£100,000-plus-a-year centre but we don't want to do that' Well said IL. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480 www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... acens.html? Apologies if this has been put on here. Also good Joel/Faz article www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard- ... farrell.do?

£100,000-plus-a-year centre but we don't want to do that' Well said IL. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480 www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... acens.html? Apologies if this has been put on here. Also good Joel/Faz article www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard- ... farrell.do?

Quite interesting that it was Joel who approached Union

Is it just me, but reading about Andy Farrell coaching in Union, Shaun Edwards coaching in Union, Owen Farrell, Chris Ashton and now Joel Tomkins all in Union just totally depresses me. These guys are Wiganers! Faz and Sean should be in League! Ashton, Farrell and Tomkins should still be with Wigan.

Imagine Faz and Sean still at Wigan coaching.

Owen Farrell, Ian Thornley, Chris Ashton and Joel Tomkins all still in League playing in the same side, complimenting the talent we already have. People say - "you can't keep them all" - but I bloody well want to keep them all! We identify them, we train them, we use our resources to help these players fulfill their potential and we should get to keep them.

Imagine:

Edwards, Farrell and Wane coaching.

Chris Ashton
Josh Charnley
Ian Thornley
George Carmont
Pat Richards
Sam Tomkins
Brett Finch
Stuart Fielden
Thomas Leuluai
Lee Mossop
Gaz Hock
Joel Tomkins
Sean O'loughlin
-------------------
Owen Farrell
Paul Prescott
Jeff Lima
Harrison Hansen

Yes, another dummy spit, but god it's so frustrating to see other clubs and now other sports benefit from our excellent academy! I would love to see those players in the same side coached by the immortal legends of years gone by. That's the way it should be. That team just screams Wigan and they would win everything too!

Agreed Cadoo. I hate seeing people we developed in another sport.

Its like we are being punished for putting the effort in.

Totally. I never find articles like that interesting, only gut-churning.

I know it's a simplistic response, but I still blame the British game's non-achievement culture which seemed to set in when the 'stop Wigan at all costs' mentality took charge at Red Hall. Though I now support the cap, so long as it's modified as per the new guidelines, I still reckon its original implementation was tantamount to us raising a white flag and saying: "We can't compete at the highest level any more, and that's all there is to it. From here on, we're more interested in being a small, evenly-balanced game than reaching for the stars."

Ultimately of course, it was inevitable given the lack of finance in the game, but no wonder so many top performers started looking at pastures new. Even the occasional returnees have given no cause for celebration - Henry Paul, Iestyn Harris, Karl Pryce and Lee Smith (in his case after only 6 months) were so badly retarded as athletes during their stint in Union that none of them were any more than shadows of their former selves. For all Andy Farrell's glib chat, I suspect that should Joel come back, it will take him years to restore himself to 'Michael Maguire' form, if he ever manages it.

Let's not pretend that this whole affair isn't a tragedy for Rugby League, because it is in so many ways.

Good to hear Lenagan mention Josh Charnley as a potential centre. He's got all the skills to play in that position IMO. If he is moved there he'll need some patience defensively but he'll get there. His defensive play on the wing really started to improve at the back end of the season so he's obviously got the ability to learn.

I'd get an experienced head outside him though in either Roberts or a move I favour Pat Richards. That way we'd get some extra pace outside Carmont if Roberts or possibly King went on that side.

I would rather he went to Australia and brought a good right centre over because currently we don't have anyone good enough. I fear for the right side of our defence next year.

When a player goes to union they always say the player came to them. Farrell, Edwards and the rest of them are proper turncoats. Joel how can you defend him ? Wigan give him five year deal which he was happy with and then he want to leave for a deal thats is not that lucarative and tells people he want to play union and tries to tell us everyone in rl ru can see there something special about to happen at saracens what a joke. The bottom line is joel now has been brain washed by RU people and he thinks grass is greener. Sam has been bent over backwards for and given a fortune but still does not look to pleased and in 3 yrs after we had made him even more successfull he could go and play in the ru world cup any other player thats given so much money to player a game they so call love they wouldnt even think about leaving before the 5 yr is up seems funny he can be brought off wigan 12 month before ru wc and no money will cushion the blow just hope he doesnt do it. To say he can go hes achieved everything he can in league so go is even if he wins the RLWC2013 the more success he has the more vital it is for him to stay imo once they go to union we will never get him back and give it a few years and everyone in the world will have forgot he even came from RL

I take it you've never changed jobs in your life then?

I can't people people are believing the 5 year deal was signed with a view to him seeing out his contract. I think we gave him 5 years knowing there was a possibility he would be off at the end of the season, and through giving him this lengthy contract allows Wigan to get more compensation for the player. Simple really.

Correct.

Its the exact same situation as working for a company, and being offered 4 times the annual salary to go and work for another company, to suggest he is a "mercenary" is quite frankly, embarrasing.

I agree, however I think the whole situation with Joel has been sort of swept under the carpet. If he has approached Union with a view to going there then IMO that is as bad as what Ashton did, with the shirt situation. Difference with Joel is, he has a brother who is a world class player and most fans (including myself) attention immediately turned in trying to keep Sam in RL.

