I appreciate Zak’s form fell off but let’s be fair so did everyone’s so that isn’t a valid reason to get rid or everyone would be off. I agree with the Bevan French sentence though, I can’t work out his signing which almost certainly means someone is going.

I wouldn’t lose any sleep if Zak wasn’t our player next season. Apart from being solid under the high ball he offers very little in any other department. Looks like his legs have gone or he’s still carrying too much extra weight. Sorry to go off topic but we’ve missed Tomkins so much this year with all the little things he brought to the table...great hands, great link play, game management etc...if french plays fullback next season it offers a whole new attacking dimension which we haven’t had this year.

Hardaker doesn't look anything like as dangerous a runner as he used to.

Hastings will be at Wigan next year - the fan base will implode if they allow him a get-out and that's something Lenagan can't afford unless he wants to dip deep into his own pockets again.

I agree, if Hastings ends up like the Edwards’s saga Lenegan will be finished imo, crowds would drop even further and he’d be stumping up nearly 2 million a year

Assuming that Wigan no longer do mega-deals like this on handshakes and now hold Hastings under contract, and given the club-destroying potential of something going wrong with the Hastings signing, if what you say is true I'd expect IL to demand the kind of transfer fee that would make even the good Doctor Koukash cringe.

Just because people want something to happen doesn't mean it will. Sometimes you have to factor in the possible trouble it would cause for others before you assume they'll just accept it.

I'd also be very surprised if anyone has decided yet that Salford are the future. Getting to the Grand Final is not the same as winning it. If they are humiliated, the picture won't look as rosy.

So he will want to be at Salford next season after 9 players have jumped ship.Hes the hero at the moment next season I dont see it.

The extra funds are nothing to do with Koukash, I believe.

For what it's worth, I think he'll be a Wigan player next season.

Hardaker looks to have lost an awful lot of pace to me but then he looks bigger now then he did in his final season at Cas. I’d like to see him shed some bulk and see if it comes back (same goes for Joe Burgess) but if not then a move to centre is a must for me.

The players leaving bar Josh Jones (Who's missus is not happy with moving to Hull) and Hastings, the other players are being replaced with better players or weren't offered a contract at Salford because we wanted rid. It's not jumping ship, which infers problems, and we don't have any currently.

Butcher is nearly right - I feel we will rue the decision to lose Bibby for Sarginson - but the others Griffin & Olpherts to Cas, Tomkins & Johnson - (not fixed up) yet aren`t major problems for me.

What’s Salford’s fans opinions on Bibby? Looks really promising to me. I think you’ll be surprised with Sarginson though. He’s an absolute workaholic and if Watson can work his magic with him like he’s done with others, then we could see the best Sarginson we’ve ever seen.

If played @ centre he will be great for you as he parts to the winger at the right time. Has come on a ton this season.

Good to hear. I noticed he’s playing left centre and we have Gildart already on that side so something will have to give. We’ve definitely signed him to play centre IMO. We already have Marshall, Burgess, Davies, Manfredi and French who can cover the wing spots.

He could have just physically changed as his aged. Put on more size naturally meaning his lost pace, plus he's losing his lovely head of hair.

I think how we've used him plus the changes in his body type have resulted in a lack of breaks/clean runs this season. Still I think he's been great for us. Albeit not in attack, but defensively he's been top notch. His reading of the opposition attack, one on one tackles are as good as it gets.

If not as a FB, I'd have him as a centre or even winger in the Pat Richards mould. Ironically Richards played FB similar to Zak when he spelled there on occasion.

I'm sure its not long since Lam described him as a machine.


For me he seemed to lose all the weight only to put it all back on over the last few weeks which has coincided with his loss of form.
No lack of effort though as he seems to be trying harder than most of the others.

Come on Richie, you regularly make these claims of disgruntled players leaving and they never come to fruition

Isn’t this the same bloke who claimed Gelling was staying days before he left?

I don't doubt that Richie does get some info from reliable sources but its true that a lot of what he gets told doesn't seem to come to fruition.

Yep, and that Hardaker would be leaving in some sort of swap deal with Cas (which he later recanted). Escare to Toronto. Wane to Leeds. Hastings to Saints or Leeds. Nice guy but unreliable with rumours to say the least.

So pleased it’s not just me who’s noticed this. Hardaker left us at least 5 times this season.

Yep, AG threw me under the bus by ordering a bucket load of supplements from us saying he would be back! I owned it, learnt a lesson and moved on



I let you all know Joe Greenwood was signed up for 2019 as a replacement for JB in February 2018. Also posted in the rumours section recently that he will be at Leeds next year in case you want to write it down to bring up in 6/12 months should he end up elsewhere other than exactly where I stated



Time will tell with Zak, I did post that he was unsettled and even put money on him not being with us next year but then I spoke with him personally, he told me he was settled, happy and looking forward to the future and getting back into the England/GB setup, I owned it, posted that here and haven't posted anything else since...what I think more recently, personally, he won't be here but believe me, I want him to stay at Wigan, I really do, so fingers crossed. I hope the club can accommodate Bevan French somewhere other than the full back position he has been signed to play in 2020.

I met Jackson Hastings personally for the first time recently as he is now one of our sponsored athletes and had a good chat, never met a more down to earth straight talking rugby player. What I posted recently was exactly what I was told, direct from the horses mouth - "anything can happen". My boss has told me Salford have a new financial benefactor and financially they are sound, I have NOT said for certain Jackson Hastings will not be with us next year, I just don't think it is as certain as most (including me) want it to be.

I don't remember stating that I had inside knowledge of Shaun Wane taking over at Leeds, I just stated I thought it might happen when they fired Furner, or maybe earlier when it was rumoured Furner might not take the job. He was odds on at one point with Betfred? Or did I make that up? Honestly didn't realise to post an opinion on here you needed to be categorically sure it was going to happen...I will make a note of that.

I won't apologise for posting what I hear

however, I will leave you all to enjoy the off season and look forward to some positive moves and a successful 2020 for the club!

If Zak leaves (and ends up back at Cas) then I am more than sure Grimmy will honor the £200 to Joining Jack and should he be at Wigan on day one of the 2020 season my first post back on here will be to confirm I have paid mine

Your our very own mystic Meg

Shame we didn't take a punt on him when he first became available although there'd of been plenty, me included probably, who'd have been in the "do we really need another player with baggage coming to the club" gang.
Hastings and Williams could have been something special but fair play to Hastings and Salford for getting his career back on track.

I feared another Tim Smith at that time had we gone for him but he’s been a breath of fresh air for the whole comp. Fingers crossed we see him in the Wigan shirt and he throws everything in to it like he has for Salford. If he does that he’ll go down as one of the most popular overseas players of all time in a Wigan shirt.

On another note about Hastings, it was interesting to read Josh Jones today suggesting his career best form has been in no small part down to Hastings. He says he’s never worked as hard due to the constant talk and instruction coming from his inside and he said it’s been much easier to make the meters he has playing outside Hastings.

I’d back Liam Farrell to have an amazing year next year based on that info.