Ben Cross has now signed

[jaws1]

Impressed with Ben Cross tonight had a good game for me .

[AdamMac]

He did indeed Jaws. Very solid. Big unit and by my clock I had him down for at about 30 mins at least which is a good effort for his first game in a couple of months.

Lima was excellent again. Mossop ran hard but I'm marking him down for the knock on. Coley couple of good shots.

[No straw damn us]

Impressed with Ben Cross tonight had a good game for me .

He must have looked after himself fitness wise, he was hardly blowing when he was subbed.

[josie andrews]

Well done to Ben "St George" Cross. Thought he had a cracking game & I was very impressed with his work rate tonight

Keep it up

[TrueBlueWarrior]

given what cross has done lately and how long lima has taken to settle it just seems like jobs for the boys,i hope i`m wrong, but with madge gone at the end of the year i don`t suppose he cares if he upsets anyone.

Sorry mickw but I think that is a ridiculous post and totally lacking any substance or evidence.

Lima is playing really well at the moment and contributing consistently.

Cross irrelevant of his very recent history is SOO and proven NRL player.

'Jobs for the boy's' well yes they are men who I am sure will do a good job for us.

Finally, Madge Certainly has not upset me or probably most if not all other fans, in terms of the players who knows who is happy and who is not, if your playing you will be happy, if not you wont, that is sport that is life. It seems to me the lads have a great spirit no matter who plays and the person to thank for that is MM. In a nutshell I think we have a happy camp and will remain to do so, with
MM DOING EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO KEEP IT THAT WAY!!

well if it takes cross as lomg as it took lima to settle then the season will be over FACT,and if you would rather block the path of a young home grown player in favour of a bloke who has NO future with us then you must be quite happy for us never to challange the aussies again.as for cross`s recent history being irrelevant well i find that ridiculous.

mickw think you need to read posts carefully before you reply:-

I said 'Cross irrelevant of his very recent history is SOO and proven NRL player.'

You replied 'as for cross`s recent history being irrelevant well i find that ridiculous.'

Do you need my quote explaining further before you understand it?

And the posts above quite clearly show why MM signed Cross because as a very very very good coach he believed that the youngsters in the squad like Ben Davies are simply not good enough at this moment in time to help Wigan win another League, GF and CC. Yes we all want to see great youngsters coming through at Wigan that are firstly good enough for Wigan and then the international stage and we have many at the moment, but ultimately at this moment Wigan are challenging for 3 major trophies and MM as a true professional will do whatever it takes to win them, like signing Ben Cross.

Finally judging by tonights game think Cross has settled for quicker than Lima, good news eh?

[josie andrews]

Finally judging by tonights game think Cross has settled for quicker than Lima, good news eh?

I too think Ben has settled in very quickly. Very impressed, keep it up

[No straw damn us]

What it should tell those young players is that it doesn't matter what your name is. Perform and you will get your chance, it's then up to you to take it, something that the likes of Davies and Ainscough failed to do.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

well if it takes cross as lomg as it took lima to settle then the season will be over FACT,and if you would rather block the path of a young home grown player in favour of a bloke who has NO future with us then you must be quite happy for us never to challange the aussies again.as for cross`s recent history being irrelevant well i find that ridiculous.

Take it you didn't go the game tonight then?

as a season ticket holder in the south stand i go to every game,i take it your refering to cross`s performance tonight which i thought was steady for a first game,not sure what the message is to those young scholarship lads we paraded before kick off though,maybe its do well get in the U20`s work hard for a chance then get blocked out by a 30+ short term aussie signing!

mickw was you by any chance drinking pints of 'BITTER' in the south stand bar tonight?

Look I do completely understand where your coming from and as I have already said there is nothing better than youngsters coming through the ranks but the message it would simply send out to me if I was an academy player is simple - I have to be simply equivalent to an English International or SOO/NRL player minimum (you know what I am trying to say) to get in the Wigan first team because standards are rising, so I better get working hard!!

[TrueBlueWarrior]

well if it takes cross as lomg as it took lima to settle then the season will be over FACT,and if you would rather block the path of a young home grown player in favour of a bloke who has NO future with us then you must be quite happy for us never to challange the aussies again.as for cross`s recent history being irrelevant well i find that ridiculous.

mickw think you need to read posts carefully before you reply:-

I said 'Cross irrelevant of his very recent history is SOO and proven NRL player.'

You replied 'as for cross`s recent history being irrelevant well i find that ridiculous.'

Do you need my quote explaining further before you understand it?

And the posts above quite clearly show why MM signed Cross because as a very very very good coach he believed that the youngsters in the squad like Ben Davies are simply not good enough at this moment in time to help Wigan win another League, GF and CC. Yes we all want to see great youngsters coming through at Wigan that are firstly good enough for Wigan and then the international stage and we have many at the moment, but ultimately at this moment Wigan are challenging for 3 major trophies and MM as a true professional will do whatever it takes to win them, like signing Ben Cross.

Finally judging by tonights game think Cross has settled for quicker than Lima, good news eh?

this kind of short term thinking really has stood GB in great stead over the last forty years.as for youngsters being good enough for wigan well we`ll never find out.where`s the merit in winning trophies with players on such short contracts comming in at this stage of the season,if thats what you mean by (whatever it takes)then i don`t agree with it.

I was not suggesting you had been drinking it was a play on the word 'BITTER' which you obviously didn't appreciate, sorry for that!

Was you released by Wigan as a junior by any chance?

I will say it again, it is amazing when youngsters come through the ranks, much better than signing a player but at this moment in time MM feels that Cross will help WIGAN the team you support to win trophies, come on is that really that terrible?

Look at the current Squad there are plenty of youngsters that have come through the ranks when the regime has felt right in letting them, so I cannot say I am overly concerned that 1 proven player as a 'short term' contract is seriously going to hinder any current youngsters that much. Maybe the reason he has got a 'short term' contract is because MM may feel that a younger prop will be ready for the start of next season but not just yet.

[TrueBlueWarrior]

if cross was here next year then ok fair enough no problem ,but he is`nt and if wire or leeds or saints did it i would`nt agree with it either,yes i`m a wigan fan but that does`nt mean i agree with everything the club do.

I do not understand your logic mickw because if Cross was here for another year that would block a youngster probably for another whole season, whereas at this moment he is just a short term option till the end of the year opening the door for youngsters at the end of the season providing THEY ARE SIMPLY GOOD ENOUGH FOR WIGAN FIRST TEAM.