Appreciate it was only 1 game but thought he looked something special in the defeat to Saints last season, looked extremely confident and comfortable in the first team.

Puts a nice pressure on the more senior players but suspect he could surprise a few people in 2021 if given enough game time.

Thoughts?

I agree, looking forward to seeing more of him. Think he just needs to bulk up abit (although I said the same about Bateman!)

Of the younger players working through the system at the moment he is the one who looks to have something different about him (we seem to produce a lot of players of a very similar type at present) - I hope he can go on because he could be a really exciting player in the future. My worry is the expectation on him and the fact that players of that type often stand out at lower levels but never seem to fully make the step up in favour of the steady eddy types.

He looked OK on debut. I wouldn't go further than that, we have a habit of anointing youngsters as the second coming before they do anything to justify it. I wonder if Hankinson going out on loan and Bibby covering on the wing might see KPP come in to cover any injuries in the centres if they occur. Am I right in thinking he isn't academy-eligible next season? He is 20.in Feb. May need to look at loan options in League 1.

Needs to go out on loan for a season or two, will come back a stronger player.

He looked alright. That’s literally about it. I don’t want to sound like I’m doing him a dis service here, by all accounts he has the potential to be a star player for us but let’s just rein it in a little. As others have said he could do with a season on loan in addition to the occasional first team run out. We have an abundance of talent in the back row which gives us the luxury of taking our time in letting KPP develop.

It’s been a tough year for all the young lads with no rugby to play. It’s tough to pass judgment on many of them and Pearce-Paul is no different. He looked a good prospect against Saints and it would’ve been great to see more of lads like him and Kilner in reserve fixtures. I agree with Grimmy that using him as a back centre option may be a useful way of bedding him in and getting him some minutes. He’s certainly got the athletic capabilities for the position.

Agree! He really stood out in that match for me and I hope he can get some opportunities this coming season. He was up against very strong opposition in that Saints game but looked physically up to it.

He certainly has some quality around him to learn from in the back row.

From what limited clips I’ve seen of him I think he looks like an exciting player because he is a bit different to what we currently have, or have had for a while.

He has natural size, hopefully filling out in the gym during the current climate, and is a natural strike runner with an offload.

What I like about him to compliment this is he seems to have a bit of a “bad man attitude”. He had that bit of aggression and nasty attitude which is often needed in the pack if you are going to make it.

I look forward to him picking up a few games next year and I think if he gets an opportunity (probably through injury to others) and can string a run of games together, he may be really pushing for a place in the 17.

We do tend to hope that the young lads will go on to be the next big thing but are frequently disappointed. Several of the youngsters did stand up particularly well against Saints and we should not worry about their ability to step up but they really need a bit of time out on loan to toughen them up. I would have Smith out on loan asap followed by all of the youngsters on six months and six months covering the first team.

Have to agree, he looks ok nothing more to me he will need game time somewhere but where im not sure hes a way off, for me at present a squad spot at wigan.

Send him out on loan to a coach who knows how to get the best out of him,maybe send him back to London or send him to Bradford under John Kear he is the sort of coach that would get the best out of him,he reminds me of a young Joel Tomkins lets just hope he doesn't end up in a pub like Joel

Actually reminds me more of Hock, looks very aggressive and can off load in impossible situations, very exciting to watch and as somebody else has said, he offers something different to what we already have.

How many times have you seen him play?

That will come naturally with age.

I doubt anyone has seen that much of him unless they follow London academy. He signed in a year when the academy season was cancelled, and did one stint off the bench in the first team where he racked up 10 tackles (2 missed), 8 carries and an offload. On the basis of this and a London academy highlights reel we have deemed him a Joel Tomkins/Gareth Hock hybrid who can offload in impossible situations. We did similar with Samy Kibula, Kyle Shelford and Rhodri Lloyd before him.

Update - world class!

I’ve only seen the extensive highlights video on YouTube (check it out if you haven’t already) and obviously his game against Saints.

Can’t wait to see how he develops.

Was looking forward to watching him down in London in the capital Challenge. It was the first one I attended and due to a supposed heavy pitch (which was a joke) it ending up being ten a side and a bit of a waste of time. It seems like it was a sign of things to come looking back regards the youngsters getting a chance to kick on.

I don’t think any of us know enough about him to form a solid judgment. His highlight reel looked good when he signed but so do any players. The most promising performances I recall seeing from him where in a Lancashire vs Yorkshire academy series I saw a bit of online. I started watching the review of the season earlier on Wigan TV and it showed some clips from training part way through the season and he looked like he’d bulked up from when he played in that capital Challenge. To look at him physically he could develop in to a big, athletic thing and cause some problems. Here’s hoping he does as he could potentially offer a bit of a different style than some of our other back rows. The great thing from our perspective is that there’s no rush or desperation to push him as we’re extremely strong in that position.

Pretty sure he absolutely smashed somebody in that Saints game although can’t recall who it was.

Not sure if there will be any warm up games given current circumstances but it would be good to see him feature if that’s the case.

Barring injuries I think we have something potentially world class on our hands. He can offload, he can run, he is big and athletic and all the club needs to do is hone those talents and nurture him until he is ready for the first team. Very exciting prospect. I agree he is on the same mould as Hock but taller and quicker.

If he’s got all the attributes and the size.

Groom him as a centre. I love watching huge fast centres boss the smaller super league sized ones we get these days.

2nd row is already full of these types of players and they all play very similar games these days.

Can we induct him into the hall of fame yet or do we need to wait until the end of lockdown? We should keep the 34 jersey retired. It wouldn't be fair for another player to have to deal with the weight of expectation taking over from Pearce - Paul following that first team bench stint.

There's players like Lockers, Sam Powell, George Williams, Sarg who were slated every week and yet KPP already has a statue.

There’s some weird extremes on this thread.

The kid has obviously got talent but he is largely an untested kid. Along with a lot of other players his development will be hampered by not being able to get any game time as the reserves have been scrapped and all RL stopped except SL due to COVID.

I personally propose renaming the Billy Boston stand the KPP Stand. I don’t know how Lam hasn’t named him captain yet. Disgrace if you ask me.