And one left. Why do you think that was?

Pray tell.

The extended leave to this extent was not part of the plan.

This has been as a result of circumstances totally out of the clubs control.

Well I would guess at one of the two reasons but they are linked:

One didn't want to sit in the stands
The club can't afford to pay top wages for a winger to sit in the stands all season

As plenty of people have pointed out, we have adequate cover on the wing but injury and personal issues have led to an issue for a handful of games out of a full season.

We could have looked for even more cover, but who is available? Everyone is currently signed up so we now need space on the cap AND a transfer fee.

This isn't 1992, we can't sign who we want when we want.

The club have said they are possibly looking for a winger but it will be the right signing at the right time and not just because we may have an issue vs Leigh.

Budgie wasn't released. Once again, he left to be first choice elsewhere because he wasn't here. That's two players in a row you have bought up to defeat your own argument

. Before GB left they said that we were very close to the cap. So either we only recently got some cap space, or it may be that we still don't have much if GB leaving was already factored into the equation as Jukesays hints at.

Not good enough. We should have signed Josh Addo-Carr

Davies told the whole world that in an interview after he left. The situation is no different to the one that caused him to leave. It's so ironic that you criticise poor management in one comment then later talk about paying for a marquee winger in addition to the first choice wingers we are already paying for plus Bibby. I'm well aware that is possible to do, but it would inevitably mean not having £150k worth of our top earners. So in your example we presumably don't bring back either French or Hastings. We lose one of the main players on our team so that we can have three first team wingers plus Bibby in reserve. Then once players return from injury one of Marshall/Manfredi is sat in the stands on a first team wage and either French or Hastings is playing elsewhere. Longer term you can lose Manfredi but you still have one of your two marquee allowances tied up in a winger. Either that or we play a youngster on the wing for a week or two and have both French and Hastings all year. I know which scenario I prefer.

I think we are. I know there’s a bit of debate on here about there being room or not and if Hastings/French took the George Burgess cap space before he was even confirmed as leaving but I think there will be room. There is a difference however between there being room and there being money available to fill that cap space. I’m sure French got a fair pay rise, Bateman will be on a fortune and Field has taken some space. Add in other pay rises and whilst loads have left, I doubt there’s huge amounts to throw around even if we could afford to.

We have a good squad for my money anyway. A little thinner than usual but there’s some absolute quality in it and at full strength we’ll be tough to beat. We could do with some of that St Helens injury luck (heard a player got a cold in pre season and had to have a lemsip) and if we get it we’ll challenge. We may just need to hang in for a few weeks first. I’m pretty excited to see what the youngsters can do. The squad depth last year probably held one or two back.

I can under stand what they are saying, why sign Field when we had 3 fullbacks and 3 halves when we knew we had a winger out with an ACL and Doms record of knees swelling up, time will tell if it worked out well, might be a master stroke

So it is so obvious that you are guessing why he left!

So the Club think there may be the need to sign a winger but everyone else is right?

Everyone is currently signed up but my point was, and still is, that it was [unot[/uthe case when the Club were making plans in the middle of last season. Why can't you understand that I am not talking about the here and now?

Because when the club were making plans last season they would have said "we have 6 players that can play on the wing so we don't need a winger"

The fact those 6 are now down to 1 or 2 is an extreme case that you can't budget for.

The club have said they are POSSIBLY looking for a winger, in other words, if the injured players don't come back. Same as the Singleton signing. Do you think we would have signed him if Burgess and Clark were playing out their skin?

So we have gone from six wingers to two, the Club are possibly looking at signing another winger but will only do so if Manfredi or Marshall do not play again, are you serious? Who were the other four wingers that we had? Yes I do think we would have signed Singleton.

Marshall
Manfredi
Bibby
French
Halsall
Hanley

Gildart could also play there at a push if things got really bad.

If all of those are fit then we have no need for another winger. No squad will carry 7 or 8 players just because they capable of playing on the wing.

The same way we don't sign another half back because Hastings is out this week, is the same way we don't panic buy a winger.

Now if that list of 6 becomes 1 or 2 because of long term injury and we have space then we will probably bring one in. If those 6 are all fit then we probably won't we will probably look elsewhere and bring in another 9 if Powell and Tommy are out all season, or another prop if we get an injury crisis there.

Personally, I would rather sign a centre than a winger but again that is a position in which we are pretty well covered with a fully fit squad so would only be if necessary.

He left because Wigan didn't offer him a new contract.

Please explain to me why we would have had to forgone re-signing French and Hastings?

