Also, wonder what will happen to Keanan Brand. Currently playing full back for Leigh. Will he be back next year with us?

The calibre of players that are willing to leave the NRL to play Super League has diminished incredibly.

We, along with others have been burnt badly.

In my opinion he plays better now for Tony Smith than for Powell at Cas.

Rather him than some Aussie on a pension.

I'm sorry but do people even watch the game. Bullock is Wigan's version of Sita but worse. He plays similar minutes, is the same liability in defence with slow movement laterally and doesn't have the impact where Sita can injure someone when taking the ball up.

Bullock wasn't even in the 17 man squad for the game at the weekend, he came in due to injury to Gildart. If he went straight into the side then Wigan wouldn't have lost a substitution from the permitted amount. Lam gave up a substitution to put him on the bench as he is rated so little. He cant get in, in front of there forwards who offer nothing as it is.

The one thing in common between both players is they were both ex wingers. I would rather have Sita than Bullock every day of the week

I'm not enthused by our signings either. I was pleased with Powell's appointment and liked the way he reshaped the Leeds squad and built a Cas team from bottom to top in 4 years without big money by picking up unheralded players, but it does feel like he's reassembling a Cas squad that was plateauing over here.

George Williams is a signing that could take us a step forward, the other guys are much of a muchness with what we already have and I have a nagging suspicion that by the time all the ins and outs are finished we'll go in to 2022 with a squad that is slightly weaker than in 2021. Of course rubber duckie will tell us its the greatest squad in history and will win the lot.

Unfortunately that's the limitations of a salary capped sport. We have given Toby a big hike to keep him. Money has got to come from somehwere to pay for it. Possibly Minikin on less than Lineham? I'm quite happy with the signings however I am worried about the front row. You win nothing behind a bad pack, what's the point in having Widdop and Williams with no props putting us on the front foot?

If you look back to years gone by, at some of the Saints top teams they had Danny Arnold and Joey Hayes (average players) on the wings as the money was spent on the rest of the team. Whether the game has changed too much i dont know. They were both decent finishers but not top quality by any means.

Are you sam beckett by any chance?

I don't even know who that is, so i don't know if that's a compliment or derogatory. It is true though, there is no point having star studded half backs and a powder puff pack.

It was a quantum leap reference since you went all the way back to 1996 for your point.

Which im not entirely sure I understand. If you wouldn't mind clarifying/expanding

Even if the squad is ever so slightly weaker on paper next year, I’d back Powell to get more out of his squad fillers than Price. It’s true that we do need to retain some power up front. Maybe the cheaper wing options are a result of wanting to keep Hill. He and Cooper backed up by Philbin and Mulhern is good enough to provide a platform for Widdop and Williams to win us a grand final.

I’m happy that our half-backs for next year are both big game players with a full skill set. The wings may not be NRL standard but outside of two fairly decent centres with Williams and Widdop pulling the strings, it shouldn’t matter too much. Our spine is excellent and we have some very good juniors coming through in key positions. I’d be far more worried if we had Austin and Fages at half back with NRL retirees in the centres and a couple of star wingers not even gettig the ball.

Let’s relax and see how we shape up next season.

Minikin, Mata'utia, Holmes, Harrison and possibly Bullock.



I bet Saints, Wigan and Leeds are bricking it.

Wigan have signed a few guys who even their own families would struggle to pick out of a line-up. Leeds have signed our fourth best halfback.

As others have mentioned, I wasnt even sure we needed another outside back so don't imagine Minikin is going to be much more than experienced cover. The big thing is whether we can get Ashton fit again, the kid is a class act and we do need his pace.

Our sport could do with a decent share of the multi £millions thrown at our Olympic team by sport England. Not bad for a so called amateur sport.

Williams for Austin
Mata'utia for Inglis / Mamo
Holmes for J Clark
Harrison for Akauola
Minikin for Lineham

If we can retain Hill and Ashton that doesn't look like a bad set of swaps as a whole (the Harrison injury is, however, a big setback).

I like Holmes and kept an eye on Mata'utia on Saturday against Salford and thought he had a decent game.

Harrison seems like a 'project' signing so gets a chance to prove himself likewise Bullock if he's signed, it depends on the deal and who he's replacing with movement elsewhere in the pack? As long as he's not a cut price Asotasi because that would be bad business at ANY price.

I agree, Williams could potentially be the best signing we have made since Morley. The rest I don't think there is that much in it, but I do like Lineham.

In terms of how I would assess it, I think Williams is an upgrade on Austin. Tough one regarding Mata’utia and Mamo as Mamo has probably had his best season ever with us this year. So I suppose it’s a slight downgrade on Mata’utia however, he brings a different skill set and can cover the halves and full back. J Clark has been pretty non-existent in the last 12 months for me and I think Davis should be selected ahead of him in the side anyway, so Holmes will be an improvement on him.

Shame for Harrison with that 8-12 months injury as I was looking forward to seeing him next year given he comes with a good reputation from the Championship. I think our time with Sita has drawn to close which will be a relief to many. Minikin and Lineham is fairly scratch, although I do like Lineham his discipline is to much of a flaw and he’s missed far to many games through suspension.

Lineham is a liability with his disciplinary record.

Wire didn`t offer him a new contract and none of the Super League top teams showed any interest in signing him.

That says it all.

Leeds were

The difference is, Wigan and Leeds generally have a great crop of young players able to come in and fill the squad, and they have a track record of winning Grand Finals with signings that we would consider unknown.

Warrington don't. So reducing the quality of our squad doesn't give us a better chance of winning.

It's a similar argument to the one that used to be levelled at the TS squad - Wigan and Leeds would have long crap spells during the regular season because they knew how to peak at the right time, whereas we wasted our good form during the regular season. By the end of TS time, we had learned to be crap during the regular season but it didn't result in us winning anything.

Perhaps, but those days are changing. Our commitment to youth over the past decade and more is now bearing real fruit. Longstaff and Thewlis are really exciting and Wrench looks an excellent prospect. Sure Walter will enlighten us to more on their way through. These are also adding to established academy products of real quality that have graced our team for a few seasons.

We have been hearing this for years though. It's always "X is really exciting" or "looks an excellent prospect". We heard it about Rhys Evans, Declan Patton, Harvey Livett, Brad Dwyer, even going back 20 years the same was said about Sibbit, Noone, Gleeson, Pickersgill, Hulse. There was always someone on the old Wolfweb site saying "The future's bright, the future's Wire". What they probably mean is, we have some good kids coming through who look great in junior rugby and have good attitudes. That is a different thing from having young players who actually make an impact against SL pros. Wigan, Leeds and Saints regularly bring through players who are difference makers in big games, become internationals, and have NRL clubs chasing them. Our criteria of Academy success is just having a player get a good number of games in our first team.

I wonder if 3 or 4 years down the line these guys that we are hyping up as great Academy prospects now, will end up going to Salford, Widnes or Leigh, along with anguished debates on here about how they were great prospects but were "destroyed by poor coaching" and that Powell "prefers his favourites from Cas" rather than giving young lads a shot.

Regards Thewlis and Longstaff (particularly the latter) do you notice a difference between these two and previous, recent big hopes? I do, despite it being early days. We also have King, Philbin and Cooper as top class academy products. Wigan's current crop does not look impressive, quantity over quality.

We don't know that for sure. Maybe wakey offered him the most cash? Maybe he feels they are building to something?

He has been a bt of a liability but a lot of that has been harsh treatment from the judiciary panel.