I hope so I just cant see wane doing it

The comments on McIlorum’s departure were that Leuluai and Powell are hookers so it sounds like TL is definitely moving to 9.

When Escare played FB at the start or the season we did not loose a match until he was injured, then we went down hill.

Just watched the Tommy and Wane interviews on Wigan tv and both Wane and Tommy said Tommy will be at 9 ... Wane mentioned Ganson but not Sam Powel maybe Powel will be given a shot in the halves at some point though Im hoping for a
1 Escarre, 6 SamT, 7 Williams, 9 Tommy/Powell/Ganson and 13 Lockers .
I would still want Powell to do an 80 if at 9.

I'm a fan of putting Escare at full back, but that's not true. We went 4 games without a win with him at FB between March and April. He was also at FB for the Cas hammering when the wheels really fell off.

I wouldn't read into that too much considering how bad he was v Cas when we were hammered, or how Catalan deemed him not good enough, eventually bringing in Tony Gigot. They didn't even consider him good enough to feature on the wing.

I thought having him as a back-up was a good bit of business, just not a starter.

How about:

1 Williams
6 Tomkins
7 Powell
9 Tommy
Interchange Ganson.

Maybe Williams would be better as a free running fb...

That’s exactly what I’ve been saying for nearly 6months now and it’s exactly what should happen too.

It wasn’t really a case of Catalans wanting to let him go, it was more to do with the circle of friends and outside influences he had around him from his youth that were deemed to be holding him back.

They tried on several occasions to adjust his mentality but he kept going back to the same group.

It was deemed by Catalans and the player who wanted to break away the only way this could be done was a total move away hence why he ended up with us. Were his off field situation sorted he would be a Catalans player now.

We’ve been crying out for a kicking 7. We still don’t really have one but Tomkins is miles better than Powell at it. Powell just can’t get any length to his kicks although I do like his kicking close to the line. Surprisingly Escare did some great field kicking from FB last season.

I do think that when comparing Escaré and ST at full-back, opinions were coloured, not unreasonably, by the relative expectations for both players and the size of their pay-packets. Escaré looked a risk, to say the least, and people were pleasantly surprised when he proved much better than expected.

Does that make him a better full-back than Sam? Not so clear-cut, to say the least.

Escare isn't a better full back than Sam but the balance of the spine looks very good with Morgan, Sam, George, TL and Lockers.
That looks like the best spine of any team in SL.
To make them play at their best we need the front row and the whole pack to get us on the front foot and going forward with power and pace. The backs have real pace and it all needs us getting our act together.

Spot on FT. If we can have a bit more luck with injuries and keep key players fit, we’ll not be far off. I may be in a severe minority but I can’t wait for the season to start.

I just hope the players are buzzing to get going. They’ve looked like their minds are elsewhere at points these past couple of years and as though they’re struggling to motivate themselves for anything other then the really big games. We can learn a lot from Cas last year and how they seemed to enjoy each other’s success and celebrated try’s as a team.

If we can get a good spirit going and some excitement in to the players, we’ve got more then enough talent to not only win games but to entertain.

There’s definitely something in this. If we look back 2 or 3 years it was almost as if there was a forfeit for being last to join the celebrations! They were running in from everywhere and laughing their heads off!