Fielden
McIlorum
Coley
Mossop
Hoffman
O'Loughlin

Lima
Prescott
Hock
Hansen

backed up by
Tomkins
Farrell
O'Carroll
Tuson
Hughes

You only have to look at the first choice forward packs of the current top 4 to see why they are where they are. All 4 of Wigan, Wire, Saints and Huddersfield have monster packs and plenty in reserve and alot of other teams packs just don't match up.

Looking at our pack when everyone is fit there are going to be a couple of very good players missing out on a weekly basis and that sort of competition can only be good for us. I'm sure Maguire will rotate players can give them the odd week off, infact that already seems to have started with Mossop having a rest against Barrow and Prescott against Quins.

There's a very good prop coming through the U20's at the moment named Tom Spencer. Big, fast and aggressive, certainly one to keep a look out for.

that is one hell of a pack i must say!

I've seen the name mentioned and he looks to be doing well. I always like to hear a young forward described as 'aggressive' because I think that very important if you want to reach the top. It has to be controlled aggression of course but i've always thought some of the forwards we've brought through over the years have just been abit nice.

I'm looking forward to Hock being back and bringing an aggressive edge with him.

He wear number 8 against Quins? If so I'm equally impressed.

Yes, that was him.

i agree with the previous comments re aggression.
this pack may be big, but it certainly isnt aggressive
hence the reason weve been owned by wire a couple of times in the last 18 months
we still havent replaced faz as a pack leader that inspires utter respect in the opposition (the same job moz does for wire)
with the addition of someone like that, our pack would be more consistently good

We could do with someone to add extra aggression for sure. If only there was someone coming back into the squad in the near future who could add that aggression in attack...

I've been impressed the few times I have seen him play.

Dom Crosby seems to be finding his feet at Widnes. Ben Davies has gone off the radar a little bit. Young props are always worth persisting with. We're reaping the rewards of persisting with Paul Prescott. Lee Mossop too.

I was in Tom Spencer's school year and he's always been aggressive with his Rugby. The funny thing is off the pitch he's quite quiet and unassuming and you would never think that at that age that he was such a talented player. I remember him getting his entire front row of teeth knocked out during a game when we were about 14 and he just got on with it despite having only pointy nubs for teeth. A good prospect for Wigan all round.

not a chance hansen is above farrell in the team selection anymore!!

I think Rogues was just picking the biggest pack ?

Because Mossop is never a second rower again in my eyes he doesnt have the mobility outwide imo. I'd rank our second rowers ...

Hoffman
Tomkins
Farrell
Hansen
Tuson

Cant really judge Hock but if he gets upto speed quickly he could go straight to the top of the tree or behind Hoff but that depends on how he returns.

Why pick Fielden then because Lima is bigger?

Oh wait..

I picked the biggest ten players first in some sort of team, not necessarily the biggest six. It would have included Joel but he has been playing more at centre.

Who's selection though?


I bet he is in Maguires and thats the one that counts. It'll be interesting to see what everyones starting pack and bench would be when everyone is available. Mine would be-

Fielden
McIlorum
Coley
Hansen
Hoffman
O'Loughlin

subs
Lima
Mossop
Hock
Farrell

Paul Prescott the unlucky man for me at the moment and thats with us playing four forwards on the bench(which may not happen). In that side we'd have to shift Lockers to 6 and Faz to 13 when Leuluai goes into hooker but that worked well last season and that pack of forwards would be relentless going at the opposition.

I'm a huge Farrel fan as are most Wigan fans. But I'd love to see him develop a passing game. It's a big thing missing from his game IMO. If he's to be the player that replaces Lockers at 13 it's something he's going to have work on.

I'd pick the same pack as NickyKiss including the bench. Although Prescott is unlucky to miss out, I'd be surprised whether we ever manage to field that side often. I think as with most sides in SL we'd always have at least one forward out injured.

What would be nice would be to have the ability to rotate and rest players a little as the season progresses. That little bit of a rest and reinvigoration would do wonders for the players IMO. Keeping them fresh for the business end of the season.

Massive strength in depth within our pack. They will be fighting for places when Fielden, Hansen and Hock are back and we should be an even better team!

The players we have in reserve would get into most super league teams which shows how good our strength in depth is.

Scary that we have more coming through as well. Give it another year or two and some of these lads will have to move on, we don't have enough room. We will then get slated for letting them go!

When I read this Brian, I thought you'd started a thread about our Maud!!

when it goes to starting then probably hansen will be in the 2nd row and faz on the bench but i think if it came down to 1 being in the 17 and the other not then i think faz would get the nod over hansen as he offers alot more to the team than hansen!

I'm a huge fan of Farrell and if I had to bite the bullet and leave him or Hansen out I agree it would be Hansen but we probably can fit both in and I think Hansen suits starting games a little more at the moment with Faz bringing his footwork off the bench running at tiring defences.

Either way and whatever pack we put out it's going to be a very strong one.

I disagree. I think that Farrell is more effective from the bench at the moment and a back 3 of Hansen, Hoffman and O'Loughlin is much better. Farrell is a great prospect but has had dips this year and was dropped after the Huddersfield game due to his missed tackles. In contrast I think Hansen is a lot more consistent. Farrell also needs to improve his passing game for him to ever be an effective Loose Forward.

Farrell wasn't dropped after the Huddersfield game he was out with a thigh injury. Both Farrell and Hansen have similar work rates in defence, the biggest difference is that Farrell tends to be much better in attack, especially when on form. Hansen offers solid defence but his work rate in attack tends to be pretty poor.

Whenever people don't notice Hansen during a game they say it's because he does the hard work that goes unnoticed. When Farrell doesn't stand out in attack it becomes a dip in form even though he does the same work as Hansen in defence.

Not necessarily. It all depends on how you want you're 13 to play. At Wigan we've been spoiled with creative loose forwards with O' Loughlin, Andy Farrell, Phil Clarke and Hanley who all play as an extra pivot but these days a creative loose forward is a bonus more than a necessity, especially if Sam Tomkins is at fullback. In the NRL the loose forward is usually little more than a 3rd 2nd rower operating in the middle channel. Liam Farrell is more than capable of fulfilling that role very capably. It's up to the next coach I guess

Thats not what I was told.