Club are trying for a replacement fullback, if not they would extend for another month I guess.

What do we as a club gain by it? Short term it might make us a little more competitive but long term? like i said would rather we played one of our own youngsters. They did the same with Charnley to the Dobbins, now the Pies are reaping the benefits.

When he was in the u18's I think he played mostly at fullback but because of his talent he made his way up to the 20's at an early age and has been moved between fullback and wing at points. One of the reasons last year was us having Amos Roberts in that side trying to regain fitness and I think the club saw him as a fullback and also the more likely option out of the 2 to step in to the first team if injuries struck.

This year he's been on dual reg at Leigh and played a bit of both again and in his 2 first team games for us he played one on the wing and one at fullback so you may have a point.

He's definitely a fullback IMO. A settled run there will do him the world of good.

I know what people mean about 'what's in it long term for Hull' but you've had a great start to the year and sometimes you have to look after the present. To throw away a good start by playing young kids of your own who either may not be ready or you play them out of position could harm them in the long term and the team in the short term.

Maybe a home tie in the play offs?

Maybe we don't have a fullback anywhere near ready?

Maybe he will help us win all our games this month, helping us to a top 4 finish.

Be good enough for me if he does.

But then we'll get hammered in the play offs playing with out a experienced fb.

I look forward to to see who we sign after Russell, but part of me is expecting to sign a player who's not very good for a long contract just to get by for this season.

Long term no benefit then apart from maybe a little more cash in the pot from a slightly higher finish.
Just emphasizes for me what a mess the previous regime left our youth system in, be nice hopefully one day if Gentle gets the structure right at the club that teams like Wigan will be looking to loan our youngsters.

Possibly we are looking to get someone else in, or maybe we want to see how he goes in a couple of games before deciding to extend for longer. he's going to be keen to impress as opportunities will be very limited for the foreseeable future at Wigan with Tomkins in front of him. Will reserve judgement until I've seen him play, but seems well thought of by pies fans

If he's a good player Tomkins will move to 6.

I'm fairly happy we have signed someone in the short term to give Gentle time to assess the team rebuilding with the changes so far.

Reece & Jack Briscoe for Gentle are maybe not ready to step up yet. It maybe the loan is until they can get a permanent replacement and maybe even for this season as well as next etc.

I dont see what the problem is with bringing in a player on a short term loan for a specialist position in which the club has 0 players to put in apart from moving Horne or Whiting which is what Gentle doesnt want to do plus Horne is still not 100% fit yet for all I know.

Agree there is no long term benefit here, but sometimes you have to look at the here and now and we have no one available to fill that spot without affecting the halves, my original thoughts were Horne to full back for the rest of the season but I think he'll just end up with time out injured as he's no longer able to take the big hits that he will get in that position week after week, and we need the Horne / Seymour to develop.

AP / Gentle are already putting the structures / facilities in place so that hopefully we don't get put in this position again (blame lies firmly with the previous regime) but it takes time, and don't forget that this is an unusual position we face as effectively McKinnon has walked out on the club, otherwise this thread would not exist.

No he won't. Wane said pre-season on radio that Tomkins will remain Wigan's long term fullback, as it is his best position. Tomkins is the best player in the Country when he's playing fullback, he's not necessarily the best player in the Country when he's in the halves.

When will Jack and Reece be ready then, when they've had a bit more experience?

Neither are even playing fb in the U20's.

We have no idea about the future benefits of this move. If he's frozen out of Wigan's first team for the duration of his contract, surely this gives us an advantage if he looks to move on? Our youth team looks to have suffered and be behind the tops clubs, there's nothing wrong with trying to attract quality youth from outside the area. The only player in our 20's that looks consistently quality right now is Lineham, and if the rumours are true - he'll be frozen out by Crookes next year.