I find it odd that we've reached a stage where people are signing five-year contracts, and then extra clauses need to be added to ensure that they won't break these contracts for at least three years.

I understand how it's happened. There's nothing to stop RU clubs tapping RL players up throughout these contracts, especially via their agents (to whom RU must be a Godsend since the salary cap kicked in), and all Wigan have done in Sam's case is create a new type of contract wherebye the player will not even talk to RU for three years (let's hope this becomes the norm with other RL players).

But it doesn't say a great deal for the integrity of the players or their agents that this has become a necessity. I know that people should be allowed to change jobs and all that, but the contract system - at least until now - seems to have been weighed very strongly in favour of the players and their agents, at the expense of the clubs and the fans.

No we didn't. The idea we gave him a five year deal because we knew he was leaving is fantasy in my opinion. There was no indication in March this year when he was telling everybody he felt RL players could get lost in the reserves in Union and that he wanted to stay at Wigan to play with his best mates in a great team. This was well after he had signed the contract.

I hope his premonition about getting lost in the reserves comes true so that discourages others following.

As to this from the link said by IL:

""I think you'll see a lot of rugby union players coming back to rugby league because I think ours is a better game to watch and to play."

Sorry but he is living in cloud cuckoo land if that is what he thinks. He has just agreed a new deal with Sam so knows exactly what it takes to keep players here - money, so when he can't offer that to RU players why does he think they will come? If he is referring to cheaper second string players why would we want them?

And as to not paying £100K a season for a middle-grade centre from the NRL if they are better than what we have and are (most likely) better then most centres in SL then that is what needs paying if we can fit them under the cap.

He is never going to entice a top class NRL centre here and if we have none of our own either ready or good enough then if he wants improvement year on year as he says he does and wants Wigan to be in one final at least every year he isn't going to get it this way. He is not helping Wane to achieve this with the players we have recruited at all.

Seeing as it is what the Tomkins do for a living, it's exactly the same, it's their job. How many jobs do you know where you have to stop in your mid-30s and need to find something completely different to do for a living?

No its not. There was no "months notice" built into Joel's contract and I certainly would not expect my employer to get £250K compensation if I left my job. People really need to stop posting this nonsense that a sporting contract is the same as working for a company.

Could this be England RU team in a few years time Edwards Head Coach Farrell defence coach a back line of FB -?
W. Eastmond C. Thornley and Tomkins W. Ashton
HB.- Farrell and Ford (george)

RL is sport thats trying to grow and they all no this and therefore if being treated fairly money wise it should be there duty to help to spread the sport as much as possible and them going to union is like joining the germans. If we offered a public school england union player a good salary to come to wigan they would not entertain it i dont think because they dont like the game with your attitude towards this how did lockyer, Johns, Thurston, Slater, C Smith, B Marshall, Sculthorpe,Radlinski, Cunningham,sinfield,burrows, maguire etc etc all stay at there clubs so long i will tell you because they love Rugby League and they have been treat fairly same as sam is being treated fairly so that leaves no reason to leave unless you dont like RL that much and you think RU is a great game.

Do you reckon Andy Farrell, Jason Robinson and Shaun Edwards didn't like RL then? And going back to my original question - have you ever changed jobs?

Add to that when people change jobs they more often than not go to rival companies from my experience anyway.

Quote ="Broxy Music"£100,000-plus-a-year centre but we don't want to do that' Well said IL. www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... acens.html? Apologies if this has been put on here. '" nice quote at the bottom "Good move, lad. Upgrading from Economy to Business Class. It's a game where you have to use your brain a lot more. But i also believe a lot of Rugby players would benefit from playing 1 year of league so it might be a good idea for some crossover. " - T0sser! I want to know whats in this linkup for us, or are we just a feeder club for a mediocre Yawnion club now? Id much rather be a feeder club for the NRL

Quote ="Broxy Music"£100,000-plus-a-year centre but we don't want to do that' Well said IL. www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... acens.html? Apologies if this has been put on here. '" nice quote at the bottom "Good move, lad. Upgrading from Economy to Business Class. It's a game where you have to use your brain a lot more. But i also believe a lot of Rugby players would benefit from playing 1 year of league so it might be a good idea for some crossover. " - T0sser! I want to know whats in this linkup for us, or are we just a feeder club for a mediocre Yawnion club now? Id much rather be a feeder club for the NRL

Fans have to realise the social change which has occurred in this country, i can imagine many of Joels friends have gone to University or moved across the country, meeting new people from different backgrounds and experiencing new cultures. As Sam has said, it is not the right time for him to move, but ultimately one day he will want to leave Wigan, the town he has lived in the majority of his life, and its difficult to begrudge someone that opportunity. However i do agree that having signed a 5 year deal, and then sodding off, is a lack of loyalty, but what can you do? I also imagine Joel wanted to step out of his brothers shadow abit and become 'the main man' himself at a different club. It must be hard if the whole town is buzzing about your younger brother, and isn't really interested in you.

Use your brain a lot more? What a fool



Im sure Joel can get the hang of
KICK .......CHASE.........DIVE ON IT......PILE ON
Repeat as above.