Wigan Sign Halfback Cade Cust from Manly

[Exiled Wiganer]

5 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I wouldn’t say underwhelming tbh. There’s an unknown quantity to them for sure, so they’re not going to make our floating fans rush out and buy season tickets in their droves but they do bring an intrigue and an excitement. I’ve read nothing but positive things about Cust in particular but also very good things about Kaide Ellis, Abbas Miski and Patrick Mago. As things stand we’ll have Jai Field and Bevan French back as well and both bring blistering pace. We know little about Field other than him being quick but we know French is an excitement machine and will get people on the edge of their seats.

 

People can do these signings down all they want but alongside the new coaching team, I’m pretty confident we’ll go ok. I’m absolutely certain it’ll be more exciting than last season. 

More exciting than last season is setting a very low bar. 

Of our signings, Mago and Cust have clearly got the best pedigree, and you can certainly argue that spotting potential in players with first grade NRL experience is the best value for money approach. I will defer to my Manly supporting contacts who are all certain he will “kill” it over here. 

[WN83]

1 hour ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

More exciting than last season is setting a very low bar. 

Of our signings, Mago and Cust have clearly got the best pedigree, and you can certainly argue that spotting potential in players with first grade NRL experience is the best value for money approach. I will defer to my Manly supporting contacts who are all certain he will “kill” it over here. 

That’s true, I mean it literally can’t get any worse on that score. I think we’ll improve quite a bit but so will a lot of other sides. Maybe it’s off season optimism but I’m looking forward to the league as a whole next season. Saints are really strong again, Catalans could be stronger, Powell will kick Wire on, Leeds look as strong as they have done on paper for a good while, Hull KR have added a winner in Coote to an improving side, Cas look strong on paper, Hull should be better and I fancy Huddersfield to make a far better fist of it under Watson, with some really good signings coming in. 

[Saint Toppy]

11 hours ago, WN83 said:

That’s true, I mean it literally can’t get any worse on that score. I think we’ll improve quite a bit but so will a lot of other sides. Maybe it’s off season optimism but I’m looking forward to the league as a whole next season. Saints are really strong again, Catalans could be stronger, Powell will kick Wire on, Leeds look as strong as they have done on paper for a good while, Hull KR have added a winner in Coote to an improving side, Cas look strong on paper, Hull should be better and I fancy Huddersfield to make a far better fist of it under Watson, with some really good signings coming in. 

IMO ditching Lam is the best piece of 'recruitment' Wigan have done this year. They have strengthened the team but as you say so have quite a few other clubs and i'm not sure the recruitment they've made will lift them above the other clubs around them.

Saints & Catalans have definately improved their squads so will probably be the 2 to beat again in 2022. The big unknown is Warrington with Powell. Will they be like Watson who went from being a 'big fish in a small pond' at Salford and overachieving, then going to a bigger club and struggling at Hudds. Or can Powell lift Warrington higher ??

PS - Just for the record I still don't think its going to be Warrington's year  

[WN83]

6 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

IMO ditching Lam is the best piece of 'recruitment' Wigan have done this year. They have strengthened the team but as you say so have quite a few other clubs and i'm not sure the recruitment they've made will lift them above the other clubs around them.

Saints & Catalans have definately improved their squads so will probably be the 2 to beat again in 2022. The big unknown is Warrington with Powell. Will they be like Watson who went from being a 'big fish in a small pond' at Salford and overachieving, then going to a bigger club and struggling at Hudds. Or can Powell lift Warrington higher ??

PS - Just for the record I still don't think its going to be Warrington's year  

I’m not too sure I’m convinced Saints have ‘improved’ their squad. Coote could be a huge loss, Naiqama settled really nicely here and his replacement hasn’t been in great form down under and will need to get used to Superleague. I think Fages and Bentley have been top players for Saints but the replacements look like they could handle the transition (you never know how Sironen will settle mind). 
 

Time will tell I guess. Saints look strong for sure and have more depth than usual away from the spine positions but I’m not sure they’re ‘stronger’, not at the minute anyway. 

[FearTheVee]

14 minutes ago, WN83 said:

I’m not too sure I’m convinced Saints have ‘improved’ their squad. Coote could be a huge loss, Naiqama settled really nicely here and his replacement hasn’t been in great form down under and will need to get used to Superleague. I think Fages and Bentley have been top players for Saints but the replacements look like they could handle the transition (you never know how Sironen will settle mind). 
 

Time will tell I guess. Saints look strong for sure and have more depth than usual away from the spine positions but I’m not sure they’re ‘stronger’, not at the minute anyway. 

I fancy Welsby for Coote at FB won't see us losing much; we could possibly be stronger but time will tell.  Coote struggled badly for form at the start of the year but was playing well by the end.  We'll miss his nous.

Fages didn't play after the second half at Wembley and Dodd stepped up - with another off-season I'm very confident he'll be a better player than Fages.  In my opinion he already was towards the end of the year.

Bentley barely played last year and Bachelor had overtaken him for most anyway.  Thompson wont be missed so I'd say bringing in Sironen and Bell has us at least even with last year despite Bentley heading for Leeds - Bentley is a workhorse but lacked a bit of size and strike and struggled with his discipline - hopefully Sironen will be an improvement.

Naiqama is an interesting one - he was a big game player and agree that Hopoate and Hurrell have a job on to replace him - one of them will need to go very well to improve on KN.

On the flip side I think Lussick could be a really good signing at hooker and might allow us to be a bit more dynamic for the full 80 out of DH.

I can see the arguments both ways - difficult to say we are stronger but also difficult to say we are weaker for the departures.

