Sam gets hype because Sam is the finest back the country has produced in the superleague era and not because he plays for Wigan. He is world class and should be the lad we build the game around.

If any club produces a player as good they can pay him in golden nuggets for all I care.

As for Dan Sarginson he's a classy young player and if he produces magic like Sam his hype will go through the roof. A southerner playing rugby league to the level of Sam Tomkins would be simply sensational.

This is long overdue and if it keeps players like sam in RL and in this country, then all the better

Sorry, who do you support again? Sam needs to work on his goal line defence before he can claim to be the finest anything the country has produced in the superleague era. He's terrific in attack but he still has a lot of development in defence yet to do.


Saints already did. They lost one of them to Union and one to the NRL, without so much as a blink from the RFL. Thankfully, Roby stayed but Roby would have stayed anyway.

He only recently signed a five year deal and now gets an extension to it after what can only be seen as holding the club to ransom.

And not just the club. All clubs now have to deal with the possibility of one or all of their players thinking they are the marquee signing who can fook the salary cap. I bet the other clubs are just pleased as punch at this development. It makes their negotiating so much easier. Not.

Did you see Sams tackle on Wellens in the game at Widnes? superb defence.



Do you honestly believe that Eastmond is/was anywhere near the standard of Sam? I was telling people on here four years ago just how good Sam was, and about the "problems" with Eastmond, despite his talent.

I could catch wello in 20 yards if i gave him a 10 yard start!

seriously though Sam is improving this side of his game and its easy to forget how young he still is and so learning the game and his new position.

Him committing to RL in this country is great news

It was the tackle on the line when he stopped Wellens who was at full speed

and was running straight at Tomkins.

All this is doing is raising the expectations of players and the costs to SL Clubs.

This is not the answer.
If a club such as wigan want to pay their superstar sam a load of dosh to bribe him to stay then fair enough but unless all the other clubs agree to a salary cap increase then wigan will have to save salary money elsewhere.

Ignoring personalities and clubs, this is bound to favour the bigger clubs.

Is this not connected to the image rights issue that wigan and some other clubs have been caught out with and are now as a result finding it impossible to keep paying the wages they were paying?

Don't you mean wello was running that fast, sam couldn't get out of the way?

I saw Twiglett Gaskell run at Sam and sit him on his booty.

I wonder how the rest of the Wigan lads will find being made to train with someone who earns double what they do.

This ruling needs massive clarification.

For example how many per club?
What % of the wage is over and above the cap?
How will this effect payments for other players?

Ie Tomkins gets £170000 for example. Is all that off the cap so allowing wigan to offer a deal to a player or players they could not afford other wise. Is £100, 000 on the cap £70000 off it, there fore freeing up £70000 for another player.

How do you judge what would have been offered under the cap to after the cap.

Minefield and can of worms spring to mind. Anyone got a link to the actual break down of this.

Also nice for RFL to step in on Wigans behalf, left it just the right length of time for Saints to have to let Graham go and spend a bucket load on a replacement for Eastmond.

Ah well normal service resumes.

I've stated previously 'proper league fans' will be made up Sam's staying in the game.

I'll leave it there.

indeed. As a fullback Sam's 1on1 tackling will always be suspect as he's so small

Quote ="bewareshadows"This ruling needs massive clarification. For example how many per club? What % of the wage is over and above the cap? How will this effect payments for other players? Ie Tomkins gets £170000 for example. Is all that off the cap so allowing wigan to offer a deal to a player or players they could not afford other wise. Is £100, 000 on the cap £70000 off it, there fore freeing up £70000 for another player. How do you judge what would have been offered under the cap to after the cap. Minefield and can of worms spring to mind. Anyone got a link to the actual break down of this. =#FF0000Also nice for RFL to step in on Wigans behalf, left it just the right length of time for Saints to have to let Graham go and spend a bucket load on a replacement for Eastmond. Ah well normal service resumes.'" The ten year £50K dispensation came in when Wigan lost Andy Farell to Rugby Union. Saints have benefited by using this rule for Long, Cunningham and Wellens. I will agree with you that the rule needs clarification and should be seen here in the next few weeks. rfllive.dyndns.org/~rflmedia/doc ... on%20E.pdf

