Personally i think Briscoe has already signed for Leeds.

I would love to see Lineham, Kirkmond and Sammut here.

Sammut, Green, Smith and Hampshire. Quality rotation that. S. Powell to No.9 when Mickey Mac is injured(unfit)

Burgess to step up and rotate with Lineham and Josh, and Kirkmond is just a machine. Well he has been this season anyway. Think Tuson has been good this season but i fear his days here are numbered.

Dudson and Flower have come on leaps and bounds and have bulked immensely.

Please, please IL, Spend some of the money wisely and we could be fearsome. As far as the centre position goes i think we should prepare for the fact it will be Goulding(obviously) Hughes, Gelling and Sarginson.

T Briscoe will probably go to Leeds.
Clarke will go to Wire as their two 9s will retire in the next 2 years.
Kirmond looks good in a Wakey shirt but looked anything but in a Hudds jersey.
Would cost too much right now and with all our money we couldn't match the fee and salary Wire could offer.

We have Hopkins signed and Leigh fans who've come on here say he's a far better player than Chris Hill. Can play prop, 2nd row and 13.
Burgess and Manfredi to compete for Pat's shirt.
Bowen in for Sam, I'd expect him to be stood down for games v London, Cas, Wakey, etc with Hampshire, Tierney and Burgess trying the fb position.
Carmont has been missed but Thornley has done as well as I expected him to do after only 3 SL games prior to this season. See how he goes 2014.
The biggest worry for me looking at next season is not positional but that of a top quality goal kicker who is also a top quality player.
Any names anyone?



IMO this is the wrong time to try and buy someone's best player. They know we are cashed up and will raise their price to a unacceptable level.

Going against the grain here, but I see signings as a complete and utter waste of money under a salary cap. The money should go back into improving youth development even further - youth is the only way to get an edge in the long run, mercenary players will always end up overpriced.

Further developments of pathways in Wales, and if things really collapse in London then I'd love for us to take over the mantle over there. London will start yielding results in the next few years and I'd hate for it to just go to union when we could benefit massively from it.

At the VERY LEAST the money MUST be spent on some new players. Wigan cannot be seen to have sold their star player - a year earlier than necessary - for a 'record fee' and to have not spent a penny of it on players of any kind of stature. You're just Arsenal FC - a selling club. You lower the standards and reputation of the club. Wigan are the biggest club in British RL. The most successful, most prestigious, most famous - you name it. We are the big dogs of this sport whether people like or not. So test the resolve of Leeds for Watkins, test the resolve of Hull for Crooks/Lineham, test the resolve of Saints for Lomax, Walmsley etc. Start offering some monster fees and cherry pick the best talent in the competition. The NRL will continue to sh-t all over us with their astronomical salary cap and superior competition, but let's remain the premier team in this country at least.

Settling for scraps from lower end clubs to spend the money we have got for Tomkins is just not acceptable.

The fact we've bent over and sold Tomkins a year earlier than necessary is an absolute disgrace. Facts are that the money is useless - Tomkins is a once every 20 years sort of player. We've replaced a lad heading into his prime with a 31 year old on a one year deal. We have a record fee, but can't do much with it in a salary capped sport. For our chairman to hint it will go on the backroom stuff is disgusting. We shouldn't have to sell our best players to do that - and we don't have to sell our best players to do that. How thick does he think people are?

Ian Lenegan - get onto that market and headhunt the best talent in Super League. Invest that money back into the squad. A healthy bank balance does not win you trophies. Record fees do not win you trophies. Sam Tomkins wins you trophies. Hit the recruitment drive and bring some top talent to this club!

We can save up for years and sign Meshut Ozil!

Seriously though that's how I'd liken our situation at the moment. Like Arsenal we're in danger of being left behind because we'll have a raft of promising kids supplemented by decent but not top class players.

We're not at that level at the moment, we still have top class talent like Charnley, Lockers, Farrell, McIlorum, Hansen etc but I'd guess all of those bar Lockers will move on over the next 2 or 3 years unless Lenagan has a policy rethink.

To buy a top player from another SL club would cost a fortune and I would imagine you would need to up his wages.
To sign a top player from the NRL would impact on the salary cap and possibly also cost a fortune.

