What about him? He's not going to leave Saints for us is he.

Plus we have Joe Mellor.

I would really like to sign him and Ben Jones Bishop

Mellor's play seems to have plateaud out a bit from the bits I've seen of him playing at Widnes. Not sure if he's good enough to be Deacon's long-term successor. Hope I'm wrong of course

We need a prop, half and centre.

I don't think we do need a prop.

Next season Fielden should be back, that leaves Fielden, Lima, Mossop + Prescott as the first choice props. Happy with all 4 of them.

O'Carroll is back playing again, and Dom Crosby is a year older. That's enough depth imo.

I think a centre is also dependant on where they see Joels long term future. I think he's doing a decent job there at the moment, he seems to be improving every game and if he had an entire off season learning the positional requirements of that role I can't see any problems.

As for a HB, I'd like to see a british player coming in, whether that will be Mellor, I don't know, but with Finch OOC next season, and Tommy looking like he will end up in the NRL sooner of later, I think we should be looking at a young british HB. The problem there though, is that there doesn't seem to be many coming through!

I don't think we urgently need to strengthen, but those are the three areas Wigan will be looking to strengthen if the right players become available.

Centre I think we have covered for a year. Joel Tomkins is doing an admirable job, Carmont is here for another year, Charnley, Goulding and Marsh can all cover. Amos Roberts could hit form and take a wing spot with Charnley moving to centre and Joel back to the pack. That's an ideal scenario.

Halfback is a tricky one. Joe Mellor can't be thrown straight into first team action - not in an ideal scenario either. Too much pressure and exposure to last the course of a season. Gaskell has done well for Saints at first, but his performances have dropped as the season has worn on. Mellor is getting rave reviews at Widnes, so ideally I'd like to see Deacon stay another season to alternate with Joe Mellor. Mellor can work one on one with Deacon in training and learn off him, Finch, Tomkins and Leuluai in training and can have some of the pressure taken off him with the experienced players around him. This should hopefully prepare him to takeover the following season.

Prop forward is the area we should always look to strengthen. Lima, Prescott and Mossop are fine. Fielden is a top player, but has been out for an entire season with injury. If our only depth is O'carroll and Crosby I think we're pretty short and much weaker than now. We've gone with five senior props this season and we've needed them. I think modern RL with the number of injuries/suspensions bound to occur in a season you need five senior props. Ideally six. Leave yourself with just four senior props and you're asking for trouble IMO. Plenty of prop forwards available - I'd make it a priority area to recruit for next year.

I think that a possible solution with regards to Mellor would be to use Roberts as his alternative. Roberts to FB and Sam to 6 when Mellor needs a break from the first team?

If Deacon doesn't sign on for another year you could well be right.

Absolutely.

On the bright side, we are arguing where we need to strengthen, but there's only 1 urgent position (HB) and we should have 2(?) quota spaces available, as well as Coleys/Deacons/Hoffmans salary. I think thats enough for Benji Marshall don't you?

I think we desperately need to recruit more players next year.

The reason for our success this year is our strength in depth, and if we lose Hoffman, Coley, Deacon and Davies and replace them with no-one then that just eliminates our depth.

With Roberts, we either need to release him. Or get him playing some games and back to some form because we cant afford to go into a full season with an overseas player whos never going to get a game and is taking up a chunk of the salary cap.

I think it's just Lima, Finch and Roberts on the quota. With Hoffman and Cross leaving that does leave us with two spots to play around with. Plenty of prop forwards available from the NRL. Not sure on halfbacks and centres.

Wouldn't it be nice to be in a position where Benji Marshall could be a realistic signing? Imagine a team that contains the footwork of Sam Tomkins and Benji Marshall. SYOOPER stuff.

Why would Mellor need a break from the 1st team, dont understand that all. The issue is if he's good enough to be our starting 6. As this year has shown, a settled half back partnership is a must, moving players in and out of positions is too disruptive.

Either Mellors good enough to be a stand off in a team that wants to challenge for trophies, or he isnt, in which case we either offer Deacon another year (has he got another year at the top in him? been excellent again this season but maybe 2012 would be a season too far?) or we look to recruit someone in (who though?)

You dont think we'd be any weaker without Coley? He is a massively under-rated player in this team IMO.

Im not underrating him at all. We've just got Fielden to come back in. And to be perfectly honest, with the way all our props have performed this year, I'd probably drop him ahead of Prescott/Mossop + Lima.




Purely because he can't be expected to be the starting HB when he has barely played for the first team so far. If he makes the position his own, great.