millard going???

[jollygiant3107]

been told today that millard will not be playing for wigan much longer,not that the club dont want him,but that he has had enough of the game and struggling to keep up with the pace of things.........soon to retire...????? :exc:

[DaveO]

Interesting rumour but perhaps after tonight he will change his mind?

If he has had enough I would expect Wigan to ask him to play till the end of the season. Despite most peoples views he isn't up to it any more which would (if you are correct) tie in with his reasons for retiring, the club will still want him to help them out until then at least.

If Nobby thinks McIllorum isn't ready Millard can be given a slightly easier ride by doing what Nobby did tonight. Play him for 20 mins from kick off but then instead of rotating him with Higham again letting Higham do 60 mins.

Dave

[DaveO]

pie eaters posted:
I really do not see the point in bringing more young players in. I agree with using young players but not to the extent of having most of the club made up of them. If Millard goes bring back Newton!

This rumour is about Millard deciding to quit not Wigan firing him or engineering his retirement so if he does the clubs hand will be forced.

If Millard goes we won't have a choice but to bring in a youngster. I doubt our salary cap would allow us to sign a quality replacement and even if it did which SL team (or NRL team if we went for another Kolpak) is going to release a quality player at this stage of the season?

Dave

[Fraggle]

pie eaters posted:
I really do not see the point in bringing more young players in. I agree with using young players but not to the extent of having most of the club made up of them. If Millard goes bring back Newton!

Sometimes the club just can't win. If they don't play enough kids people start complaining. If they play too many kids people start complaining! As it is, McIllorum has been on the edge of the first team for 2 seasons already, he'll have been training regularly with the first team in all that time and has to make the move up eventually. Otherwise, we'll have another Briscoe situation where we spend years training a young player only to see him leave due to lack of first team opportunities, and then people start complaining yet again!

[Fraggle]

pie eaters posted:
Briscoe had alot of first team action but how could he replace Radders?

Had he stayed a couple of years, he would now be firmly established as first-choice fullback at Wigan, and probably for many years to come. We would probably never have heard of Chris Ashton, and almost certainly wouldn't have seen Withers at Wigan. But at the time he had to make a decision and Rads was looking like he would remain at Wigan for quite a number of years. It was terrible timing really, since we have otherwise struggled to find a decent young fullback, but at the time I couldn't blame him for going. Maybe McIllorum will be the same? He's been given a squad number for a couple of years, but still never played, yet sees the antique Millard getting game time every week. I really don't think we would be any weaker playing McIllorum for 20 and Higham for 60 minutes rather than Millard for 20 and Higham for 60, and indeed we would be getting a player ready for the future whereas Millard is only getting ready for his pension.

But we have to play the youngsters sometime, otherwise we'll end up like Saints where half of their squad, and mostly their key players, are likely to retire within a couple of years. But they never shied away from playing Higham or Roby to back up KFC, and both of those players have worked out very very well indeed despite not having as much experience etc.

[shawcross da warrior]

good get rid of him hes old and usless he has had one okay game and that was tonight, and he wasnt so sparkling there..........


I would pay alot of money to see little wagga back down at the jjb.....

and he was there last night a shook his hand and so was tickle and kevin brown ( pin head )........

[jayde_hates_longy]

ey up, tickle comment out of order

[phibes]

jollygiant3107 posted:
been told today that millard will not be playing for wigan much longer,not that the club dont want him,but that he has had enough of the game and struggling to keep up with the pace of things.........soon to retire...????? :exc:

I expect him to play until the end of the season at least? But if it's true that he's making these noises so early in the year, perhaps not.

In any case, I'll be relieved if this is true. It's hard to believe we gave him a two-year contract.

[Glynola]

DaveO posted:
I doubt our salary cap would allow us to sign a quality replacement and even if it did which SL team (or NRL team if we went for another Kolpak) is going to release a quality player at this stage of the season?

Dave

We might be OK with regards to salary cap if we were able to offload Hill too (which has been rumoured to Hull KR...)

As for obtaining a quality replacement, well obviously you'd be looking at a transfer fee. But I seem to recall Whelan saying in the aftermath of the Fielden signing that if Nobby wanted a particular player then money would be available to make this happen.

Personally I'd love to see Newton back, but it seems unlikely. So what other options would there be?

[Cruncher]

You can't help wondering if there's an element of the SeuSeu 'retirement' here.

In other words is it genuine, or has the player been helped in his decision by the club because they've realised, belatedly, that they need someone else and have to free some cap space?

Millard wouldn't free up much money, I know, but as someone else pointed out, the Hill to Hull KR rumour is doing the rounds as well.

It doesn't necessarily hold, of course, that a new signing would be a hooker. It might be another prop. In fact, I hope it is. Then we could promote McIlorum to the first team, as Higham's understudy.