Wane assesses squad options

Shaun Wane has ruled out making any signings for the rest of this season.
Shaun WaneShaun Wane
Shaun Wane

Several Super League clubs have bolstered their squads in recent weeks ahead of the break for the Super-8s phase of the campaign.

St Helens, Leigh, Huddersfield and Warrington have brought in fresh-blood.

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The deadline for making signings for this current season is July 21 - three weeks on Friday.

Wane brought in Kiwi prop Frank-Paul Nuuausala from Canberra at this stage last year but, asked if he planned on making any recruits, he said: “No, no.”

But he has already started looking at the composition of his squad for next year and beyond.

Most of his frontline players are signed up for next season, and George Williams, Liam Marshall and Tom Davies have signed improved deals.

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It is understood an option has been taken out on Willie Isa’s contract for 2018 - though there has been no confirmation from the club - which would leave captain Sean O’Loughlin as the only senior player out-of-contract at the end of this season.

Wane has said he wants the 34-year-old to play on next season, ahead of a move onto his coaching staff, but confirmed there had been no developments on that front.

While he has not ruled out making signings for next season, he isn’t planning any sweeping changes.

“I’m more than happy with the squad I’ve got, I’m not looking into any changes,” he said.

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“I’ve not gone into it in detail, I’m going through every single player and where I see improvements - like an appraisal - and that’ll progress into something else when we get into the back end of the year.”

He admits the form of some younger players during their injury-crisis made him realise he had better-quality depth than he realised.

“I never thought Jack Wells, for example, could play 80 minutes and make nearly 50 tackles at 19-years of age,” said Wane.

“And the quality of his contacts are good, so he’s impressed me, and a few have impressed me.”