Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri May 14, 2021 4:35 pm  

CobraCraig wrote:

Who though? Everyone seems to be crying out for these big props who will improve our pack but I don’t see anyone coming up with a list of realistic targets and I don’t think there is many in the league full stop.

Prior is one OOC player that would be cheap and effective improvement imo. I'm not saying that he's particularly great and I get that I'll get scoffed at, but he's better than the duds we have.

The issue I've got with our props is, looking at them today - they are really bad. Yes there's some potential, but what about this season or even next? Planning for the future is amicable, but sometimes you need a Scott Logan, Nathan Macavoy or Deacon for the "here and now".

If you compare/graded our squad Vs Saints squad and it's a mixture of A-C grades. We shade them in some areas and they shade us in others. That's until you look at the props. They are A+ and we're straight D's imo. It's a gulf in class. If you bring in a few c level players it closes that gap and evens things up.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri May 14, 2021 4:49 pm  

CobraCraig wrote:

Who though? Everyone seems to be crying out for these big props who will improve our pack but I don’t see anyone coming up with a list of realistic targets and I don’t think there is many in the league full stop.

I get it isn’t easy but then it can’t be as difficult as we’ve made it look over the years. There are plenty of props off contract in the NRL (plus they’re always looking to move under contract players on) and there are deals you could potentially make happen here but without knowing the financial state of the club, it’s tough.

People mentioned guys like Liu, Woods and Lui the other day. Is it realistic to make a play for Watts? if Wire are making a play for an under contract Trueman than maybe but I don’t know where we stand financially. I’ve always said having cap space is different to having the money to use it and if we don’t, we don’t and that’s fine but it doesn’t stop me thinking we need a couple of line busting props to progress.

A couple of realistic options that I believe are off contract are Lachlan Burr and Corey Jensen from North Queensland. We were linked with Jensen before and Burr did a season with Leigh. They wouldn’t cost the earth I’d imagine, both are around 6ft 2 and 17 stone and they’ve both been solid when I’ve seen them this year. They’re not going to be Jason Taumalolo but they’re both knocking out 100-150 metres on a regular basis this season in the middle. Throwing names about is all well and good but pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri May 14, 2021 4:55 pm  

I’ll throw one more name in and this may be seen as unrealistic or some may not think it would be a good move but there’s an experienced prop, who is a Wigan lad and is making masses of ground recently off contract at the end of the season and that’s Chris Hill. He’s 33 now but why not make a play to get him to finish his career with his hometown club. Talk is he may end up at Leigh but I look at his stats on the last 3 games and he’s made 158m, 120m and 136m. Our props aren’t making that combined some weeks.

I’d certainly offer him a deal in a Paul Deacon style move.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri May 14, 2021 5:11 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I’ll throw one more name in and this may be seen as unrealistic or some may not think it would be a good move but there’s an experienced prop, who is a Wigan lad and is making masses of ground recently off contract at the end of the season and that’s Chris Hill. He’s 33 now but why not make a play to get him to finish his career with his hometown club. Talk is he may end up at Leigh but I look at his stats on the last 3 games and he’s made 158m, 120m and 136m. Our props aren’t making that combined some weeks.

I’d certainly offer him a deal in a Paul Deacon style move.

I'd more than happily take him and get the Deacon reference too.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have Jensen but I'd take either of them Vs no one.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Fri May 14, 2021 5:18 pm  

I saw Matt Shaw mentioning how nearly every club in superleague has eyes on James Harrison at Fev. Leeds had him on loan at the back end of last season. He’s a big, tall lad and is apparently playing out of his skin in the championship.

There’s so much competition for props it’s untrue but we certainly need to be in the mix for a couple if finances allow.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sat May 15, 2021 5:34 am  

Prior and Hill I would have jumped at if it wasn’t for their age, Hill has dropped off a fair bit in recent years too. I work in Warrington and a lot of their fans don’t rate him anymore. I was always an advocate for us putting a transfer bid in for him years ago, we needed a pack leader and he needed a team who could win the grand final, was a match made in heaven!!!!!
Watts is the one I’d want in SL but he’s not far from 31 and I wonder if he’d want to come to Lancashire. The dream signing for me and one I think could be possible from GB’s exit and the freeing up mid season cap space is Luke Thompson. We got linked fairly heavily last year and I believe no smoke without fire on that front. If he decides to come back home we could be in a great position to make a play for him and he’s one I would break the bank for. I know there was always a rumour saying he would never play for Wigan which could be true but he departed Saints under a cloud and they put a bit of salty statement about him so that could change his stance?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sat May 15, 2021 5:37 am  

NickyKiss wrote:

I saw Matt Shaw mentioning how nearly every club in superleague has eyes on James Harrison at Fev. Leeds had him on loan at the back end of last season. He’s a big, tall lad and is apparently playing out of his skin in the championship.

There’s so much competition for props it’s untrue but we certainly need to be in the mix for a couple if finances allow.

Is he a prop?sure he played back row at Leeds and certainly isn’t built like a prop, certainly got the frame to grow into one though, maybe a couple of years professional and he could put a couple of stone on and be the big prop people are craving.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sat May 15, 2021 7:22 am  

Think he plays a mix of back row and in the middle. The bits I’ve seen of him his build reminds me of a young Jamie Peacock. He’s one who may not solve our issue straight away but could longer term.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sat May 15, 2021 10:57 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

I’ll throw one more name in and this may be seen as unrealistic or some may not think it would be a good move but there’s an experienced prop, who is a Wigan lad and is making masses of ground recently off contract at the end of the season and that’s Chris Hill. He’s 33 now but why not make a play to get him to finish his career with his hometown club. Talk is he may end up at Leigh but I look at his stats on the last 3 games and he’s made 158m, 120m and 136m. Our props aren’t making that combined some weeks.

I’d certainly offer him a deal in a Paul Deacon style move.

The difference with Deacon for me is that he was completely protected at Bradford and despite his age still looked relatively fresh at Wigan.

Against the top sides, Hill just looks completely faded to me, going through the motions and no sign of the grit he showed consistently a few years ago. I just think he’s burned out now although overall he’s been a very good player for them.

I’m not completely against signing ageing players but Hill looks done to me.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Sat May 15, 2021 11:08 pm  

dany1979 wrote:

The difference with Deacon for me is that he was completely protected at Bradford and despite his age still looked relatively fresh at Wigan.

Against the top sides, Hill just looks completely faded to me, going through the motions and no sign of the grit he showed consistently a few years ago. I just think he’s burned out now although overall he’s been a very good player for them.

I’m not completely against signing ageing players but Hill looks done to me.

I thought he did look spent last year but he’s going well this season. It would be a punt for sure. You’re going in to it hoping he grows an extra leg because he’s playing for a new club and a new club that happens to be his hometown but you couldn’t guarantee performances. I would point at those last three league games though against Hull KR, Catalans and Hull and he’s made 120m, 136m and 150m respectively. I can’t remember a Wigan prop making ground like that in donkeys years, so if he’s washed up and ready for the knackers yard, we’ve got big problems with what we have currently and what we’ve had for the last 5/10 years.

I’d put two years down for him personally and see if we can tempt him. A 33/34 year old Chris Hill helping bring through 20 year olds like Havard and Byrne is fine by me.