It is unfair to compare him with Bridge and Atkins as they are seasoned pros.

Even in his earlier years though, Atkins had bags of pace. Bridge has played at 6 before so he has a far superior skill set even when he was younger.



Hughes doesn't have pace, he isn't a really skillfull player. He works hard, all points to a backrower for me. Joel Tomkins was the opposite, playing in the backrow and yet he was quicker than a lot of outside backs with the skills to match.

Was confused with his selection ahead of Gelling for the Leeds game, but other than a few errors in the first half on Sunday (not the only one) he's been superb.

He's quicker than he looks, I've seen him score a few for the U20s where he's outpaced some pretty quick opposition players, including that one in the GF v Wire. Not as fast as Joel, I agree, but still no slouch.

He was actually being negative. Read it again.

Hardest thing to master at centre is defence, when to come out of the line and when to stay. Cock this up and even if the centre doesn't look daft, his winger usually does. So far he's done brilliantly. If putting him in at centre was meant to be a stop gap, I'd say it's working well and we may have found a gem for the future. SW and IL seem to think so with the award of this contract.

Joel was a fairly poor centre. Definitely didn't have nous for that position. Atkins, despite all the years he's played at centre still isn't very good. He's a big, strong fast bloke but not blessed with too much skill. Bridge is a good un and Hughes isn't at his level yet but from his performances so far, he deserves the chance to make centre position his own.

A long contract is great. If he's not working out and another club wants him enough there are ways out of it, which usually includes a transfer fee in Wigan's favour.



It's good business.

I agree in terms of JT, I think people have rose tinted glasses in terms of Joel's tenure at centre - he has a bit more pace than most backrowers, but his defensive positioning, awareness and decision making in the centre postion left a lot to be desired. I also think people over-emphasise his attacking skill set - he took the wrong option in attack far too often and his final passes were wayward on many occasions.



So far I've been more impressed in terms of Hughes transition to the centre position. His attacking game may be a work in progress with potential, however defensively he looks solid and that is the important basis for any decent centre which assists the confidence in his winger.



As far as Atkins is concerned I disagree - he is developing into a real threat in attack and his defence has improved significantly since his initial turnstile days at Wakefield.

I don't think anyone on this board had an exagerated view of Joel at centre.

In fact most if not all felt that if he had stayed then he should have been moved back to 2nd row and the club go and purchase a No3.

Joel didn't remain at centre and the club didn't buy a 3 but went with Goulding.

All in all it's worked out quite well really.

And how much did the club get in transfer fee for Joel?