Here are some of the stats for the players that are rumoured to be signing with Wigan compared to some of the current Wigan players.

Metres per game / Carries per game / Metres per carry

Gil Dudson - 46 / 6 / 7.4
Hame Lauaki - 69 / 10 / 6.7
Ben Flower - 68 / 9 / 7.2
Andy Coley - 82 / 12 / 7.0
Gareth Hock - 76 / 11 / 7.2
Harrison Hansen - 67 / 11 / 6.1
Liam Farrell - 63 / 10 / 6.4
Chris Tuson - 36 / 6 / 6.2

Gareth Thomas - 81 / 11 / 7.4
Stefan Marsh - 52 / 10 / 5.0
Joel Tomkins - 83 / 13 / 6.4
George Carmont - 96 / 11 / 8.8


Tackles per game / Missed Tackles / Marker Tackles

Gil Dudson - 13 / 1 / 2.2
Ben Flower - 26 / 1.8 / 4.8
Hame Lauaki - 12 / 0.5 / 1.7
Andy Coley - 24 / 1.2 / 4
Gareth Hock - 15 / 0.5 / 0.8
Harrison Hansen - 25 / 1 / 3.8
Liam Farrell - 32 / 1 / 6.3
Chris Tuson - 18 / 0.9 / 3.4

Gareth Thomas - 20 / 1.2 / 3.5
Stefan Marsh - 14 / 1 / 1.6
Joel Tomkins - 18 / 1 / 3.1
George Carmont - 18 / 1 / 3


Tackle Busts / Clean Breaks (per game)

Gil Dudson - 0.2
Ben Flower - 1.3
Hame Lauaki - 1.4
Andy Coley - 0.5
Gareth Hock - 0.5
Harrison Hansen - 0.9
Liam Farrell - 1.5
Chris Tuson - 0.6

Gareth Thomas - 1.5 / 0.2
Stefan Marsh - 1 / 0.1
Joel Tomkins - 1.7 / 0.4
George Carmont - 2 / 0.6


Errors / Penalties (per game)

Gil Dudson - 0.2 / 0.1
Ben Flower - 0.3 / 0.8
Hame Lauaki - 0.4 / 0.5
Andy Coley - 0.4 / 0.6
Gareth Hock - 0.5 / 0.6
Harrison Hansen - 0.5 / 0.3
Liam Farrell - 0.4 / 0.6
Chris Tuson - 0.9 / 0.3

Gareth Thomas - 0.8 / 0.7
Stefan Marsh - 0.6 / 0
Joel Tomkins - 1.2 / 0.6
George Carmont - 1.1 / 0.3

Going off those stats Ben Flower looks a handy player and could improve out of sight at a club like Wigan and Dudson again has materials to work with. His metres per carry is very impressive and if Wigan can get him fitter and stronger he could turn in to a very shrewd signing.

Thomas could have been a cracking League player but he came accross 10 years too late.

So basically your beef seems to be losing O'Carroll a player we have coped without since.......forever! We have Fielden next year regardless, and more squad depth.

I fail to see any problem at all with losing O'Carroll a player who has never had a significant impact for 3 players with potential to actually make an impact next year and beyond.

Recently I have chosen to ignore most of your posts but the outcry against signing 3 players to replace 1 player in the team who realistically has contributed 0, is beyond belief.

I will personally back the club on this one and the Thomas deal for commercial reasons, there is no point debating with you as our views and opinions are poles apart hence my reason for ignoring most of your recent posts that only seem aimed at slating the club without seeing any of the blatant positives from the moves.

Until signings are announced a lot of the posts are speculation and until we see any of the actual signings perform in the Wigan shirt there cannot be constructive criticism.

Expecting major signings each year cannot be balanced by the development and retention of the Wigan academy players. Players will not be short changed just to stay at their home town club. Just as any young player knows that as long as Tomkins x2, Charnley, Farrell, Hansen,Prescott etc are staying then they will have to rely on players getting injured or be an exceptional talent to get in the first team and be a top class to be offered a deal that is better than can be gained elsewhere.

We have Fielden regardless because of his contract. O'Carroll has never played more than a handful of games before getting injured. So I am not sure why you are bleating about his loss.

Not keen on this decision tbh but time will tell.

The club offered him a new contract, but he rejected it. Granted the terms are likely to have been less than brilliant, but given his injury record, it is unfair to have expected Wigan to have offered much more than a year.

It would be a pity if the departure of O'Carroll was allowed to turn into the same type of melodrama that we had following the departure of Shaun Ainscough, a player who has not been missed by any stretch of the imagination.

I honestly don't see why O'Carroll, who - though it's down to injuries, to be fair to him - has barely played for Wigan in the Michael Maguire era, is suddenly such a loss.

Given what Wigan have achieved in the last two years, why is this kind of thing even an issue? With the best will in the world, we can't keep everyone - surely we all realise that? And Eamon O'Carroll's long-term absence up until now has not exactly been a blow to us.

We also have an excellent prospect coming through the ranks Tom Spencer who is much bigger than Eamon and I mean bigger in height not girth. Just ask Rogues.

No, that isn't my beef.



It never ceases to amaze me how people will do down a player to suit their argument. According to Madge, O'Carroll has worked his backside off to get fit and put himself into contention for games and now he is fit he is just as much a member of the squad as any other player. The fact he has been missing for 18 months is no more relevant to his future worth to Wigan than the fact Hock has been missing for two years. Both are in the past.

