Nightmare over. Lam gone!

[pedro]

I'd expect Halsall to become a regular next season. He's got great ability. You'd think that, given his age, he'll be able to improve his strength/power considerably within the next couple of seasons. It must have been a close call between him and Bibby last night. Sam's been so good under the kind of high balls that have given Bibby problems this year. I keep thinking that Jake should be a better centre than a winger but he seems to play better on the wing with the proviso that his lack of height can give him problems under the high ball.

Bibby isn’t and will never be a good centre.

I used to slate Sarginson because he wasn’t a wingers centre, couldn’t draw a man and pass, didn’t look when he passed, advertised it when he did.

But with all that considered, hypothetically, id select Sarginson at centre over Bibby any day of the week.

Darrell Goulding still the best centre we’ve produced in the last 15 years!

agree 100% with this

[jackthelad]

The nightmare for me is just beginning

We are losing our best player, our best centre (though this season hes been dire) and we are again making absolutley no attempt to sort out problems anyone who knows anything about rugby can see.

If you think about our team for next year ive highlighted areas of concern and frankly there are too many

Fullback - French is a bit of an unknown hopefully he will come back as good as he left but remember Amos Roberts ripping it up only to be finished by a big leg injury - Hardaker better at fullback than centre but maybe likely to leave?

Wingers - Marshall is a good player, the london lad coming in is an unknown but finished 3rd top try scorer in the league so lets say he might be ok.

Centres - likely to be Thornley and bibby/hardaker? meaning only 1 true centre and that being someone who has never really achieved much in the game. Bibby is a decent winger but drops down to an average/bad when playing centre.

Halves - Field/Smith - realistically just not good enough, field is a complete unknown and the rare glimpses weve seen of him he didnt look like he was anything much, Smith bought into his own hype and as a result gone backwards

Props - Bunch of kids who have all gone backwards and a couple of unproven aussies losing size if bullock and clarke go we know clubb is off so again thats more size lost

Hooker - not good enough likely to carry on being not good enough with no challenge

Back Row- Farrell starting to show his age and Bateman a shell of his former self

Loose - Will be one of the kids none of whom are really big enough or ready enough to play week in week out

Even the best coach in the world would struggle

Amazing, out of sight, out of mind

This club used to update regularly about its players on loan? another example of poor effort in this department

We do have another option for centre a lad who has been made a great impression and contribution to London this season Chris Hankinson!!

He has been awarded player of the year as seen on twitter and facebook, but not seen anything from Warriors about this?

He has a contract for 2022 season and would be a great option, his partnership with the incoming miski has been very good and he does pass the ball to his winger, oh and he can kick goals too!!

[Southern Softy]

Sounds like a cunning plan was hatched - except that I don't think the club thinks that far ahead. I like Hank but the thing that will always be a problem is his serious lack of pace. It's why I assumed he would bulk up a bit into the second row. Everything else is pretty sound.

[moto748]

Just on the DW and what it offers (or doesn't); dunno about elsewhere, but in the West Stand at the beginning of the season they opened up that 'other' bar, and they actually sold some reasonably decent beer. Lately
that's all gone, and there's a choice of crap lager or rubbish lager. And I don't like lager much anyway! They don't even do those cans of draught Guinness any more. Presumably this is more penny-pinching?

[DaveO]

Wasn’t there something said about the food and beverage fans forum? I can’t remember who sells what but the stadium company is responsible for most of it I think.

[moto748]

Probably. I haven't gone through it line-by-line. And I realise it's something the club doesn't have direct control over (I assume). But surely they could make their views known? There's been talk of 'improving the match-day experience'.

Doesn't 'more and better beer' fit that bill?

[Caboosegg]

The nightmare for me is just beginning

We are losing our best player, our best centre (though this season hes been dire) and we are again making absolutley no attempt to sort out problems anyone who knows anything about rugby can see.

If you think about our team for next year ive highlighted areas of concern and frankly there are too many

Fullback - French is a bit of an unknown hopefully he will come back as good as he left but remember Amos Roberts ripping it up only to be finished by a big leg injury - Hardaker better at fullback than centre but maybe likely to leave?

Wingers - Marshall is a good player, the london lad coming in is an unknown but finished 3rd top try scorer in the league so lets say he might be ok.

Centres - likely to be Thornley and bibby/hardaker? meaning only 1 true centre and that being someone who has never really achieved much in the game. Bibby is a decent winger but drops down to an average/bad when playing centre.

Halves - Field/Smith - realistically just not good enough, field is a complete unknown and the rare glimpses weve seen of him he didnt look like he was anything much, Smith bought into his own hype and as a result gone backwards

Props - Bunch of kids who have all gone backwards and a couple of unproven aussies losing size if bullock and clarke go we know clubb is off so again thats more size lost

Hooker - not good enough likely to carry on being not good enough with no challenge

Back Row- Farrell starting to show his age and Bateman a shell of his former self

Loose - Will be one of the kids none of whom are really big enough or ready enough to play week in week out

Even the best coach in the world would struggle

Farrell starting to show his age? What by being one of our best and most consistent players all season?

not difficult this year, its him or Bibby, the rest have been in and out or garbage

And he made it into the 2021 dream team

[Exiled Wiganer]

As I understand it, the club offered a massive wage to Williams - our biggest ever contract offer - and intend to recruit someone to replace Hastings. Plus, we have another 70k to play with. If we use that money to recruit a decent centre, and O’Neill develops, then I think we should be fine.

Full back: French is superb - so stronger than this year if fit.
Wingers: Marshall, Miski and Halsall/Bibby. Given Halsall’s development, stronger than this year.
Centres: Hardaker, Thornley, new one, Hankinsin, Halsall/Bibby. Gildart has phoned it in when he could even be bothered to play for 2 years, so we won’t be any weaker there.
Halves: ? Plus Field/Smith. It all depends on ?, but as noted above, they have shown they are willing to spend big to get someone.
Props: Mago, Ellis, Havard, Singleton, Clark, Byrne. Mago in particular will be better than we have had this year, Havard will be a year older. Potentially stronger.
Second rows and loose forward: Bateman, Farrell, KPP, McDonnell, Smithies, Shorrocks... Stronger for the extra year.

I know there are some things that could go wrong, esp if we don’t replace Hastings and French doesn’t recover, but for my money by far the main factor is who is responsible for our attack next year. That’s what I am holding my breath to hear...

[Wandering Warrior]

Me for one is glad the season is over. I know it’s not the best thing to say for a team you’ve supported for 30 years but I think we’ve avoided embarrassment in the next game.
Be interesting what changes we will see next season, you could say it won’t be hard to change the way this team plays as I’ve never seen us play this bad since Millward was in charge.
First thing they need to do is think about which young lads are staying as I think quite a few of our younger lads are overrated

Name the duffers who are overrated?

[Barney841]

Me for one is glad the season is over. I know it’s not the best thing to say for a team you’ve supported for 30 years but I think we’ve avoided embarrassment in the next game.
Be interesting what changes we will see next season, you could say it won’t be hard to change the way this team plays as I’ve never seen us play this bad since Millward was in charge.
First thing they need to do is think about which young lads are staying as I think quite a few of our younger lads are overrated

Name the duffers who are overrated?

Smith, Byrne, partington to name a few. Still waiting question marks over the likes of Smithees and havard. Smithees has been a regular the last two years can he move it up a level? Havard is classed as a prop but is small in stature, will he put the bulk on?