I’m sure we had conversations about where Isa would play too, centre, second row or in most cases, including mine, nowhere near the first team. Glad Willie proved me wrong and to be honest he’s become one of my favorite Wigan players.

I am aware now that clubs tend to look at certain elements as being very important when looking to sign players often valued more than their current ability.

Character, athletic potential, attitude, coachability etc are placed high up as priorities particularly with project type signings. The view is that good coaches should be able to over time bring out the end result player.

I’m thinking he scores very highly in these supporting attributes which is why we moved for him and we are backing our system to produce a top quality utility forward covering all positions in the pack with the exception of 9.

I’ve been happy with Chan, discipline aside. We’ve got enough size elsewhere to have a smaller guy, who is full of energy and aggression. He makes ground easy enough with the ball from what I’ve seen.

The energy he brings just around training can’t be underestimated. He seems a real character, very popular and just the sort of lad who will have a smile on his face. This squad seem like brilliant lads, who are really professional and they’re a great team but I would say there is a place for one or two characters.

We've had loads of lads who were apparently "undersized" when they 1st game through. I remember people saying it about Hansen, Lockers and Hock.

Give the lad sometime.

Bateman has carved out a tip class career by being undersized, as have many others .I guess it very much depends on the individual. Whilst my gut instinct still favours back row I am more than happy to see how it pans out. I mentioned previously from having spoken to him a couple of times that he has a very infectious character. I can imagine he brings plenty to the squad and is good to have around whatever his role.

Early signs but Chan seems to punch above his weight similar to what Bateman does. Just needs to make a position his own. Really think him, Walters and Nsemba would make a monstrous 2nd row rotation if they stay and reach their potential

Those came through into the team as kids, Chan is nearly 24.
I’m not writing him off, I’m just pointing out he is massively undersized for a prop and could be more suited to playing in the second row.

I always thought it was a bit of a myth Bateman being undersized, remember being at Orrell for the family fun day a few years back and I’d say outside of Greenwood he probably looked one of the biggest bloke there, he’s tall and broad shouldered, think his frame maybe made him look smaller than he was on tele as he’s not got bulging muscles. From all accounts he’s freakishly strong too (seems that way on the pitch) which if is the case there is no need to try and add more muscle, Chan himself runs in really hard and fast which will offset some of the lack of size, I just think he could be more suited to playing second row.

He's 6 foot and just over 15 stone according to Wiki so smaller than Chan and not big, even for a second row. He is, by all accounts, really strong which is borne out by how he is on the field, as you say. I agree Chan looks more suited to the back row and could use his undoubted strong running to better effect there imo. More than happy to see how he goes at prop though if that's his favoured position but he does need to sort his discipline. I love his enthusiasm but it has a tendency at this stage to overspill into avoidable penalties.

I’m 6-1 and he was taller than me and I would say he weighs more than 15 stone.

There's a wall chart at Robin Park that puts him around the 6 foot mark so I'm sure it's about right.

Is this a real 6'1 or a Tinder 6'1?

Hahaha. To be honest my height was 186cm on my MOD 90 when I was in the military which is 6-2 but my posture is awful so I always say 6-1, I was also holding my young lad in the photo so maybe I was hunched even more. He looks a similar height to Lockers though who I always thought was 6-3ish. Bateman though is a second rower who played on the edge and centre a lot, Chan is saying he’s prop so even more undersized for his position. I like the lad though, as many have said he seems to have a great attitude and he doesn’t half run it in hard, he could maybe get to contact a meter or two longer than the average prop to to his pace.

Josh Schuster situation is interesting from our point of view.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Had Isa not picked up his injury wouldn’t think about it, and hopefully it isn’t the case he is out for the season.

If he is though I believe there is the option to deregister him.

This would open up cap and quota space.

It appears there is no interest in the NRL and he is about to become a free agent with $200k pay off.

Like I said hopefully Isa gets back playing but if he doesn’t he could be an option on a short term deal for the rest of 2024.

I see a lot of similarities around his situation and when Lautiti became available and similar freakish skill set if he can get his head right.

Is confirmed Jon that Isa is out for the rest of the season?
I hope that he isn’t but if he is then Schuster would be a very interesting option if he wants to come to SL.
Isa will be sorely missed as his defensive qualities and his all round fitness levels are perhaps only second to Liam Farrell.

No nothing confirmed and obviously the ideal world solution is that Isa returns before the end of the season I’m just thinking out loud.

As a pure guess I would imagine he would want a decent wage, do we have that space under the cap?even if we can write Isas wage off?

He’s walking away with $200k pay off and no interest from other NRL clubs.

Wages are usually dictated by demand so I don’t think realistically he can expect a big wage for the 2024 season.

Josh Schuster doesn’t have the qualities of a Wigan player in terms of toughness and attitude IMO.

Whilst I don’t necessarily disagree they are the 2 areas of concern he’s an absolute gun of a player when he’s on.

Almost a no risk signing for the rest of this season if the worst news comes through and Isa is gone for the year.

I hasten to add this is all pure speculation and thinking out loud on my part nothing in it with any substance at all regards Isa’s injury or us making a move for a replacement.

Sam Eseh two weeks loan to Cas

Good move. Keep him there as long as we can, he needs SL minutes.

i'd posted on warriors fans that its a good move as we have no reserve game for 2 weeks either, so he'd be sat waiting to get some game time. Ideally i'd give him 4 weeks get some good game time and then see how he's going and if he's ready to challenge for a 1st team spot when fit and firing. Given Cas are down on numbers, i dont see any reason why he shouldnt get some good 1st team minutes

Jackson Hastings in yet another behind the scenes bust up - this time with Will Pryce. Hastings has always come across as a very calculating self-publicist but the public persona doesn't seem to match up with what goes on when a camera isn't present. Pryce comes across as quite a brash individual as well so maybe a recipe for disaster (as it turned out with Bateman).

Just reiterates how lucky we are to have the personalities we have at Wigan - all seem very humble and level-headed.

Dreadful bloke, seems to have a lot of fans fooled like you say with his public persona.

He should just go back to the Salford where they’ll worship him.

Personally, I found Hastings' so-called love affair with Salford one of the least convincing aspects of the entire JH show while he was over here in the UK. At times, it verged on being a total pantomime.

For me, he's a professional contrarian, who seems to delight in winding people up. Whatever vicarious pleasure this gives him, it nearly always seems to have an impact on the rest of the team. The only reason this didn't happen at Salford was because he was their biggest fish in quite a while and basically allowed to rule the roost. I've no doubt that given enough time, he'd have fallen out with people there as well.