Wigan continue to back British youth

[Fairleigh Good!]

Wigan capture 3

Good to see that the club with arguably the finest selection of young players to choose from is once again backing their own to do well.

I'm sure St Helens, Salford and Widnes will be delighted at the prospect of 4 or 5 more GB hopefulls spilling out onto the transfer market.

Of the 3 I'd say Leuleuai is the only one with the ability and the potential to be successful there. The other two, to be frank, are joke signings.

I make it 12 overseas players in the starting 17 for Wigoon now. Reason 346 to hate the gooners.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Barrett, Vaeliki, Richards, Withers, Leuluai, Millard, Bailey, Fletcher, Paleaaesina, Hansen (sort of), who else?
I don't think it's 12 of their starting 17 but there are far too many. I think Wigan will be down my list of teams to support next year. Noble is the cause. He did the same at Bradford. But having said that Wigan are producing a lot of juniors, even a lot of St Helens juniors are from Wigan, and if they then go off to other clubs that's not a bad thing for those other clubs.

 

[Evil Homer]

Don't like the signing of Withers,especially if it keeps Ashton out of the team.They have nobody in the academy that can really do the same job as Millard,so I'm not too upset about that,and Leuluai is a quality signing.

 

[Phillips]

Leuluai is a quality signing lol

 

[freeridermx]

if that Ashton kid is left out of the squad the coaching staff needs shoting he is a good young player and is a pom so this is a good thing and they go buy a has been like withers who isn`t that good any way. great move by wigan should really help develop the game in england . well done.

 

[deluded pom?]

I know where you are coming from guys but it isn't Wigan's job to look out for G.B. rugby league on their own. They have to do what they feel is right for Wigan within the rules. I'm sure Saints or any other club for that matter won't be voluntarily cutting all of their quota/Kolpak/Granny passport holders to get down to three imports. The lead HAS to come from the top.

 

[ParraDude_Jay]

if that Ashton kid is left out of the squad the coaching staff needs shoting he is a good young player and is a pom so this is a good thing and they go buy a has been like withers who isn`t that good any way. great move by wigan should really help develop the game in england . well done.

Ashton was a centre when he came through the ranks at Wigan and his form at centre was better than his form at fullback before he went into first grade, they'll probably play him there and it could be a masterstroke, particularly if it holds Vaealiki out of the team. If not then Withers will just play centre, Ashton will play you can bet on that though, Noble rates him and he turned down an offer from Union to stay with Wigan so they must have guaranteed his place.

 

[JasonE]

Don't like the signing of Withers,especially if it keeps Ashton out of the team.They have nobody in the academy that can really do the same job as Millard,so I'm not too upset about that,and Leuluai is a quality signing.

Their 18yo hooker is a gun, his name is Mike McIllorum and he was in the first team squad last season but he hardly played due to a back injury which has also ruled him out of the Academy series v Oz. In defence he hits as hard as anyone i've seen and his distribution is good.

The signing of Millard (they let Godwin go) is a joke.

 

[Evil Homer]

Fair enough.The thinking probably was that it's not wise to throw an 18yo player with no first grade experience into the fray and expect him to do a job.Hopefully if he's as good as you say he will be integrated slowly to aid his development.

I had always thought it was Godwin's choice to leave,if not then bad form on Wigan's part.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

The thing about the signings is that they are not good players. Ignoring the fact that they are not British, they are no better than the kids that are already at Wigan. Millard is also not as good a player as either Godwin or Smith, both of whom have flown the nest in recent seasons.

They are poor signings no matter where they are from. It is silly.

Wigan yet again try to excuse these shocking signings by complaining about the salary cap and crying that they had trouble fitting them in. That's is what annoys me so much about Wigan. If they were not paying David Vaeliki, Bryan Fletcher, Phil Bailey, Patt Richards and Feka Paeleasina so much money they would have room to spend on other players.

Despite their constant moaning about it, the salary cap is not Wigan's problem. Their problem is that they make poor decisions with regards to player signings, retentions and releases. Compare how well the McManus/McGuire combo has run St Helens over the past few years to the job done by Lindsey and co at Wigan.

 

[vikingstorm]

Im Expecting a Good run from Wigan in 2007

Likely team

1 Michael Withers
2.Pat Richards
3 Phil Bailey
4 Chris Ashton or Darryl Goulding Or Sean Gleeson
5 Mark Calderwood
6 Trent Barrett
7 Thomas Leuluai
8 Stuart Fielden
9 Mickey Higham
10 Iafeta Paleasina
11 Bryan Fletcher
12 Gareth Hock
13 Sean O'Loughlin

14 Paul Prescott
15 Harrison Hansen
16 Joel Tomkins


Wigan have another ten great young players also, and I would be sure 2 or 3 will make the grade
All 3 of those young British players in the Centre Could be Great