I read somebody saying O'Meleys knees won't hold up to playing full seasons and that the heavy pitches won't do him any favours.

Steveo likened him to Mark Carroll(another Aussie prop) because like Carroll he's been making boasts in the Aussie press how he's going to terrorise superleague defences. When Carroll got over here he was a marked man and got battered from pillar to post...............I wouldn't be suprised if the same happened to O'Meley.

This time last year all Wigan fans wanted the club to sign Jason Ryles. The aussies on here said he was done and he's gone on to be truely average for Catalans. That should teech us a lesson.

Quote ="Random Male"Go on then, show us the post because all I can remember from you is bull$hit rumours that NEVER come true. So you are saying Hall signed for Bradford MONTHS before it was announced? Methinks not.'" Think again!!!!! Sunday 26th January 2.06 pm on the bulls site. WWW.RLFANS.COM Forum Index -> Bradford Bulls - RedAmberandBlack.net Manly Author Message Tricky Dicky Bronze RLFANS Member Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 4232 Location: Wigan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:06 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Manly play Leeds take a good look at Glenn Hall Manly's no 12. You have agreed terms with him for 2010. "WE ARE THE WARRIOR RACE, THE TOUGHEST MEN IN THE TOUGHEST SPORT" - BRIAN NOBLE. Bullseye wrote: Certainly looks that way. I remember somone on here saying we'd signed this bloke way back earlier in the season, who was that? He had good info. Anyway Hall looks like the front rower we're missing. Now we need to re-sign Lynch too. Then some smart recruitment in the backs needs to occur. It was a Wigan who first said that we had signed Hall for 2010. I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying. Michael Jordan Bully_Boxer Bronze RLFANS Member Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 3337 Location: Odsal Stadium -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:54 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- redeverready wrote: It was a Wigan who first said that we had signed Hall for 2010. Tricky Dicky wasn't it?

Quote ="Random Male"Go on then, show us the post because all I can remember from you is bull$hit rumours that NEVER come true. So you are saying Hall signed for Bradford MONTHS before it was announced? Methinks not.'" Think again!!!!! Sunday 26th January 2.06 pm on the bulls site. WWW.RLFANS.COM Forum Index -> Bradford Bulls - RedAmberandBlack.net Manly Author Message Tricky Dicky Bronze RLFANS Member Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 4232 Location: Wigan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 2:06 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When Manly play Leeds take a good look at Glenn Hall Manly's no 12. You have agreed terms with him for 2010. "WE ARE THE WARRIOR RACE, THE TOUGHEST MEN IN THE TOUGHEST SPORT" - BRIAN NOBLE. Bullseye wrote: Certainly looks that way. I remember somone on here saying we'd signed this bloke way back earlier in the season, who was that? He had good info. Anyway Hall looks like the front rower we're missing. Now we need to re-sign Lynch too. Then some smart recruitment in the backs needs to occur. It was a Wigan who first said that we had signed Hall for 2010. I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying. Michael Jordan Bully_Boxer Bronze RLFANS Member Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 3337 Location: Odsal Stadium -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:54 pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- redeverready wrote: It was a Wigan who first said that we had signed Hall for 2010. Tricky Dicky wasn't it?

I assume you're going to show us your post when you announced hall as wigan's new prop for 2009?

Unless I am mistaken I am sure IL has said Wigan only want to sign class players for any quota spots and that for next season we are looking to sign two overseas players.

So if he doesn't sign any or the ones he does sign are not class, isn't he leaving himself wide open to criticism?

There is plenty of debate over our 2009 overseas signings,Roberts and Riddell, on the forums. IMO at best they fall into the "solid pro" category not the class players category. Do we want two more like them? Not in my opinion.

When IL came back from Oz in the interview he gave he said they went out with certain players in mind but on further investigation decided not to pursue those players. Fair enough, must have had his reasons.

He then went on to discuss the possibility of signing younger Aussie players who had not yet gained representative honours. I think his reasoning for that was they would be easier to sign before they got into SoO or International RL. Something like that.

I was truly mystified by that statement given how many young players our club produces. Why would we want such players here? They have not got good enough to gain rep honours so aren't they just another young player? What do they add to our side? Certainly not experience.

Recruitment up to now has IMO been all over the place with players recruited in positions not a priority seemingly simply because they were available. It has taken IL all the time he has been here to come around to saying he needs to recruit a prop (when at first he was adamant we had enough of them on the books) and what he said on his return from Oz did not inspire me to think he was targeting the class players a diminishing number of none federation spots means we should be recruiting.

As I said in another thread the standard of compeition in SL isn't that good. We are poor but are 5th and 6 points behind Hudds who aren't that great a side themselves. A couple of class players at prop and half back would see us easily in the top 4 and possibly challenging for the top two provided we employ a coach who can get the team to play for more than half the season.

IL needs to deliver those players for 2010 (and preferably a new coach as well) as that was a date he set for recruitment getting easier otherwise he will get some flak and it will IMO be justified.

Dave

None of which proves what I said to be incorrect.

Spot on.