Quote ="bewareshadows"This ruling needs massive clarification. For example how many per club? What % of the wage is over and above the cap? How will this effect payments for other players? Ie Tomkins gets £170000 for example. Is all that off the cap so allowing wigan to offer a deal to a player or players they could not afford other wise. Is £100, 000 on the cap £70000 off it, there fore freeing up £70000 for another player. How do you judge what would have been offered under the cap to after the cap. Minefield and can of worms spring to mind. Anyone got a link to the actual break down of this. =#FF0000Also nice for RFL to step in on Wigans behalf, left it just the right length of time for Saints to have to let Graham go and spend a bucket load on a replacement for Eastmond. Ah well normal service resumes.'" The ten year £50K dispensation came in when Wigan lost Andy Farell to Rugby Union. Saints have benefited by using this rule for Long, Cunningham and Wellens. I will agree with you that the rule needs clarification and should be seen here in the next few weeks. rfllive.dyndns.org/~rflmedia/doc ... on%20E.pdf

I love the way its the wigan fans telling us how the new rule 'should' work.

'oh it has to be a player that's come from the academy'... why? The sp wording, from wigan (and not the RFL) would appear to me to suggest it also applies to a 'marquee' signing... any club should be able to nominate any player from their playing staff.

As Saddened has correctly pointed out......All the ruling is doing is freeing up cap space for other players.

And so did we. Robinson & Ashton and if I want to be really tenuous, Thornley. Why wasnt anything done then? Why is it always us, why, why, why, wah, wah, wah



Seriously, if Salford had have been given special dispensation for Ratchford would you be moaning so much?

Utterly, utterly disgusting and shameful pro-Wigan bias from the RL yet again. Yet another nail very firmly rammed into the sport's coffin and my interest in it. There's no point in having rules if one team is allowed to circumvent them whenever they feel like it and others (e.g. Salford with Ratchford) can just go hang. I feel like saying **** it - just remove the cap from Wigan altogether and let them bankrupt themselves again buying SL for the next 10 years - I'll happily go and watch lower league footie and pretend RL is already dead and buried instead.

I'd love you to show me your post's on how unhappy you were at Kyle leaving Saints for Bath? and how Saints should have had the salary cap changed in there favour?

So Go away

I was very unhappy about Kyle leaving Saints for Bath particularly under the circumstances he did, i.e. His contract just running out rather than a fee but you'll just have to take my word on that. He's a great talent and would/could/should have been playing for England for many years.

I've always thought the salary cap should be amended to look after homegrown talent and I'll let you look through my posts regarding that, search facility at the top, shouldn't take you too long. It's the fact that Wigan have suggested this idea and it seems to be benefitting Wigan initially seems to be sticking in some peoples throats. So rather than just looking at it through ant-Wigan spectacles I think people should look at it through their pro-RL spectacles. It could be useful when RU come knocking for Lomax, Myler, Jones-Bishop etc...

It is good now being able to give high salaries to Marquee players to stop a drain to Union, but now everyone will want those type of wages, which is just not possible in our game! so many clubs are making serious losses and being propped up by Chairmen & Boards, so how do we keep giving more money.

Then you get an ex player this week saying we should have a National Stadium in the North instead of using Wembley! Using Wembley is an occasion and I am sure we signed a long term agreement! but where would we as a sport find the money to build our own stadium like Twickenham? and it would have to be in Yorkshire. I think some current and ex players need to come to the real world that the rest of us live in.

I suggested on C&W that it may be worth each team being allowed one player, who only counts 33% of his salary towards the cap, thus allowing the better off clubs to make sure they can hold on to at least one start each, fending off the clutches of Union. Alternatively, they could use that to make space on the cap for another player, but that's their choice.

Although Roby and Graham would have been the obvious choice for saints, if deterring Union is the main goal, you may find clubs saving this spot for backs like the departed eastmond and now, Johnny Lomax.

As for Rogue's question about Eastmond. He had the skills, rugby brain and physical abilities to be as good as, if not better than Sam. Problem is he has a fraction of the heart (which, lets face it, sam has in spades).
You'll see him on BBC2 next year, ripping it up in England's 7 a side team, as H Paul did. He'll probably make his money, but no er will count him as achieving a fraction of what he was capable of. Meanwhile (hopefully), our other young backs will develop into real stars of Rugby League.

BINGO

sam rumoured to be on £250,000 - £300,000 a year now.

I'm sure there will be some interesting contract negotiations over the next few seasons now for premium players.

To the people who are saying that it will just benefit the big clubs...

What would you rather have: a poorer standard of competition, whereby every team is equal or would you rather try and keep the best players playing here?

There is always going to be a disparity between the 'bigger' clubs and the 'lesser' clubs, that's life I'm afraid. It's up to the RFL to try and do everything in their power to try and improve our sport by keeping our best players.

It's a no-brainer for me. I'm afraid that some fans just can't accept that it is to the advantage of Wigan.

Double post