https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/hastings ... gue-34578/ Brilliant news

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/hastings ... gue-34578/ Brilliant news

Call me pessimistic but the wording written by the journalist seems a lot more emphatic than the actual quotes "He is weighing things up, I think he may stay for at least another year." I hope he does stay though and looks more likely now than it did at the start of the year.

Stay for at least another year.

That means he is open to staying longer / getting a new longer deal at Wigan

Translation - nobody in the NRL is interested.

Good

Got to agree. If you wanted to really scrutinise it, then it's hardly a firm statement;



Certainly a step forward, but not the type of statement that puts the rumours to bed.

Have to say it's absolute trash journalism too - more wishy-washy than fact finding and devoid of any challenges to the agent. It specifically doesn't mention Wigan and surely that would have been the next logical question to ask?

Sounds like we’ve a fair chance of keeping him here next year but it’s certainly not a given. You wonder if the Hull link came about to coincide with their play for Ian Watson.

I know I'm going over old ground here, but the Hull link is baffling. We had no indication that he's got anything other than an NRL release clause.

A lot of Wigan fans (me included) would be rightly cheesed off if he moved to another SL club. It either means the original statement from the club wasn't the whole truth, or they've decided to let him leave. Either one would be an own goal as JH is a fine player and, if he wants to stay in the UK, the club needs to make sure he stays with us.

Yeah I can't see us letting him go to another SL club whilst under contract unless they paid a significant fee or we had someone ready to sign who we wanted more. We loaned Taylor out to Salford rather than release him early to Hull FC. Likewise we loaned Hock out to Widnes rather than release him from his contract when he wanted to join Penrith. Matty Smith being allowed to leave for Saints would be the exception but I think he had built up a lot of goodwill to make that happen, and was likely only allowed to go because we wanted the cap space for Leuluai.

I also think his agent just saying "Hastings will stay over there" maybe leaves the door open for RU clubs to make him an offer? He doesn't explicitly say he will stay with Wigan.

You're probably right and his agent might be subtly stirring things up a little.

PR is one of those topics that people fall either one way or the other on. For me I'm pro communication & it's probably the only area that I think the club could improve on. IF Hastings is staying, then I see no reason why it shouldn't be made public knowledge. Stop all this chatter and it might even win back some fans who thought he was only here for 1 season.

I'd also hope the club knew what was happening either way.

I recall links with Quins but they seemed to be based around Sean Long being at the club and he’s now gone. I’m not sure what position he’d play in Union tbh. He certainly wouldn’t be a fly half, he’s not quick enough for the wing. Maybe a full back or centre but it just doesn’t suit his skill set really and I can’t see it happening.

Thats next seasons scape goat lined up

Really happy if this turns out to be true. Under no illusions that he'll be looking to go back to Oz as soon as it suits him, he won't be the first. Even so it doesn't seem right having players as talented as Hastings in Wigan and many fans won't have seen him play in the flesh.

Not convinced - will wait and see. Cant see Hastings turning down an NRL offer if it came in.

Perhaps down to the rumour that Watson is going to Hull as coach.

I can to be honest.

Hastings and his agent know only too well what happens when you move to the wrong club and we know that not all NRL clubs are as professional as some people might expect.

I suspect he knows where he is going but knows he needs to wait a year and whilst Wigan isn’t the NRL he is reasonably happy here.

Not a chance in hell an NRL club would want Hastings. Too slow, but can look good over here.
Good news for Wigan though as certainly a good man to have around the club.....

I can, he seems settled, bought a house over here, girlfriend is from Manchester and when the world locked down he stayed here're shall see.

I was just going to write the same thing..some "journal" put 2 and 2 together and came up with 7,hence the Hull link.

That doesn’t put rumours to bed, if anything it encourages more.

Yep, you often see fans moaning that players or clubs don't come out and publicly deny rumours. I think the opposite for exactly this reason, regardless of what they say, commenting on rumours will fuel them.

That's not true tho is it.

You do realise that article was more than likely driven by the agent and not the journalist right? You see it all the time - the agent wants to get a story out there and rings a favourable publication who just pick it up because, not only will it get clicks, but it's easy work for them.

Nothing in that story was designed to put anything to bed, so please don't use it as a reason why the club shouldn't have a better PR function.

Agreed about the agent but I've yet to see anything good come from a player or club commenting on rumours. Look at Watson and Salford saying he's not going to Hull - now everyone is talking about whether he'll go to us, Saints or Wire.

It's all about what you takeaway from it - that's why it's such a polarising topic. I can see it one way and others will see it another.

There's one key principle for me and that's people are going to talk anyway.

Watson shut down the Hull rumours and that, for me, is a positive for both him and Salford. Watson has showed that he's not just a mercenary and that it will take something special for him to move.

I'm sure off the back of that, there's plenty of Salford fans who like Watson even more than they thought possible. It's almost elevated Salford as a club too - it paints a picture of a club that's got something special going on, something people don't easily walk away from.

Yes there's talk of a big side possibly being the ones to lure him away, but that chatter was already there and won't be going away. You can't control that, it's a product of success, but they did control the Hull rumours. They put them to bed.

I'll throw another example into the mix, Greg Inglis. I was impressed by the straight answer both him and his agent gave earlier this week when asked about his future.

Inglis;


His agent;


Compare that to Hastings's agent, or think back to preseason and the lack of a definitive statement in the face of growing speculation.

Not every situation is right for a response, but some definitely are.