Wigan Warriors target New Zealand prop for 2020

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Wigan_forever1985
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Joined: Fri Mar 10, 2006 9:50 pm

Re: Wigan Warriors target New Zealand prop for 202

Post by Wigan_forever1985 »

Exiled Wiganer wrote: Thu May 09, 2019 1:51 pm Our signings (and ability to develop our own) have been demonstrably good, as we have won plenty of Grand Finals in the last decade. Signing Bateman, say, was a stroke of genius. If we sign Clark as a replacement for either Hamlin or Tautai, we will have traded up. Smithies, Smith and Partington all look to be the sorts of talents we can sit back and enjoy for years to come, so once again our home grown production line is working well.

Going forward, though, we desperately need a massive signing this year. The last time we tried it, we ended up paying a fortune and 3 years for perhaps one season of decent performances from Tomkins, but I felt that was a risk worth taking at the time. It annoys me that the club will try to make a big thing of re-signing Budgie, given that we took him in when he was dropped by the NRL and got him fit again after his bad injury. Frankly, he should be saying how grateful he is to have stuck by him. His re-signing really means that, in that respect, we aren’t going backwards from our position as an unexciting team. Not going backwards is hardly going to drag in the non committed.

We have 2 marquee places and are not even using one of those this year (though maybe we can’t because of money spent on non marquee players?). If Williams is being paid a fortune, and we can replace him with Hastings, that feels like a slight trade up, but to my mind we need a lot more than that to enthuse us. Burgess is exactly the sort of name I would like to see. We need to be seen to be shopping at Harrods, not Lidl.
Agree with this but furthermore i think we really need to concentrate on bringing in the correct players rather than available players even if they are "star" players.

Full Back is sorted no need to add

From my point of view we are absolutely fine for wingers if budgie re-signs, even if you accept that Dom may never return to full fitness i think we have good cover.

We could do with another good centre, i would of gone for keinhorst personally but we need another solid centre, sarge isnt it and im not sure hankinson has proved he is either.

If williams is leaving we need a top quality half back, arguably we could do with 2 but 1 is a minimum

We need a new 9

Weve got good options at 2nd row, Farrell and Greenwood are both decent and we have good cover options

We need size in the pack

We need a new 13

Out of the above the priority for me would be a big prop, a top half and a very good hooker.

Wigan just dont seem very savvy in the transfer market though and i believe this is why we end up with our old players back a lot of the time because they are less of a risk (in theory) and it saves someone having to scout. There are countless examples of "lower" clubs pulling off massive coups while we sign championship players so something has to be wrong. I know when i mentioned Drinkwater people said Wigan spoke to him but he wanted too much, but he ended up at KR who arent exactly flush so i refuse to believe we couldnt make that work.

I dont think our position is helped by the insecurity around the head coach job either, it must be very hard to bargain with a player if they dont know who they will be working with down the line
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
morley pie eater
Posts: 3219
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 2:01 pm

Re: Wigan Warriors target New Zealand prop for 2020

Post by morley pie eater »

EagleEyePie wrote: Wed May 08, 2019 6:57 pm
DaveO wrote: Wed May 08, 2019 11:17 am You do realise the above is a damning indictment of the clubs ability to recruit top players? . . .
I'm not sure why you have an issue with clubs trading players within Super League. All clubs do it. You mention Wire, but their best prop forward came from the Championship. They have Jack Hughes who was traded within Super League. Same for Lama Tasi, Tom Lineham, Ryan Atkins, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Jake Mamo, Matt Davis. That's where most signings come from is it not?

And if we do manage to sign Hastings that would also be us signing a top player wouldn't it? You criticise the club for spotting players who have already been recruited by other teams but if we were the ones signing relative unknowns you'd be among the first to criticise! Who had heard of Blake Green before he signed for Hull KR? Had he signed for us back then instead of Rovers there'd be an absolute meltdown on here about how far the club had fallen :roll: Instead what we did was sign a good player from a Super League rival because we had the pulling power to do so. Green still wasn't really considered a big name when we signed him but he turned out to be the best halfback we've had in years.

Cas want to keep Clark. If we manage to sign him away from them then it shows we still have some pulling power over our rivals (which Cas definitely are, having been among the top clubs for a few years now).

Using Wire as an example of what we should be aspiring to seems to dismiss some of the other signings they've made. In recent years they've signed Tyrone Roberts (he came with a reasonable reputation), Mitch Brown, Bodene Thompson, Dom Crosby, Ben Pomeroy, Luis Johnson, Andre Savelio, Benjamin Julien, Joe Westerman, re-signed Matty Blythe and Kevin Penny. Need I go on? You could probably find a similar number of duds signing for Saints too.

I would hope the club is looking for top players and still trying to sign the best available, but to be honest I wouldn't say our transfer dealings have been massively worse when compared to other clubs. The club has almost certainly hampered itself by keeping hold of too many players who aren't really good enough and ending up without enough room to manoeuvre under the cap but we've (hopefully) barely touched the surface when it comes to signings and departures this year so I don't see why signing a highly rated Super League prop forward is cause for concern or outrage at this stage.
Well said EEP.
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Wes
Posts: 2179
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:28 pm

Re: Wigan Warriors target New Zealand prop for 2020

Post by Wes »

SJ wrote:The recent Dialog between Dave O, Eagle Eye, WF1985 for me has been the most interesting I've read in some time (even the Wes interjection I found amusing. Don't think Wes was being snide Dave. Just a little develment left over from the Brexit saga. He's a good lad really.
Good debate tho'. More of the same ![emoji106]

Thanks for the mention, yes I have a very dry sense of humour. Dave is a clever guy but F Me what would it take to get a 1 sentence post from the guy just once in a while?!

Anyhow WF1985 is spot on further down in the post, I’d give Hank the rest of the season to make or break, if break yep new centre needed, definitely a top 9, 2 props, a SR or LF if Faz is to return and put a run of games together and a replacement for George if/WHEN he goes.

If the rumours are to be believed which are doubtful for the obvious reason they are rumours I’d happily take Hastings, Atkins, Mc Meehan and Mitch Clarke.

Are we swapping players, yes but ain’t that always happened?! Even in our successful years didn’t we sign players from poorer teams? If your top of the league say where are you supposed to sign players from if you want/strive improvement?


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