wigan sign fletcher

[Dawber]

Just been confirmed on teletext that wigan have signed south sydney skipper Brian Fletcher on a two year deal, Whooooooooooo Hoooooooooooo !
what a great signing for the club, he turned down a new deal at souths as he fancied a new challenge with wigan well done mo

[we_need_a_coach]

Dawber posted:
Just been confirmed on teletext that wigan have signed south sydney skipper Brian Fletcher on a two year deal, Whooooooooooo Hoooooooooooo !
what a great signing for the club, he turned down a new deal at souths as he fancied a new challenge with wigan well done mo

:conf:
Don't get carried away, yes he has been a good player in Australia, but is this Doris doing his normal PR stunt when thigs are not going well.

Fletcher will only come to us in 2006, he is currently 31, which means by the time he arrives in Wigan he will be 32, and by the time his contract expires he will be almost 35.

This looks like another signing of an over the hill Australian, just coming over for an easy ride into retirement, comments please.

We need players, but not anymore ageing Aussies PLEASE !!!!!!!

[king carney]

ill agree we dont want players who are here for the pay and easy ride we want guys that have to prove them selves people that will give a flying monkeys about wigan and its fans, or if you gona bring players like that bring joey johns over!

[Dawber]

we_need_a_coach posted:

Dawber posted:
Just been confirmed on teletext that wigan have signed south sydney skipper Brian Fletcher on a two year deal, Whooooooooooo Hoooooooooooo !
what a great signing for the club, he turned down a new deal at souths as he fancied a new challenge with wigan well done mo

:conf:
Don't get carried away, yes he has been a good player in Australia, but is this Doris doing his normal PR stunt when thigs are not going well.

Fletcher will only come to us in 2006, he is currently 31, which means by the time he arrives in Wigan he will be 32, and by the time his contract expires he will be almost 35.

This looks like another signing of an over the hill Australian, just coming over for an easy ride into retirement, comments please.

We need players, but not anymore ageing Aussies PLEASE !!!!!!!

When will you be happy? you moan when they don't do anything then moan when they do ?? i just can't weigh you up what is your problem? what must it be like sitting next to you during a game ? i would be up for murder if i sat next to you m8y,
I believe fletcher is a superb signing, but hey that is only my opinion

[DaveO]

we_need_a_coach posted:
This looks like another signing of an over the hill Australian, just coming over for an easy ride into retirement, comments please.

We need players, but not anymore ageing Aussies PLEASE !!!!!!!

This is exactly the type of comment I predicted would be made if we signed this sort of player.

When Farrell "left" I lost count of the number of posts from people on various message boards that said we should not blow the Farrell money on one player but sign a couple of solid professionals instead.

Well Fletcher is one o fthose solid professional players who will do a job for us. I expect other signings to follow.

It is clear to me that to do well in SL you need a larger squad of experienced players than we have. Leeds have got it right in that respect and they don't have many if any imported superstars.

It basically means clubs will look to sign players like Fletcher as opposed to breaking the bank on a current international in their mid-twenties (if you could persuade them to give up the NRL that is).

The long term solution is not to import ANY players but to grow your own superstars but in the meantime Fletcher will, IMO, fit the bill and if he does for us what David Furner did then we won't be able to complain.

Dave

[we_need_a_coach]

Dawber posted:

we_need_a_coach posted:

Dawber posted:
Just been confirmed on teletext that wigan have signed south sydney skipper Brian Fletcher on a two year deal, Whooooooooooo Hoooooooooooo !
what a great signing for the club, he turned down a new deal at souths as he fancied a new challenge with wigan well done mo

:conf:
Don't get carried away, yes he has been a good player in Australia, but is this Doris doing his normal PR stunt when thigs are not going well.

Fletcher will only come to us in 2006, he is currently 31, which means by the time he arrives in Wigan he will be 32, and by the time his contract expires he will be almost 35.

This looks like another signing of an over the hill Australian, just coming over for an easy ride into retirement, comments please.

We need players, but not anymore ageing Aussies PLEASE !!!!!!!

When will you be happy? you moan when they don't do anything then moan when they do ?? i just can't weigh you up what is your problem? what must it be like sitting next to you during a game ? i would be up for murder if i sat next to you m8y,
I believe fletcher is a superb signing, but hey that is only my opinion

I'll be happy when the Warriors are moving forward, this is'nt a signing for the future, of course we want players, but to release good young talent for nowt, and then to go over to Australia for over priced journeymen is'nt in my view the sign of a progressive club !!!!
Just answer one question, by the time Fletcher gets here, will he be the oldest player on the books ??????????????????????????????

[Fraggle]

we_need_a_coach posted:
I'll be happy when the Warriors are moving forward, this is'nt a signing for the future, of course we want players, but to release good young talent for nowt, and then to go over to Australia for over priced journeymen is'nt in my view the sign of a progressive club !!!!
Just answer one question, by the time Fletcher gets here, will he be the oldest player on the books ??????????????????????????????

Does it matter how old he is? Furner retired at about 35, Jason Smith was 37 or some such thing. There's no rule that says players suddenly become rubbish once they pass 33 years old.

Unless the rules have changed, there's still a transfer fee involved when we have to sell on one of our young players, up to about 23 years old IIRC. This is to compensate the original club for their investment in developing the player. Remember, we even got money for Ricky Donkey going to St Helens. So they don't go for nothing.

But at other times you've criticised the young players for not being good enough, which they're not going to be when they're thrown in en-mass for so many games without any senior players to guide them. There aren't that many experienced players available in the UK.

As for not signing for the future, you keep saying we have no future with things as they are now. But Fletch will steady the team, provide some much-needed experience up-front and help the younger players progress. Who, at the moment, do we have developing the back-row forwards? Tickle, Hock, Allen, Lockers etc are all still young. Maybe Betts himself is training these guys, although they do pass the ball occasionally so I guess it's not Betts after all! But having a senior player around them will help them develop for the future, so whilst Fletcher isn't going to be there for 10 years, maybe he'll help push our younger players so they will be better for the future.

If the likes of Fletcher isn't good enough, who do you want to bring in?

[DaveO]

If you look at our current 28 man squad on the clubs web site and look at the back row forwards there are seven of them and the eldest are Tickle and O'Loughlin at 22.

They are, Hock (21), Tickle (22), O'Loughlin (22), Allen (19), Beswick (20), Tomkins (18), Hansen (19).

Of those only three are what you might call experienced.

We have complained we lack experience and have too many kids and the ages of those above proves that to be true.

Mo has addressed the issue by signing an experienced forward on a two year deal. That will help us out nicely while those of the above who are going to make the grade gain some experience with Fletcher there to provide the experience we lack.

Adding Fletcher brings some much needed experience to the back row of the pack and improves the squad depth. I for one would make him captain next season from the off given he is also a proven leader.

It is an astute signing IMO and the fact he will be 32 isn't a problem given we need the qualities of someone of that experience at the club.

There is just no pleasing some people!

Dave

[warriors]

Is he signed for next season, or will he be playing for us this season????
It will proberly be for next season. I am just wondering.

[pedro]

Fletcher will bring in much needed experience into the wigan team which we lost when farrell left.

I cant remember maybe im wrong ever signing an ex aussie international and them letting us down.