I think it’s likely with the comments on McIlorum’s departure of “we have 2 good hookers in Leuluai and Powell plus Ganson”.

Plus if we go with Williams and Leuluai again we’ll probably be bottom 4.

If Williams plays scrum half with Sam at stand off, then I’d expect them to be the England half backs against New Zealand at the end of the season.

Gut feeling Sam will still be FB come seasons start..we shall see though.

Mine also.

Him coming out and staying he wants to stay there is a pretty big indicator for me and Wane has spoken quite a bit about Escare maybe being used either at six or from the bench.

Interesting comments from Sam is that. Got to admit when him and Eastmond were paired together as young kids they frightened the Aussies 10 fold and we thought we had a pairing for years to come. I was a very big advocate of what Sam actually produced down under, his time has been wrongly in my opinion scrutinised by idiot fans who dont warch rugby but hate wigan, and really feel a team as unpredictable as the Warriors were the worst option for him given their lack of structure.

What I am getting at is trying to say this isn't a trolling attempt with what I am about to say next, when he came back from injury in the games I saw he seemed to take a long while to have any contact in the tackle (obviously coming back from an injury there were rumours would end his career won't help), but is that an attempt to keep himself out of the firing line knowing you have wingers who work so hard for the team he can drop the ball onto?

Assuming you are referring to kick returns, he was already doing that before he went to NZ. I think it's probably because:

A - Given his size, he is less likely to win the collision and get a quick PTB to start the set off well
B - In that situation, the opposition know he won't pass, and there won't be gaps for him to step through, so they basically get a free shot at one our best players if he returns the ball. If they give a penalty away, who cares? It's deep in our half, worth it to intimidate him.

I get why it annoys people, but I think it's the right call, use players to their strengths.

I think that you may be correct although personally I would love to see ST at 6 as he has for me a natural RL brain and we need someone in the middle with that capability because SOL is likely to be off the pitch more than he is on it and without someone like him on the pitch for 80 minutes we are truly useless.

I have never seen Escare play 6 so I cannot comment on his capabilities with ball in hand however, I think he his capable of having a good kicking game so this maybe part of the thinking of playing him at 6.

My worry is that we may have Powell & Williams in the halves or god forbid Williams & TL as per last season.

MM leaving weakens the tackling strength in the middle as we saw last year so much. Everyone moaning about him and SOL going off at the same time but now people dont seem to be bothered about it...weird

Tommy can defend in the middle, no problem. He's done it on the biggest stage playing for NZ. If the new combination offers a lot more flair but slightly less aggression in defence, I'll be more than happy. Last season was boring.

Blog piece on the two leaving rlhttps://wiganrugbyfans.com/2018/01/04/a-goodbye-to-mickey-mac-and-anthony-gelling/rl

hes our 7 though so powell and ganson will be the hookers

I'd say there are only one or two who aren't actually bothered. But sometimes you just have to accept reality, even if you don't like it, and that may mean looking at alternatives and seeing potential positives if there are any.

We can vent our annoyance all day, but that isn't going to change the Chairman, and by the looks of it, not even the coach, so ultimately it amounts to a waste of breath.

Personally, I'm sorry MM's gone - more so than Gelling - but that doesn't mean he added a great deal to our cause last season. I appreciate that some will claim it was down to the coach, but the player has to bear some responsibility too.

My main worry about all this is that, on paper at least, we now look even weaker than we did last season ... but I'm hopeful that we haven't finished recruiting yet, plus things may be different with a whole bunch of players back from injury. There are some reasons to look forward to this coming season.

Williams and Sam will be our halves. Tommy will be 9

And we'll be much better for it as well. I'm personally really excited to see Sam back at HB. It sounds strange saying it as he's had a great career, but i still think it was a mistake moving him from there all those years ago. For me we've not seen a top class 6 come through the club since Long. When one comes around, especially one like Sam, he should have never been moved.

Also another thing to touch on is what this means long term into 2019. If Escare struggles this season i wouldn't be surprised to see Sarge moving to FB and us being on the lookout for a real top draw centre.

For me it depends on Tomkins' pace/speed. If he can find his pace his best position is FB. FB doesn't have to do half as much tackling as any player in the line. A top FB can communicate with the line in defence and attack, Sam can do all of the above as he is an excellent reader of the game.

A FB attacks both sides of the pitch, linking outside of the 6 and 7 as a second if not third receiver joining the attack where they see fit. Sam is perfect for this, has great hands and a great attacking rugby brain.

If he has pace why limit him to a position where he only features on one side of the pitch and has to do a tone more tackling? Doesn't make sense.

However, if he's lost his pace he'll be partially ineffective as a FB, his plays will be read and he won't have the pace to beat outside backs or make cover tackles in defence. He might as well play at 6 or 7 and create plays for others.

I agree with moving Tommy to 9. I believe he's the best 9 we have, including a massively overrated Micky Mac.

The issue for me now is Escare, not good enough to be a FB for us, and to the best of my knowledge has none/limited experience in the halves.