Joe Mellor is getting valuable experience at Widnes. Sam Tomkins could move into the halves if Matty Russell continues to improve like he seems to be at Hull. Wigan are also bound to sign a big name replacement for Finch. Soward?
Wigan will be better next year than this. A big worry for the rest of us.

Think Tomkins would be wasted in the halves. I can see Wigan going after Chase if Soward falls through.

I dont think they will be.....they are losing pivitol players and Russell improve...sorry but im not all that fussed on him...we are missing Mckinnon big time.

Replacing Lima, Finch and Leulai with players of similar quality will be hard. Finch bossed the game against us. Lima was very good last few games I saw on sky. Lots of teams will be weaker next year with the NRL options being poorer. Currently only Saints look improved if their rumoured signing are true.

And he's a back rower, not a prop.

Disappointed you left out the bit about Russell and a new FC signing boozing it up in town on here but put it on the Rovers board instead - confusing. Come on, cockle, moderators are supposed to be consistent.

Wow that crystal ball of yours is amazing....

With Lima, Finch, Leuluai and Carmont all going, plus Amos Roberts and probably Fielden, Wigan are going to have a lot of money to spend next year.

Agreed, but with the salaries commanded in the NRL now, they'll be struggling to replace with like quality IMO.

I agree, I believe it could become more of a level playing field for a few clubs over the next few years. (apart from Wire of course who appear to have some very creative accountants)

Anybody who thinks Wigan are going to go backwards anytime soon is delusional. Their current squad is full of talented home grown players already and they'll go out and sign quality players where the need to.

Completely agree about their current squad, but they won't have a better 6 next year than Finch.
If they move Tomkins to 6 and play Russell at FB they won't be as good either, especially if it's Matty Smith at 7.

Who is implying that they will go backwards ?.....all I see is people challenging RBAs view that Wigan will be even better next year.

And its great to see a (mostly) constructive discussion. To me, as things stand it will be harder for Wigan to go backwards than to progress. Certainly when you look at their opposition, Leeds are certainly entering a re-building stage. Warrington are an ageing team and will be going through transition although they too have a great youth system. Saints and Huddersfield will have new coaches so may take time to adapt to new systems etc. It looks as though Hull and Rovers are going to have a massive turn-over of players now that our new coaches have had a good look at their respective squads so that is going to take time to bed in.
When you take all of that into account on top of the young players that are bursting onto the scene at Wigan and the masses of salary cap that they have spare then i would just hand them the 2013 title now.
(Rovers to win the Challenge Cup though Mrs B).

Maybe the rest of SL teams will finally wake up and start really investing in it's Academy's now. The need for teams to produce their own English/French stars is now paramount.