Read the full press release - he is being brought on board for his future coaching potential rather than just a quick fix.

EDIT** Sorry the previous two posts beat me to it

And what does deacon bring that any other coach cant?

So lets see who gets dropped sam,piggy or mcilorum cause one of them will

I'm sure IL knows about his coaching potential far more than any of us do

Brian Noble would have worked with him for years too so may well have recommended him before he left.

Why waste money on the cap?

Why not bring a coach up who has some expeience in the roll?

We all have diffrent opinions i think this is a shocking move by us

Specialist halfback coach and kicking coach. His greatest strengths - being a master of organising a team around the park - is Leuluai's and Tomkins' drawback.

The whole arrangement is from a coaching prospective rather than a playing one. He adds some depth for a year as Tomkins and Leuluai might have to go on international duty (not to mention injuries) plus Joe Mellor, Sam Tomkins and Thomas Leuluai can learn from one of the best in Super League in regards to kicking and organising a team. Plus he is a very handy goal kicker as well, something Pat Richards had a poor season with IMO!

Time will tell I suppose.

But hopefully he won't take up too much room on the cap - hopefully we'll be paying him far more when he is a full time coach compared to 2010 when he counts on the playing staff.

Why? He is here more as a coach than a player.

Surely the depth we now have should be applauded? Before if Riddell (which was a common occurence last season) or Mike McIlorum were out of form we would have no-one else to play in that position. Now there is more pressure for them to play better.

We have seen the juggling about we have to do when McIlorum got injured - if that occurs we can move to Deacon to 7, Tomkins to six and Leuluai to nine. We have seen the result of losing Tomkins to international duty (Celtic Crusaders away) and injuries (Huddersfield away) we now have cover in Paul Deacon.

A positive move by the club.

We have got bigger problems than or 6&7's kicking game

We sign gleeson now we go sign another halfback when we really need some bulk in our pack if we do sign a prop imo i think we could have used this to sign another one

It's hard to judge what he's being paid but I can't see it being a fortune. He's still a decent player who imo will be acting as cover and not be starting every week.

As for his credentials as a coach the club and people within the game must know something about him as a person and an influence around the place. He's well respected at Bradford and has been a very loyal player for them for 12 years. He's also a leader and you can never have too many of those.

He is inexperienced as a coach(as inexperienced as you can get) but the club have stated they'll be following the Melbourne model of a coaching set up and thats giving a young coach his first chance as a head coach and then him hand picking young,up and coming assistants to learn under him.

It's worked ok for them!

Why is it a waste?

I'll not repeat myself (I have offered reasons in another post) but for his experience and ability to bring along the games of Leuluai, Tomkins and Mellor, along with providing depth in the halfbacks/hookers, makes him a very good signing IMO.



Like who? Deacon will be gaining experience in his first year with us and then from then can look to 2011 to really make his mark when he becomes a full time assistant. He will learn from one of the most highly rated young coach in the game - Mike MaGuire & will have a season to familiarise himself with his plans, techniques and the club before he makes that step up.

I agree we've neglected the pack too long and that needs looking at but maybe the club feel they have some ready made personel for the pack in the likes of Mossop and Farrell.

Any young backs we have especially at centre or halfback are at least a year away from being ready.

We do need to try and get an aggressive prop forward in though if we can.

Why do we need to bulk up in our pack?

Look at Australia in the 4 Nations. They strolled it with their "2nd rate" pack but they had the best backs.

Do you really think deacon wont be playing that often?

IF we move tommy to 9 play deacon 7 sam at 6 i really think we should let piggy go we can get more out of mcilorum in the long run

You think our backs are good enough to play behind a beaten pack every game?

I DONT

if we did that we wouldn't have signed radlinski as reserve team coach or michael maguire as first team coach.

Deacons struggled these past couple of years with injury and he may not feel he can get through a full season.

Us having 5 players for 4 positions is perfect imo.

The point i'm trying to get across why waste cap space bringing him in has a player/coach and not just a coach?

If they said he's coming in has a coach fair enough but no need waste cap space

Sorry it come across wrong i ment a coach with some experience

Yeah but what if there is no injurys and one player loses there spot?

Theres going to be one player not happy

Because we don't have any backup for the halves at all. If Tomkins got injured we'd have to have switched Gleeson or O'Loughlin into a position where they do not play. He's backup for the first team, when he could still probably get in 50% of super leagues first teams.

He's here as a coach, but for 1 year he's going to be backup until the whole playing side gets restructured.

Its not as if we're bringing in a 31 year old on a 3 year playing contract and paying him far too much. 30 year old coach on a 1 year contract providing backup.

So be it, the player should respond by playing well in the academy and training well in order to beat the player who surpassed him. Competition for positions is never a bad thing.

Have you ever known a season when we have had no injuries?

Positive move. We all know we need a house prop, but we need to look at other areas too... Good cover, and by all accounts a bright, intelligent decent bloke. Good move for the future of the club IMO... And i was not impressed when i first heard...

First of all, you don't know how much cap space is 'being wasted'.

Bear in mind that Deacon knows his playing days are virtually over and is looking to his post-playing future. Embarking on a coaching career with a long-term contract is a good move for him. Embarking on that career at his home-town club, so that he doesn't have to keep commuting all the way to Yorkshire, is an even better move for him. It's highly possible, with all these benefits, that he has been prepared to take a hit in terms of his salary for one year - especially as when he takes up his full-time coaching reins, a year after that, Wigan can afford to be generous to him.

It's also a matter of opinion whether or not that cap space is 'being wasted'. Like it or not, we need cover in the halves. An alternative might have been to promote Joe Mellor into the first team squad, but personally I think he's too young. Give Mellor another year, and he'll be fine - until then Deacs will provide more-than-adequate cover. And if it does put pressure on the likes of Riddell to get his act together, then you won't hear any complaints from me.

Just got home now and read what's going on and it seems like a good deal for the club and Paul, he'll provide cover for the first year while assisting with coaching throughout his duration here. He'll add to are already healthy backroom staff roster as well.

Hopefully we might see a bit of Mellor as well this year, he's really impressed in the game's I've seen him in hopefully with a little help from Deacs he'll flourish even more.

Just a prop to go now and were set, Adam Blair I'll do nicely me thinks.