dont understand the people saying we should be signing a better player to replace briers, simple fact.. there is nobody better than rangi chase that we would be able to bring in. FACT! he offers that x factor in his play similar to tomkins , and all of his play has been behind a castleford pack which this season has been mostly injured. we havent really got room for him atm because it would be harsh to play myler or chase out of position but i would be ecstatic if we were to sign chase and would understand if we were to loan him back to castleford. put it one way i would not want to be playing against a wigan team with him in it.

i'd say benji marshall is better than him

so would i but we will unfortunately never see him in the P&B.

yeah i never thought i'd see alan langer or joey johns in a wire shirt either.

we have to be realistic though , and rangi chase especially under tony smiths coaching would be a great addition and hes already proven in super league i'd be more than happy with him as a replacement for briers but we probably do have to move fast to secure him.

i am being realistic, we've potentially got the money to put a decent bid in for him, we're a team on the up, in need of a stand off at some point, and we've got high level players going back to the nrl speaking very very highly of us.

No one in super league will anymore, realistically. The rising cap over there means that not only will the squads get bigger but the true superstars will be able to earn the amount of money to stop them going elsewhere, whether it be here, Aussie Rules or Union.

i'd forgotten about that,

Chase as picked up the Albert goldthorpe medal,.

Doesn't really mean that much. Cas as a club only got 71 points over the season and Chase got 40 of them. Brett Hodgson was our highest Goldthorpe scorer and he hasn't been our best player. In fact our best player isn't even in the top 10.

I like riley. Will be well disappointed if he is at widnes next year.

Be a bit miffed if we have signed chase too. Don't need him and most likely can't afford him!

We're realistically probably the only club who can afford him.

Its a pivotal loose forward that we need to sign. We have Racthford and Briers for another year. We dont need any more back line, maybe replacement for Hodgson in 2012/13.

Warrington is missing a Mike Gregory, someone who can take the ball down the centre, pass and make breaks.

Chase is good but what would he actually add to the overall squad, we need stability and balance going forward. Develop the youth talent, that is exactly what Smith is doing.

Transfer Harrison to prop, and get a decent loose forward.

Why not Wigan?

You got bills to pay. I don't think you'll be too keen to open the cheque book again after the Fielden debacle...



(he's been great yadda,yadda, yadda) Nowhere near value for money, one half decent season.

see Gareth Thomas.

Correct about the loose forward. At present with the system Smith uses of the fourth prop as a "loose forward" we are too one dimensional in attack.

Who were getting for free from the RFL. Ouch.



Meh, not been worth the fee. But saved us from relegation and since been a big part of putting us back at the top end of the league and lifting silverware. The fact that he's still here (despite being injured this year

) and is still a lot of Wigans fans first choice prop despite us being at different ends of the league says a lot imo.

Do you really believe that?

Sadly, I think he does.

He's failing to see the obvious, that the club is replacing Martin Gleeson with Gareth Thomas which indicates that their ain't much money around. Where are the replacements for Coley & Hoffman.

They certainly aren't going to start spraying money around for Chase.

In fairness, backrow is an area where they are quite heavy, so a replacement for Hoffman, despite being first choice isn't as great a priority. Prop is a fair bit different, Coley retires with two long term replacements also leaving, implies, to me, the pennies aren't exactly flowing.

I would speculate the long term contract to Tomkins has usurped a fair bit of cash earmarked for succession planning.

Are they quite heavy in the back-row?

Using your assumption that Thomas is the replacement for Gleeson then that is leaving Joel Tomkins in the centres. Mossop is being played as a straight-up prop now.

So it leaves you with Hock as the replacement for Hoffman which is a big backward step going on what we have seen of Hock since his return (queue Pie-Eater saying "wait 'til he's had a pre-season" - FFS he's just had a two year pre-season of "training the house-down" and "looking like a monster", or so we were told for months on end before his return) and Farrell left as the replacement on the bench and after that Tuson to come in.

That is not what I would call "heavy in the back-row".

Used to love watching Hock, he used to be a cracking dynamic forward who would run through players, now he just hits the line turns round and tries to offload, the old Hock would walk in to the England side, this new one just looks like an average SL forward

If Thomas is a replacement for Gleeson, then that would transfer Tomkins back to the pack.

Hoffman is a sizeable loss in respect of experience and work ethic. I would also speculate leadership on, and off the pitch, too. Hock, based on his current form, will be a spot-man for all and sundry.

The way I see their back row composition; Tomkins, Hansen, Farrell and Tuson, with Hock in a supporting role. Four (five?) covering two spots, is pretty healthy cover in my book.

Regarding a loose forward i think Grix can do a good enough job at 13. You can't afford to have stand out players in every position due to the cap also Harrison, Cooper and Bridge can play there depending on the opposition.