I agree it would be a gamble and most likely wouldnt happen.
If what your saying is Leigh drop out his contract as finished wouldnt be right as he would be contracted to a certain date and his wire one would start at a certain date!

Like I said on your board doesnt matter anyway as hes going to see season out with leigh which ever way it was done thats part of the deal with Leigh! Only way I would be proved right would be if Chris appeared in play offs for wire, by which time this board would be in melt down with other fans questioning the salary cap!

Whats that ? I presume its something the RFL have brought in for next year.

I think its some sort of edible hat.

very good!

When we signed Richard Varkulis I thought we were getting the British Vainikolo from the way he was talked about on the internet.

Most players that come up from the National Leagues get a fair bit of hype.

I remember when we signed Warren Stevens back from Whitehaven we were assured by the Haven fans that we had signed the best prop in the NFP and reunited with Cullen he would go on to be a great SL player.

I think Matt Sturm had the same tag when we signed him (best prop in the NFP).

Then I remember the excitement when we were linked with Neil Turley and Phil Cantillon, both players who we were told would set SL on fire and we were laughed at by fans of Leigh and Widnes when we didn't sign them. Both made it into SL but they were not the players they were hyped up to be.

Now I am not saying all lower league players are doomed to failure in SL, there have been a handful of examples of players who have come up and become good performers in SL (Higham, Rooney, Kirke) or even top players (Wilkin, Brough, Gardner), but I wouldn't burden Chris Hill with much expectation, I'd see him as a squad player and if he can make a good contribution at some point then great.

Add Purdham to that too Sal

I honestly can't remember any hype about us signing Richard Varkulis, in fact I thought he came from Leigh Miners, not even the NFP etc.

The only hype I can remember came from the way that he was scoring tries for fun in the reserves etc and really pushing his case and that created a lot of chat about whether he should the full team etc, he got limited chances and then bombed out.

Richard Henare was from a lower league & he turned into an excellent player. (while it lasted) until it went up in smoke

yeah but that was in teh first season of SL so the step up was negligible at that point

Chris will need a season , perhaps two to get up to SL speed , no doubt , and you are right , some of the Leigh fans have given him perhaps too big a reputation , personally , he will get there , of that I have no doubt , a little time and patience will be needed

Hmm interesting signing, didnt see it coming

in smith we trust

has all the attributes and will be coached by a man proven to bring players on,good signing.

tache, are there only 3 players coming in (Hill, Waterhouse and Ratchford) or will there be more?

There again, Turley's back injury had begun to kick in by the time we got promoted - he only played 9 games (scored two tries and kicking nineteen goals and one drop goal) during 2005. Genuinely had the potential to become a top class player did Turls.

Varkulis played in our academy by the way although I'm not sure if he had a spell at Miners before joining Wire.

I see this as a pretty good signing.

I dont think he will get loads of game time in his first season with us, but adds good depth and from what i have seen on Sky (not loads of him if i'm honest) he looks handy and has potential. If Smith can harness that potential then after a year with the first team could have a good squad player at least on our hands.

oh, plus i imagine cheap on the cap

I'm sure if you let Tony Smith go in to Danny Devito's house he'd change his wife in to a six foot salty milkshake loving stunner.

Tony is God

What's ace about Smith is, he's turned SL for us into like the SPL. Where the worst that can happen is you'll finish 2nd and finish behind your big rivals and probably win the cup (or both).

The rest of SL are like St Mirren (Wakey), Hibs (Saints), Aberdeen (Bradford) etc ..

Yes it would have been interesting to see how he would have gone in 2002 had we signed him. After his record breaking year in the NFP in 2001 I thought he looked a good bet, in that Lancashire-Yorkshire game he didn't look out of place, and I was disappointed that we didn't sign him. When David Plange had taken over as sole head coach and the board released money, he said his main target was to get a "big signing" of a young British player who would be a part of the club's long term future, and Turley was the first target.

We didn't get him and we turned our attentions instead to Ben Westwood which made me slightly disappointed as I didn't really think he was that exciting a centre and the Wakey fans soon told us his nickname was Deadwood because he had started off looking like a good prospect but gone off the boil.

Its funny how things have turned out 9 years on and how things could have been different had Turley accepted our offer.

varkulis was signed at the last minute, as we weren't running a reserve side at that point, either we'd taken the decision to not to or the RFL had changed the rules (again) and a side was needed at short notice, so we went cherry picking amateur clubs as best we could

think it was the club doctor at that point who was actually coaching the team.

But by your admission was he still a better option than anyone from Warringtons Amateur clubs?

good signing IMHO. Wish we had got him.

Varkulis still making a living playing though, was on the field for Widnes at the weekend.

I notice that Leigh are playing in the NRC final on Sunday. Good opportunity to see young Hill play in a big(ish) game.

well my dad praised him in the last game leigh were on telly and the last player my dad ever praised was going back to mark forster he never praises anyone