For me Hoffman is a cross between Dennis Betts and David Furner - which equates to one very effective forward!

Apart from Hoffman, the quality of this years imports across the SL competition is way down and will continue to drop. Guys like Jamie Simpson and Willie Isa are second rate and offer nothing to their teams or the competition itself.

As soon as the new TV deal gets signed, it will only get worse (add in the rumoured additional team(s)). I can see the majority of imports coming from the Toyota Cup.

Does this include Aussie international such as Josh Perry, Joel Monaghan and Willie Mason (although admittedly Mason has come off a couple of poor seasons)?

Not to forget, Finch, Lima, luke o donnell and luke pattern

I think that could improve the quality of some of the imports. We have to get used to the fact that we will not see world class overseas players over here for a very long time, maybe not in our lifetime if RL un Aus continues to grow and their tv deal is as big as it should be. There are a lot of future world class players in the Toyota cup and they would all want to play well in super league for two years so they could earn a big contract back in Aus. It would be better than seeing average players (no better than our own) just coming over for a bit of money.

Correct but there are plenty of examples of good try scoring records (Ainscough, Pryce, Gardner, Calderwood). I'm happy to have him in he squad but IMO we should in the future be of a standard where he doesn't get into a fully fit squad. When Pat gets back he's probably out anyway.

just seen a piece on Channel 9 news.

The Rabbitohs have officially given up on tempting Wayne Bennet away from St George. and top of their list is Michael Mcguire apparantly.

however it was bit of a non story with nothing official from any party.

but no smoke without fire...

I some ways it's nice to have personnel who are at the top of people's lists again.

Crowe certainly has the money to spend, but I suspect that Madge is enticed by far more than the dollar and his principles alone will keep him at the club until 2012 at the earliest.

Selfishly, I hope his wife loves is over here and with their child being a little pom, makes him stay for years to come!

Or, failing that, we should hide his passport.

Best idea yet.

Need any help with that?

I hope we do all we can to make him stay over here! If not then I hope he returns in 20-30 years time when he has built up a CV which puts even Bennets in the shadow!

I'm pretty sure McGuire will leave at the end of this season

He is in demand from the NRL and I think there will be offers that are too good to turn down - especially if he feels he has done all there is to do with Wigan (a league and cup double, perhaps

)

He has signed a 3 year deal and I think he will stick to it.

TBF we all love Madge as a coach and in a perfect world we’d all love to see him at Wigan for the next decade but if I was IL and the Rabbitohs came in with a serious offer I’d seriously think about letting him go.

Quite simply we all know Madge wants to go to the NRL and I’d hate to see him miss an opportunity like this one. Lets face it if he goes to the South Sydney Rabbitohs they’ve got some simply world class players like Isaac Luke, Burgess, Inglis, Asotasi, Crocker, Taylor etc and all it’s not unfeasible for a excellent young coach like Madge to guide them to a title in the next few years.

Madge deserves a big NRL team like that and I’d hate to see him miss out on it.

I'd want him to honour his contract.

Even if it means he leaves Wigan without a job or gets a basement side in the NRL and his career stalls?

Let the guy leave as it's an opportunity of a life time.

Coaching Wigan isn't a bad old job to be fair and he's following in the footsteps if some former greats. If he's as good a coach as we know he is then honouring his deal with us won't hold back his chances of getting an NRL job down the line infact it should strengthen his claims as i'd back him to claim more trophies in his time with us.

If Maguire leaves after his 3 year contract for an NRL job then fair enough and he'll go with everyones blessing but if he left at this end of this season i'd be a little dissapointed. He seems the sort of guy that would sign a 3 year contract with a club with the full intention of honouring it.

Madge will end up in a big job in the NRL whether he stays after this year or not!

I think much of his decision will be based on his kids in school and what his family want, as fans we often forget these things.

He will stay in my opinion.

He seems to take his own personal development very seriously, judging by his long tenure as understudy at the Storm.

I think he has taken 3 years in order to gain as much experience as possible before returning to the bright lights of Aus.

It will be a sad day when he does go, butI will add though that i am relishing Waney taking over.

The appeal of Souths is evident, glamour club and to finally lead them to a premiership, would make him a legend, but I dont think he will leave Wigan in a hurry, he is well aware of how special the next few years might be.

I agree. I think Maguire will have his pick of jobs when his Wigan contract finishes. I also have every faith that he will honour his contract as he strikes me as that sort of person.

Had we have not won the GF last year I'd say he'd stay as he strikes as the sort of guy who sets a goal and has to achieve it.

However, the cynical, mard-ar5e side of me thinks that Crowe's cheque-book plus a return to sunnier climes might be sufficient a head-turner. I hope I'm wrong.