A really good article in today's WEP (doesn't appear to be online on Wigan Today yet) in relation to Gaz Hock.

He's quoted as saying that he can't wait to play for Wigan again, not being in the successful Wigan team this season "did his head in" and that he was approached by Penrith, but didn't take them up.

He added that he is grateful to Wigan for how the club has been with him and the article quotes IL as stating that there is enough cap space to accommodate Hock for 2011.

Lets hope he repays us by being a monster of a player at the back end of this season. Hope he's ready for some real stick from opposition fans when he returns!

Hock is probabley the daftest player ever to play for Wigan how many time did you see him break and then not look where he was throwing the ball and straight into an opposistion player

I would rather keep any sort of excitement of him returning until I've seen him play.
Not that I'm being downbeat but I was pretty p*ssed off when he got his ban, therefore he must repay the fans, IL, MM by keeping faith in him.

. . . but of course there's been no contact



Looking forward to seeing him back actually - very dangerous player and would be a welcome aggressive addition to the England pack.

My understanding was that he'd never play for England again?

Can't wait to see Gaz back at Wigan.

He'll be handy switching between prop and second row.

Why?

I don't think we can really say anything for certain about England.

From what people are saying he's keeping himself very fit.
That's a long way though from being match fit. It will be a while before he can do 80 mins and could well play off the bench for some time.
It will be good to see him back.

The thought of Hock making his return ( probably off the bench) in "The Big One" could be a Midsummer Night's Dream - if we are playing Saints, Warrington or Leeds. Lima, Hoffmann, Coley, Fielden et al to pave the way, then Gaz to come on and smash his way through....! ( And hopefully not then throw a daft pass!!)

Why would contact matter?? he states openly he has been in contact with the club!

I'm certainly looking forward to his return. We have the squad where we can ease him in gently to begin with, and he could prove to be a very timely boost to the squad midway through the season.

I must admit I've always been a big Hock fan, and I've always been of the opinion that on his day he was the best secondrower in the world. The problem was those days were few and far between. Hopefully under Madge as we've seen with a whole host of current Wigan players, Gareth can increase his consistency levels as well as eliminating the errors from his game.

me too, i was really peeved when he got done for drugs. but he wasn't a cheat (recreational iirc), just brain dead.
hock def deserves another chance and if he does come back we need to get behind him because hes going to get some real stick from opposition speccies!!
i hope the rumors are true and hes bulked up in order to become a moz like player (aggressive and athletic) i think its what our front row needs!!!

Haven't seen the paper yet, but the quotes may be lifted from a full feature in this month's Rugby League World magazine - think Hock is the interviewee for the 'Jamie Jones-Buchanan meets...' bit.

The Hock man cometh!!

Can't wait

I really, really hope Hock does come back, and comes back as a prop. He will be devastating in that position.

I also hope he really applies himself and does himself justice. I'm a big believer that people are allowed to make mistakes, so long as they make up for them.

Agree. My hope is that Hock is given 1 order off the bench to stick the ball up his jumper and run straight down the middle of the field.

He would very well be the Feka type strike weapon off the bench with more minutes in him and mobility in defence.

Can't wait for Gareth to come back, he's one of us!! he'll be battled hardened you just see.

He doesn't need to worry too much about his offloads, he just needs to pick them better. Realise when to pop the ball up, and not think he has to on every carry. He's a good offloader at times, just needs to cut out the silly ones.

I'm looking forward to see Gareth back - a world class player on his day and worthy of a place in a champion team.

But Gareth's upcoming return only adds to the likelihood that sometime over the next year or two, Wigan may have to make a very hard decision to release one or maybe more young, quality Wiganers upon which they will receive an inevitable backlash from some fans both within and outside of the club.

If we're to say for arguement's sake Sean O'Loughlin is a dead cert for the 13 spot, you're then looking at an absolute maximum of 4 remaining places in the side for backrowers. There is also an absolute maximum of 4 prop places available in a side of 17.

If Hock comes back as a 2nd rower, 7 into 4 just doesn't go. If Hock comes back at prop, 7 into 4 just doesn't go. When all of those 7 are players who have the potential to go very far in the game, you not only can't blame them for looking elsewhere for an opportunity for more action but you would have to encourage it for their sake.

The important thing to remember though when the inevitable decision or decisions are made is that this time around they have not come about as a result of mass overseas recruitment but the reality that the terrific work being done by the Wigan youth system is actually producing more quality players than Wigan can accommodate.

Before certain people launch into their predictable rant which seems to be a conditioned response when something like this happens, maybe they should recognise that if every SL club were able to produce the same amount of output from their youth development systems then Super League, England and the game as a whole would be in a far healthier state.

Good post, 7 into 4 may not go, but to have such an embarrassment of riches is only a great thing, it's good to have that problem. Personally i'd go with Tomkins/Hoffman/Hock/Farrell or Hansen as the 4 2nd rowers, nobody can put 4 second rowers of that class forward in this league, With Hansen or Farrell/Tuson/Mossop waiting who are all capable of starting and being fantastic in that position against any team in the league.

I'd say that Mossop and Tuson will be out on loan next season, but i'm not really sure where we could accommodate then when they would return.

Just means more ex Wigan players for Huddersfield to fill their team with

Cant see the BIG one being wire as its our turn to go there during the summer months if the last few years are to go off, i hink we will play wire at our place in march and ofcourse saints will be good friday in april

That is an excellent quote.

Bit of a daft question: If he turns out to be a flop (unlikely but as a wire fan i will hold onto it) would you change that signature?

I usually see quotes from commentators or legends at a club. Not people who haven't yet played a match. Given, it is an excellent quote though.

Pretty sure that whilst serving a drugs ban he's not meant to have any contact with the club etc.