Is Sam leaves this year who would you like to replace him? As far as my opinion goes we dont have anyone half as good coming through to fill a void like the one he will leave should he depart so im in no doubt we will have to look elswhere to remain competiitve next season here are 5 Full backs i would like to see us going for:

1: Ben Barber - Top of my wishlist, cant see it but stranger things have happened.

2: Karmichael Hunt - Awesome Asutralian test international only to lose his place to the great Billy Slater.

3: Matty Russell - Talent in abundance, one we could be saying in a couple of years as "the one that got away" would love to see him back after a years experiance in OZ and once again pull on a Wigan shirt.

4: Kevin Locke - Very fast individual could be a possibility as there has been some speculation of a swap deal plus cash with Sam.

5: Jarryd Hayne - Class act not sure if we could bring him in as the EEL's seem to be building a winning team for next year at present.

1, 2, 4 and 5 are massively unlikely if only due to the salary cap.

Isn't Hunt playing ARL?

Matty Russell is the only realistic option, it's not even worth discussing the possibility of the others, and as stated Karmichael Hunt hasn't played rugby league for 4 years and is earning a lot of money in AFL. If your looking for potential fullbacks from the NRL out of contract players who are 30+ such as Matt Bowen and Anthony Minichiello would be more feasible options if they were given big contracts, but we have gone down the road of over the hill Aussies in the past and I hope lessons were learnt.

Or we could try to get Billie Whizz out of retirement!

Or Billie Whizz's son!
He seems the most likely.
The other depends on the rumour Sarginson is signing for us.
Maybe he's been signed for the fb slot.

Escare is very close to how sam was when he first became a fullback, i would love for us to sign him or hardaker.

if not and we look for some experience client greenshields isn't up to much after this season i don't think.

They'll have to be top class whoever they may be and even then its impossible they'll be as good. We certainly can't afford any sort of 'project' signing like Sarginson to be expected to take the shirt.

I really do worry though. Ian Lenagan isn't in the business of throwing silly wages about and that's what it may take to lure a suitable replacement.

Escare has just signed a new 2 year deal with Cats I think, unfortunately.

billy slater

Still not sure what all the fuss is about with Hardakre. Solid player but no creativity. Centre all day for me. Never a 3rd half.

we need an old fashioned out and out goal kicking full back....a Brett Hodgson type, but not BH , hes too old

What about Murphy?

Are you a Latics Fan or summit?

Greg Eden ( our very own Billy Slater according to Clarkey)

The fact he's not getting a crack this Friday tells you all you need to know about Murphy. Shame as he's a great attacker but he seems a real liability in defence on 5th tackle

far from it against Bradford last year I thought he was my MoM and against Leeds bar from the knock on didn't do much wrong.

In the pre season friendlies this year he was very poor, and at fault for loads of things that went wrong when we played Salford in game 1 of the season, not sure how long it was after that before they dropped him.

Josh Charnley.

With some game time at 1 he could be amazing. Speed to round any player when linking in the line, has the X factor in attack and can catch and tackle better than Sam.
Yes it'll take him time to learn the position, but he'd be a Roberts type FB.

Other than that, Lomax

No great enthusiasm for any of the other suggestions, the Josh option may have some mileage.

Hanbury at Widnes looks useful but with Salford sniffing he has signed a contract till 2016.

Greg Eden. A year or two in our coaching systems would develop him into a top class full back which we'd enjoy for a season or two before selling him to an Aussie club.

I think Josh has genuine strike, would like to see him on the ball more in different positions on the field, linking in the line would really show off his abilities. He's already proven his defensive capabilities.

That just leaves us with a replacement for the wing, we already have that in our current set up.

The attack seemed to stop dead when he played FB against Huddersfield, before he was moved partway through the game. Leave Josh on the wing where he's doing well. If Sam goes at the end of this year sign a good full back, if he goes at the end of next year, who knows? Maybe Tierney will prove himself

Charnley is similar to Richards although Josh has a bit more 'strike'. A modern fullback is more of a traditional stand off in the mold of Tomkins, Slater, Hayne.... Phelps to some degree. neither Richards or Josh are capable of filling that role effectively enough for me.

I agree, perhaps we should be looking more toward our up and coming young Halves...

The problem with Richards at Fb is that he had no cutting edge or that extra yard of pace. I think Charnely could provide this and would personally give him a shot at FB.