I honestly would make a move for him as a fifth choice prop to Fielden, Lima, Prescott and Mossop.

Props win you pots.

Not really. Good props win you pots. What's our quota situation for next season? Will it be just be Finch, Lima and Roberts, assuming Amos Roberts stays of course?

Jason king is a very good prop but I'd be shocked if Manley let there captain go. Kite is also a pretty good prop that wound go well in super league.

I can't see bird coming back, even if he could get a visa.

with Harris as his assistant

Johnny Lomax, ripped us bits and future GB 7

What about him? He's not going to leave Saints for us is he.

Plus we have Joe Mellor.

I would really like to sign him and Ben Jones Bishop

Mellor's play seems to have plateaud out a bit from the bits I've seen of him playing at Widnes. Not sure if he's good enough to be Deacon's long-term successor. Hope I'm wrong of course

We need a prop, half and centre.

I don't think we do need a prop.

Next season Fielden should be back, that leaves Fielden, Lima, Mossop + Prescott as the first choice props. Happy with all 4 of them.

O'Carroll is back playing again, and Dom Crosby is a year older. That's enough depth imo.

I think a centre is also dependant on where they see Joels long term future. I think he's doing a decent job there at the moment, he seems to be improving every game and if he had an entire off season learning the positional requirements of that role I can't see any problems.

As for a HB, I'd like to see a british player coming in, whether that will be Mellor, I don't know, but with Finch OOC next season, and Tommy looking like he will end up in the NRL sooner of later, I think we should be looking at a young british HB. The problem there though, is that there doesn't seem to be many coming through!

I don't think we urgently need to strengthen, but those are the three areas Wigan will be looking to strengthen if the right players become available.

Centre I think we have covered for a year. Joel Tomkins is doing an admirable job, Carmont is here for another year, Charnley, Goulding and Marsh can all cover. Amos Roberts could hit form and take a wing spot with Charnley moving to centre and Joel back to the pack. That's an ideal scenario.

Halfback is a tricky one. Joe Mellor can't be thrown straight into first team action - not in an ideal scenario either. Too much pressure and exposure to last the course of a season. Gaskell has done well for Saints at first, but his performances have dropped as the season has worn on. Mellor is getting rave reviews at Widnes, so ideally I'd like to see Deacon stay another season to alternate with Joe Mellor. Mellor can work one on one with Deacon in training and learn off him, Finch, Tomkins and Leuluai in training and can have some of the pressure taken off him with the experienced players around him. This should hopefully prepare him to takeover the following season.

Prop forward is the area we should always look to strengthen. Lima, Prescott and Mossop are fine. Fielden is a top player, but has been out for an entire season with injury. If our only depth is O'carroll and Crosby I think we're pretty short and much weaker than now. We've gone with five senior props this season and we've needed them. I think modern RL with the number of injuries/suspensions bound to occur in a season you need five senior props. Ideally six. Leave yourself with just four senior props and you're asking for trouble IMO. Plenty of prop forwards available - I'd make it a priority area to recruit for next year.

I think that a possible solution with regards to Mellor would be to use Roberts as his alternative. Roberts to FB and Sam to 6 when Mellor needs a break from the first team?

If Deacon doesn't sign on for another year you could well be right.

Absolutely.

On the bright side, we are arguing where we need to strengthen, but there's only 1 urgent position (HB) and we should have 2(?) quota spaces available, as well as Coleys/Deacons/Hoffmans salary. I think thats enough for Benji Marshall don't you?

I think we desperately need to recruit more players next year.

The reason for our success this year is our strength in depth, and if we lose Hoffman, Coley, Deacon and Davies and replace them with no-one then that just eliminates our depth.

With Roberts, we either need to release him. Or get him playing some games and back to some form because we cant afford to go into a full season with an overseas player whos never going to get a game and is taking up a chunk of the salary cap.

I think it's just Lima, Finch and Roberts on the quota. With Hoffman and Cross leaving that does leave us with two spots to play around with. Plenty of prop forwards available from the NRL. Not sure on halfbacks and centres.

Wouldn't it be nice to be in a position where Benji Marshall could be a realistic signing? Imagine a team that contains the footwork of Sam Tomkins and Benji Marshall.