My beef is that for some unknown reason we have signed (supposedly) four players who if I had come on here three months ago and said lets sign any one of them YOU would have been in the queue dishing up the ridicule. And to sign those players we will have restricted our ability to offer O'Carroll a suitable deal because they won't be playing for free.

Given in my opinion none of them are good enough and O'Carroll is easily good enough for our squad I don't agree with signing that lot if it meant losing O'Carroll. The two events are related in my opinion.



As I said if I had come on here three months ago and said lets sign any one of them YOU would have been in the queue dishing up the ridicule. Especially Thomas.

I think some people would jump in the canal if IL said so!

Dave, the bottom line with O'Carroll is that Wigan would have been silly to offer him anything more than a 1 year deal considering his injury troubles and it would also be crazy to offer him any sort of wage increase.
Hull have taken a chance to gamble on a player with a bad injury history by offering him a 3 year deal and perhaps a bigger wage than at Wigan.

There's also the fact that O'Carroll wants first team rugby. Even if Wigan matched Hull's offer or offered even more, the player doesn't want to remain at Wigan because he wants first team rugby. It was the players decision. The club wanted to keep him but since he has left it makes sense to look for suitable replacements. Given that there are already 4 first choice prop forwards signed for next year it would be hard to make a big name signing so common sense suggests making a shrewd signing. Targeting a player who has the potential to be an very dangerous player is an option, as is signing a young player with plenty of potential. Lauaki and Dudson/Flower would fit the bill if that's what the club are looking for.

And some people spend all their time looking for any perceivable chink in his armour through which they can attack him.

Dave, why don't you wait and see if these signings have actually happened before you publically slit your own throat (again)?

You need to cool it about O'Carroll as well. However you try to spin it, we're hardly going to miss a player who we've barely fielded in two years (and there's no way we can guarantee him the first-team action that he's requested). With all the achievements at Wigan in recent seasons, to make such a fuss over so little is making you look a fool. Remember, you got on a similar hobby-horse over both Higham and Ainsough, and nothing negative came of those departures.

Ohhh err missus !!!!!!!!!!!!

There's always one isn't there

daveO wrote:

Wigan have always had a knack with players who looked good elsewhere of turning them into very good players but there has to be something there in the first place and to expect it to work out with so many average and one totally past it player is worse odds than Euromillions. If we really have signed those four the recruitment is woeful and will do nothing to help season ticket sales maintain their current level never mind increase.'"

That is just your warped response to anything I post that disagrees with something the club does these days. If you bothered to look you will find plenty of positive acknowledgement from me about IL's tenure at the club but you don't want to see it as that doesn't suit your argument.



Given some people are arguing in favour of these so called signings and making a case for them are they slitting their throats as well? We all know they have not signed yet (and may not even do so) but are debating the merits one way or the other if they do. That is blindingly obvious I would have thought.



Give it a rest with the "fool" comments. If you can't construct an argument without resorting to that sort of snide comment you ought not to bother.

That aside, just which players do we guarantee first team football to? I thought it was a meritocracy here and O'Carroll would have as much chance of getting a go as any of the other props.

It happens to be my opinion he is worth a place in our squad more than any of the players rumoured to have been signed. That is not some way out of left field position given the players being mentioned as our new recruits.

So you think if we signed Thomas, Dudson and Flower that will help season ticket sales? Really?

Couldn't resist !!!

i think winning the challenge cup, having a good run in the playoffs and making the grand final(hopefully) will have more of an impact on season ticket sales!

He wanted to leave. It was entirely his choice. Simply by re-signing at Wigan he would have been in contention for a first team place but HE decided he had to move elsewhere.

If we signed any player on the basis of how many season tickets they'll shift, we're signing them for the wrong reasons.

I'm sorry, mate, but you just seem to be cheerleading the anti-IL campaign.

I don't think much of the Hull guy we've been linked with either, but all this - not to mention the Gareth Thomas stuff last week (good grief!) - reminds me vividly of the OTT stuff we got from you when Ainscough was leaving.

Sorry, but I can't help it if I feel IL is doing so many things right that I can overlook the occasional error (Does that really mean I'd jump in the canal if he told me to?) We currently hold three trophies, and still have a chance for two more this season. And yet at one stage last week, you actually compared him unfavourably - with Maurice Lindsay!!!

On the subject of O'Carroll, my understanding is that he WASN'T guaranteed first-team action and that was enough to make him decide to go elsewhere. Now, if that's true you tell me where the club were at fault. I can't see how they were.

Worked wonders for HKR with Mason.

NOT.

Im not surprised in any whatsoever. [in fact its what i would have done in his position
Good luck to him. I am sure that he will flourish, but that we will replace him with equal standard.

Dave what has a 24 year old O'Carroll ever done other than offering a supporting role? He is 24. and other than being a grafter brings very little to the table. We have 2 lads coming through who have real potential and along with these lads could improve our team and will certainly improve our squad depth.

O'Carroll was not guaranteed first team rugby and rightfully so his performances have not warranted it. At 24 are we supposed to guarantee a player who has not deserved it first team rugby at an inflated price to retain a non crucial squad member?

Regards the transfers I am not going over my thoughts on Thomas that has been done. The other 3 guys are clearly as I have stated on another thread signings from a very weak market this year but all offer far more potential than O'Carroll long term and in the case of 2 maybe all of them the short term too.

I will bet you know Lauaki and Flower go on to be regarded as more useful players than O'Carroll within their first year at Wigan, and I also expect O'Carroll will prove to be nothing more than a player fighting for a 4th choice rotation prop at a team fighting it out for the lower spots in the top 8.