Pies R Us posted:
I think positional priorities and realistic purchases for next season should be:
A Full-Back - Briscoe or Mathers
A Winger - Calvert or Raynor
A Centre - Yeaman or Hape
A Prop - Coley, Crabtree or Ryles (2 of).
A Hooker - Alker or Newton
Replacing: Ashton, Calderwood, Vaeliki, Fletcher, Millard, and Hansen.
I think this may be possible under the salary-cap. What do people think?
Why do you want to get shut of Calderwood? He may not have scored as many tries as he did for Leeds but he has saved loads, tackles above his weight and is more lively than most of them put together. We haven't seen the best of Calderwood but then again he doesn't get passed the ball much either - with a different centre he would come alive and you'd see a lot more tries from him. I certainly hope we keep him.
I will never forgive Millward for selling Terry Newton (not that I have anything against Mickey Higham at all) but he would cost a lot and I'm afraid Terry is also a marked man with the officials now so is likely to spend a lot of time suspended unless he changes his style of play drastically. If he did that he would not be the aggresive Terry that we all know and therefore probably not half as good a player either.
Harrison Hansen is still young and is not the finished product yet - give him time, no player is perfect right from the start.
Never argue with an idiot. He will bring you down to his level and beat you with experience.
Surely we dont need a big money prop alongside what we've got; Fielden, Feka, O'Carroll and Prescott are enough. Prescott has a great work-rate and with a bit more weight behind him could be a cornerstone of the pack.
Fullback - Worries me, Withers has no pace but can play the game in his sleep so we might get away with it for another season but long term we need to buy. Briscoe only went for the money and he's easy good enough for the job.
Centres - Has Bailey just got a brief of being really defensive? If he could run into the gaps created by Barrett and LuLu he's got all the skills (as he showed with that try at Leeds) and his attitude to the game is outstanding, and he's a talker that keeps Calderwood in position. Like to see more of Goulding though, looks a potential star in the making but I remember saying that about Kevin Brown. DV can go; earned too much from us for too little output and i'll be the first to admit he's having a good season but it's too little too late.
Wings - Cant buy any better than what we have, Richards looks a different player with good halfbacks and we need his kicking, and Calderwood is being turned into a hard working winger with loads of pace and links up well with bailey.
Halfbacks - The best no 6 in the world and LuLu gets overshadowed. His defensive game is the same as someone a lot bigger than him and his will to win is something that you dont get often.
2nd row - Think we should put money in here to compliment Hock, who I think is capable of being better than Betts - or he is better at this age than Betts was. Just a workhorse partner would do ; a Cassidy type who'd mop up the hard work - there's plenty around and I dare say Tomkins could do it based on his good game against HKR.
13 - no probs with Lockers; he's getting better having Barrett around and is getting to be the player we've wanted him to be for years.
others - let Millard go to pasture (why oh why did we sign him?) and bring McIllorum up.
Top and bottom of it, we dont need to spend a lot of cash to get it right.
LooseHead posted:
Surely we dont need a big money prop alongside what we've got; Fielden, Feka, O'Carroll and Prescott are enough. Prescott has a great work-rate and with a bit more weight behind him could be a cornerstone of the pack.
Our pack is not good enough this season - so it will not be good enough next season. We need to add to it.
Fullback - Worries me, Withers has no pace but can play the game in his sleep so we might get away with it for another season but long term we need to buy. Briscoe only went for the money and he's easy good enough for the job.
Centres - Has Bailey just got a brief of being really defensive? If he could run into the gaps created by Barrett and LuLu he's got all the skills (as he showed with that try at Leeds) and his attitude to the game is outstanding, and he's a talker that keeps Calderwood in position. Like to see more of Goulding though, looks a potential star in the making but I remember saying that about Kevin Brown. DV can go; earned too much from us for too little output and i'll be the first to admit he's having a good season but it's too little too late.
I agree DV - too little too late. Goulding will be drafted in next season. Bailey (not a centre). So we need to buy one centre.
Wings - Cant buy any better than what we have, Richards looks a different player with good halfbacks and we need his kicking, and Calderwood is being turned into a hard working winger with loads of pace and links up well with bailey.
If we can't buy better than what we have got - then we are looking in the wrong places. To be honest - I do not think Calderwood should be in our team. He wastes all of his time running sideways. And granted his centres have not been the greatest, but when he is given a slight gap down the touchline - he never takes it - & continues to run sideways. Granted he does out a lot of effort in and chases down kicks, but so would I if I was paid to play for Wigan.
Halfbacks - The best no 6 in the world and LuLu gets overshadowed. His defensive game is the same as someone a lot bigger than him and his will to win is something that you dont get often.
I can't disagree.
2nd row - Think we should put money in here to compliment Hock, who I think is capable of being better than Betts - or he is better at this age than Betts was. Just a workhorse partner would do ; a Cassidy type who'd mop up the hard work - there's plenty around and I dare say Tomkins could do it based on his good game against HKR.
13 - no probs with Lockers; he's getting better having Barrett around and is getting to be the player we've wanted him to be for years.
- I think he will improve if he is not captain. As improve I think he has to, in order to stay in the team.
others - let Millard go to pasture (why oh why did we sign him?) and bring McIllorum up.
I agree.
Top and bottom of it, we dont need to spend a lot of cash to get it right.
Briscoe
Calderwood
Goulding
Atkins
Richards
Barrett
Leuluai
Fielden
Higham
Palea'aesina
Hock
Bailey (Bulk up for this role in the off season)
O'Loughlin
McIllorum
Ryles
Moi Moi
Hansen
Hill
O'Carroll
Tomkins
Prescott
Coyle
Flanagan
Colbon
Stanton