IL mentions that any signing made will be 'top quality'. www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5460025.jp

IL mentions that any signing made will be 'top quality'. www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5460025.jp

Quote ="ABP'"IL mentions that any signing made will be 'top quality'. www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5460025.jp'" I'm sorry but we've heard all this before.

Quote ="ABP'"IL mentions that any signing made will be 'top quality'. www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5460025.jp'" I'm sorry but we've heard all this before.

well, no $hit Ian. Good players arent going to play for peanuts are they?

Paper talk. I'm doubting we will sign anyone. And even if we do sign someone, they won't be the quality that the fans expect.

Quote ="ABP'"IL mentions that any signing made will be 'top quality'. www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5460025.jp'" Well IL contradicts himself here - are Mark Riddell and Amos Roberts 'top quality'? Hell no. Trent Barrett was top quality so I don't know what he is getting at. I don't understand his definition. I think we need to accept then (apparently) that there is not much chance of getting the enforcer prop forward we need. I.E Jamie Peacock for Leeds, James Graham for Saints, Mick Vella for Hull KR, David Ferriol/Guisset for Catalans, Lynch/Burgess for Bradford. But what we can do is replace Andy Coley with Carl Webb. Webb will bring much more grunt and power to our front row than Andy Coley could and just wait till next season when Fielden is off contract and we have a bit more money available to make the signing then. I would also sign David Kidwell or Frank Puletua both are in the Gareth Hock/Ali Lauititi/Tony Puletua/David Solomona (late Wakefield days) mould which we need to replace Gareth Hock and Phil Bailey. The latter we can either use Lee Mossop or rotate him with Liam Farrell. But I think to lose Gareth Hock and Phil Bailey and replace them with inexperienced young academy players would be a bad move because our pack is so young in the first place. We need some experienced heads around our young players. So INS - Carl Webb, David Kidwell or Frank Puletua (all available) OUTS - Gareth Hock, Andy Coley, Phil Bailey, Tim Smith, George Carmont and Cameron Phelps we will have to consider due to the restrictions on overseas players. Although Carmont doesn't count on anything I am led to believe.

Quote ="ABP'"IL mentions that any signing made will be 'top quality'. www.wigantoday.net/warriors/Lena ... 5460025.jp'" Well IL contradicts himself here - are Mark Riddell and Amos Roberts 'top quality'? Hell no. Trent Barrett was top quality so I don't know what he is getting at. I don't understand his definition. I think we need to accept then (apparently) that there is not much chance of getting the enforcer prop forward we need. I.E Jamie Peacock for Leeds, James Graham for Saints, Mick Vella for Hull KR, David Ferriol/Guisset for Catalans, Lynch/Burgess for Bradford. But what we can do is replace Andy Coley with Carl Webb. Webb will bring much more grunt and power to our front row than Andy Coley could and just wait till next season when Fielden is off contract and we have a bit more money available to make the signing then. I would also sign David Kidwell or Frank Puletua both are in the Gareth Hock/Ali Lauititi/Tony Puletua/David Solomona (late Wakefield days) mould which we need to replace Gareth Hock and Phil Bailey. The latter we can either use Lee Mossop or rotate him with Liam Farrell. But I think to lose Gareth Hock and Phil Bailey and replace them with inexperienced young academy players would be a bad move because our pack is so young in the first place. We need some experienced heads around our young players. So INS - Carl Webb, David Kidwell or Frank Puletua (all available) OUTS - Gareth Hock, Andy Coley, Phil Bailey, Tim Smith, George Carmont and Cameron Phelps we will have to consider due to the restrictions on overseas players. Although Carmont doesn't count on anything I am led to believe.

The worrying bit is where he says 'It's proving to be tough to get the right quality of people at the right price."

Word of caution to Mr Lenagan.............your not going to get Australian or NZ internationals for peanuts. To get the best you've got to pay the best. Teams like Warrington, Leeds and Saints have manged this over the past few seasons so why not us?

I had huge sympathy for him when he took over because we all knew the mess that Lindsay had left our salary cap in and he did a good job of getting us back on an even keel but he promised that 2010 would be the year where we could start to sign world class talent again and even went on an advanced signing mission in 2008 to sign up players for 2010...........looks like that was a holiday put through the clubs books then

The thing is though top quality players are available but I think the point we should pay close attention to is "at the right price". I think the club have gone from being laid back with handing out big contracts to now being really over cautious with handing out contracts.

We don't seem to be able to find that balance.

Does seem to be something he isnt grasping.

I agree about us needing a big hard prop but still think we should keep Coley and Bailey just for one year. This will allow some stability and a settling in period for a new prop during 2010. Apparently Coleys wages are a lot less than Fekas and Fieldens anyway ( apparently by a long way if my messenger is correct , might be rumour!!) so even at a reduced rate it should not break the bank to offer him a new contract. It seems mad to get rid of him too early as then this puts alot of pressure on the new big enforcer prop if he is left to play alongside a pack that imo are weaker without Coley. By 2011 then get rid of Coley and Fielden and bring in another top clas prop. Does anyone remember the year that we got rid of lots of players, Cassidy, O'Connor etc??icon_confused.gif

I think Bailey should stay for some of the above reasons too and Phelps.
Not sure if Coley is going to sign for Wire or Saints though

this rumour keeps raising its head and my little bird is usually correct.