Yes we have money available, but it doesn't mean we have to throw it around willy nilly as though it's 1992. You just can't do that in this day and age (turns out you couldn't back then either but people didn't seem to care about that)

Some very unrealistic options being thrown around here - how many of the names being suggested are options Kirmond - really? he has just singed a new deal and would cost a fortune to buy out when we have Pettybourne arriving. Briscoe - possibly (unless he really is going tom Leeds). Lomax - do we really need another half/full back when we have Green / Smith / Powell / Hampshire / Williams and Bowen? Even if we could get him which I seriously doubt.

Of the others all would require large transfer fees (all the more so now it is known the club have money) and would ask for top wages - even if they were tempted which I suspect most would not be. The days when Wigan wanted a player and he would jump to be here are long long gone. Surely there must be better value looking at the Championship level if we need players.

Bowen is an excelent goal kicker. He would be kicking for NQ if JT wasn't their kicker. He is also very accurate with his drop goals.

Back up will still be Smith/Charnley

Although, apparently now we have all this money we can sign who we want, so lets get Cam Smith.

I'm sorry but i don't fully agree with some point here cadoo

1 There is no i in team yes Sam is a quality player one of if not the best in a Wigan shirt but it's his team mates what give him space when our forwards get a hiding and he's got no room it shows

2 Why go chucking coin about at big name players? Yes Watkins or someone along the lines would be good to have but not needed someone like Craig Hall or Kris Welham would do a good job for us and not demand big coin

It's been shown by Leeds and us that youth is the way forward yes you need to bring them through with experienced players but we have them lets not go back to spending on players who don't give a ****, these young lads have grown up watching us and want to put that shirt on some would play for £0 thats what wins you trophies

No you are wrong.

You need a balance.


There is no doubt that no-one would like a return to the "Moranesqe" days of just playing for the £££.

However, do you think Hanley would have "played for £0"??

The worry is that we are swinging too much the other way.

I agree.

Wigan have always had the policy of 'only the best will do' in terms of recruitment. And that is why Wigan have always had the highest attendances in UK Rugby League. Even surpassing the attendances at big city clubs like Leeds, Bradford or the Hull clubs.

And what was it that attracted those crowds for over 100 years ?

Not Wigans bank balance.

It was the star players.

Wigan always offered great entertainment. And that is what we are, a form of entertainment that nowadays has to compete with other forms of entertainment.

Mr Lenegan and others ought to remember that we are not all just 'walking £20 notes' . Unfortunately many businessmen having viewed their 'business plans' for far too long and far too often, assume we are.

I think both of you have hit the nail on the head. Particularly Cadoo's comment about the money being spent on the backroom stuff.

I don't think that any big names are realistic at present but there are players that people are not talking about now who will be talked about once the World Cup kicks off and the trick is to identify which of those players can fit into our squad.

Don't rule out Wigan to pick up a bargain during the WC.

It's pretty obvious really Dave.

Wigans population is tiny compared with the big city clubs.

But for longer than 100 years, Wigan has led the attendances for crowds for RL. (For RU as well for that matter at club level.)

And why is this ?

My Dad and his Dad before him have all supported Wigan having been born there. My Grandad was born in 1881 and my Dad was 90 this week.

They and I, were brought up on Wigan being the '[icreme de la creme[/i' of Rugby League, so it pains us to see what is going on today.

Does Wigan have to sell our best players to survive ? Or are we being asset stripped ?

We have decent attendances again this season plus a Wembley Cup Final win 'under our belt' so why the sales ?

Even Salford are buying, but we are behind them in the stakes this time.

Problem with going out and spending money is there's no one to buy that is any good.

Look at Salford, the big spenders, who are doing what Warrington did 8 or 9 years ago just after Simon Moran had taken over. At that time we were signing Gleeson and Johns, look at Salford's signings - some decent players but nobody that's going to make you think they are game changers that will challenge the top 4.

The danger with having money and having pressure to spend it is just spending big doesn't guarantee the player does well. Liverpool got £50m for Torres and they made sure they weren't criticised for sitting on the cash by spending £35m straight away on Andy Carroll.....