Jordan Rankin is playing second grade at Paramatta, isn't there anyway we could bring him in until the end of the season?

He knows the club and the competition, he'd have no problem settling in.

I doubt he'd want the hassle of trying to get back into Australia for the sake of a few games.

Didn't he move back to Australia for family reasons. He's got a young kid now so can't Imagine that he'd want to move. Plus we don't have any quota spots for this season.

I always thought he looked better at full back than 6 anyway. Stick with Ben McNamara for now. Ryan Hampshire could be an option moving to next year as cover though

McNamara hasn't shown me that he's a Super League starting number 6 yet, and I don't think he's gonna show me that this season. So it comes down to how ambitious we are for this season, if we want to compete, then we need to replace Reynolds with a 6. The only other alternative is to move Connor there and Shaul to full back, but I really don't want to move Connor. One more injury in those pivots and we have nothing.

Wonder if Wigan are going to sack Lam before we meet next month,

Replaced by Wane?

204 minutes without a try.

Nailed on he's appointed the week before we play them

I feel for Adrian Lam, He's a good bloke. Fair play to him for that interview.

Isn’t the Assistant taking over, with Wane as DOR?

Yeah i thought it was Matty Peet getting the gig with O’Loughlin as assistant.

Think Peet has has followed a similar parh to Wane. Worked his way up from academy to first team

They are on a terrible run of form. Their remaining fixtures are tough and all loseable. I think they’ll miss out on the Play Offs.

Amazing when you consider they have the World’s Best Full Back!

There’s only you that keeps saying it. I’ve never seen any Wigan fan claim such a thing

Still a much better team than hull

It’s Wolf.

Wasn't sure where to post this but here goes....

AP has said that this is 'the most expensive squad' he's ever assembled and we're one of the top spenders in the league which is putting too much pressure on a team that realistically is around the 5 - 8 league position.

IF he is telling the truth then he and Clark have massively messed the cap up. We must have so many average players on overs. Plus most of our 'top tier' players are sooo inconsistent or past their peak.

We've top loaded the squad, but if we get a few injuries we don't have the strength in depth to cope.

If we break down the squad, you can see the real lack of quality back ups.

Fullback - Connor, Shaul, Wynne
Wing - Faraimo, Swift, Mitch
Centre - Griffin, Carlos, Scott, Fonua
Half - Sneyd, Reynolds, McNamara
Prop - Taylor, Satae, Sao, Fash, Bowden, Brown
Back row - Mau, Savelio, Cator, Lane
Hooker - Houghton, JJ

It also points out a lack any real spark or a game changer apart from Connor. We didn't have anyone last night to swing momentum back in our favour, Cas did a good job on Connor, but equally we couldn't get him into any space (apart from Swifts try) or have another outlet. It'd be nice to have a Parcell/McShane/Clark or be able to bring on a Kasiano type middle.

If allowed I’m sure Hodgson could mould us into a decent team. I hope he is given the same backing that Radford was afforded

A lot of this is fantasy rugby, and would involve us being able to shift Fonua but we could begin a rebuild next season:

Ins: Siliva Havili (Canberra), Tom Amone (Wests), Tyrone Peachey (GC), Ryan Hampshire (Wakey), Alex Foster (Cas)

Havili, Peachey & Hampshire would give us a creative outlet. Amone wouldn't leave us short of a bigger middle and Foster would add some versatility.

Connor, McIntosh, Carlos, Griffin, Swift, Reynold, Sneyd, Satae, Havili, Sao, Peachey, Savelio, Lane

Cator, Taylor, Amone, Hampshire

Shaul, Wynne, Mitch, Scott, Foster, McNamara, Fash, Brown, Bowden, Houghton

I don't see us bringing in 5/6 players for next season though to compete for a top 4 spot.

Interesting one this, how would you compare yourselves/ recruitment/retention so far against say, watson at the giants, who've had an ignominious season so far, but he's started trimming the perceived fat and booting out players he doesn't want. Not entirely sure on replacements yet, but some strong rumours, how does it go with you guys, other than faraimo, is anyone else moving on?

10,000 pass holders, if they don’t wake up!

Watson probably has more wiggle room for recruitment than Hodgson.

Unless we can shift some on, Hodgson has his hands tied recruitment wise. Fonua is allegedly on well over 150k. I dread to think how much other players are on if we're at full cap.

It'll be interesting to see if Watson can get a tune out of Fages and Lolahea next season, I just don't see that pairing working. Levi should be a good signing for Hudds next year though. Watson needs a big season in 22 for sure

I'd keep Ma'u dont see much point in releasing him to sign another overseas player ho might not be as good.

Definitely need a hooker, would also like a 7 go can pass, run and create but that's unlikely to happen until end of 2022.

Peachey and Ma'u are both ooc. I'm open to keeping Ma'u, just conscious that he's 33/34. Peachey is a ball playing back row and a few years younger.

Houghton, Sneyd and Reynolds all expire 2022 I think so we can hopefully shake things up a bit more.

Pace and creativity definitely needed.

Mau s stepped it up abit, but still can't pass a ball, it's these decisions that you've got to be ruthless with, I'm guessing we've given him a new deal, whereas replacing him with Peachey would of benefitted what the team needs more versatility, creativity ...........

Question is who's making these decisions??

I love Manus running style. He doesn't fear anyone, runs it in like a train but I agree his passing game let's him down. For a side that struggles for points Peachey might be a better fit for us? It's all fantasy stuff, but stops me from going mad

I've been impressed with BH's tenure, especially with the defensive system implemented, and perhaps more importantly the bonding of the squad.
The one thing that has been disappointing, and very surprising, is that he hasn't yet addressed our structure in attack, however during the interview with Brian Carney, he stated, he was leaving it to the players....
Regarding improving the side, I feel we need to change our 6,7 and 9. , maybe we have to wait until their contracts expires, or. try player exchanges, maybe with our ex coach?
For mine, I'm not bothered, if Shaul,Fonua, Reynolds,Sneyd, Houghton & Bowden depart. Reynolds has been unlucky with injuries, but maybe he's not as durable as he once was.
Sneyd, apart from his excellent goalkicking, offers little in attack, his inability to take the line on, which was illustrated by , instead of taking the tackle, he gave a forward pass to Sao.
Bowden , not enough metres.
Houghton great defender, but. ball in hand, bang average.
Fonua. Ball in hand he's good, defense positioning and decision making , are terrible.
I feel for Hodgo, it's a pity he won't get the same backing as his predecessor did,

We have to hope he does get the backing for new players and we need to be a lot more ruthless in moving players on.
Not a big fan of Houghton but still offers a lot at 9 when you compare him to say Johnstone.
We should give the Houghton/Shaul middle more game time when Shaul is fit.It will work.
One criticism i have of Hodgson is in some of the recent bench selections which really didnt make any sense especially when we have had players making cameo 2 or 3 minute appearances or not playing at all.

What does houghton still offer?