Sculthorpe out, Civoniceva in ?

[Martin WWRFL]

It says in the League Weekly -

Danny Sculthorpe is likely to remain at castleford in 2007, League weekly understands.
Wigan boss Noble is more likely to allow Sculthorpe to go having recently snapped up Stuart Fielden from Bradford for £450,000. He is also believed to be chasing Brisbane prop Petro Civoniceva.


I'd be sad to lose Sculthorpe as he has alot of potential but i'd be chuffed in we signed Civoniceva as he's a cracking prop and showed it in the state of origin series.

[DaveO]

Martin WWRFL posted:
Civoniceva.

I presume with a surname like that he has an EC passport as I doubt he comes form a Kolpak qualified country.

Otherwise he aint coming as our quota is full already.

Dave

[Martin WWRFL]

DaveO posted:

Martin WWRFL posted:
Civoniceva.

I presume with a surname like that he has an EC passport as I doubt he comes form a Kolpak qualified country.

Otherwise he aint coming as our quota is full already.

Dave

I don't know it dosen't say anything about the quota in the article.

But it also says -

The number one target for Wigan Warriors coach Brian Noble for next season is Shontayne Hape of the Bradford Bulls.

The Kiwi international is wanted to replace centre David Vaeliki who is, i hear, available for loan if an agreement on his contract can be reached.

Sources inform me that he signed a 'tidy deal' with chairman Maurice Lindsay and Wigan might sort a part-pay deal with another club rather than trying to pay him off before his contract ends in november.

This is an article by Dave Parker who said that James Evans would go on loan to Wakefield and Maxime Gresque aswell. So he seems to be in the know.

[DaveO]

Martin WWRFL posted:
But it also says -

The number one target for Wigan Warriors coach Brian Noble for next season is Shontayne Hape of the Bradford Bulls.

The Kiwi international is wanted to replace centre David Vaeliki who is, i hear, available for loan if an agreement on his contract can be reached.

Sources inform me that he signed a 'tidy deal' with chairman Maurice Lindsay and Wigan might sort a part-pay deal with another club rather than trying to pay him off before his contract ends in november.

But again isn't the quota a problem here? I thought Hape was on-quota at Bradford being a genuine Kiwi as aopposed to a South Sea Islander.

This is an article by Dave Parker who said that James Evans would go on loan to Wakefield and Maxime Gresque aswell. So he seems to be in the know.

I think we will just have to wait and see because Noble likes to play his cards close to his chest and does not seem to indulge in any public discussion about who he wants to sign.

It is a bit of a concern that we might end up with so many foreign players at Wigan though and with Noble being GB coach I am not sure how he can justify replacing a British player (Sculthorpe) with an Aussie.

Dave

[GeoffN]

DaveO posted:

It is a bit of a concern that we might end up with so many foreign players at Wigan though and with Noble being GB coach I am not sure how he can justify replacing a British player (Sculthorpe) with an Aussie.

Dave

TBH, I don't much care about that as long as it strengthens Wigan. I'm all in favour of reducing the number of imports, but not unilaterally.
In Civoniciva's case, though, we're getting into the "over-the-hill Aussie" scenario - he'd be nearly 31 by the start of next season.

[OJ]

I can see Danny Sculthorpe staying at Cas, he looks very happy there and I can remember thinking when we played Cas at the JJB that it was hard to believe Danny was actually a Wigan player on loan as he was so wholeheartedly behind the Cas players. He also looks to be in better health this year - not that that is relevant to the discussion I hasten to add.

[Fraggle]

OJ posted:
I can see Danny Sculthorpe staying at Cas, he looks very happy there and I can remember thinking when we played Cas at the JJB that it was hard to believe Danny was actually a Wigan player on loan as he was so wholeheartedly behind the Cas players. He also looks to be in better health this year - not that that is relevant to the discussion I hasten to add.

I reported a radio interview with his brother a couple of weeks ago where Paul said Danny was very happy at Cas, and getting increasingly frustrated by the seeming lack of interest from Wigan about their plans for him. The "better health" comment is also important, whilst Danny had some great games for us, he also missed many many games due to various injuries, so perhaps a change would be better for him physically as well.

[ChrisA]

Civoniceva is still on top of his game, age doesn't seem to have had any effect on his performances. We would without doubt have the bast prop rotation in SL next year. He was a big player in all 3 origin games this season, and is still one of the top front rowers in the world. He would be a good signing, if it helps Wigan climb back up the table and get us challenging next season, I am all up for that. Let Noble spend tiome bringing through his own young players at the club, instead of inheriting "the new breed" we keep hearing about every season, but yet they never seem to do anything.

[ancientnloyal]

Ive said it once... and ill say it again:

Civoniceva sounds like some sort of STD.

good rugby player though

[Wigan Watcher]

Civoniceva

Wasn’t it him who hates daffy duck.

O no that was Simady Sam or something like that.