Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:20 pm  

I think Kaufusi would be a very good squad player at Wigan.

If you measure his stats for the season they compare favourably with some of the other props at Wigan;

(Number of Carries, Meters Made, Avg Carry)

Kaufusi 205 1458 7.1

Taylor 227 1777 7.8

Mossop 234 1643 7

Flower 282 2008 7.1

Now I'm not saying he's a signing that i'd will put bums on seats but he would add value into the side.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:31 pm  

Father Ted wrote:

Props, we've got probably Clubb to sign with Hopkins already with us for 2014.
That's in addition to Flower, Dudson, Crosby, Taylor, Powell, Lauaki, Spencer and Greenwood.
2nd hooker, who's around that will sign for us? Clarke won't sign as 2nd hooker.
We've Logan but you'd have to go for some one like Kyle Wood who IMO isn't as good as Tomkins.
Centre, We've three, Goulding, Thornley and Gelling. Also Burgess can play centre as well.
So who would we sign where clubs wouldn't look to rip us off as we're cashed up?
Prop, maybe Kaufusi from London.
2nd hooker, go with what we've got. Logan's still young and learning.
Centre, Wakey maybe tempted by cash for Collis but he plays right side and has suffered quite a lot with injuries this year.
The other random choice would be Kirk Dixon. left centre and goal kicker.
Goal Kicker is our biggest need for next year, to me, more than any positional recruit.

I'm happy with Flower and Taylor as two of our props and probably Crosby on his early season form but after that I think they all have a lot to prove. Dudson doesn't work hard enough IMO, Hopkins is unproven, Lauaki may be on his way out and doesn't offer enough, Powell I can hardly even consider at this moment as nobody knows how he'll turn out and the others are kids. I'd be happy with Kaufausi as that 4th prop, he's solid and no nonsense and a better player then those I name (outside the first three).

I genuinely think we need a back up hooker. Tomkins isn't good enough, Powell is a halfback and there doesn't seem to be a specialist hooker busting a gut to get in from the u19's. I think George Williams is more suited then Powell to make the conversion so he could be an option but I'd look at Clark or Josh Hodgson.

As for centre it'd be my lowest priority out of the three. I like both Gelling and Thornley but there's nothing like competition although the correct player may not be out there.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:45 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I genuinely think we need a back up hooker. Tomkins isn't good enough, Powell is a halfback and there doesn't seem to be a specialist hooker busting a gut to get in from the u19's. I think George Williams is more suited then Powell to make the conversion so he could be an option but I'd look at Clark or Josh Hodgson.

I agree that the back up hooker spot is the glaring obvious weak spot in the side. As you pointed out it's probably the one spot that we don't have a option in the U19's to pick from.

For next season i'd love to get someone with a bit of pace or elusiveness. At times this season i think we've needed an injection of pace from the bench and someone who can lift the tempo up a few notches. Lets face it we have one of the fittest teams in the league and our conditioning set up is unrivalled. I'd like to see us work teams a lot harder throughout the full 80mins.

Someone like Burrows would be excellent foil for Mcilorum.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:57 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I'm happy with Flower and Taylor as two of our props and probably Crosby on his early season form but after that I think they all have a lot to prove. Dudson doesn't work hard enough IMO, Hopkins is unproven, Lauaki may be on his way out and doesn't offer enough, Powell I can hardly even consider at this moment as nobody knows how he'll turn out and the others are kids. I'd be happy with Kaufausi as that 4th prop, he's solid and no nonsense and a better player then those I name (outside the first three).

I genuinely think we need a back up hooker. Tomkins isn't good enough, Powell is a halfback and there doesn't seem to be a specialist hooker busting a gut to get in from the u19's. I think George Williams is more suited then Powell to make the conversion so he could be an option but I'd look at Clark or Josh Hodgson.

As for centre it'd be my lowest priority out of the three. I like both Gelling and Thornley but there's nothing like competition although the correct player may not be out there.

I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestion that George Williams could turn out to be the best bet for back up hooker, he is inventive , quick for his size and he has a bit of a presence about him (for an 18 year old he stands no nonsense). Bring him on slowly with a few sub appearances at halfback and I think he will surprise a few.

[Frosties.]

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:05 pm  

@RLW_Mole: EXCLUSIVE in The Mole in @LeagueWeek today - star English winger Tom Brisco set to resist lure of NRL to sign with @leedsrhinos

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:08 pm  

Frosties. wrote:

@RLW_Mole: EXCLUSIVE in The Mole in @LeagueWeek today - star English winger Tom Brisco set to resist lure of NRL to sign with @leedsrhinos

Great move for Leeds and him. It does make you wonder who's going to make way though? Will BJB just become back up? Or is there some truth in the Watkins to Australia rumour?

There is meant to be one more English player signed with an NRL club for next year according to rumour (by this same guy I believe).

Maybe it will be BJB at fullback next year with Hardaker to the centres.

: Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:20 pm  

BJB to Warrington

Re: : Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:06 am  

FIOS wrote:

BJB to Warrington

That's an odd move if true.

They've already got Dog-botherer and Riley as first choice wings and have brought Penny back for next season. Can't see that they'd need another winger adding to the roster.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:01 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

There's hundreds of players that would love to sign for Wigan and if your asking what position you think we need them in I'd probably say Prop, 2nd hooker and centre in that order. In terms if price well, I wouldn't be going crazy throwing silly money around. Similar signings to Green and Taylor will do. Lads that don't cost the earth but are already good players with room for improvement.

Prop - We have Flower, Dudson, Crosby, Taylor, A.Powell, Lauaki, Hopkins and Spencer, they all fit into that category, any new prop would struggle to get many games unless he's pretty good. I would like to think we competes with Wire and Hull KR for Asotasi and Wayman though

2nd hooker - short term I agree, but Blake Green's hinted that he's looking to go back to aus after next season, so we have three talented halves in Hampshire, S.Powell and Williams who we should be having a good look at next season with a view to seeing if any of them should be given the 6 shirt the year after. As such I'd be playing one of those three off the bench next season with Smith doing a spell at 9 when MM goes off and loan Logan out to an SL club for all of next season and get him some more experience. Hopefully then in 2015 we have a reasonably tested youngster in the 6 shirt and Logan is an improved player.

Centre - We've signed a player who fits the parametres you mention in Sarginson. I reckon we've done the hard work with Gelling and Thornley this season anyway and it'll start to beat fruit next season rather than being a worry

Tom Briscoe : Thu Sep 26, 2013 8:04 am  

Were where we?

He's on the verge of signing with Leeds, a top quality player who is coming into the prime, an international. Leeds again are signing quality as we lose ours.

To make matters worse we are in need of a quality winger to replace the departing Pat. Is it a money issue? We've just sold Sam for a record fee, we surely have cap space so what's the situation?

Leeds' backline now looks fantastic

Hardaker
Hall Moon Watkins Briscoe

Compare that to ours...

Bowen
Charnley Goulding Thornley Burgess?

Come on IL be at the races...