in Superleague so it's possible he has something I'm not seeing. I'd be surprised though.

With regards to Wigan I'm not sure where he adds anything even if he's a good standard championship player or, as Stu put it, a bang average SL player. We have 8 props, 4 second rows, 3 hookers, 3 loose forwards and a partridge in a pear tree who are all better than him (imo). In addition we have several young players coming through who will add to the mix over the next year or two. Then there's Eseh and Chan who are both getting game time at SL level but, again, can't get minutes at Wigan. I doubt Davies would ever play at first team level if we were to sign him.