https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2025/01/ ... year-deal/

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2025/01/ ... year-deal/

Makes sense with the news of Willie Isa retiring with immediate effect.

Good news for the club and Liam.

Contracted through to 2027 means when he does retire he'll have been a one club man.

Very appropriate for a man and player of such high standards.

I am certain it’s a great deal for the club, Farrell and the fans.

Keeps an excellent experienced captain, secures 2 more years for him and his family and hopefully he continues to lift the trophies.

One of the most consistent players that I’ve ever watched for the club. His consistency over the years had been bordering on the ridiculous. We probably won’t really appreciate how good he is until he finally hangs up his boots.

With most players you would wonder about them being on a contract for the next 3 seasons, at the age of 34 but Faz is a physical freak. His level is still extremely high, especially in the bigger games. Over that period you would hope more options become available and we can really manage his minutes and make sure he's fresh when we need him. Guys like Mason, Hirst and Kerr will have no better professional to learn from.

It makes sense for lots of reasons - his conditioning, good injury record, his quality and his leadership. He'll be first choice this year and likely in 2026 - whether he's an automatic pick in 2027 or a squad player, either way we're better off with him over the next three years.

Big mistake, will hold back Walters for the sake of sentimentality

Can only disagree with you on that one, Walters is not yet at the level of Farrell so to have a mentor like him to bring Walters through is good planning by the club, I suspect Walters will be gradually integrated into the team during the next two season and eventually be first pick over Farrell

1 season would have been adequate

Only time will tell on that one, but what if Walters gets injured again and spends most of the season on the sideline, the transition will be rushed, likewise if Faz gets injured Walters would probably be first in the position but that would be out of necessity rather than careful planning

Walters should be playing prop.

To replace who, Havard, Thompson, Mago or Dupree or even Hill, we need a second row for when Faz moves on and as far as I aware Walters has been brought in for that position

It was a shame the season ended when it did for Walters as he was very effective at second row in the playoff against Leigh.

He had some tough luck last year. A combination of personal and team-wide injuries, changes in regards to who he lined up with and bans really hit him hard.



He looked very good towards the end of the year, and it’s no surprise that this coincided with him playing outside France and in a team that had "flipped the switch" and was ready for playoff rugby.

If only Rads/Peet,you know the leaders who may have won something over the last few years we would be in a better position of say winning everything possible in 1 season.

I and many others look forward to your many positive comments concerning the running of this club.

I think Walters will come good at SR this season, he has a good running style for catching defences out, wider out, rather than just trying to bash it up in the middle, Faz taking the lead at the start of the season and Walters coming in to build up game time will be a good mix.

It will be interesting to see how well Farrell adapts to playing on the right side after a career of playing on the left.

Walters first aim this season should be to take a bench spot. There is no reason why he shouldn't be able to do that and he can then look to make a regular impression. The lad can play in the second row or at prop, so straight away he's offering something different to us carrying 3 out and out props on the bench. He needs to justify that spot, rather than it just being a safety net but I would always rather go with 2 props, a second rower and a hooker on the bench and not only does he enable that but he can cover prop in case of an issue with somebody else. At times last year though, he would come on in games and look half asleep, so he needs to work on that and force Peets hand.

The nagging doubt with Walters is that he lacks intensity and I have a feeling it might be a tough task for the coaching team to get that out of him.

I always have hope because of the work they've done with Mago. Walters coming on and making errors and generally looking a bit lax, reminded me of Mago in his first couple of seasons. He would come on and always spoil a spell with the most basic errors but they have managed to get him straight. I thought we saw signs of Walters improving as well towards the back end of the season, so we'll see how it plays out.