Sometimes you have to take a bit of a punt on a player with talent that's unfulfilled.

We did it with Bridge and there were a lot of question marks when he left Bradford, the usual story was "great talent BUT..." He supposedly had attitude problems, fitness questions and so on. It took a while to really fulfil his potential with us but when you look back now Bridge was one of our best signings for many years, he has been a superb Warrington player.

On Wheeler, I have to admit, I never understood why people always said he was so good. Saints fans used to hype him up when he was coming through, I couldn't see it, you always get coaches saying about him being a natural playmaker and so on, I can't remember us ever coming up against him and thinking he's a massive danger.

But the fact that he does have this high rating says something, and he's been given another chance with us, probably his last real chance of making it in a top SL club because if he gets released by us a the end of the season his next move will be somewhere like Hull KR, Wakefield or so on, or maybe the lower leagues.

We should get behind him and give him a chance, it would be great to see him achieve his potential with us and not Saints, after they put all the work in to his development, it would be like Briers all over again.

Sometimes these signings come off, sometimes they don't. I mentioned Bridge before, the other player I was very in favour of us signing was Dale Cardoza, who was a bit of a joke figure at Huddersfield but I thought when you saw his strength and speed, this guy could be an absolute monster of a centre, worth taking on the chance. Well that didn't come off.

Keith Holden springs to mind.

Good shout

Nick Fozzard

Signed at the same time as Dale Laughton. Huh.

David Solamona

Was it Tony Burke we signed from Saints who had played pretty much his whole career injury free and then a nano-second after signing for us .............crocked

Was Dale Laughton the guy with the head guard we signed from Sheffield Eagles who had a brilliant game for them down at Wilderspool playing for the Eagles and then signed for Warrington and then ........ the Warrington curse ...................crocked

Laughton was suffering with a chronic back injury when we signed him. One of a succession of absolutely disasterous signings for 2002.

Played 50 games ...crocked

Well without wishing to climb too high up the mountain of pedantry .....

"Tony moved to Warrington after a Saints' career virtually unbroken over 216 appearances in which he scored 23 tries"

They certainly got more out of him that we did although I have to agree 46 + 4 as sub is more than I thought.

A friend in work raved over Wheeler when we signed Ratchford. He was saying Wheeler is twice the player Ratch will ever be.
Now he's signed for us guess what? Wheeler not good enough to play the game, rubbish ball handling and switches off during games.

Exactly, some see what they want to see when it suits.

lets be honest.... its a low risk signing.... hopefully the club think with a decent training plan the injuries can be kept to a minimum.

the people dead against it before he has even played a game need to have a word with themselves.

this could turn out to be a brilliant signing. I will be 100% behind him

Wheeler is a talented player. Always accepts the ball on the tips of his toes rather than flat on the heels. Can step off either foot. Has good hands, acceleration over the first twenty and can put in a pretty nifty grubber kick for himself or supporting players. His defence is ok - although he can be caught out at centre.

Had he played consistently in a single position throughout his career I suspect he'd be one of the better players in SL.

His injury record is pretty abysmal. But it's the [itype [/iof "injuries" (i.e. those one-to-three game "niggles" which most SL players choose to declare themselves fit with) which offer the best insight into Wheeler.

He's the RL equivalent to that employee everyone knows who takes a Friday/Monday off every six weeks with "Flu" or "Food Poisoning".

I'm not suggesting his injuries are bogus. Indeed, some have been quite serious. But I can't help but think the likes of James Roby, Graham, Sculthorpe, Cunningham etc. would rather take the needle, bluff the coach and play at 70-80% rather than let their teammates down.

The above said, if he plays 10-12 games next season (especially in one position) you'll have a useful attacking alternative. Players with his skill set aren't easy to recruit and if Smith can perform the kind of mental makeover he did with Briers you'll have a bargain.

0 risk signing, he was released by Saints so we've only paid whatever his salary is (which is said to be pay when you play).

If he's brilliant and commands games, great! We have competition in the halves & centres.

If he's average, we have someone to cover when we no doubt get hit with injuries.

If he's a crock of sh*t, he doesn't get picked and is gone at the end of the year.

I'm intrigued to know what our other signing could be as TS said 2 more..

Not true he's on a full contract and on the same as at Saints he chose you over Widnes.

Wheels if he can stay fit is a super player, Remember your first game this year he took you apart with him and Walsh in the halfs? But thats just it if he stays fit.

FWIW he's not strung more that 3 games together since i've watched him.

Maybe because peoples opinions on players can change over three or four years. Look at our own fans views on Myler for instance.

My views on Myler haven't changed. Very good player who suffered badly last season with two serious injuries. The problem is that people seem to think he should be able to play in the same style as Lee Briers.

Until we get a Briers type play maker Richie will not get back to his best. Hoping that another half back in the mix will bring more out of him is a fruitless task.

We have had years and years of Wheeler being injured. He was being injured when Potter was coach (he left in 2010). We have been unable to rely on him either at six or at centre. I don't think he's played three consecutive games in his entire first grade career, and he's now 26. While I've never joined in the 'stealing a living' brigade, I have been just as frustrated as everyone else.

I will be interested to see whether Wheels is a regular in your first team next season. If he is then that would lend weight to some Saints' fans suspicions that our conditioning team is not the best (although given our injury crises of the last few years, there is probably already enough to suggest there is a problem there regardless of Wheeler).

Why do people say "welcome gary"? I'm pretty sure he doesn't roam these boards, it's on par with people saying happy birthday to their kids on facebook. Pointless.

Players do come on here. If you were a young lad who had become a minor-league celebrity you'd likely want to check out what people had been saying about you.

Yeah because Rugby League players do nothing but play & train, and in the off season are switched off and put into storage.

They're ordinary people, I'd imagine quite a few players "roam" these boards.

A few do, one used to post too (no names mentioned)