Hastings was a nightmare for it, but it doesn't paint other guys or the wider team in a good light either. Last season, if you shut down Hastings, then you shut down Wigan. We need to be more like Catalan's as example of how it should work - shut down Maloney on the 4th and then Sam or Drinkwater take the kick.

If you replace Cust with Hastings, then others still need to step up.

Smith - I read a stat about him putting in a high % of kicks, but that stat didn't always tie up with what you see on the pitch. Smith needs to A - demand the ball more on the last play and B - be better at executing it too. He can't be letting Faz take the kick and he can't be kicking it out on the full either.

French/Zak - it shows how important the FB working as an extra pivot is, but it's one thing neither of these guys are that good at. French was originally touted as a 6 and I'd love to see him work on stuff outside of his running game. As it stands, teams know there's situations where he's not going to run it and they also know he's not an option for a kick either. That means it's easier to put pressure on in D.

Powell - As a former 7, you'd have hoped he'd have a decent enough kicking game. He's also experienced enough to read what's happening. Why pass it to a forward for a kick when he can probably do a better job? I know he's one of the greatest of all time, but Cameron Smith used to make these calls all the time and put kicks in from DH.

The above is exactly the type of stuff that the coaching team can have a massive impact on and, in turn, lead to the improvements we're all hoping for.

Powell has got a kicking game, even capable of 40/20s etc. The problem is he doesn't seem to use it as often as perhaps he should. Whether that's a coaching decision or a reluctance within himself, I'm not sure. The thing is, in the absence of a running game a la Roby or Clarke, he needs something in his game that they don't have and kicking could be exactly that. As you point out, Cam Smith's kicking game, especially on shirt kicks, was a very effective weapon for Melbourne. No one is suggesting that Powell is the next Cam Smith, of course, but it's certainly something that could, and perhaps should, be developed.

We all know that Lee Briers absolutely terrorised us with his kicking game at times over the years so 3-4 players should be (in theory) in a great position to be mentored by him to be at least a decent level by the start of the season.

You would hope that Briers can impart some of his guile and game nous to our pivots. I think that's one of the things that makes next season something of a journey into the unknown though. As we already know it doesn't always follow as shown by our lack of direction under Lam. Fingers crossed, I guess.

Powell needs replacing ASAP if this club is ever going to move, awful player that has been canonised by many on here due to him being a Wigan lad who came through the academy and the fact he has a high tackle count, though I suggest the majority of those tackles are third man in, the sooner he can be replaced by a very good Polynesian player the better

It would appear Wane and Peet do not share your opinion

And neither do many Wigan fans.

Powel is Waneys love child of course nobody is going to against the great silverback

Neither will Peet, seeing that Wane is his mentor!

Just so I'm on the same page as everyone else... Is next season's scapegoat Powell, Thornley or Peet?

I thought it was Leuluai

Nooooo! IL and Rads, surely?

Surely it's Hardaker (doesn't want to be with us anyway)

I’ll still blame Lam

Has to be one of the new ozzies last in an all that