looking at our team there seems to be in my opinion only 4 good/great players...manu,westerman,o'meley and briscoe..
from a squad of 20+ players that is embarrasing for a club of our size..
these four are the only ones who i could see making it in the nrl..and thats the benchmark we have to look at seeing as its the premier comp in the world...
thoughts??

Not the form Ogre is in

granted, but the guy is class, and has played and domiated i the nrl, and i recon still could

Yeah we all know how good he is just needs to be fully fit and get bit of confidence back . The other three you chose I'd go with aswell . Maybe moa aswell seen as he be trying himself there most probably year after next

So roughly how many NRL quality players should we have?

20. Always best to keep spares.

well, take last nite for example....id go for, s.tomknins,richards,carmont,leului,lima,j.tomkins,o'loughlin,finch,hoffman,hock would all be able to play down under...even charnley and cross would stand a chance.....

Good one.

you tell me who wouldnt from wigans team last nite then?

When you compare the current side to our 2005 CC winners or 2006 GF runners up its a depressing read.

[u2005:[/u

Motu Tony
2. Nathan Blacklock
3. Kirk Yeaman
4. Richard Whiting
5. Gareth Raynor
6. Richard Horne
7. Danny Brough
8. Ewan Dowes
9. Richard Swain
10. Garreth Carvell
11. Shayne McMenemy
12. Stephen Kearney
13. Paul Cooke

Subs

14. Paul King
15. Jamie Thackray
16. Tommy Saxton
17. Chris Chester


[u2006:[/u

Shaun Briscoe
Motu Tony
Sid Domic
Kirk Yeaman
Gareth Raynor
Paul Cooke
Richard Horne
Ewan Dowes
Richard Swain
Garreth Carvell
Shayne McMenemy
Lee Radford
Danny Washbrook

Richard Whiting
Graeme Horne
Scott Wheeldon
Paul King

The only players in the current line-up who'd I'd put into either team are Briscoe and Manu. Houghton would be worthy of a place on the bench. The rest of the current line-up are a shocking decrease in standards on what we had just a few years ago.

also interesting that of the players that we've kept only Yeaman and Whiting are performing to the same standard they were back then. Horne, Radford and Dowes are knackered, while Washbrook has had his potential wasted.

I think Washy has been shafted personally. loads on here touting him as a future FC captain and 13 for years to come and he has been screwed over. Feel sorry for him.

agree with most of that...another sickener is the fact that carvell looks an absolute worldbeater now he's lost 2 stone......

hock was crap last night. j. tomkins wouldnt stand a chance in the NRL. oloughlin neither. carmonts too old and slow to play in the NRL now and he's class over here.. which shows the difference in standards between the comps. From what i've seen of Finch aswell, let's just say i'd be disappointed if i was a Wigan fan. I'm not confident Richards could play over there either. So there's my views

Mainly due to our comical attempts at replacing Cooke. Both Washbrook and Lee were bulked up to play in the forwards, then week after week we'd put them back in the halves and expect them to be quick running halves



Hopefully Seymour will finally be Paul Cooke's replacement after all these years.

+ 1

Tend to agree on Tomkins probably not being good enough yet, certainly not at centre, but to say O'Loughlin wouldn't stand a chance in the NRL is madness.

I don't get the hype about O'Loughlin. He's a decent player, but massively overrated.

So you wouldn't have O'Meley over Wheeldon? Fitz over Washy? Moa over King? Tickle over Horne? I'd even have Westerman over McMenemy.

Westerman and Manu have been our best two players this season by far. Then probably Obst in 3rd place.

I would have tickle in before Westerman and Obst

McMenemy was an absolute class act who we also never replaced.

Tickle would be class if he could cut out the stupid penalties he gives away and stops missing crucial tackles.

Horne would be class if he could pass, kick 40/20's and didn't rely on the drop off pass inside.

Joel is playing out of position since gleeson left, hence the relatively poor season
Carmont slow?

Who is significantly faster at centre?
Finch was some people's MOM on friday, has two NRL winners rings and played SOO until 2 years ago
Richards has a 2005 NRL winners ring with wests, current MOS

Not sure where your coming from

As for your team id have manu, briscoe, Yeaman and O'Meley in the Wigan side, Houghton possibly on the bench, because i think he has lots of potential and would excel under a better coach

I'd actually say he's the opposite, as in massively underrated by opposition fans. He puts more than his share of work in, tackles well, runs hard and can throw a decent pass when needed. Look at how Gareth Ellis is ripping it up in the NRL, I wouldn't say Ellis was a stand out player and miles better than O'Loughlin, so if he can do it, I'm sure O'Loughlin would make it.

And being fair to your players, the team you had out against us is strong on paper. I wouldn't really say its a poor squad, just poorly coached. But that's just an outsider looking in. For me on paper your players are good enough. Over the season it's just about consistency and coaching them to reach form at the right times. 3 years ago Wigan fans were saying the same thing, we haven't changed the players much but the coaching has been improved vastly.