Very true. Money could be a factor, being back at home in England. Little in truth. Hopefully (from a selfish Wigan POV) he finds no way of getting the number one shirt from Billy Slater and Wigan can snap him up before another NRL club does.

I am not convinced that he would rather come her than another NRL club.

Has anyone seen Widdop play?

Billy Slater.

I have never seen him play, I doubt anyone else on here has, but after some of the comments that have been made about him and the awards he won last year, you have to take notice.

Sounds familiar,,, In 2005, he won the prestigious Dally M Rookie of the Year award after leading the NRL in try assists. He also received much acclaim from Parramatta legend Peter Sterling, who "handed over" the Eels #7 jersey in an episode of The NRL Footy Show in the middle of 2005. With 40 try assists in his debut season Smith entered the NRL scene with a bang, he was labeled as the next 'Joey' and 'Sterlo'.

Tim Smith

Tim Smith is a brilliant player, he just can't defend. I have heard Widdop can defend. Thats the only reason Tim Smith has not made it big time, with the right players around him and some ability to defend, he would be a superb player.

Obadiah Geia and Shannon Walker received multiple plaudits in the Toyota Cup. It does not equate to instantaneous stardom, merely a good prospect.

Widdop should not be saddled with such expectations.

I am not the one saying he will be the next Billy Slater.

I think he will be a good player and would trust Maguires judgement if he was signed.

Agreed but as stated earlier, who better to know just how good he is/and potentially is than MM.

If we were to bring him to the club I would be confident we had signed a good one if the bloke that played a major part in developing him wanted him.

If he signed for another SL club I would have my doubts.

Simple really.

Yeh I was pretty confident when we signed Karl Pryce



Flash turned out good though.

The one thing that we shouldn’t forget is that this current squad minus Deacon was very close to being in both major finals last year.

It’s a team which has played some sublime rugby at points in the season. The ‘big one’ against Leeds, Murrayfield and the first 15 of the SL game against Salford at home spring to mind. On those rare occasions the players showed how much potential they have but the problem has always been consistency from week to week. It was a major gripe many had with the Noble era and one of Maguire’s major challenges is to eradicate it from our game.

With all those reasons I’d be very tempted to resign all but two of the players who are off contract this season. I don’t think we can put a price on consistency within the squad from year to year and how beneficial it is for team cohesion. The players know each other, the coach knows his players and there is a team bond which doesn’t have to be created all over again.

It’s the first time in years we are finally looking at making little tweaks to the squad rather than wholesale changes to it. We should be looking at trying to bring in maybe two players one of which has to be of the highest quality.

The two players I’d let go are Coley and Deacon (although Deacon isn’t really leaving). We should be looking at resigning Fielden on lower wages and moving him into the spot Coley will leave. This would allow us to have enough cap space to recruit that world class prop we’ve needed since Faz left.

The other signing I’d make is someone a little younger to replace Deacon. It’s got to be a HB who can offer something Tommy and Sam can’t i.e an excellent kicking game and an ability to direct us round the field. I’d personally like us to offer Brough a contract as he’s the no frills type of 7 we could really do with when Deacs hangs up his boots. I’m sure he’s off contract this season as well isn’t he?

That’s the way I’d go anyway as I really don’t think we are far off the top.

In my opinion as it stands Fielden, Pryce, Goulding Hansen, McIllorum, Carmont and Phelps need big seasons to earn new deals.

Its a bit harsh on Phelps as i do think he is a quality player and indeed could go on to have a decent career, but he is an overseas players and this due to the dropping of the quota needs to be taken by only the best players. Same for Carmont but age is against him and i hope whatever the clause is to activate the second year of his deal is heavily stacked in our favour. We must though assess our options and only recruit players that will improve the team if they are not already in the club. I personally hope Pryce hits the straps and takes the shirt of Carmont and Widdop is as good as he is being made out to be. I would not any other British fullback over Phelps including Briscoe, I rate him but do not think he will improve the team.

Bailey will be gone, age and quota space is against him.


Coley needs to be consistent and for me would be worth another year.

Its is obviously about seeing who is available and who will improve the team. Hock will be back as a Prop mid way through 2011 in my opinion which could alter the Coley situation but it would be a big risk to expect him to hit the ground running after 2 years out.

For what its worth i think every player who is off contract needs a big season to earn a new deal.

Secondly i think Deacon could add the extra dimension that we have been missing and he too should be concentrating on earning a new playing deal and leave the coaching till he is finished playing.

Mcilorum, Hansen and Phelps imo should all be definite candidates for a new deal.

All three have talent, potential and age on their sides. I’d also hazard a guess as well that they aren’t any where near the top earners at the club which means any pay increases won’t break the bank and certainly won’t compare to drops we should see in Fielden’s wage and even Feka’s.

Again I’d let Coley go as long as we bring in a truly top class prop to replace him. Fielden hasn't lived up to his rep at Wigan but he hasn't been as bad as some make out either. He's not gonna be anyones top prop if he decides to leave but i still think he'd make a good 2nd prop at any SL club so why not ours?

Deacs will be massive for us next season as he should give us the level of organisation we’ve not seen since Dobbo was here.

That being said age isn’t on his side and although he could maybe do another two years we could bring in Brough who is equally as good as him and have a more stable partnership for a good few seasons.

Again it’s not changes for changes sake but looking at what we have and how we can slightly improve on it.

Hopefully we can get 2 years from deacon by which time joe mellor will be ready for a starting shirt. Mellor may even get a few games in 2010 from the bench with a view to being more involved in 2011. Injuries will decide.

Agreed from what little i have seen of him 2010 may be too early but 2011 could see him take the place of Deacs, as our back up half and after that who knows, he does look a classy little act, very similar in running style to Sam Tomkins.

Also lets not forget that both Owen Farrell and his Dad are off contract at the end of the current season, we have a potential centre spot in the balance long term and also Mike Forshaw off contract I believe.

Andy Farrell has just been given the England Saxons assistant coach job. I think it'll take something really special to prize the Farrells away from RU now.

If Maguire fancied having a crack at signing Widdop then i'd be made up because he must know alot about him and his potential but as for any of us calling for him to be signed it means very little. I'd guess not one of us on here knows anything more then what was written about him in the one piece i've seen on the internet and thats not much to go on.

I hope for Englands sake that he's as good as that article made out and that he really can make it bigtime in the NRL.

Not seen anything about this - when was it?

We keep talking about bringing the Farrells back to Wigan, but I'm not sure it would be that big a thing for us.

Andy is long finished as a player, and seems to be at the very start of whatever coaching career he may have; I'm surprised to hear that he's got a job like this, given how little experience he has. I'd also cast doubt on the view that his mere presence would be inspirational. I don't think the likes of Faz and Robinson, who the new generation mainly remember for taking the Union shilling, would have an nth of the respect that the likes of Radlinsk and Wane have.

Owen would be the main reason for bringing the Farrells back north, but even he by now will have got into lots of bad Rugby Union habits. I'm not sure he'd be anything like as effective in League as if he'd stayed on and served his apprenticeship. Sure, I'd like to see him at Wigan, but would he really be worth breaking the bank for? I think Owen now falls into the bracket of those top Union stars who League used to sign all the time, but who we never sign any more because, with the salary cap, it's too much of a risk to pay them the necessary big money.

A Leyther at work said he was speaking to somebody involved with Leigh and they're apparently taking a Tomkins' brother on loan.

If true, it's obviously going to be Logan.

Not bad news, any young player getting more game time at a higher level is good news.

Is the championship that much higher than the reserves league though?