the word on the street where i loiter was that widdop had tested positive for the rona, we never announced it, however thats probably different from a medical POV than the 6 others who had to stand down because of TRACE, i believe ashton missed out for having the Rona also, and as we now know, so did cooper, and we didn't announce that either.

I dont think anything Machiavellian was occurring, sometimes the most simplest answer is the correct one.

I tried to explain to the Judge that there was a perfectly good reason for me sitting outside Mr Widdop’s home 24/7, it certainly was NOT stalking and a Restraining Order was a step too far. I’ve a good mind to appeal now!

That'll never wash on here. You need a wild theory such as Ashton, Widdop and Cooper were all kidnapped by aliens. While being replaced by exact replicas, the real trio were taken back in time to a grassy knoll in Dallas 1961, then further back in time to build the pyramids in Egypt. A rest and a picnic lunch in south eastern Utah, where they decided to knock up a shiny obelisk.

Far more believable to some.

Sorry, anal fact check police alert........ obviously scoping the hit out 2 years in advance

As every fule kno the bullet was fired in 61, there was alien time travel intervention which only succeeded in delaying the fatality but did cover up who actually fired the gun. (Don’t bother asking I’m sworn to secrecy).

Back in 1990 and onwards, through Peter Higham’s reign, Higham said, that was the last time we sign Aussies unless they can commit long term.
From then on, we signed NZ and Welsh RU players.

Its not the first time this season I’m saying we need to stop buying Aussie players.

Was peta hiku Australian?

lol, remember the mid 1990s, we were a revolving door for Kiwis, South Sea Islanders and ageing English players who would come in for a handful of games and move on.

Who were the long term Aussies we were signing, Doyle, Wilson, Gillies, Watson?

A firmly held opinion trumps facts every time.

It's easily sorted tho. A players contract has a value we should agree to pay 1 6th of the contract value the first year 2 6ths the second and 3 6ths the final year of contract....theres no incentive to stay otherwise

If that doesn’t fall foul of the Salary cap it would certainly complicate it!

In RL contracts have always been broken, torn up, ended by mutual agreement, call it what you will. To me, they've always appeared to benefit the player more than the club. Players have decided they want out, for whatever reason, but I cannot recall any club digging their heels in and refusing to release an individual*. It's gone on for many, many years, and each club has had their share of difficulties from it. Yes, we've had a number of Australians in very recent times that just haven't worked out, so you would have thought that Wire would have properly sounded out Widdop before terms were agreed. However, in this case the additional factor of Covid 19 has to be considered. Of course there are numerous overseas players in SL, some may have family here, or they could have all gone home too, for all we know. If Widdop's family have gone home because they would be less at risk in Australia than the UK, who could blame them. Individuals have the right to make decisions as for whom and where they work, and in RL such matters are not dealt with by tribunal* when there's breakdown. This I would assume, is down to the thinking that nobody would be keen to sign if we took a hard line over an individual such as Widdop. It's been difficult enough to bring quality to the HJS (especially in the prop department) and taking Widdop, who has gone home to catch up with his wife and kids, to a tribunal would be far from helpful to our future recruitment, within both the UK and overseas.

*One I do recall was with the late David Myers, who we signed from Widnes, but claimed he was on Wigan's books. In the end it was ruled he was a Warrington player, who played a handful of games for us before being sold to Wigan, for a fee.

We also benefitted from Carvell changing his mind with Hull if memory serves me.

Interesting question - have we signed more unsettled/homesick NRL players than other clubs in recent years?

Yes, interesting question back, how do Wire avoid another occurrence?

Third interesting question, have any of these players who have quit their contracts early, done anything else in their careers after that to make us regret them leaving?

The last one I can think of was David Kidwell, but that was 18 years ago, and around the time Kidwell went home we signed Westwood who was basically a better version of the type of player Kidwell went on to be in the NRL.

31 years ago, Greg Mackey going to Hull, but he redeemed himself by returning to us and giving us a number of good years' service.

Steve Jackson turned into a GF hero in Oz, but some while ago. However, some have finished their careers with us and served us well. Hicks, Monaghan (X2), King and Hodgson for example.

The Monaghans, King, Hodgson, Hicks were all very good examples of imports with great attitudes.

King and Michael Monaghan didn't have easy first years, but they didn't try to find exits to their contracts, even when the fans were getting on their case.

Hodgson was an example of a good safe Aussie signing as he had already been playing in SL and won Man of Steel, so we knew he was settled and his game suited SL.

Actually back then we used to sign Aussies with great attitudes. Nat Wood, Sid Domic, Darren Burns, all great. Appo, Michael Sullivan....less so, although they made sure they saw out their contracts and got their money rather than look for an exit. Brent Grose seemed unhappy here for his last couple of years, but he saw out his contract before going home and didn't cause a fuss.

Which brings us to this four:
Asotasi - Went awol with his country competing in the last World Cup, before he arrived at the HJS. He had lost interest in RL, and never wanted to be here.
Sandow - Maverick who got on the wrong side of coaching staff in Oz. Great for a season, he then expected another NRL contract which didn't transpire then his head ended up in the proverbial shed.
Roberts - Never wanted to be here.
Widdop - Family came over and went home not long after, very likely influenced by Covid 19.

Asotasi and Roberts should never have come here, and were a total waste of time and money for our club. I'm amazed that our representatives didn't pick up on any lack of enthusiasm when they were in talks. Sandow was a gamble that worked for only 12 months, and then there's a passable excuse in Widdop's case.

Yes, which also ties in with my point on one of the other threads about the decline in the quality of our recruitment, after Andy Gatcliffe left.
It was also around this time where we started signing English players like Wheeler, Westerman, Bailey.

Westerman was a good signing. He was good for us, proper 13 he just didn't seem to settle and we were in a transitional period. I thought he was out best player in an awfully performing team for a spell, I think he gave up on us at that point. If he was as professional as he could be he'd have been one ofthe best 13s superleague has seen IMO. I think the biggest problem with the Westerman signing was timing. If he'd have come to us early TS years, say when Louis left things could have been very different for him and maybe us.

Under Higham I meant. All got forgotten post PH.

In reply to SC's post. It's not just Warrington where recruitment has not matched the quality of previous squads. However, we ought to have done better, and must try harder.

Westerman would have struggled to get first team opportunities in the early TS years, he wasn't as good as Westwood, Harrison or Grix.

He's the classic example of a player with enough talent to be tolerated in a team of nearly men, but who would not have lasted long at the top teams. Can you imagine him fitting in to a Brian McDermott or Shaun Wane team ethos?

He definitely had the talent though. I'm sure Tony Smith and the playing group we had (Morley in particular) would have got the best from him. You're right though we didn't need him at the time. Grix was as good a player I've seen at 13 in a wire shirt.