Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:06 am  

Rumour has it that Wane has lost the dressing room...

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:17 am  

[Gareth] wrote:

Rumour has it that Wane has lost the dressing room...

It's the second door on the right.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 12:35 pm  

stillinthepast wrote:

On Friday the best prop on the field by far was Adam Cuthbertson of Leeds, he continually took the ball into the Wigan pack making good ground and releasing the ball at will.

I have just looked up his history in the NRL expecting to find lots of representative honours and all I found was 1 Country Origin match (junior).
He played for about 6 NRL teams and was released on a regular basis. I thought Wigan had good contacts with the NRL and would be up to speed when anybody decent became available, either this is not the case or Wigan are just not interested.

I personally don't think our overseas recruitment has been that great in recent years Gelling, Eddy, Bowen etc haven't set the world alight.

There's two real parts to this topic that could probably justify two standalone threads:

1 - Our overall academy recruitment/selection of forwards is substandard. I look at some of the backs we have produced over 5-10 years and you can rhyme off names such as Sam, Charnley, Burgess, Hampshire, Williams, Mellor etc who are talented lads. You can't however do the same for our forwards apart from MM, Mossop and Joel. (props especially).

2- Our overseas recruitment on its own is P poor. I look at a club like Hull KR and I see a successful policy of finding top quality NRL imports that aren't 'big names' - Green, Peaa, Galea, Webster, Kelly, Burns etc. Others such as Cas & London do similar things with Chase, Carney, Vea, Randall. I'm not saying these guys are unknowns but they aren't fancied signings.

Why do we struggle so much to get imports that improve the side? For every Carmomt or Pat there's a list of guys on the scrapheap. Why do we also struggle to produce forwards that are of the same quality as our backs?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 2:17 pm  

Just watching the Roosters game they mentioned Shaun Kenny Dowall could be heading to SL. A bit of digging linking him with Saints. Rumour is he wants guarantees to play in the centre which are causing issues with negotiations.

Now I personally would dispare if we are not also talking to him replace Gelling who we can shift to the pack to add much needed size and yards down the middle of the pitch. At 27 SKD is coming into his prime, bags of pace and real quality. I know there are high hopes for Gildart but it's time to stop chasing rainbows and bring in some quality and experience.

No doubt however we will be looking to add numbers to the already large squad from the bargain bin with loads of baggage.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 4:48 pm  

I can't see SKD over here,and if he was to come over its likely the doctor would offer a much bigger offer than IL.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:47 pm  

SKD would be the best pedigree centre in the league. I don't think anyone would argue otherwise.

Have to admit however I'd be happy with another George Carmon.

Decent Flfull backs, centres and props are ten a penny in the NRL. I don't understand why we find it so hard to pick one decent ones?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:14 pm  

But how many would want to turn their back on the NRL in favour of cold, rainy, England (as they see it)? Less money, too.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:32 pm  

If SKD is open to a move to SL and we aren't in for him, I seriously give up with whoever is in charge of our recruitment. It's time we stopped trying to build a squad of 80 Wigan kids and added some genuine proven quality.

As nice as it may be to have an all-Wigan team, I want to see foreign stars playing in the C&W!

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:00 pm  

Orrell Lad wrote:

If SKD is open to a move to SL and we aren't in for him, I seriously give up with whoever is in charge of our recruitment. It's time we stopped trying to build a squad of 80 Wigan kids and added some genuine proven quality.

As nice as it may be to have an all-Wigan team, I want to see foreign stars playing in the C&W!

If you look at a couple of names linked with superleague next year like Kenny-Dowall and Shillington they're the types of players we should have filling the gaps that our homegrown players can't. We currently have a 'well past his best' overseas fullback and a couple of 'projects' in Gelling and Tautai.

Ian Lenagan needs to dust of his wallet or the hard work that's been put in during his time at the club could quickly go down the drain.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:13 pm  

Fully agree - time to splash the cash and spend the maximum salary cap. One or two quality signings are certainly required! Get on the plane to Australia and do a Maurice Lindsay........