SYOOPER stuff.

I forgot about Cross as well. And to be perfectly honest i'd be actively trying to shift Roberts out, just think that we could be rid of Roberts, Cross, Coley and not be any weaker. Hoffman + Deacon will both be losses, but Hoffman will be easily replaced. That's a lot of salary cap space there.

Why would Mellor need a break from the 1st team, dont understand that all. The issue is if he's good enough to be our starting 6. As this year has shown, a settled half back partnership is a must, moving players in and out of positions is too disruptive.

Either Mellors good enough to be a stand off in a team that wants to challenge for trophies, or he isnt, in which case we either offer Deacon another year (has he got another year at the top in him? been excellent again this season but maybe 2012 would be a season too far?) or we look to recruit someone in (who though?)

You dont think we'd be any weaker without Coley? He is a massively under-rated player in this team IMO.

Im not underrating him at all. We've just got Fielden to come back in. And to be perfectly honest, with the way all our props have performed this year, I'd probably drop him ahead of Prescott/Mossop + Lima.




Purely because he can't be expected to be the starting HB when he has barely played for the first team so far. If he makes the position his own, great.

I'm in the camp of not giving up on Amos Roberts. He's played the last few months carrying an injury in the U20's. That has to be utterly demoralising. However he has been given the all clear now and scored a hat-trick in his last outing I believe. Amos Roberts is an outstanding RL player. One of the most naturally talented players we have at the club. He was devastating in 2010 and was smashing the try scoring charts, clean break charts, tackle busts etc etc shoe-in for MOS and all the other accolades you can think of. Now he's fit again I'm willing to give him time. He still has a year of his contract left. A few games in the first team to rotate the squad (rest Sam?) and let's see how he does.

With regards to Joe Mellor - you can't expect a 20 year old lad with barely any Super League experience to play stand off for an entire season, week in week out for the current Super League champions. That's too much pressure - I don't care how talented or how much potential you might have. All the best halfbacks have been spelled. Having him go on duel registration for a year helps. Rotate him with Paul Deacon. Give him the stand off role and see how he does. If he struggles Paul Deacon can fill in. Mike Gregory didn't want to give Luke Robinson the 7 shirt for the entire season because he thought it would be too much pressure on the lad - despite how highly he rated him. I don't think it would disrupt the side. We stick to our structures and they work. Anyone can come in and not look out of place. It's the best way of introducing Joe Mellor to SL rugby as a first team player IMO.

It goes without saying for me that prop is the priority. Andy Coley needs replacing. Five senior props is a must. Six is ideal, but five senior props with O'carroll and Crosby will do.

Would you not class O'Carroll as a senior prop now? Fair enough he hasn't had THAT many games, but he's not exactly a youngster anymore.

If we signed Benji Marshall, the rest of the league would be outraged that we'd bought "Another bloody foreigner"



It'd be brilliant though.

No. I wouldn't put him alongside Stuart Fielden, Jeff Lima, Lee Mossop, Paul Prescott, Andy Coley, Ben Cross etc - all I'd class as senior props. I accept Mossop is younger, but his performances are so good he falls into that category.

I rate O'carroll. Works hard, tough lad and gives 100%. However he's had a torrid time with injuries and has barely played. He's an unknown quality as to how he will comeback. A lot has changed at Wigan since he last played.

For me props win you pots. They're crucial to any side with title aspirations. Having sufficient depth is paramount. Just going with four senior forwards is asking for trouble. Losing Coley, Cross and Davies and just going with O'carroll and Crosby is asking for trouble. That's too much of a loss for me. O'carroll is not even close to Coley or Cross and Crosby hasn't played a game of Super League yet. I doubt we'll see Fielden or O'carroll play Super League this year and to have two of your "senior props" going into the following season with that track record is risky.

Prop is the area I'd look to strengthen. We have quota spots and just a few pages beforehand I listed many props that were available. Time for a trip to AUS Ian!

I've said on other threads, Coley has been very good for us overall but I think he's been less effective this year and if he did another year I think he'd be even less effective again. I personally think he should retire and with the progress that Mossop and Prescott have made I really don't think he'd be missed. That's assuming Fielden gets fully fit again.