There are players out the who are OOC.
Karmichael Hunt and Steve Price. It would cost the best part of £500-600k to bring them over.
That's two players costing a third of the salary cap and the other two thirds going on 22 players.
So you have to settle for something less and that's what Saints, Wire and Leeds are doing.
We have to get there yet!
We are all just so fed up with the uncertainty.
Uncertainty over the coach, same with signings or the lack of them.

We've had a pperiod now where the club has shown players and their agents that they won't be handing out daft contracts anymore and won't be used as a bargaining tool to get them new deals at their current cubs.

I think that period of changing the clubs reputation will have stood us in good stead long term but now is the time to start signing one or 2 high profile signings again.

We don't need anymore then 2 players for next year but they do have to be top quality and to get those you have to pay a good wage. We can easily make that room available with a couple of players already gone and the option to let 4 more go so we can't use cap space as an excuse.

It really irritates me this nonsense that some people have made up - we should sign Andy Coley and Phil Bailey for 'stability' or 'continuity'.

We don't need stability we need improvement! Teams like Saints and Leeds at the top can fall into the category of keeping players for stability and continuity but not us. We've been average all season and are AGAIN miles away from the top two. The pack has been identified by every sod on this forum as an area we need to improve on. So I fail to see how just re-signing these players like Coley and Bailey will improve the squad at all. If we want some stability at being average then by all means sign away but if we want to improve the squad and challenge the top two we are going to have to either promote players from within of better quality or spend and make some signings.

This pap from IL that top quality players are not available at the right price just makes him look a fool. I would love for him to elaborate and tell me what the right price is. Your not going to get international stars for Richie Mathers, Karl Pryce, Cameron Phelps wages! I don't even think we need international stars from the NRL. The super league is at such a low standard the fringe players would be good enough. Carl Webb would be a quality replacement for Andy Coley. He would be a vast improvement. No he wouldn't be the enforcer required but it would be a start. We can wait to Fielden comes off contract, more money to spend and look again.

We need a replacement for Gareth Hock and Phil Bailey. Had that incident with Gareth Hock not happened we could have promoted from within to replace Phil Bailey. We can still do this but not for Gareth Hock. We have lost a lot of go forward and creativity with Gareth Hock. We need a replacement. Frank Puletua and David Kidwell are exactly the type of (off contract) players that could replace him. Both are in the Tony Puletua mould that we really need.

Neither do I. The quote ""It's proving to be tough to get the right quality of people at the right price." covers a multitude of possibilities.

Are Riddell and Roberts the right quality for the right price? I guess they must be as he brought them to the club but they are not top quality in my book.

If they are not then why did this not apply?

"There's obviously a pressure from those fans who want to see new signings, but if they're not the right signings you're better off to wait."

So if he really is after class players this time but isn't prepared to pay the going rate I would expect no recruits at all. Otherwise if he goes for a lower standard of player then this statement "There are a lot of players around but what we have to make sure is those we sign are top quality." is meaningless.



Carmont is a none federation player and I am pretty sure unlike Bailey cannot apply to get such status once his contract expires as he arrived after the rules came in - I think.

Dave

I'd re-sign Coley but not Bailey tbh.

Coley can cover back row and we need some size to our pack. After that i'd want to be bring in a world class prop and a halfback in that order.

whoops making a mess of this replying business!!!

I think your going to be very disappointed if you believe that bringing in two expensive players is going to improve the team that much to put us in the top 2 next year.

No it wouldn't because no club would pay that. If they want to come over they would have to accept a lower wage than that. They would still be a clubs top earners but then a clubs best players tend to be!

Of course they may not want to come with the weak pound meaning UK wages of around £200K (not unreasonable for a clubs star player) might not be so attractive any more.



Both Leeds and Saints have star players such a Peacock for Leeds and he won't be on peanuts. Perhaps they don't need a star overseas player given the standard of player they already have. We do IMO.



Quite right.

Dave

They would improve the team far more than re-signing Andy Coley or Phil Bailey and would be more expensive because they are better players. But with the number of players leaving Wigan this season we should be able to sign them.

Frank and Tony Puletua are brothers and so you would think that they would command a similar wage. Both at a similar age and play the same positions. So how come Saints can do it and we can't?

Your not going to get quality players for the wages of Andy Coley.

It should get us in the top 4 and that is where you need to be given the new play off format. The third placed team is Hudds who are not that great so IMO we would not need to be that great either to get there.

They are 6 points in front of us and we have 6 games we lost this year we should, if we had played to our current potential never mind to a better standard we may attain with the addition of two players, have won. Would the addition of a couple of players have got us 3 out of those 6 victories needs to put us on a par with Hudds?

On paper IMO yes but we know how unreliable "paper" form can be and that is down to the Noble factor IMO so to realise this top 4 potential we need a couple of class players AND a new coach.

Chances of getting all three under IL seem remote!

Dave