Coley's knee's are obviously giving him problems, but what's Prescott's specific injury?

Yeh..... wasn't what I meant but OK.

This is the lad that gets suspensions whilst playing for Leeds, right?

He's got no chance of staying on the field at Wigan!

There is no 6th choice Prop, he will be signed as a first team Prop they all have to earn there spot in the pecking order and if he earns his chance which he will have to do, or if he gets a shot through injury and takes it our team can only improve.

Its a win win situation for both player and club for mine.

Wigan fans negativity never ceases to amaze me, but anyway im sure Cross will be a good signing. He's an experienced NRL player, and if we have room on the cap, why not have him in for 10 games. If he's rubbish, you know what we can do? Drop him.

Cheers!



Exactly - Its not like this would be a risk signing if its only till the end of the year. With room on the cap and it being unlikely that we would sign anyone else, what harm could it do?

the overseas quota boo boys are gonna have a field day with this one

unneccessary signing imo, but I have faith in Maguire to get the best out of him

Im sure you'll find some Irish heritage in him somewhere

Wigan shouldn't be adding another overseas player into the squad. If Cross signs then it will be 9 overseas players (none of this rubbish about Leuluai, Richards etc not counting on quota, they aren't English players. Hansen also doesn't count since he's playing for Samoa and won't be switching allegiances back to England). Wigan shouldn't have a team packed full of overseas players with the talent that is available in the academy while our rivals in the top 4 rely much less on imports.

Saints have 5, Huddersfield have 4, Wire have 6. That's a much more reasonable number. Saints have had a terrible time with injuries for a couple of years at least and have stayed competitive while still using their young players as back up.
Young players should be used as cover rather than drafting in overseas players.

But then if you look at the remaining players in our squad the majority of them have been brought up through the ranks. Not many other clubs can claim that. IMO we have the right mix of overseas and homegrown players.

And you cant count Hansen as an overseas players that's ridiculous.

Il trust Ian Lenegan.

So will I if/when Cross signs, I just don't like the idea of having so many overseas players.

He was born in New Zealand and plays for Samoa. When it comes to producing young players for the benefit of the England squad, he's an overseas player. It's players that will have a chance of playing for England that are needed.

Its all well and good saying that and youngsters should step up, but this is not always possible, in the backs we have brought youngsters through when they were required, but we have had the players capable of doing that, same can be said for the back row and even the hooking position.

Prop though is a very different animal. The natural heir would be Ben Davies who looks out of condition and seems to have gone backwards this year, we also have the duel reg Dom Crosby, who looks an excellent prospect but personally I do not think he is ready for a front line shot, in fact it could damage his development.

So this nonsense about not promoting young English players is in my opinion way off the mark.

If every team in super league did as much as we do producing players for England there wouldnt be any problems would there? Theres plenty in our squad good enough for England imo.

Some people will only be happy if every single player has a Wigan accent. Wake up and smell the coffee, a large percentage of them are not good enough.

But a larger percentage than ever before will have to come through the academy systems as the number of overseas players allowed decreases. That means many who wouldn't be deemed good enough will actually be Super League standard in a few years time as the quality in the competition decreases.

They are not being deemed not good enough, they are being deemed not ready.....yet. This is a massive difference.

It would be irresponsible to through a lad into SL conflict as a Prop if they are not ready.

We have a duty of care to protect and develop these lads at the correct pace so they will be ready in a couple of years, not throw them in when we have to potentially damaging their development. The time has to be right for both the player and the club.

just out of curiosity who out of our reserves could do a better job atm than our current bunch of over sea's players??? i personally dont see a problem with cross coming in for the rest of the season.

Then you need to add the two Ashe brothers to the Saints quota list.

When the rules change Wigan, along with every other club will have to abide by them, Just as we are abiding by the Current Rules as it stands.
Under those rules I want the best players that IL can get into the squad, Cross Fits the Bill.

PS

Interesting POV regarding the number of players who aren't deemed SL standard suddenly becoming SL Standard when the number of imports reduces.
Reduced quality but improved Competitiveness! Interesting argument? Over to Deano G

There's a lad called Roberts playing in your u20s who could do a good job.

Being serious though; surely there is an element of WTF about this. Its not that he has played even half a decent game for Leeds all season.

I just don't see the point for Wigan to sign him. I guess it could be an admission that Fielden's done for the season but with Coley, Prescott, Mossop, Hock, Harrison and I'd throw Farrell in there as well, all showing they can do the prop's job better than Cross this season at Super League level (and I know Hock has only played 30 minutes) plus some more than adequate lads in the u20s I'm still left wondering why?

If he signs (and that's still an "if" isn't it) once the wait for the work permit is done I'd be suprised to see him make a first team appearance for you.

Roberts is in hospital, or was last week for another knee op.

id say the the leeds team in general have been underperforming most of the season,dont forget its his first season over here so i think most new signings would struggle coming into an enviroment like that.. maybe playing under a better coaching set up might bring the best out of him??

as others have said coley and prescott have been playing with injuries and no-one is sure when fielden will be back, its not like cross will be a long term signing so for the rest of this season i think hel bring alot of experience.