[Saint Toppy]

1 hour ago, WN83 said:

I’m not too sure I’m convinced Saints have ‘improved’ their squad. Coote could be a huge loss, Naiqama settled really nicely here and his replacement hasn’t been in great form down under and will need to get used to Superleague. I think Fages and Bentley have been top players for Saints but the replacements look like they could handle the transition (you never know how Sironen will settle mind). 
 

Time will tell I guess. Saints look strong for sure and have more depth than usual away from the spine positions but I’m not sure they’re ‘stronger’, not at the minute anyway. 

I'm with Fear the Vee on this one, I think they're stronger. Coote of 2019 & 20 was outstanding but it was noticeable in 2021 how many more mistakes he was making and he was struggling to chime into the line as much as the 2 previous years. I think Welsby will end up making mistakes at FB but I think his attacking skills are far better than Coote's.

Naiquama is a difficult one to call. He was a great attacking player but at times woeful in defence with some really poor reads. Hopoate wont provide the same attacking threat that Naiquama did but defensively he's pretty strong.

I've said many times on here that I thoght Fages was limited in his abilities, defensively brilliant but lacked a good kicking or running game. Dodd still has a lot to learn but I think his overall skill-set is a step up from Fages.

Bentley barely played in 2021 so they've already shown they can play just as well without him.

Thompson was a huge disappointment so even if Sironen isn't spectacular he'll still be an improvement.

Signing Lussick could potentially be the best signing Saints have made for 2022. He's already proved he's a very good SL player when at Salford and utilising him alongside Roby next year will massively improve the threat up the middle. 

[Exiled Wiganer]

Toppy in Saints are unbeatable shocking revelation! 

[WN83]

6 hours ago, FearTheVee said:

I fancy Welsby for Coote at FB won't see us losing much; we could possibly be stronger but time will tell.  Coote struggled badly for form at the start of the year but was playing well by the end.  We'll miss his nous.

Fages didn't play after the second half at Wembley and Dodd stepped up - with another off-season I'm very confident he'll be a better player than Fages.  In my opinion he already was towards the end of the year.

Bentley barely played last year and Bachelor had overtaken him for most anyway.  Thompson wont be missed so I'd say bringing in Sironen and Bell has us at least even with last year despite Bentley heading for Leeds - Bentley is a workhorse but lacked a bit of size and strike and struggled with his discipline - hopefully Sironen will be an improvement.

Naiqama is an interesting one - he was a big game player and agree that Hopoate and Hurrell have a job on to replace him - one of them will need to go very well to improve on KN.

On the flip side I think Lussick could be a really good signing at hooker and might allow us to be a bit more dynamic for the full 80 out of DH.

I can see the arguments both ways - difficult to say we are stronger but also difficult to say we are weaker for the departures.

I’d go with that. Tough to say either way but clearly still very strong.

One major difference is where Saints go now with a couple of injuries in the spine positions in the backs. As you say Dodds form meant Fages wasn’t badly missed and Welsby stood in for anybody in the backline more than comfortably but say one or two from Welsby, Lomax and Dodds went down for a period next season, it’s then going to take a real shuffle around. Welsby is that real safety net because he can play anywhere but say it was him and Lomax out at the same time for example, it would probably mean Hopoate at FB and then a kid or a makeshift halfback going in at stand off. Not the end of the world but certainly not as comfortable as having Welsby to throw in anywhere and Dodds to cover the halves. 
 

 

[FearTheVee]

10 hours ago, WN83 said:

I’d go with that. Tough to say either way but clearly still very strong.

One major difference is where Saints go now with a couple of injuries in the spine positions in the backs. As you say Dodds form meant Fages wasn’t badly missed and Welsby stood in for anybody in the backline more than comfortably but say one or two from Welsby, Lomax and Dodds went down for a period next season, it’s then going to take a real shuffle around. Welsby is that real safety net because he can play anywhere but say it was him and Lomax out at the same time for example, it would probably mean Hopoate at FB and then a kid or a makeshift halfback going in at stand off. Not the end of the world but certainly not as comfortable as having Welsby to throw in anywhere and Dodds to cover the halves. 
 

 

I think that's fair - last year we essentially started the season with Welsby and Dodd as cover for the halves, we don't have the luxury of such well developed young players in the wings next year and cover in the pivot positions in the backs is certainly weaker as a result.

The other important point is that a number of players are that year older, particularly in the front row.  It's difficult to see how each of Roby, Amor and LMS in particular will not be less effective.  The Lussick signing helps with spelling Roby but we are still reliant on LMS/Amor to a degree (albeit as 4th choice props).

Will be interested how much of Norman we see this year - both Bentley and Bachelor spent a long time working hard in the background before coming through, maybe we'll see him coming through this year now he's had a couple of off-seasons with us.

[bobbruce]

On 18/11/2021 at 22:19, WN83 said:

I’d go with that. Tough to say either way but clearly still very strong.

One major difference is where Saints go now with a couple of injuries in the spine positions in the backs. As you say Dodds form meant Fages wasn’t badly missed and Welsby stood in for anybody in the backline more than comfortably but say one or two from Welsby, Lomax and Dodds went down for a period next season, it’s then going to take a real shuffle around. Welsby is that real safety net because he can play anywhere but say it was him and Lomax out at the same time for example, it would probably mean Hopoate at FB and then a kid or a makeshift halfback going in at stand off. Not the end of the world but certainly not as comfortable as having Welsby to throw in anywhere and Dodds to cover the halves. 
 

 

You take a couple of spine players out of any SL team and it’s going to be tough. I’d guess Hopoate to fullback and Bell to stand-off obviously lose something but still workable.