He surely can't be totally out of the loop for recruitment. We do sign players so for example did he have no say in signing Tauati and Patrick?

Are you entirely sure Wane didn't decide we didn't actually need a more experienced stand off? He has a lot of faith in the younger players.

I am pretty sure he also said he was happy with the centres we have yet with Thornley out still we have Gelling who for all his 110% effort and charging runs is far from the finished article and is not a wingers centre yet holds down a 1st team spot. He strikes me he's another player Wane has a lot of faith in.

Looking around Super League there do seem to be a number of Half Backs who we should have had an interest in. IMO we will regret not signing someone to directly replace Green.

The Patrick signing has Waney all over it. He looks rubbish at the moment, but maybe the firmer grounds will see an improvement in him. To be fair the signings of Sarginson and Bateman have been successes.

I think that we have boys doing mens jobs in too many positions. Although Hampshire, Burgess, Williams, Connor Farrell and Sutton may turn out to be good players we can really only afford one or two of them in the team at any given time.

I also feel that Gelling might be a second rower (and an average one at that) but Goulding reminded us on Sunday what a centre should be doing. A mistake to let him go IMO.

The lack of creativity at 6, 7 and 9 is also a worry. People are picking on Matty at the moment, but my bigger concern is at hooker and Stand Off.

They will play if they are good enough and that's the way it should be.

Do the players you've mentioned have a devine right to play in the first team? We should be getting the best that's available either via the academy or from elsewhere.

We shouldn't just be playing guys because they've come from our youth set up.

I agree with this.

The shirt needs to be earned.

I don't care what happens to Hampshire, Williams or Powell over anyone else in the club. They've been getting plenty of opportunity and haven't exactly been setting the world alight. If they prove they are good enough then great if not then get someone who is. At the moment they are not good enough to be first team regulars. (Having said that Hampshire was one of the few bright spots on Sunday. He needs to back it up now)

Campese and Burns aren't in the same class as Carney, or even Walsh. TC has a good kicking game, but no pace and is a bit if a crock. Burns is likely to be suspended for half the season (what do you mean, he'd feel right at home? ). Kelly OTOH could be a good buy for HKR.

I can think of a dynamic young centre who doesn't always get a game for his current club, and who would absolutely brilliant for us.










I refer, of course, to Konrad Hurrell!

That wasn't the point.
We can't just sign an Aussie 30 odd year old halfback and just let these kids go. What's the point of having probably the best academy set up in the country if you're going to discard them at 20 years old? They have to be blooded gradually, they are NOT ready to play first team rugby week in week out at this stage of their career in such demanding pivotal positions. How many 20 year old halfbacks are playing SL? Saints tried it with Lomax and Gaskell and it failed.

If the likes of Williams and Hampshire finish up at Saints or Leeds can you imagine the outcry from Wigan fans?

It's great having a strong Academy but the system is proven not to work with halfbacks you only need to look at the lack of quality coming through in that position over the last God knows how many years.

You have to bring them through gradually which is why I think a 30 odd year old stop gap signing like Campese would have been ideal on a 2 year deal for example. They could play many key games and step aside at times for a break to give the youngster like Williams 10 or so games, raising to 15 in year 2.

Williams has gone from Academy to backup hooker to wearing one of the most influential shirts in the team and he is struggling.

A 22/22 year old half with 25 games of SL under their belt is a far more productive apprenticeship than we have at the moment.

But that situation you have described there is exactly what the club did when they brought Green in. Williams, Powell, Hampshire etc were nowhere near ready so a transfer fee was paid to bring someone in. In the two years we had Green, Williams made 26 appearances and Powell made 38. If you look to do another stop-gap you lose continuity in your halves and risk the young lads moving on. Only time will tell if the club have got it right but I can absolutely see why they have approached it the way they have.

I think it's unfair to say Williams is struggling, because the whole team is. If we were completing sets and our attack was letting us down and that was the reason we were losing games then criticism of the halves would be fair enough. As it is, we're completing at 50/60% and not actually getting many decent attacking opportunities to see what Williams and Smith can do. Step 1 is to address our completion rate and number of penalties, because having Todd Carney or Jonathan Thurston in the halves wouldn't help us at the minute.

Those are exactly my thoughts. I'd rather make a judgement when we have a full strength pack available, however there needs to be questions asked re tactics and leadership at present.

How long is a stop gap?

For me the right option would have been signing Green to a 4 year deal which would have taken him to the end of his career.

If that next Rocky or Powell left then it's not that big of a deal. Green would have provided us with 6 years of service and given us continuity.

That's worth more than the premise of a kid who might be good. At the end of the day if you're good enough then you get in the side imo.

I ain't inserted up anyone.
Carney - is the absolute opposite of what IL wants ie a total richardhead
Campese - don't know enough about him
Burns - all mouth and very little action
Simms - not sure
Vea - no better than we've got
Hubby - yep I would have liked him

This.
Let's spend a fortune developing our own kids then the first season we have a wobble for over 5 years let's put all the youngsters down and look for old has beens or social outcasts from the NRL where they have been found out.
It's Bowen, Smith, MM, Tomkins, SOL and Liam F who need to be leading the way and Bateman should stop all of his macho crap and get on with playing and developing his game or have a scrap with someone (I personally think his macho stuff is a load of shoite) to prove he actually is a hard case and an enforcer that we desperately need at the moment.

You can't keep applying this logic. There is a crop of youngsters coming through every year. When do you decide to stick with any particular group if you always have kids coming through? Kevin Brown and Luke Robinson are still plying their trade - how many youngsters would we have "wasted" if we'd stuck with them? If we stick with the 4 you named, what happens to the next lot on the conveyor belt?
Aboveusonlypie has it right imo.