just looking around on the vt board and other teams boards it seems alot of fans are becoming upset with are partnerships...

the saracens partnership nobody moaned a peep out of it mainly because they can't see any premiership rugby players coming are way. But the welsh partnership seems to have upset a few fans as they think we will just cherry pick the best talent... now i am certain that we are putting heavy funding into wales and helping the expansion of professionalism in wales but why cant other clubs try to set this arrangement up and help rugby league rather than moan about it. after all i am sure if say WAKEFIELD scouted a player from the scorpions they could try and lure the player to them couldn't they?

I haven't seen nobody compliementing or moaning about the eductional programme wigan have set up and are expanding i am sure this is costing a few pounds from wigan aswell. come on trolls what are your feelings on this??? are we trying to eductate and brainwash people to become PR staff and promote just wigan?

and some how sam's new contract is proof that we are breaking the salary cap

oww also we have signed 3 players who will cost very little... But because its wigan who have signed 3 very low level paid players we are cheating so come on saints what about lafranchi and lance they will be on more than the 3 players we have signed together.

Yep, you can tell we are winning trophies again, its hilarious.

It's partly due to jealousy, but they're also terrified of Wigan gaining an advantage through innovative thinking. While their own clubs are sitting back doing nothing. Hopefully more clubs will follow our lead.

Were Wigan lead, others follow. Nothing changes.

I just see want to see rugby league grow and when i see SOME wakefield fans moaning about are partnerships it makes me angry because to me wakefield are holding back rugby league i know they have some loyal supporters and a good history but its just not enough. i know this is a small case but a few months ago i was reading a magazine here and the Greg johnson article was in it and it just looked so bad to see that a bloke like that getting a job with a rugby league club. if i was a new comer to rugby league i would just think what the hell this guy is still being employed by a professional sports team. And of course what ever wigan do is going to end the world to saddened.

All this news makes me feel so proud to support wigan it just shows how big of a club we really are.

no im not personally moaning or jealous as you put it anything that keeps talent in rugby league is good for the game i hope s tomkins does have a bright future he makes the game exciting to watch (even if his personality lets him down) but admitedly he wouldnt be the same player without the cockyness!

in regards to the welsh partnership again anything that helps our game spread is fantastic news Warringto n have had a link with wales for a few years now and brought through players like andy bracek and more recently rhys williams, rhys evans and i am sure his brother ben evans will get a few games this year.

but your right some people cant look past the rivalries and see what is good for the SPORT.

well done

Don't care what anybody else thinks tbh. All I care about is us doing what's best for us and at the moment I'm just made up with what a truely professional and well run set up we have.

The man I always give most credit to when it comes to our recent success is Ian Lenagan because without him there would have been no Maguire and no trophies. There may have been no club things were getting that bad. The systems and link ups this guy is putting in place is building a legacy he'll leave behind long after he's gone.

Legend.

Saddo will moan about anything!

This was my reply on the Wakefield board. Disgraceful. Spending =#FF0000their money, using =#FF0000their time and =#FF0000their resources, to help promote and grow the game. Add to that investing =#FF0000their money in Central Park to help give kids a better education. www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Hopefully it will benefit Wigan, they deserve it for =#FF0000their investments.

This was my reply on the Wakefield board. Disgraceful. Spending =#FF0000their money, using =#FF0000their time and =#FF0000their resources, to help promote and grow the game. Add to that investing =#FF0000their money in Central Park to help give kids a better education. www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Hopefully it will benefit Wigan, they deserve it for =#FF0000their investments.

personally as a fan of another club i'm not particularly upset by what partnerships wigan are entering into, looking from the outside the saracens one appears to be something to do with the tomkins deal and doesn't look like it'll have any real value for you. As for the Wales one, good luck to you if it helps them get better all well and good but I suspect it'll last as long as iestyn harris is on your books and no longer, we did have a partnership with workington to try and do something similar with cumbria but apart from a few local headlines we didn't really get anything of benefit from it.

