I'm not a Wigan fan, but you have been easily the best team through the year in the last 3 years. But looking at the squad where has the cap space gone? Off the top of my head you've lost Lima, Fielden, Carmont, Leuluia (sp) & Finch. That has to be around 500K? Where has that money gone

IN Smith, Green, Thornley

Plus major upgrades for a lot of the younger players - long term contracts and pay increases.

I suspect there is still some room left on the SC as well.

On Wigan Tv Shaun Wane spoke of Taylor and Green as new signings to replace the lads that have left and said "we've got Green and Taylor as well as anybody else that may come in before the end of the year".

Words to that effect anyway so he didn't sound like a bloke that had given up on the idea of new players coming in.

No doubting Finch's quality, but as people have said, in the semi's last year he bottled it big time. Poor kicking, stray passes & the ones that found there mark were generally flat passes to Hock into a wall of defenders. He was a great player for most of his time here no doubt and leaves us with some great memories, but I think Tommy's time out injured showed us who was really making the team tick.

A few of us have been asking that very same question. £500k out of £1.7m is a hell of a big number to lose.

It happens all the time and I have mentioned it before. Player leaves and so he was rubbish. Look at some of the posts about Hock. When it looked like he was off the criticism mounted about his wayward off-loading and discipline that if you mentioned it when he was a nailed on Wigan player these things were minor blemishes on a great players game.

I am not suggesting everyone is as fickle as this but there are certainly some who will slag off players to justify the clubs current signings because as we know, the club can do no wrong.

Bottom line is no matter how good or bad Finch and Tommy where what counts now is how good Green and Smith are. Slagging off former players who clearly were class won't change that.

I don't see the similarity. Goulding was a victim of Noble's pick his favourites in any position selection policy and fell out of favour after a poor game v Leeds (when all the team were poor but he is the one who lost his place) virtually never to be seen again. He was also injured for most of one of those seasons wasn't he? He is also a natural centre. With Hughes it is simply just the same kind of compromise the team was forced into when Gleeson left and we had Joel in the centres. Yes it works most of the time but sometimes it doesn't and that us usually when up against a proper centre in the games that count.



But we won a cup and a grand final in no small measure due to having some big names in the side such as Hoffman, Lima and Finch. Success in 2010 and 2011 didn't come on the back of a side like we are about to put out in 2013. I I also reckon despite the league win a big reason we didn't win either of those trophies again in 2012 was down to poor coaching by Wane and I think people are ignoring the difference in coach as well as the squad. I have been far from convinced by Wane this season and he has as much to prove as any of the new signings such as Green IMO.

You also don't think this team restructuring is part of a master plan do you? IL promised year on year improvement and I for one was looking for the squad to evolve based on this not get dismantled. We have been just as unstable in terms of a settled team under IL as any previous seasons and next year shows we are at it again so I think any comparisons with the Maurice era are actually little different.



For me its the pack and the coach that will determine how we go. The pack looks much poorer. Wane has to be a lot cleverer in his selections and not believe his own propaganda by which I mean doing things convincing himself a player with one SL game under his belt is the right choice for a semi-final at full back. Sometimes the more conventional approach is the right one. I also think if he continues with the full contact training we will fade away by the end of the season once again and that would happen even if we had retained the players who have left.

For most of the season Wane exceeded my expectations, by the end he had just about lived up to them.

To be fair though I've seen players who are considered natural centres who have looking unconvincing against 'proper centres' in games that count. In fact young centres generally have lots of flaws in their game so why would Hughes be any exception? Stefan Marsh was considered an out and out centre but he looked less convincing than Hughes but I'd hazard a guess that if Marsh was still at the club you'd be all for his selection at centre, regardless of whether he's the best option purely because you want someone you consider 'a centre' at centre.

Tomkins wasn't a natural fullback, he had flaws in his game and still does but he's adapted to the role over time. The only way we really got to see how effective Tomkins was at fullback was by giving him a chance and he proved himself to be the best available option.

Versatility isn't a bad thing. It's not like Hughes is going to become a terrible player if he's played at centre. If he plays there and is absolutely awful he'll be dropped and Thornley will play instead. In fact it's not even guaranteed that Hughes will be first choice centre as both he and Thornley will get an opportunity in pre-season.

There's nothing wrong with finding out about a players versatility and in young players it can often be beneficial to give them chances in different positions. Playing on the wing certainly seems to have helped Goulding.

Hughes has only started 6 games at centre for the first team. In Goulding's first 6 starts at Wigan he was far from convincing! (Admittedly the team was garbage). In many games later than that he looked unconvincing.

From what I've seen of Hughes at centre he's had a couple of disappointing games, a couple of very good games and four games where he looked like a decent stand in. I think it's worth giving him a few more opportunities at centre to see whether he's the best option.

Sorry but am I the only one that expected no silveware at all last season? Given the losses of quality, experienced players like Deacon, Coley, Hoffman & Joel I definitely didn't! I thought we'd have finished 3rd at best. Wane exceeded my expectations and I think the attack for most of the season was better than we'd seen under Maguire. It was the crunch clashes where I thought some of our experienced "big name" players didn't perform as expected & really stifled our attack by being too predictable. Hence me not being too bothered about our lack of "big" signings. We've signed lads that have a lot to prove & I think they'll deliver

It's a natural progression for some great players from wing, to centre, to stand off, to loose forward.

I thought you only had Hoffman, Lima and Finch in 2011 (and 2012 for the last two), not 2010. If anything the 2010 side was less special on paper.