Ha....Maloney. Mind we could use him at the minute!

Which shows you they had been proper Wire fans since the early 90's

Interesting comment in the Mirror about a new clause that SL are due to vote on, that I wasn't aware of -

The marquee proposal didn't have enough support last time round. Warrington voted with Salford, perhaps Wigan did too but mostly all rejected it. Including Saints. It may get more support this time after more time has been given to it to smooth out some concerns.

Doc Marwan comments after the last vote was rejected...
"Five teams [Salford, Widnes, Wigan, Warrington and Leeds voted for it and two [Bradford and Catalan Dragons weren't there so they could be still on board," he said.

"There are six teams to work on. The six teams that are there, apart from St Helens, are worried about their financial position and not being able to compete.

So this is yet another inconsistency the RFL are proposing to create. For years the salary cap has been promoted to even up superleague & supposedly make every game count but it has been suggested the so called marquee player can be allowed to breach the cap. All very well but no use if not all the clubs can afford it.

Is Sam available now or from next season ? For my money though ,Sam is turning into another journeyman who will just follow the best offer wherever that might be.

I believe he has to see out this season with the Warriors. He's currently sidelined with a knee injury.

Very rarely I agree with you but in this instance I'm prepared to make an exception.

Tomkins will be a Wigan player by the end of the week. There is nothing further to add.

The marquee signing sounds OK but if some teams are not at the cap they will fall further behind, is it fair that some teams have to wait for others that may never catch up, dammed if they do dammed if they don't scenario, if it's within reason bring it in so long as full funding is maintained for junior development, is Patton Warrington born? if so and makes his debut on Saturday he will be a Warrington born half to play for the Wire in a long time, I would like to see that continue.

First Warrington born HB to play for Wire in a long time? Think O'Brien might take umbrage with that notion....

And he will come out with the usual dross...I could have gone elswehere for more money blah blah blah but my heart was set on Wigan and playing with my two brothers!

Apologies I believed he was from Halton/Widnes way I stand corrected, a feather in his and the academy's cap no less.

Phil Clarke bigging us up as a possibility, however, I just can't see it.

Surely Wigan will struggle under the cap though.

The salary cap won't be an issue. The vote on a marquee player looks set to go through. All 5 of the defeated yes votes are from teams still in SL. Now that's reduced from 14 to 12, 2 votes and its through.

I even think St's will back it now as they are beginning to make a profit with their new stadium.

have you seen the details of the proposed marquee player suggestion and what it actually entails?

No FMC but it was said at the last vote that things need to be clarified and retabled.
I'm guessing that is the case and I wouldn't expect the 5 yes voters without a structure to vote no with it.

There is a little bit of me that thinks we may just pull this one off. We are due a big signing....I know we signed Clarke but was a promising young talent rather than an established star of the game.

If we signed Tomkins it would easily be a bigger signing than Gleeson, Morley and King.

It would solve our full back problem for a start (watching Ratchford not reading the plays and wrapping round too slowly last week was painful.) It would also solve our captaincy issue out as well.

we should be chucking serious money at him.

that said, and despite reading that a friend of Tomkins on Twitter has said "Looks like I'm going to have to start supporting Warrington then

" , I'm still convinced he'll be pie eater by the time the Wigan Wires game comes around.


I hope twitter isn't full of poop

It might pain you to know I agree.

Marquee player rulings. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=581138

Marquee player rulings. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=581138

The 'first option' thing is slightly misleading - In reality, its a bargaining tool for the player involved and his agent, especially if that player is sought after the way Tomkins is.

What will have happened in the last week or so is that Tomkins's agent will have contacted ALL the SL clubs informing them of Tomkins's availability and, with it, invited any interested parties to make a bid, thus, creating an auction.

Now, and I'm making up figures here just as an example, if Salford top the bidding with an offer of £150k a year, then Tomkins's agent goes to Wigan and tells them to match that offer - If Wigan can't, or choose not to, then Tomkins becomes a free agent... He is then able to sift through all the offers and pick the one he fancies.

He could very well end up back at Wigan on less money than the (imaginary) Salford one, but that wouldn't be through any 'first option' clause, it would simply be because that's where he wants to go.

Put simply, from Wigan's point of view, its very much a game of poker and hoping that Tomkins is bluffing when he suggests that Wigan isn't necessarily, his only possible destination.

It's amazing how many wire fans now say how great Sam is and how much you want him to sign for you! Sure you'll all be back to "what a w---er" he is if he doesn't! !!

Dude, that's sport, everyone is the same.
Part of that is trying to put people off their game, it's psychology.

Obvious really, it often happens when an opponent is feared that they usually attract that kind of attention, it's a kind of back handed compliment unless you live in Darceydo land of course.

don't forget the "harrisgate" clause in the contract for Sam's release 3 yrs early in 2013 that he signed. On return to Superleague he agreed to play for Wigan on a pre-determined salary, now Wigan have meet 2 criterium, pay him the agreed fee and fit him in under the salary cap, If they can't do both then Sam has the ball in his court....of course he can ignore the release contract he signed and play for someone else even if Wigan can meet their side of the contract but that could lead to another Bulls/Leeds "Harrisgate" battle

One Bradford couldn't afford, unlike Warrington