If you take time to read my post I was giving you an example because it is clear that you do not understand the salary cap rules.

When did Halsall and Hanley become wingers? Of course Gildart could play there so could Bullock or Partington or anyone else for that matter. Well according to you we carried a large number of players last season which was ok then but not now? So if Manfredi and Marshall are injured long-term then we should just rely on the other makeshift players?

Please read my posts and tell me where I have said we should make a panic buy.

Probably will, maybe we wont, then again we could. So your argument is that we should make a panic signing if we lose a prop or a hooker but not a winger?

You are saying we should have signed a winger and gone into the season with 3 first choice wingers. Everyone else has told you why we didn't and why we still may not sign one.

Hanley and Halsall are not "wingers" but they can play there as 5th and 6th choice. The same way that John Bateman and Willie Isa have played centre.

You talk about the salary cap but then want specialists in every position from first choice through to sat in the stand all ing season.

KR will not have said to AL and IL when they were planning the squad for this season "what happens if Dom gets arrested for every unsolved crime in New York City? What if Marshy thinks he's a chicken? What if Jake Bibby has a reaction to some nerve tonic? What happens if Bevan falls off the end of the Earth? What happens if the young lads end up with radiation poisoning or bump into some woman whose house is on fire?"

We have enough wingers if everyone is fit to get through the season. If they all fall foul of a misfortune then yes we may be up creek.


F*** this for a game of soldiers, I'm going talking to my 3-year-old, it's a better level of conversation.

It's basic budgeting. However you dress it up, the below statements remain true:
- A team with Marshall, Manfredi and Bibby in it is not an attractive proposition for a winger at the same level as them, because they would be able to go somewhere else and be more confident of starting every week (see Davies, J.Burgess etc).
- If you did convince a winger at that level to sign for us, they would want paying an appropriate salary. That means you need to save that cap space elsewhere. In the example you have me that would mean £150k cap space which is basically French, Hastings or Bateman. If it's someone not at marquee level then we would still need to lose one of the starters to make room.
- The above issue inevitably results in a significant portion of our cap space sat in the stands once Manfredi and Marshall are back fit, just as Hankinson was all last season. I think even Bibby was surplus to requirements for a game or two. Meanwhile you still don't have the player you had to lose to bring in your extra winger.
- A winger who is happy to take a lower wage and accepts the likelihood of not being first choice every week likely won't be as good as Bibby. We might sneak someone better than Hanley/Halsall (basically the wing version of Hankinson or another team's reserve winger on loan) but that's only useful for a short period until players return.

it's the equivalent of having your Ford in for repair and choosing to spend your rent money on a Ferrari rather than catch the train for a bit.

The OP might be onto something tho.

I'm now worried our depth at HB. If having four specialist wingers isn't enough cover for two positions, is only having four specialist HB's enough? You then factor in Hastings can't be trusted and Field has got injured without even playing a game & It's nothing short of downright irresponsibility on the part of the club.

Maybe we should bring in a 5th HB to be sure. Let's make it a good one too. Someone who's got plenty of games under his belt, maybe played SOO and is happy to play every quarter.

Meltdown on here and the FB forums if we get beat Friday

Absolutely

Seems to be in meltdown now..

That's far too sensible. Whilst were at it can we bring Cameron Smith out of retirement and sign Owen Farrell, that could solve the goalkicking problem?

The reason we carried more players at the start of last season was because we had A reserves league.

This year is far more difficult because without one you carry 30plus players and find 10 of them not getting enough game time. What do they do for the next 12 months?

Most clubs run with their best 2 wingers (we had Manfredi and Marshall) then have a utility back up player (we have Bibby, but options of Gildart and French) and youngsters who are "options" (Hanley/Halsall). Not many clubs have as many options.

If we had kept Budgie (and bear in mind with his contract up he may have decided to leave of of his own accord) we would have had to have lost potentially 2 others as Budgies wages would have undoubtedly been more than say Bibby plus Halsall & Hanley for example. Budgie gets injured likenhebhas at Salford and we have 3 less options as they've left.

Im not overjoyed that our 2 first choice wingers are in the stands, the club will know the long term prognosis/implications of this. But the nature of back up and reserve options are that they aren't as good as first choice, and they aren't paid as much tonreflect that (Does anyone think Bibby will be on anywhere near as much as what Sarginson and Budgie were? And I can tell you he's not).

But the more you pay 2nd string/back up options the less you have to pay the first 13 or less of them.

Wigan have managed the cap and IMO find the balance of getting quality and quantity whilst allowing youth progression as well as anyone over the last 10 years.