As for paying sam tomikns what he wants to stay, again i don't have a problem with that but if I was a Wigan fan looking at the rest of your signings I would be worried about putting all your eggs in one basket again like you did with Trent Barratt if you are relying on dog shiite like luauki to replace a champion like hoffman and padding out the squad with crusaders squad players (not even regular starters) it looks like you are paying the price for sam with a smaller squad certainly in overall quality. As long as you keep your first 13 fit particulary Sam you will indeed by looking at lifting silverware again imho.

Don't worry about the petty-minded. As a Giants fan I applaud your initiative with South Wales. As a big powerful club Wigan have resources others do not and are investing these in player development - how can that be wrong. This link may prove beneficial to Wigan and South Wales or it may not, but the intent is good for the game as well as those clubs.

It is up to others to reach the levels and consistency in Player development that Wigan, Saints and Leeds manage, a task some are attempting better than others, but there is no obligation you as a club to stand still and wait for others to catch up. Anyone that doesn't see that is not seeing reality.

Whether people agree with what Wigan are doing or not misses the point.

For some reason Wigan have always been an innovative club. We were even under Mo, particularly early on. Back then we even went the ground improvement route building the Whitbread stand at CP while other clubs let theirs fall into ruin. We were the first club to go truly full time in 91/92 and we did things like employ sprint coaches to gain that little bit of extra edge on the pitch.

Now we have IL and his ideas carrying on this tradition.

In contrast some other clubs seem to think all you do is pay a few blokes to play the game, employ a coach who's main technique is to shout loud at his players and because the club has been around for a long time that is all you need to do to have a right to exist and play in the top flight of the sport.

I exaggerate to make the point (but only a bit) and some clubs do seem to be dong a bit better off-field these days but I think it is certainly true to say where Wigan lead others follow. And without rule changes such as the requirements to field a certain number of home grown and federation trained players we would still see clubs queuing up to sign average Kolpak players rather than develop their own IMO.

It seems to me some clubs seem to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era and would still prefer to operate as if we were in the semi-pro days. Wigan on the other hand seem to want to innovate and because we do it eventually takes the game not just Wigan forward. If more clubs adopted Wigan's attitude the game would be much bigger IMO.

Cant say im too bothered about your partnerships with either teams, ive liked the idea of having feeder clubs for a long time. As for tomkins ive gotta admit im a little dubious, is the whole 100k going into tomkins pocket cos it must cause a bit of unrest in the rest of the squad if it is. It seems like wigan (as one of if not THE biggest club in sl) are using their pull to get the rfl to bend over backwards for them. But if you can get away with it then why not i spose

We're actually relying on the UK's Best Conditioning Team to get them into shape. I'm not worried in the slightest. With, or without Sam, we'll be celebrating in 2012.

We're Wigan, we'll do what we want.

I think you'll win f**k all next season

I think you'll win f**k all for the last 5 seasons... oh wait... and NOW you've lost your enforcer, James Graham....

Yeah, to avoid any possible unrest in the squad, we should have done what Saints did with Eastmond and Graham.

Saints will be be far better off without those two, because then at least there'll be no unrest.

What was that exactly?

Personally if it gets Welsh lads coming to league rather than union it doesn't bother me, after all there's probably about 800k people who are probably eligible (males 0-30) either now or in the future and you can only play 13 of them, too many people can't see beyond their club colours and see the wider benefit.

Christ. It's like a reverse victim complex.

Nobody cares Wigan. Nobody cares.

So if a workmate of yours who did the same job but a bit better than you, it wouldnt bother you that he made double your wages...

A [ubit[/u better?



It is Sam Tomkins we're talking about here, isn't it?

If me and my mate were manufacturing chairs in the same workshop, and he was producing 50 a day to my 10, I wouldn't have a leg to stand on regardless of my persecution complex.

Ok ok hes quite a bit better, but at the end of the day hes only in his 2nd or 3rd season and already better paid than anyone in rugby league, its not like hes the finished article yet. Hes not exactly setting the world on fire yet. Not saying he wont be worth his money some day, but id be a bit peeved if id played at wigan for years then he came along and gets this mega deal

hes the best player in wigan and superleague so why does it matter if he has been here for 1 season or 10? and people do care as people are opening threads moaning and making ridiculous rumours about wigans dealings.