scratching our arris

[Warrior20]

No Dave, running the club down is exactly what he's doing. Had he said we'd made a couple good signings in line with other clubs but he still felt we needed others then that would be a balanced and fair opinion. To complain that we're "scratching our arris' because we haven't signed every available player is ridiculous! The bottom line is some people think no other club should be allowed to sign anyone without it somehow reflecting negatively on Wigan. Wire have reportedly offered in excess of £335,000 per year for Austin and it was his preferred destination. They have every right to win that signature.

The simple fact is we don't have an inalienable right to first dibs on every player.

One thing I have never understood is why people feel Wigan have 'lost out' or 'missed' a certain player because another club has signed them. We cannot sign every available player and we will not be able to meet the wage demands of many more, others may have a preferred coach they wish to play for etc. Maybe Wigan just didn't want them. It is crazy to slag the club off because Warrington or Leeds have signed a player and we didn't.

[Fan4Fifty]

I don't think the problem is necessarily about players signing for other clubs - the point is well made that we can't sign everyone that another club might be interested in.
I think the frustration is more about the sense of drift or inertia that seems to surround the Warriors at the moment. The Bateman saga; uncertainty about Lockers and Tommy; the idea that 'there's no rush' about our new coach with all the uncertainty that brings; the Sarginson fiasco (and our well-documented weakness at centre); lack of any sense that we are looking for a quality half-back; more players out than in.
I remember the same sense of frustration when everyone new Noble was leaving but nobody at the Warriors would confirm. Then we got Madge! Like it or not, we have a Chairman who's style is measured and controlled and, yes, very frustrating but I do want to see our new coach appointed so that there is real involvement in any more recruitment for next season.

[jao 711]

I think the problem is that fans in general have never felt more disconnected to the club and while i agree the signings for next season in isolation isnt bad compared to our competitors as a whole our recruitment has been pretty poor failing to address several of our major weaknesses.

If you look at our signings over the last 3 years;

Sam tomkins
Signed while injured and even if you take into account his form this year overall have we got value for money for 3 years of him? only here because he failed in the NRL as harsh as that is its pretty true

Joe Burgess
Another whos form was sketchy IMO since his return not the force he once was but still a very good winger by superleauge standards

Thomas Leuluai
He wasnt the answer to our number 7 vacancy before and he isnt now, better at 9 but still has to move about to accomdate powell. In truth we should of signed a proper 7 at this point

Romain Navarette
Hardly ever plays, puts in the effort when he does but hes a squad player at best (although you do still need them)

Morgan Escare
Victim of being signed despite no vacancy - look i really like Escare in fact i prefer him at 1 to Sam because his pace makes him dangerous and he runs the ball back better. He is not the player tomkins is but again we had a full back - we didnt need another - so good player but we needed a centre

Liam Forsyth
plays once every blue moon

Gabe Hamlin
Was a risk - has turned out to be a good player IMO but still a blind risk. Im sure people will point to it being planned risk but judging by the string of signings who either never made it to the pitch in the past or only a few occasions (Powell, Pryce, Hopkins, Forsyth) ive got to assume its pure luck he turned out well

Dan Sarginson
Terrible, terrible signing

Zak Hardaker
Should be a good signing but lets not act like we are getting the castleford tigers storming form fullback, we are getting a over a year off the pitch after being banned for drugs Hardaker. I follow him on instagram and he seems to spend most his time drinking with his mates - now granted he is entitled to because he cant officially train with us (i dont think) plus he will have a preseason to get fit but he joked with ryan hall on twitter the other day about how much weight he had gained and how much he eats etc. So all in all im not sure we will get the same player we saw for Cas - especially in the first year

Joe Greenwood
Good signing

What gets me is how the lower teams your Hull KR/Salford/Wakefield always seem to pull off surprise coups which you think "why havent we signed them"

. There is an element of “let’s sign them so nobody else can” around at the moment.A lot of posters have not got over Ben Barba yet,but that story isn’t over yet.

[captinjack]

The panic signing of Sarge when Gelling walked out was a sackable offence IMO

Mistake could have been rectified,but the club was content to let Gells go to Widnes. The club should have unloaded that donkey Sarginson and re-signed Gells.

