https://www.totalrl.com/wigan-warriors- ... rnational/

https://www.totalrl.com/wigan-warriors- ... rnational/

Best of luck to Mike . Thanks for your service to the Wire.

Best of luck to him, wouldn't begrudge him a grand final ring at Wigan so long as its not at our expense of course.

He's been a brilliant player in his career, maybe one of the best ever to come from our academy? Shame it's not going to end with us but he needed replacing eventually and unfortunately we need a big rebuild so cap space is desperately needed.

Disappointed, but we all knew he was going there, the rumours were too strong.

Our loss, but Wire have no option other than to support Powell.

At one stage, he was asking to be released during this season, so at least that hasn`t happened.

Don`t think that money was an issue, with regards to Salary Cap management, it is about conflicting opinions and personalities.

Would love to know the truth why he’s leaving as this is def not going to get the fans on side unless the rumours of him being the bad apple are true.

If he's a bad apple I just wish we had a squad full of these bad apples..good luck mike

Best of luck Coops, hope the move works out for you.

Huge honour my booty. Feel sick.

Maybe he's not a 'bad apple' as such, it's just that he's not seen as part of the culture change that is required (same as Charnley). Aidan Sezer wasn't known as a bad apple at Huddersfield, but Watson identified him as one of a few players that didn't fit in to what he saw as his future Hudds side. Seems to have worked for Watson based on how they're doing this year.

Good luck Mike, one of my favourite current Wire players & always seems to give 100%.

Wigan have got a good 'un there, shame he's not part of Wires future though.

He's had a great career considering he almost didn't make it following a horrific injury early in his development.

[urlhttps://www.nrl.com/news/2016/06/15/broken-leg-almost-killed-cooper/[/url

Wishing him all the best, and hoping that Powell really can take our club in a different, winning, direction whether this season or next.

Wish him all the very best, not too very though. A pie is a pie.

The crux of it is Price used to let them leave training early sometimes for their other businesses and meetings. Powell put a stop to that (and rightly so) and Cooper and others don’t like it.

If that's the case then I am glad it has stopped.

I can't imagine Wigan letting him slope off early.

Didnt you say a few weeks ago that Warrington still wanted him?

This all makes more sense now. Powell wants the senior players to set an example. Leaving training early because you’ve been in here club a while doesn’t exactly fit in to that mentality. As well as making the younger players on less money resentful, it also teaches them that once you become a top player you can make your own rules, rather than stick as one team.

Aren't players encouraged these days to find a career for when their playing days are over ? They can't all become pundits like footballers.

Whats Coops going to do when Wigan won't let him leave early?

Agreed, Wigan won`t give him any time off.

Just look at Lee Briers now, he looks normal.

When he was at Wire, he looked like a homeless person

Quote ="ninearches"Aren't players encouraged these days to find a career for when their playing days are over ? They can't all become pundits like footballers.'" Yes but not at the expense of missing training sessions surely. In this (201icon_cool.gif article he says he is at Bubble Clothing "every afternoon". https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/

Quote ="ninearches"Aren't players encouraged these days to find a career for when their playing days are over ? They can't all become pundits like footballers.'" Yes but not at the expense of missing training sessions surely. In this (201icon_cool.gif article he says he is at Bubble Clothing "every afternoon". https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/

There's being "encouraged" and there's 'taking the mick'. I don't have any facts to back anything up so I'm not accusing Cooper, but there has to be fairness, especially in a squad set up, where the actions of one will affect another. It's fairly simple to me and goes beyond Cooper and applies to business in general IMO .

Coach "lads we are full time professionals; we are all in it together, we all want to improve/maximise performance, this is how I think we can do it, these are the rules, NO EXCEPTIONS" Player "Can I come in late on Tuesday/Leave early on a Thursday as I have an appointment"?

It can't work, especially if you extrapolate that across half a dozen senior players by setting a precedent. BTW whatever the culture issues that Powell perceives we have need fixing as the proof is in unfortunately in our 'performance pudding'.

If this is the reason I'm disappointed and the 'butting heads' thing could be construed as a situation that's been engineered. In the case of Cooper I acknowledge that he's been a great servant, one of our better performers and he's a free agent but..... .

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"The crux of it is Price used to let them leave training early sometimes for their other businesses and meetings. Powell put a stop to that (and rightly so) and Cooper and others don’t like it.'" So Hill with a plumbing business. (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... a-plumber/) Cooper with a clothing and T-shirt business (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/) Philbin with a socks / sportswear business. (https://gripzofficial.com/pages/our-story) Any more?

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"The crux of it is Price used to let them leave training early sometimes for their other businesses and meetings. Powell put a stop to that (and rightly so) and Cooper and others don’t like it.'" So Hill with a plumbing business. (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... a-plumber/) Cooper with a clothing and T-shirt business (https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/ne ... -clothing/) Philbin with a socks / sportswear business. (https://gripzofficial.com/pages/our-story) Any more?

Exactly, if we were tearing it up every season with multiple GF wins you could make an argument that it's not affecting the team. But we ain't.

It must have been the wild west under Price.

Was it all Price though? We’ve been saying for years that we are too ‘nice’ as a club. There have been rumours that management and the owners are too close the players and that we’ve forgotten our clubs Raison D’Etre… to win trophies, not be the nice guys.

I’m all for responsible employment, but if Powell wants the players to put winning and the team/club ahead of side businesses, then that’s fine by me. At least until we have a few grand final wins under our belt and a world class youth production line.

How many hours a week do RL players spend at the club? About 20?

Plenty of time to train for another vocation/start a business without it affecting club commitments.