Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Mon Nov 25, 2019 9:46 pm  

Sorry for the long title and the time since sources at the club said this but does anybody see a ready made replacement at the club?

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:03 pm  

Tony Clubb

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:23 pm  

Morgan Smithies

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:28 pm  

We don’t have one that I can see.

We have lads that can play 13 but we will have to significantly change the way we play.

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Mon Nov 25, 2019 10:35 pm  

Lockers said it himself but named three players rather than one. They were Smithies, Partington and Joe Shorrocks. I think he was just basically saying we don’t need a signing to replace him because of the young options coming through, rather than pinning his colours on one player.

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:24 am  

jonh wrote:

We don’t have one that I can see.

We have lads that can play 13 but we will have to significantly change the way we play.

Lockers is a one off at the moment, look how England/GB played without him in the last three years. The only other "ball playing" #13 that comes to mind is Adam Milner and he's nowhere near the same class.
As you say Wigan will have to play differently. Personally I would play Lockers from the bench but as a prop, similar to how Andy Farrell played late in his career.

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:52 am  

As others have said, this will probably usher in a change in style. My preference would be to use the loose as an extra prop as other teams are doing:

P G.Burgess
H Powell
P SIGNING
SR Smithies
SR Farrell
LF Flower

S Bullock/Clark/Partington
S Bullock/Clark/Partington
S Greenwood
S Smith

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:32 am  

I’ve said it before several times but the role of #13 is changing. The link between the halves isn’t the role anymore as props and back towers continually take over. I could see anyone of our props/back towers going to #13 but I think at the moment Smithies would be my choice (dependant on how he goes in 2020).

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Tue Nov 26, 2019 9:48 pm  

GB badly missed O'loughlin. There was no link up between the backs and forwards and nobody to hold the defence up like O'loughlin does when he goes right into the line and then passes.Nobody can do this anywhere near good as O'loughlin and id guess its years of practice that has enabled him to perfect it.

Re: Who is the Lockers replacement already at the club? : Wed Nov 27, 2019 12:36 am  

I think we should give Liam Farrell a crack at loose forward as he has a decent skill set at least until Morgan Smithies can grow into the role we need an experienced forward playing there for the forthcoming season