WiganWarriorsFans.com

j658 wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 361832.stm

Its looking more likely Deacon willl come now Orford has signed for the Bulls (as was rumoured).

My question is how much input has Maguire had into this deal?? Has he already identified a possible weakness in the halves? Will Tommy move to hooker, if so where does that leave mcillorum & piggy? Would Deacon be happy solely providing cover with a view to a coaching role??

IMO Hes a stop gap till next season. i fully expect a scrum half to be at the top of Maguires list for 2011..hopefully cooper cronk

I cant see what deacon would bring, people have said he can mentor tomkins, but in fairness, tomkins is better now than deacon was at his best so really what can he learn from him. If you want to bring someone to mentor tomkins they have to be at the standard of trent barrett, darren lockyer, jonathan thurston. Tomikns is one of if not the best half back in superleague as his place in the dream team shows, deacon isn' a patch on him the only person he could possible help is lulu but even lulu is better than deacon

Wigan_forever19 85 wrote:I cant see what deacon would bring, people have said he can mentor tomkins, but in fairness, tomkins is better now than deacon was at his best so really what can he learn from him. If you want to bring someone to mentor tomkins they have to be at the standard of trent barrett, darren lockyer, jonathan thurston. Tomikns is one of if not the best half back in superleague as his place in the dream team shows, deacon isn' a patch on him the only person he could possible help is lulu but even lulu is better than deacon

I agree (but am quite happy to be put right), I just dont see how we can afford him and how he can fit into the squad

afford him or not its official

I knew before all you lot!!!!!!!!!!

I'm absolutely certain that Maguire was involved in getting Deacon, and although IL and possibly SW may have been the initiaters, there is a hell of a lot of logic in the signing. None of us know the ins and outs of his wages but what we do know:-

1) TL is not the finshed article as a Wigan 7 yet. Yes, he's young and still learning but he's not a natural leader of a Team around a pitch.
2) Neither Sam's or TL's kicking game is as good or consistent as it needs to be, and certainly not mature enough to pinpoint other team's weaknesses for more than moments of a game.
3) We do not have anyone who talks in our Team.
4) We do not have enough Wiagners in our Team.
5) We have 2 9's who do not play enough games.
6) We have 2 9's who have got a lot to prove.
7) We have a 7 who is one of the World's best 9's.
8) We have had a recent history of ther being no consequence of poor performance i.e. if certain players play badly, they don't get dropped. In 09, we only had Sam who offered pressure on our 6,7 & 9's.
9) Lockers is not a natural captain and needs support, and this is not helped as we'd all struggle to name one other potential captain or back up in our 1st team squad.
10) We have a lot of youth in our squad.

Deacon answers a lot of these issues, especially in the short term. He:-
1) Will lead a Team around the pitch, whether in training or in a game. He may not be as fast or skilful as Sam and TL, but his "Shaun Edwards" type brain is something from which they will learn.
2) He will kick team's to death if the forwards give him a platform. Sam and TL will learn from this.
3) He doesn't stop chirping, like a proper 7 should.
4) He never moved to live in Bradford.
5) A weakness - he misses games - but between him and MM and Piggy we should always have 2 out of 3 fit!
6) He will release TL to put pressure on them to perform.
7) As per 6. Ultimately TL may make 9 his own, and a future long term 7 will be someone new!?
8) He provides the new management with a consequence which I think we all know will be used.
9) He is one of the most experienced Captains in Super League.
10) We can afford to add some age to our squad as it's so young.

A lot more plusses in the short term than negatives, a really strong bridge towards future long term development rather than quick fix, sticky plaster problem solving that we have seen for too many years.

It maybe a young Wigan 7 who now has time to come through on the back of Deacon coming, it might be TL or it might be somebody else, either way, it's got to be better than an aging Aussie here to bolster his retirement fund and block other's development.

Am really looking forward to how this squad goes.

Does anyone remember Leeds signing an average scrum half called Andrew Dunneman, who was in his late 20's? He helped get them very close to winning things and didn't do a young Burrows and McGuire too much harm!

According to the radio interview with Deacon on Radio Mersyside MM persauded Deacon to become one of his team.

jaws1 wrote:According to the radio interview with Deacon on Radio Mersyside MM persauded Deacon to become one of his team.

Which suggests that MM has been very active behind the scenes, prior to arriving in Wigan, with regards to strengthening in areas he must have already identified as weak.

I think the position of scrum half is the one most under scrutiny with this signing.