i posted on warriors fans last week

imo, he's our 3rd prop and also capable of big minutes if Thompson or Havard are out through suspension or injury. It has shown this last season, that being stacked with props isnt the worst thing, as we've had injuries, suspensions and still been able to maintain high intensity in most games

For me Dupree, needs to step up and back to how he started off with us. We all know what Mago offers, and something different to the others, even if its only 2 * 10 min bursts, we know it can change a game

Hill is the next cab off the rank, and he may be the reason that the club decide to let Byrne move on / not offer him a big contract if it comes to that but i wouldnt be surprised if we offer him 2 + 1 in the clubs favour

Our prop rotation again is looking good for next season with Thompson, Havard, Byrne, Dupree, Mago, Hill, and then hopefully Eseh can kick on after a good pre-season with us. I'm sure we'll also see 1 or 2 from the academy get some game time too as we start to bed in the next crop of youngsters

In Matty Peet's remarks about Liam Byrne and the Hull FC rumours he stated he will will be with us until end of 2025 at least.
I thought the "at least" was telling. Just gave me the impression that the club and Liam/his agent had made contact about continuing his future at Wigan.

Yeah, I got that feeling as well and personally I would like to sign him up long term. He frustrates at times because he doesn't show his best form often enough but when you really need him, in the biggest games, he never lets you down. The challenge for him now is to find consistency but it would be frustrating if that was elsewhere after Wigan had spent years developing him.

But he does let us down, in big games more often than not. He gets dominated with the ball and can’t keep hold of it quite often in contact (Warrington home game first hit up). He was dropped by Peet because of his lack of impact and then probably found a place in the squad by default after what unfortunately happened to Cooper and the lack of progress from Hill. He might do some work in defence and that’s more where the argument is to keep him as a senior prop but he’s blocking the pathway for either Hill or a space in the squad to sign someone else in the future.

We're probably on different definitions of 'big games' here. I'm talking about Cup semis/finals, play off games, Grand Finals and the World Club challenge. Warrington at home, in the middle of a lull for the whole squad isn't the type of game I'm referring to.

I'm the first person to get frustrated with him in the weekly rounds btw. He needs to find consistency and push himself week to week and not just wait for the type of big games I'm referring to. He's just turned 25, so now is the time for him to do that. I think he can do it and would rather that be at Wigan than elsewhere. If that's possible under the cap I don't know. In terms of him blocking Harvie Hill, I'm not sure it's just him. Dupree didn't crack any pots also (even in big games) and if Hill is good enough, he'll get past those two and claim a place.

At the Grand Final he ran a fantastic line that holds Parcell up and helps create the gap that Bevan goes through for his try, I guarantee Peet will be looking at those little details, beyond the big carries and tackles. Commitment to running good lines whether your going to get the ball or not, I don't remember much of it when we were running with the likes of Clubb and Flower.

I'm glad Byrne is staying. He's got the potential to be a great forward as we all saw towards the back end of 2023 before his unfortunate injury. He's shown glimpses of it this year but he's struggled to hit those heights again. He seems to struggle with his consistency as one week he's one of the stand-out forwards, and then he becomes a liability the next week. If you compare this to Havard who is consistently good every week, it's hard to justify putting Byrne out there. The new tackle rules this year and the upcoming "below the shoulder" rules for 2025 have diminished one of the best aspects of his game: his aggressive tackling. He enters the tackle very upright, putting him at risk of conceding a penalty with the new rules.

So we are less than two weeks away from when out of contract players (at the end of the 2025 season) are allowed to be contacted by other clubs, 1st December I believe.

For Wigan these players are:

Liam Farrell,
Liam Byrne,
Jacob Douglas,
Sam Eseh (one-year extension option),
Willie Isa,
Adam Keighran

Of the above do we expect all (apart from probably Willie Isa) to sign an extension?

Keighran was superb the back end of last year but I imagine he is on good money after we pinched him from Catalans so I wouldn't be shocked if we let him go and gave Eckersley the 3 shirt. Douglas should be putting pressure on Miski this season if he is to be retained also

Plenty to weigh up with Keighran. He takes a quota spot and pretty good money you'd imagine and keeping him potentially holds back Eckersley but he's a good player, offers good utility value and is an excellent goal kicker. Ideal world stuff, you keep him and Eckersley has the challenge of taking his spot or even a wing spot ahead of Miski (same with Douglas trying to do that) but we'll see.

It's awkward with Keighran because, based off a little run forced by injury, I have a feeling he's a better six than he is a centre. Unfortunately for him, though, he's nowhere near a better a six than Bevan! So I think he gives us a good cover option should Bevan get injured, he brings great goal-kicking and runs good attacking lines, as well as being a strong tackler. His discipline seemed to improve over the season as well, which was letting him down early on. On the other hand, King-Miski was a far more potent attacking combination than Keighran-Miski, and I don't know how much that was down to Miski often being crocked last season. My feeling is that I don't see any urgent need to replace him but, if he were to move on at the end of this contract, I would be comfortable with that too.

Keighran really grew on me last year.

Think when he filled in a 6 his confidence grew and then performed better in the centres.

I trust the club to get these calls right.

His first two thirds of the season was ok but you wondered if he had that switch in him that these Wigan players all seem to have, where they seem to go in to this big game mode and everything goes through the roof (concentration, intensity, aggression etc) and he proved in that last third of the season and in particular in the last 6 weeks or so that he definitely does. It was his defence that really impressed me and how he controlled his aggression and did not make those silly errors where he was tipping players or catching them high. He was machine like in the Grand Final and made a tackle in the second half on our line that was almost up there with the French try.