[Wigan_forever1985]

The panic signing of Sarge when Gelling walked out was a sackable offence IMO

Mistake could have been rectified,but the club was content to let Gells go to Widnes. The club should have unloaded that donkey Sarginson and re-signed Gells.

this is the issue with wigna though because neither of those players are what we need.

Its like Smith - smith wasnt the number 7 we need, so releasing him was the right thing to do but replacing him with powell we a side to backwards step. That doesnt mean we should have kept matty but we replaced one problem with another

Gelling was not a very good centre, he was not what we needed, so releasing him was a good idea - signing a worse player in his place was a terrible choice but getting gelling back doesnt rectify this

[billy's pineapple ring]

I seem to remember it was actually Rads who indicated that some time ago that there will be major changes in 2019. As for Flashes comment that I could have said that we have signed 2 good players in Zak and Greenwood, I think I actually addressed this in my opening sentence saying we had made a good start.
I can only imagine be it right or wrong that when Rads made the major change comment, that the Tomkins brothers were in his plans for 2019, if this assumption is correct, then replacing them has actually returned us back to square one. I am not having a dig at the club, I am merely stating that it would be only fair that the incoming coach picks his own players to work with, and if the coaching situation is not remedied soon there may not be the number of decent players available for him to choose from as other clubs may have already snapped up the ones that he may have been really interested in working with.

[Wigan_forever1985]

I dont think anyone thinks Wigan should have first dibs on players nor should we sign everyone but our recruitment policy seems to be far behind the other teams.

examples

Wire need a half back they sign a NRL halfback, that halfback leaves after a year they go sign another NRL halfback

Leeds needed a hooker signed an NRL Hooker, he left and they immediately replaced with another NRL hooker.

Our signings seem to either fall in one of 3 categories;

A British player that has failed in the NRL and needs to come home

A project player

Drug/Salary cap issue player

When was the last time we signed a quality player in his prime that didnt fit into the categories above.

I would say Bateman probably

[No straw damn us]

I dont think anyone thinks Wigan should have first dibs on players nor should we sign everyone but our recruitment policy seems to be far behind the other teams.

examples

Wire need a half back they sign a NRL halfback, that halfback leaves after a year they go sign another NRL halfback

Leeds needed a hooker signed an NRL Hooker, he left and they immediately replaced with another NRL hooker.

Our signings seem to either fall in one of 3 categories;

A British player that has failed in the NRL and needs to come home

A project player

Drug/Salary cap issue player

When was the last time we signed a quality player in his prime that didnt fit into the categories above.

I would say Bateman probably

But you've also got to take into account player retention. We've kept Williams, Gildart, Davies etc.
Wire have now had three Aussie halfbacks in three years All on big salaries.
Baring Kallum Watkins, who was the last top class academy product to come through Leeds academy in the last six or seven years? Same at Wire.
Or do you prefer the Hull model with six or seven overseas players, a shared academy side and none of them running a reserve team?
You're also ignoring the duds that Leeds and Wire have signed in the last few years.
Wire were in the bottom four last year, Leeds the year before and maybe again this year. Rumour is that Parcell maybe heading back to Aus, another short term fix?

[medlocke]

I dont think anyone thinks Wigan should have first dibs on players nor should we sign everyone but our recruitment policy seems to be far behind the other teams.

examples

Wire need a half back they sign a NRL halfback, that halfback leaves after a year they go sign another NRL halfback

Leeds needed a hooker signed an NRL Hooker, he left and they immediately replaced with another NRL hooker.

Our signings seem to either fall in one of 3 categories;

A British player that has failed in the NRL and needs to come home

A project player

Drug/Salary cap issue player

When was the last time we signed a quality player in his prime that didnt fit into the categories above.

I would say Bateman probably

But you've also got to take into account player retention. We've kept Williams, Gildart, Davies etc.

And there's another mistake made by the club, Not having a ruthless owner means we keep retaining awful players like Williams and Powell who would have been shifted out to Wakefield by now under better management

[Wiganer Ted]

Williams is an excellent player and we have done well to retain him.

The people scratching around are fans who want to know what's happening over player and coach signings. For us who remember Mo and his almost daily briefings over signings IL doesn't do this and hasn't since he bought the club.

We have had consistent squads and reached finals on a regular basis.

The club is now is the business of recruiting a head coach and the names of Edwards, Furner and Lam have been mentioned. I do hope the club do their research and due dilligence on all three prior to appointment.