Sign Long and Myler.
Long on a 2 year deal and Myler for as long as possible.

Palay split halves with Myler controlling one side of the park with Long controlling the other.

Move Sam to FB, occasionally playing him at 6 moving Myler to 7 resting Long to get the most out of him keeping him fresh over his 2 year spell.
Playing Myler and Sam together occasionally will allow them to slowly gel over the next 2 years ready to be an experienced set of halves by the time Long retires.

Sam would link up very well from the full back position, think of how much creativity our team would have with Long, Myler and Sam all linking up in attack, for once we could put our cracking 3-quarter line into effect.

The attacking and creative options would be awesome.
Sam would observe the game from position where he isn't in the thick of it but linking up well on the field. He has the speed to be a great support player and the wits and ball skills to link up like K Gidley or Slater.

From here we would have a skillful FB, 2 creative halves (both English) one with bags of experience to teach the new halves the finer points of creative rugby.

It's the best option.

if we were even to consider signing long i would PUKE. has some self respect!!

www.sporthull.co.uk/rugby_league ... p?ID=12848 Says in there that Brent Kite could follow Matt Orford to Hull. Brent Kite would be the perfect 'enforcer' prop we are looking for, if he does want to come to super league I would be dissapointed if we weren't trying our best to get him

www.sporthull.co.uk/rugby_league ... p?ID=12848 Says in there that Brent Kite could follow Matt Orford to Hull. Brent Kite would be the perfect 'enforcer' prop we are looking for, if he does want to come to super league I would be dissapointed if we weren't trying our best to get him

Have a word with yourself, Long? No chance. Plus I think Myler is too small considering we have Tomkins already.

To be fair though Stewart and especially Slater are truely amazing players and probably the best 2 in that position in the world at the moment. The pair of them are a class apart from any fullback in this country.

We obvioulsy can't afford to have the best player in the world in every single position and a prop and a halfback are needed before we move onto looking for a fullback.

Options of Phelps/Richards/Roberts and even Sam Tomkins(as you've pointed out) will more then do for us at fullback in superleague.

In your opinion maybe.

Sam may do well at full back but his best position is half back and thats where he should make his name for me. Would be a bit of an unnecesary move as well considering he is doing well at stand off.

Myler is a scrum half not a stand off. Moving players into positions they don't prefer is not a good thing to do especially when they are young players and such key positions.

Long is a good player but past his best, getting worse each season, wants a 2 year deal which means he would be 34 when he leaves, does he even want to come back to Wigan? Is it wise to let him lose with Gleeson?

For me Matt Orford would be a much better option (and yes I do watch NRL) IL should go all out for Lockyer IMO but that is unlikely.

If we went with your idea as well that would mean getting rid of Phelps who has done well for us at full back. Maybe not a big loss but sends a negative message to players playing for contracts when they see a guy play well and not get rewarded. It would also leave us with Roberts, Ainscough and Richards as wingers. Roberts is on a long term contract and will not be released same goes for Pat and Ainscough will also not be let go.

If we went and brought Long AND Myler then this would leave less room on the salary cap for the main position we need to strengthen in, PROP FORWARDS

Myler is a 7 I totally agree, that's exactly why I suggested split halves not a 6 and 7? see what I mean?

Losing Phelps isn't a bad thing. You said it doesn't send a good message to other players playing for a contract, but I think replacing an average Aussie with a good promising young Wigan player is a good thing, a positive. Always like to see promising Wiganers in the team rather than average Aussies regardless of how hard they are trying.

I don't see your point about wingers, what is wrong with having
Roberts
Richards
Ainscough

to cover the wings? Seems a position taken care of for me.

How much do you think Orford would want to up root his entire life to come to Wigan?

Remember we have a few players coming off contract this season, there is room to bring in players and a prop.

You're thinking of him as a saints player, not what he could offer us to help us improve.

See Edwards and Greg.

Didn't realise you suggested split half backs. However I hate split half backs

one of the points of putting Sam at full back would be to make more options in attack but playing split half backs just totally cancels that one out really.

I agree promising youngsters should get in ahead of 'average aussies' but in there best positions. One thing you didn't answer from my post was moving around players in key positions especially to less favourable positions?

We would have 3 wingers and as (I hope) you know there is only 2 wings meaning one would have to miss out. If it was Ainscough surely he would start looking elsewhere, I don't know your stance on Ainscough but imagine the uproar if we let him go. With Roberts and Pat on long term deals and not going to get released, it would either be a waste of quota, cap space or both. Can't see it happening.

I don't know if Matt would want to come to Wigan but I presume IL is over there trying to find out. Same applies that you don't know that Long would want to come to Wigan so that cancels that out ?

We do have players coming off contract yes but what I mean is say we got rid of Coley, Bailey, Phelps and Smith. Improved contracts for Ainscough and Sam would be given. Getting both Long and Myler (they would both be on a good wack) would mean there would be LESS money available for a prop which we need more than anything.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying.

Split halves can be really successful, having an attacking FB would compliment the split halves, a 1 receiver at either side of the dummy half (Long and Myler) with an attacking FB as a second receiver to either Long or Myler with another second receiver (loose forward) on the other side of the play. This would present the dummy half with lots of different options to attack with.

I've been very impressed with how Cronk and Finch are working split halves at Storm the defense is having trouble reading were the play is going.

You talking about moving players around from their less favorable positions. And you make a good point about moving Sam to FB, but remember how Wigan brought Edwards in as a FB and how he benefitted from that position, similar to how Lockyer progressed so well from FB, I believe the same structure and time at FB will help develop Sam as a thinking rugby player.

I'm a big fan of Ainscough and too would be in up roar if he were to leave, but throughout the course of the season Richards, Roberts, and Sam will undoubedly pick up knocks and need resting, having quality cover in the backs is a good thing.

None of us really know how much players are on or how much they want to come to a club, we can speculate, but never know.

Personally I am not a fan of split half backs and would prefer to see link up from the 2 halves and the loose forward or full back if possible.

Finch has been great for Melbourne and taken a lot of pressure of Cronk but it has to be remembered that they are a top side. We have used split half backs quite a lot over the last 2 seasons with not much success.

I would rather see Roberts given a shot at full back and see if he could make it his own and bring in someone to play with Sam in the halves with a pre contract agreement for Myler or sign him and send him back on loan. This would be a lot less risky option for me. However both of our ideas seem unlikely to happen.

A move to Sam COULD turn out well for him but what if it doesn't? I would prefer a safer option of giving him a run in the halves with a quality partner who would let Sam play his own game, that is how I think we would get the best out of him.

Providing he does well enough for us for the rest of the season Ainscough should be starting winger for us next season. I just couldn't see us having him as a back up winger for the next 2 or more seasons.

We don't know how much the players are on but we do have a pretty idea of if they're a big earner or not