Absolutely there doubt that if we were to sign orford kimmorley or lockyer we would get two good years out of them, but then we'd be back to square one again looking for someone to partner tomkins.

People say you couldn't have tomkins and myler together at 6 and 7 but if we improved the pack with N Cayless and they looked after the young lads we could start with myler and leuluai and after 20 minutes we could put leuluai to nine and bring on tomkins.

We need to spend the cash on a superstar to get players wanting to play for us and with the superstar. If we signed Lockyer and we were offering a player a little less money than another club they would sign for us for the chance to play with Lockyer. Its the simple fact, its no good filling the team full of average steady eddies we need a superstar halfback and prop.

Morley and Lockyer please.

LMS and Myler next year.

Plus throw in Briscoe.

Burrow and MCGuire never operated on their own. They had Andrew Dunnermann for 2 seasons with them.

Lockyer would have been great about 3 years ago. With his dodgy knees I think not.

The current Queensland and Australia stand off is not good enough for Wigan? Come off it, I know he is getting on a bit but he has 2 seasons left in him especially superleague.

I agree he would tear apart super Duper League. But this is based on his besing fit. He missed most of last season with injury remember.

Lockyer could come over to us and be superb for 2 years then but then he'll retire and were back to square one again, lets get somebody to form a long lasting partnership with Tomkins. We'd have to be patient and supportive but the end result could be more than we ever imagined.

It is all very good bleating on about this 'long term partner' but who exactly?

In my opinion in 2 years time we will be in a far better position to recruit a long term partner for ST. At the moment i do not think a long term partner is a realistic or as good an option as it will be in 2 years time, when we can see how ST develops.

Who in two years will be this mystical 'long term' partner?

That may well be true, but not having a crystal ball I or anybody at the club is unable to see whether in two years time anybody will be available and good enough to partner tomkins, if not the only other option will be another ageing Aussie.

Lockyer would be my number 1 choice, he said himself he would like to play over here after watching the challenge cup final at Wembley. As I said before on another thread is we desperatly need to get to the challenge cup final, we are desperate for it.

When we do we fly Lockyer and family first class VIP all the way stopping in top hotels etc and offer him a contract. If Lockyer is watchin a team win the challenge cup at Wembley on a hot summers day 90 000 fans. He will want a piece of the action and then strike while the iron is hot.

Failing that make a play for Anasta, Roosters are crap at the moment and I bet the players aren't enjoying it there and want out, now is the time to try and sign a player from the roosters before they sack Fitler, bring a new coach in and start winning and enjoying it again. He isn't getting any younger and is constantly being shunned for NSW and Aus.

Well that is the point, we have no idea what will happen. What we can say is at the moment it would not be ideal to pair him with another young player, in 2 years time we will be in a much stronger position to assess ST development and view the player he grows into and chose a partner from that point.

Agreed. So we need some Aussie import who can show him the 'ropes' so to speak. I see no better person than Kimmorley.

Tomkins is a number 6. Why would be wish to sign Lockeyer of Anasta who are both No. 6's? Anyhow, Anasta is best utilised at lock forward.

But he is not available.

Orford is.

I will pass judgement on the signing when it is made, all this speculation is getting beyond daft now with the same points being raised time and time again, we have far more pressing issues like a coach to sort first.

He will become available if the right sort of offer is forthcoming.

Every player has a price but personally i do not think throwing a transfer fee at a stop gap signing from a business point of view is acceptable or realistic.

The Dogs will not be eager to let him go either given his impact with them this year.

Not a realistic option in my opinion at all.

fair enough but there relegation back then, now there isn't so why not go for it

If you're seriously writing Lockyer off as "another ageing Aussie", then you're setting your sights so high that, frankly, you'll never be satisfied.

The state Wigan are in at present, I'd sell half the first team to get someone as good as Lockyer, and that's before we even take into account the fact that we're desperately lacking a midfield general, a role he would fulfill on one leg.

I can't buy into this long-term partner stuff, because I think it's idealist fantasy. Put another youngster alongside Sam now - someone like Myler, who would be young enough to form a 'long term partnership' with him, and it could be years and years before they're an effective enough unit to win us anything, in which time they may get battered and sickened.

Boundless youth is a good thing, but sometimes you need a bit of guile and experience. When we first signed Barrett, people said "it's another ageing Aussie". He then went on to dominate SL and get us to two Grand Final semis virtually on his own.

If Lockyer or Orford were available, we'd be crazy not to snatch their hands off. We'd be especially crazy if we didn't do it purely through the assumption that somewhere out there is a brilliant young stand-off who no-one else has noticed yet, and who's just waiting for 12th-placed Wigan to come along and snap him up on a five-year contract at a knock-down price.

I posted this earlier on in the evening that expresses my feeling upon signing Lockyer or someone of that Calibre.



I definitely agree that Lockyer or someone or someone of that quality would have a massive positive effect on the club, similiar like you say to the effect Barrett had, however it may take the first 2 months for whomever to form a good partnership with tomkins, and 2 months in what would probably only be a two year contract is a long time.

In the end we all have are own opinions of what would be best for the club, and I'm sure we'll find out soon of which opinion Lenegan is, although thats not to say which ever he chooses may turn out to be right, I certainly hope it is though for the sake of the club.

add a few tweeks . and you would be on a winner

We wouldn't be back to square one if we made use of someone like Lockyer to tutor one of our youngsters.

To be honest, I think this 'ageing Aussie' thing is massively overdone. It's especially overdone at Wigan, where the last truly 'ageing' Aussie we signed was Barrett, who, as we both agree, was the best stand-off in Britain for two years. (I suppose you could argue Carmont as well, but he made the dream-team in his first season).

You're right that it's important to plan for the future. But bringing in someone like Lockyer or Orford could be a crucial part of that. Imagine the positive impact on Sam if you had someone like Lockyer partnering him for two years. Imagine the impact on whoever his understudy was, if the deal was that Lockyer spent time with them both on the training park. It could be invaluable in the long-term.

Add to that the very good chance of Lockyer having a similar effect on the first team to Barrett, and he registers as a must-buy. Unless he wanted silly money of course, in which case we'd have to be sensible.

Agreed, but just because Orford's contract is up, doesn't mean he's 'available'.

After watching Myler play more and more I don't think his age is as much as a factor as first thought, his ability and maturity is beyond his years.

On Mylers performance against France he made 8 tackles and missed 4. It would be stupidity of the highest order to put him and Sam together so soon.