Would like to see how he went at hooker personally, in my opinion he would make an excellent 9, good skills, great work ethic and pretty intelligent player. He would be a project though and I am unsure he would be willing to come back under that premise. Certainly would not want him back as a specialist backrow as, despite rating him we have a wealth of good back row players and several others to come through in the not too distant.

I wouldn't make it a priority signing at all, but if we could sign him/fit him with the cap/he's available I would. I really rate the lad as a player, great work ethic, versatile, disciplined and is also a very intelligent player too, which separates him from a few here we currently have. I realise we're well stocked in back row forwards, but I remember people on this board not too long ago saying that Ryan Hoffman was a luxury signing - I don't think he has been! With having a very young team, Joel Tomkins moving to centre, he has proven to be a very important signing with just Harrison Hansen, Liam Farrell and Chris Tuson alongside him. Personally I think the situation with back rowers will change next season. I don't believe Ryan Hoffman will stay here another year - especially with Madge leaving - and I think we're likely to see Joel Tomkins move to centre. Gareth Hock gets thrown in the mix, but Madge has publicly stated that he's looking to play him at prop. That then leaves Liam Farrell, Chris Tuson and Harrison Hansen. It doesn't look as strong then! We've reaped the rewards of having fierce competitions for places and players that have versatility. On the right wage and on the right contract Mark Flanagan could add to that for me. Don't get me wrong, I agree with everyone on this board who says we shouldn't make this a priority signing, but if we can add him to the squad, with room to strengthen other areas, I see no problem in bringing over a young, talented, British player with NRL experience to the side.

No, he will want a decent salary and we are still well off for second row forwards even if Hoffman goes home at the end of the year.
Jack Hughes is a much better option.

Are you being sarcastic or are you on a completely different planet?

First of all Flanagan one of the best players in the NRL? He cant even get into the Tigers first team at the minute!!

As for Hoffman being crap.... I assume your post is sarcastic based on this comment because he is the best back rower in Super League.

If you are not being sarcastic I have officially given up hope on the sanity of most Wigan fans when it comes to desperately wanting all our players to be English.

have you actually watched the last few games!!!!
every try that has been scored against us was due to a break between hoffman and finch, both of them falling off tackle, and other than that try at leeds what has he really done in attack.
over rated aussie,
i know he is australian so apparently he is above critisim and to some people on here they seem to have rose tinted glasses on them,
personally id drop him and get a kid in, id rather have a british lad trying and missing tackles than an australian being paid mega bucks missing them.

I wouldn't have Joel Tomkins in the England side right now, no way will he ever be world class. Sam may be world class one day, but not Joel. The swear filter should kick in when the term 'world class' is used, it's thrown about far too liberally.

he is better than tuson, definitely.

flanagan has everything tuson has but has a set of hands equivalent to a half back. he was like an accurate version of hock regards his offloads. now maybe hock coming back will mean no need for an offloading second row but id be looking at hock being a prop if i were coach.

I can't say I'm bothered about us signing him. We already have an abundance of backrowers. Plus his recent time in the NRL will have no doubt increased the salary he'll be looking to obtain, so it's a no for me. We've other are's that I'd like us to recruit for personally. Good signing for Widnes if they can get him.

Agreed, and in his two years at Wigan he only had two a few decent games, the rest of the time he was distinctly average.

he was only just breaking through when we left and at the time it was all doom and gloom that we were losing the best prospect we'd had in recent memory.

Turns out we won the title the next year without him, doesnt change how good he is though, just because we did well without him.

Far better than Tuson IMO

Have you actually watched any NRL games this season? flannagan can't get a look in at Wests, even when they've had back rowers out injured.

He's a decent player, but to say he's better than Hoffman is ridiculous. I'm not a Wigan fan but I would have thought that Hoffman, Farrell, Tomkins and Hansen are all better than Flannagan. From the games I've seen, Hansen seems to have improved massively

i think hoffman is playing well below what he was hyped up to be and i would prefer flanagan to be playing there instead of him, him and farrell over hoffman any day for me

I'd say that, compared to other aussies, he's not doing too bad in his 1st season in England. And I reckon he'll get better as the season goes on

Hoffman has had one poor game this season (last Friday), and he wasn't on his own.
Flanagan had about three good games at Wigan in two years. Flanagan can't get near the Wests team, and you think he's better than Hoffman. How do you come to that conclusion?

its just a personal opinion,,,,,,, christ, does everything on here turn into a prove it match,
i dont think hoffman has been good since we signed him, certainly not living up to his hype.
i think it would be a better signing and a good signing for us, give us a better more british side.
its a personal opinion that i would prefer flanagan playing.

I thought Flanagan moved to the NRL as his missus was Australian and she wanted to go home? Can't see him moving back over here if that was the case, unless he's finished with her.

Good signing for Widnes if they do sign him, I rate him personally but with the amount of back rowers at our disposal I see no where he could possibly fit in.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion and to air it. It's one I and I can imagine many other posters will disagree with, as I think Hoffman has been one of our stand out players so far this season.

It would seem most people disagree with you, as he currently leads our "player of the season" voting comfortably.

A little OT, but this youngster Hughes who've currently got on dual registration with Barrow. Is the backrower that we decided to keep out of three, with the other two going to Widnes and Huddersfield? You'll have to forgive the fact that I don't know their names.

I'm guessing he'll be next line.

Wigan didn't want him before and don't need him now. Just because he's played in the NRL doesn't mean he's become a 'world class' player. It seems to me that if anyone has anything to do with Australia the English think they are bound to be amazing. It's no wonder we can't beat em with the inferiority complex we have. Wigan could have a 'world class' team full of blokes from the Wigan area IMO.

Danny Bridge is also very well thought of and wil be knocking on the door in the next 2 or so years.

Flanagan is very overated and achieved little in his time at the club. He cant have played much more than 10 games at the club and is no where near the class of younger players such as Liam Farrell and Lee Mossop.

I think that we should get him back - he has had some quality performances in the NRL and I'm sure he has learnt a lot.

Then again Widnes have been linked with loads of players - it may well just be a rumour

English lad that's played in the NRL? We should be after him like a tramp on a kipper.

Let him go to Widnes. Overated IMO