Brain dead!

This Wigan team looks more steady without him. It may lack that impact runner that Hock is but the errors have dried up and we look very solid.

I always said Hock at Widnes would be a liability. There is little pressure or expectation at Widnes and that's no good for a player that needs keeping in line. He needs to be challenged and needs to be made to feel as though he has a point to prove.

I shudder to think what trouble he'll bring to Widnes once the honeymoon period is over!

I agree. Hock needs to be at a big club to have any chance of being kept in line, even then history has shown this still isnt always the case, and him being at a smaller club like Widnes is a recipe for disaster.

I think Hock having Betts as his manager is no good for either of them. It's going to be a situation like us under Cullen. To pally and a little afraid to upset the apple cart. This could Come crumbling down.

It's highly possible I'll be slated for having this view, but I still think Wigan's steep decline towards near-relegation commenced when Betts took full control of the team.

Okay, Millward's poor man-management almost finished us off, but we were on the slippery slope before then. Lots of other factors contributed - not least Whelan and Lindsay having totally taken their eye off the ball - but there were all kinds of stories about player power and the coach's matey approach having lost him the dressing room etc.

Great player, Bettsy, but I'd have no confidence in him as a head-coach.

Question is where will Hock end up beyond this season?

He has every incentive to play well this season because his next contract is an important one but getting red cards will not help if he wants to get a lucrative contract and also play in the world cup.

Personally I think Hock is an immense talent and one of the very few players who can cause the Australians problems but rumours around his off-field issues eclipse that unless Hock proves otherwise.

Totally agree. To be honest I knew he was good, but never realised how good. He scares defensives and makes an offload every other teackle. However as already seen, his discipline is a worry. He conceded 5 penalties against Hull alone and got sent off on friday.

Wish hed sort these problems out, not just for our sake but for Englands sake also.

A Pack of:

Burgess
Roby
Graham
Hock
Ellis
?Sinfield

Would be immense

3 of tho'm have or are proving themselves in The NRL

Apparently, Mr Hock has said he's made a mistake in leaving Wigan. Highly doubt Lenegan & Wane will keep hold of him after what he's done to the club. I think he might go to Salford at the end of the season.

And Sinfield at 13? No, no, no. Sean O'loughlin is streets ahead of Sinfield at 13. if fit, he has to play in the World Cup. He's been outstanding for Wigan this year.

Agreed, I'd play Sinfield in the halves and go with a pack of

8 Graham
9 Roby
10 Burgess
11 Westwood
12 Ellis
13 O'Loughlin

14 Burrow
15 Crabtree
16 Hill
17 Hock

Where is it reported that Hock has said he made a mistake in leaving Wigan?
Any source of this info please?

I've been told off somebody who knows him that he's pretty down about how things have ended at Wigan but there was no other option.

Maybe bridges could be built in time for 2014 but I doubt it.

Radlinski to his mum to my mum to me.

There was certainly no other option, as Wigan told him to sod off.

Is this Gareth's latest ploy: instead of trying to convince the world that it's all some Machiavellian conspiracy, now behaving like the penitent sinner?

Sorry, but anyone with half a brain could have seen that this would be the eventual outcome.

And poor Widnes - they've got an expensive but erratic player on their hands who doesn't even want to be there.

I hope they dont. Hock has had more than enough chances at Wigan and it is time to tell him to go.

Of course he wants to be elsewhere, hes a big name player, a quality player but this how things have turned out.

Ignoring his ill-discipline on the field, he has been fantastic in his short stint at Widnes.

My MOTM for the Hull KR and Hull game despite conceding 5 penalties. And the only other 2 games hes played in where his debut against Saints and 30 minutes against Bradford.

I can see people turning around and saying "Well its not hard to get noticed at Widnes", well it is, this season especially. Cross, Ocarrol, Allen and Cahill have all been superb.

That sort of adds fuel to the fire for people who will say its not hard for a player of Hocks class to stand out at Widnes though. We've had 3 of those players in our team, produced 2 of them and to say they're not in Hocks league would be the understatement of the century.

When Hocks head is right he's world class but I'm convinced he'll do more harm then good for Widnes. His head goes totally when the chips are down and with all due respect to your improving team that will still be more often then not.

His career will go down as a huge waste IMO.

You're telling Wiganers what we've known for many years. He can be a monster of a player on his day, and when he destroys the opposition almost single-handed - as he did at Saints last Boxing Day - the adulation will raise the roof. But there are other times when he badly lets his team mates and supporters down, and I mean badly.

I'd love it work out for Gareth at Widnes, but the odds, I fear, are against it.

What are his chances of returning to Wigan next year and more importantly, would the fans welcome him back.

Somewhere between "little" and "none" I would have thought.

Genuinely contrite & deducted significant wonga for every penalty he gave away, then maybe. As has been said umpteen times, he's a damned good player, but carries a bag full of brain-farts with him every time he gets on the park.

That all depends on how well Wigan do this year.

They still hold Hock's registration, so I suppose, if the whole season goes belly-up, they may feel they have no option but to recall him. But IL doesn't strike me as the sort of guy who makes U-turns easily.

As for the fans, they'll cheer whoever wears Cherry and White - to a point. When Hock got suspended for the drug business, many wanted him sacked, but with one or two exceptions, they celebrated when he returned ... until he started fouling up again, which is always the problem with Gareth. Brilliance and idiocy go hand in hand.

All I can say is that Gleeson and Hock are in the same league, without their antics off field (and Hock's on field brain farts) they would have been world class icons of the sport.

None, and most wouldn't, I suspect. Taking him back after his drugs ban was his last chance, and he's blown it.

I've heard that Saints didn't really show up that day

Question 1. I would say, not great.
Question 2. Speaking as one, no I would not. As I've said many times a very good player, but more trouble than a barrel load of monkeys!

One match ban, he's very lucky with just that. They must be giving him another opportunity to change with his new club for the sake of the England team... it's doomed to failure!

Thank you, I thought I was going mad until you said that!