What are our options now without Tommy??

Lockers into the Halves with Tuson/Farrell at LF?? Bring in Matty Smith early but is he cup tied and can't play in CC?? Same with Rangi Chase but would obviously come with a bigger fee than Smith but I guess would be around the same we'd be paying anyway if we actually are looking at signing him. Bring Russell back and put Sam at 6 and Finch at 7?? Bring Mellor back?? Personally don't think any of the young halves at the club are ready for the step up yet but that might have to be an option. Could Deacon be re-registered to see the season out??

His GF has said he will only be out for 10 weeks......

he would still miss the CC final if we get there ive guessed right. and neither chase or smith could play even if we did bring one of them in from players for cas and saford already

If it's 10 weeks only then there's no point signing anybody who'd be cup tied. We'd probably have to be looking at the NRL for a short term fix if they did want to bring somebody in.

I think they'll just stick Lockers in at 6 and give Farrell the loose forward shirt. That would open up a fulltime spot on the bench for Jack Hughes and his form probably deserves that.

I think Lockers could do the job in the SL games for 10 weeks and against the Current Leeds team in the CC Semi but wouldn't like to go into a possible CC Final vs Wire with a makeshift Half

I don't think the club will panic. Let's trust the players we already have.

Mellor to be brought back from Widnes as first option halfback.
Lockers as back up.

We'll be reet.

Eastmond on loan from Bath

time to get desperate

Is Dennis Moran still playing?

Still? That's a new one.

Has to be Paul Deacon for me;

He's available, he knows our systems and the players. You also get the added benefit that he's a goal kicker.

Question marks about over his fitness but we've got a fairly easy run of games.

in the last 2 months, the youngsters who have deputised have done a fantastic job. with the run of games we have, now is the perfect opportunity to give mellor a run. he's got the chance then to make a play for more game time next season.
if that doesnt work then lockers into the halves is a good option.
to me, it would be a shame not to give a kid a chance to shine.

I did actually put that as abit of a joke but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. He's not been retired a year he's been around the coaching and it's basically the same set of players he was with last season. No fee and not going to cost much on the cap I'd expect. 10 weeks out of retirement if thats the truth about Tommy and be a hero also would give a further option if Tommy does come back, because this injury for me has shown our lack of options in the halves.

No we will sign dobson on loan and break the salary cap.

Don't mind in the league but its a potential cup final vs Wire with Lockers or Mellor in halves that I'd be worried about. Couldn't stand losing to them and don't think Mellor is there mentally to play at the type of game and don't think Lockers is that good a 6 to be there in a final.

We could always sign Patrick Ah Van and play him at 7

that may be so, but these are the cards we have been dealt - what other options do we have ?
if the game plan works well in the league games and we win the semi, then why should the same player crack in the final ?
i remember tommy getting mom in the GF after having his game consistently attacked on this board for the entire season. how badly did sam play in CC at wembley after such a superb season up until that point ?
finals are odd games. i saw an entire team collapse at wembley when we played sheffield !!!

At this stage I'd be inclined to play Mellor alongside finch for the Widnes Bradford and wakey games and see how he goes. Iv not seen much of him while hes been at Widnes but I thought he played pretty well when he was given half hour at Salford. Give him one last chance to show he can be a Wigan player. Then reassess the situation after those games and see which combination is going to be the best to take us in to the back end of the season

It does make some sense doesn't it.

We've got three options as far as i can see;

1-Promote/shuffle from within. A number of options here with either bring Mellor back, move Sam to 6 and Finch to 7 or play Lockers at 6 with Finch at 7 again.

2-Pay a fee and get Smith in early or make a Dobson type signing from the NRL.

3-Get Deacon out of retirement

The first option is the one we will probably go down but it's very messy moving players around. Your moving two settled players from their normal positions and asking them to play 6 whilst moving Finch to 7. I know Sam and Lockers are good enough to do it but it's a lot of swapping and changing. Looking at players within the club Mellor doesn't look up to, Russell has question marks and Powell is injured isn't he?

The 2nd option defo viable and we've seen it work with Dobson in the past. If we get the right player in they will probably have some match fitness but will take a few weeks to get up to speed and also get to know the club

Deacon and the 3rd option is all based on his fitness. We can guarantee he knows the systems, players, coach and club so he will be up to speed in that regard. I'd say it's move convenient to bring Deac's fitness up to speed rather than trying to fit a new player into the system.

Very interesting to see what happens

Deacon? Are we being serious? It isn't like we've lost two or three of our pivots, we've lost 1. There's more than enough experience still there in Finch to enable Mellor or another young HB to take this opportunity.

It's unfortunate, yes. But it's not panic mode, we were planning to rotate over the next few weeks anyway, chance for someone to step up.

He'd kick more than Charnley, the guy is a phenom

One point has been overlooked, Tommy's , DEFENCE, we are going to miss that no matter what.

If Mellor was seen as good enough he wouldn't have been sent to Widnes on a full season loan. He would have been given opportunities to impress for a new contract. If he was in our plans I'm sure we'd either have signed him up by now or give him more opps in the first team like we've seen with other youngsters like Logan, Crosby, Spencer etc. After that Powell is currently injured and not played 1st grade rugby.

I'd rather see Williams or Hampshire than Mellor don't thinks he's mentally a Wigan player from what I've seen of him. Throw a youngster in vs Widnes and Bradford while we look at options.

Have people forgotten deacon from last season? Poor in defence that was masked by an inexperienced joel charnley partnership and regularly making poor offensive decisions. Massive step back for me.

Every option from Chase, Smith, Mellor to Lockers is a step down from Tommy.