Hearing that Byrne is off to Huddersfield and if Cooper retires then maybe we are not as strong in depth in the front row as many people think.
Totally agree that we need at least one more second row forward to balance the squad.
Forber also rumoured to be on the way to Salford so I think a few changes will evolve for the 2025 season.

iI know he's not everyones favourite player but I don't think I'd be letting Byrne go if we can help it. He shows what he can do at times (but he's not consistent enough) and he's still pretty young for a prop and can gain more consistency as he comes in to his peak IMO. In saying that, we need a second rower and if a sacrifice like that helped us get a starting second rower in, who can mirror the sort of work Willie Isa does for us, I could live with that. I also think we'd still be ok for depth in the prop department, with the lads who played last night being backed up by Hill, Chan, Eseh, Makin etc. You also have Walters who can go in there and in all honesty, I can see a time where Nsemba ends up in there as well in spells.

Not sure if Byrne is going of his own accord or if he hasn’t been offered an extension that matches the Salford deal.
Like yourself ideally I would like to retain Byrne.
Re the backs I assume that Hampshire will be released and that we will replace him. Will be very interesting to see who recruit to replace Hampshire.

In my view Byrne is better than all those named above. Chan seems destined to leave and given Eseh’s season long loan to Hull there must be doubts about his ability to break through at Wigan especially given that we have a glut of fixtures. What I like about Byrne is that he gives us aggression. Regarding a second row forward being recruited I fully agree. Faz is nowhere near the player he was which is understandable given his age and the amount of rugby he has played this year. I honestly believe that the plan was to alternate between him and Walters but it has not materialised. I think Walters will need to revert to a prop if he is to be successful at Wigan.

Byrne is living off one aggressive hit against Navarette last year. I don’t see what aggression he brings, particularly when his starts this year have left little impression. He’s been a liability with the rules this year, get dominated in his carries and I think he’s hit his ceiling early. It’s up to the coaching staff to find better than him from outside as a starting prop to push the others down or to leave his spot open for Hill, Walters or Makin to move into. I’d prioritise a second row immediately over any further reinforcements up front.

I think Hill will be a better player in a couple of years but I agree on the rest. The issue comes down to cap space I suppose and does somebody like Byrne free up enough to do business in an area more pressing. I think it looks pretty clear we could do with a second rower, so something may need to give.

I'd give Walters some time yet to be fair. It was a limited cameo last night but that is about the most urgent he's looked and it was really promising. I think he can be a really good player for us but like you, I'm not sure if that will be second row or at prop.

Byrne is one of the most frustrating players Iv watched at Wigan - I suspect there may still be a time when it clicks and he starts trampling over people but I'm not sure how long Wigan will be prepared to wait for that.

With Chan and Eseh to Hull and no mention of Cooper we could be trouble if god forbid Thompson, Havard or Havard pick up an injury. I had high hopes of Eseh and was hoping that he could have leapfrogged over Mago to make the 17 on a pretty regular basis.

Re. Mago, to me he looks better the longer minutes he gets like last night, it's the 10 min cameos were IMO he offers very little, I wish MP would show a bit more faith in him.
When he's got 4 men hanging off him and he still stays upright and gets that quick ptb it opens up loads of room for us.

Agree with Bryne being one of the most frustrating players I've seen. I'm convinced he could easily be one of the best props in SL, but he has so many mistakes and technical failings that he has in his game. We are getting so few minutes out of him we may as well be playing Eseh.

At the back of my mind though is he will be coming into his prime now - and it would be a shame if he goes on to another club and smashes it...........

Is that confirmed that Eseh is going to Hull on loan for next year?
I was hoping he would come to Leeds.

It's this season Eseh has gone to Hull FC. He'll be back with Wigan for next season.

The period of us having 4 props on the bench seemed to hurt him. Him playing 10-20 minutes a game was doing him no good and he looks like he's put some weight back on to me. He looked better last night for the extra minutes as you say and I hope we keep that sort of balance on our bench going forward (2 props, a second row and then either a utility back or Forber).

Cheers mate.
I thought he did ok for us but others didn`t rate him.
I would say his aggression in the tackle was good but maybe didn`t make enough yards pretty much like the rest of our pack!

He looks like a lad who needs a run of games to me. His start at Leeds looked a bit error riddled but he got better as he went along. I've seen a few Leeds fans saying (jokingly I presume) Wigan have called him back because we're scared of the improved Leeds form but realistically I think it's just that Wigan feel he'll get more games/minutes at Hull FC.