[url=http://www.dailystar.co.uk/rugby/view/199030/Put-your-Betts-on-young-Brits-Widnes-don-t-need-old-men/Here.[/url

An Article in the Daily Star admirable in it's positivity but I think we will need one or two experienced players. Schofield is suggesting as we are safe we should go with young english players but we do need to get off on the right foot and I suspect that will be as with almost all successful sides a mixture of youth and experience.

"I’ve been told that three men have been conducting player negotiations – Betts, Paul Cullen and Terry O’Connor.
That’s not the right way to go about it.One man should be talking to players – and that’s the coach"

Hmmmmmm

something others have alluded too many a time. i agree dalto. hes obviously a secret viking and its generally positive but this club like any other, is a business, and whilst using a team full of fresh faced academy products would be pleasing, nobody will keep coming too watch if and when that young, inexperienced team gets owned week in week out. you need your big, experienced campaigners, especially in the forwards, or superleague packs will bully us week in week out.
thats not to say we should be going for the has beens, i agree with him on that. and whats this about Steve O'c wanting a playoff place in year one? i find that very hard to believe, it must be bullcrap.

We can't be throwing in our own youngsters at the deep end. They need time to develop and having an experienced player ahead of them is ideal for doing that. I'm not saying fill the team with over the hill players but perhaps having some experienced players in key positions that can be gradually phased out. I expect that this is what we plan to do because it's common sense.

I don't know what Schofield thinks we're trying to do, buy a play off place with old players? That's not what we'll be doing at all.

The bit about O'Connor wanting a play off place in our first year I think has just been plucked out of the air.

Our youngsters need time and also experience to learn from. We need a good mix like all successful teams. Clubs who are bringing in the best youth, Saints, Leeds, in particular, have a long tradition of having a good mix so there is a conveyer belt of aging players being replaced. No one is thrown to the wolves, the older heads are not a liability, the younger never out of their depth.

We need another Steve Carter the first season. We've got plenty of youngsters in the side, we're not just antipodean XIII.

Steve Carter was a beast

i remember me and my mates drunkenly doing the Waynes World "we're not worthy" thing to him in the Appo. get another Robert Relf in, relfy knew how to sort em out.

Yes. There's nothing wrong with a few old heads, and everyone has a few aussies. It would be a shame if we let our team become an old persons home, but working by the same rules and spirit as the best in the game will get us far. Because think of the talent Leeds Saints and Wigan have brought through and where it got them.

Scarts was epic, i remember our first season back in Super League when we beat Wire at Wilderspool and he owned Warrington that day in defence and scored a great interception. He was a total warrior and had the deserved hardest man in cheshire title. Relfy was also a beast, i would love it if we signed another 2 like them.

I want us to make an impression straight away to show we are the right choice for SL. We can bring both youth and experience to SL and be competitive.

One old man I'd have without question is Steve Menzies, still got it. Awesome for Catalan at the weekend, filling in at stand off

Even names like Flannery cropping up, I'd be happy to take him.

[i"Having said that, the Vikings shouldn’t be wasting chunks of the ­salary cap on has-beens. I would like to see them go for players like Liam ­Harrison and Matt James at Barrow."
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I definitely agree with schoey about Matt James. I've been saying it for a couple of years now, and thought that we should have gone for him when he became available last season.

Not too sure about Liam ­Harrison for Super League though.

Ali Lauitiiti - no thanks. Agreed pepe, Harrison isn't SL class.

dont worry gang, we will only sign guys that do or have at some point played for Wigan

I have actually heard that Terry O'Connor has stepped back from having anything to do with first team matters and concentrating on his role as player welfare officer and that Betts has handed a list of players he wants to Cullen and it is up to cullen to get them.

Looking beyond the article itself, Mel, 22, of Ramsgate seems like a decent prospect

she is indeed.