Priority #1 - Prop! I’d argue we need a prop more than we need anything else. If we can only bring in one player in the Winter, it has to be a prop. Not a squad filler or luxury comedy big man who lasts ten minutes at a time but becomes a cult favourite because he puts in a big hit, we don’t need a bench prop. For me, we need a starting, first name on the team sheet, leader on the pitch, prop. It’s time for the next Adrian Morley at this club!
I’d love George Burgess here!
#2 - Centre. Is it going to be Burrell and King next year or are we going to see Burrell as a back rower and a new centre come in? Neither are specialist centres though so I’d like to see our specialist wingers play outside at least one specialist centre.
Bill Tupou from Wakey would be ideal!
#3 - Loose. I’d like to see a ball playing big man. Westerman was good at this for us but not consistent enough. What struck me most in last season’s Grand Final was how the ball moved through O'Loughlin’s hands so much for Wigan. The creativity it brought to the game was the difference between the two teams. Burrell had good hands in rugby union and the transition from a union centre to a loose forward in rugby league is an obvious one. So maybe not a signing here but bring in a proper centre and have Burrell as the loose forward.
I think we’ll see the best of Currie back again next year though. He’ll have months of trust in his body and a proper pre-season preparing him for the season rather than rehabilitating him from injury. He’ll be like a new signing.
Obviously we have Widdop coming in. A very exciting singing, for sure!
I’d also like to see a new fitness coach too. I think we faded (mainly due to the sin bin of Hughes and going down to 12, but still...) against Saints a few weeks back after completely matching them for an hour. And we’ve looked absolutely gassed in other games this season. I think we overachieved last season with John Clarke having our players fitter than the opposition, we were never a double finalist team on paper for me last season, but we did achieve that. This season I don’t think we’ve looked as fit after losing Clarke to union.