Pat Richards is expected to play for the under 20s tomorrow.

Phew..........thought you were going to say Paaaaat was seen in Warrington and was signing for Wire!!

Great news we really have missed him, I hope he comes through the game with a clean bill of health.

Same here. Bloody OP you have to send me a pack of prozack and a 12 pack of Krispy Kreme Donuts for the 10 second stress you have just caused. Great news though.

Great news, give him 2 or 3 weeks in the 20s, no good rushing him back. Hopefully he'll come back fit enough for goalkicking duties.

Welcome back Pat, take it easy, get ready for the play offs, seems a long time since that rainy night at Hull.

Great news.

Give him this week and next in the U20's then a week off to rest up before his first team return at HKR.

He's not old enough!

Just wait for the [iTomkins at Warrington[/i thread

Carmont 34
Richards 30
Finch 31
O'Loughlin 30
Lima 30
Fielden 33
Yeah really young and some Wigan fan said he wouldnt change any of your players for any of ours......

Lockers is 29

Funncy how 3 maybe 4 of them are leaving, wigan don't have a habit of signing 30 odd year olds up to 2 year contracts. Out of interest how old will morley,briers,higham and hodgson be when their contracts are up? They can't go on for ever.

On another note, how far is tommy away now? I'm sure he should be knocking on the door of the 20's either this week or next week.

4 of them going end of this year and not giving them 2 year contracts suggests a point very badly made!

Ps

show me the quote where a wigan fan said he wouldnt swap "any" wigan player?

By the end of this season we will have 2 30yr olds in our squad, wow we are in trouble, give me a break!

Correct me if i am wrong but Carmont is leaving at the end of this year(at 34)why did you keep him at his age because he is quality,probably one of your stand out performers week in week out.True about Hodgson? 1 more year i thought Why dont you think Saints are a threat to you these days,because of their young players aren't good enough.Lets just hope yours are because i thought Gaskell and Lomax were going to be Quality but might still be. There old guard of Cunningham,Long and Sculthorpe were the back bone and Now they have gone we have beat them 3 out of the last 4 games. As for the Quote of wigan wouldnt swap any of our players for yours,i cant find it but was in a post regarding player for player with wigan and warrington about 2 weeks ago roughly

Rumour is, your signing Sam's dad !!!

I was playing on the Rugby League Manager game and Richards signed for Warrington a couple of seasons in so I had a hissy fit and then started again.

More like his Grandma to replace tears, sorry Briers!

To be fair there has been plenty of support on here wanting Carmont to do "one more year" and for Finch to be given a new contract (and nobody would have quibbled with two years) whilst Lima was already contracted for next year.

Fielden is a different case due to his injuries (see Solomona at Warringtron who hasn't got a new deal).

Are you suggesting that given the opportunity Wigan wouldn't have given new contracts to Finch and Carmont whilst having Lima see out his contract and extending O'Loughlin's?

Every Wigan fan would want Finch for another 2, Lima for another 2/3, O'Loughlin for as long as he wants and Richards and Carmont fitness permitting for as long as they can play at this level for. Teams need quality, experienced players in their early 30s. There is a difference between having 4 or 5 quality 30 year olds and the majority of your squad being over 30, with some key players now 34/35.

You are talking about one player (Carmont).
We're talking about five

Lee Briers
Micky Higham
Brett Hodgson
Adrian Morley
Ben Westwood

All extensions to players over the age of thirty.

Then add to those Monaghan (x2), Wood, Carvell and Waterhouse. That's a lot of replacing to do in the next couple of years.

Of course teams need experience, but that is a dangerous game Wire are playing, I've seen it happen in the great Boston, Ashtom McTigue era at Wigan and look what happened at Saints when they hung onto the likes of Cunningham and Long etc.

we don't live in the dark ages, players play for longer now

Again to be fair to Warrington there is clear succession in place for the majority of those players:

Hodgson - Ratchford
Briers - O'Brien
Higham - Dwyer
Morley - Hill
Westwood - Currie

Listen to Tony Smith's interview and its very clear what his plan is for the Warrington squad going forward for the next three or four seasons. He certainly wouldn't allow the club to lose its two half-backs and strike centre all at the same time with-out having ready-made replacements embedded at the club.

You will have harped-on for three seasons, come the start of next year's season with your doomsaying about Warrington's aging squad (same as how the tax liability was to bring the club to its knees - I notice your quiet on that front now!) yet that period will havbe coincided with Warrington's most successful period for over half a century. Don't be suprised when Warrington's fans don't share your concern.

I'm sure Neil Fox played until he was 40.