Great read from the NZ Warriors fans on the impact Sam has had on the 9's....


[urlhttp://www.nzwarriors.com/threads/nrl-nines-tournament-in-auckland.8881/page-45[/url

Sadly, I find it very difficult celebrating Sam Tomkins creating havoc in the colours of another club.

I'm not happy for New Zealand Warriors - I have no affinity with them, so feel no pleasure in seeing them benefit from this. And I'm not happy for the NRL, as they produce more than enough players of their own yet now seem determined to pinch the few riches we have as well.

The only light in this blackness is that at least Sam is still in RL as oppose to RU, but I wonder how long that will last. Thanks to the Burgess saga, it seems even glory in the NRL is relatively insignificant when mighty clubs like Bath and Saracens (FFS!) come to call, and yet again contracts mean almost nothing when RU big bucks are on the table.

When is the next RU World Cup? One year off?

I couldn't have put it better myself

Watching the Hull Catalan match involving two of the so-called top 8 teams in SL, and contrasting that with the talent on show in the 9s, and a planned career move must be on the cards for any young aspiring UK player.

Totally agree with you Cruncher, I was happy to wish him well because it is a short career and they have to make a living while they can etc etc but wasn't impressed last weekend when Sam said about the game against NZ Warriors that it was the first time he had wanted Wigan to lose. Didn't take him long to get Wigan out of his system did it
He's been pretty impressive so far in the 9's but be interesting to see how he goes on in regular matches as I feel the top teams over here found a way to keep him pretty quiet last year so it wont take long for the Aussies to do the same.
Have to say that the coverage of the 9's is a breath of fresh air without all and sundry on Sky screeching for penalties on a regular basis and suppose the reffing of such a comp has to be a bit different to normal because if that had been played over here the games would probably have been un-necessarily interrupted by the whistle going all the time.

To be fair to Sam, he is hardly going to say that he hopes that the team he has just signed for loses.

My personal feeling is that Sam should say whatever he needs to say to endear himself to his new audience. He must also perform as well as he can, especially if he wants to put himself in the shop window for English Rugby Union (okay, he could hobble onto the Twickenham pitch on crutches and be better than any other three players there put together, but you can't blame him for not taking chances).

But the overall issue is bigger than Sam and his career.

I just can't get enthusiastic about the loss of star players from our game. I mean, in the last day I've met three different people who think it's great that Sam tore up in the Nines. Seriously, how can it be great? ... firstly on the basis that it was for a club other than Wigan, and secondly because it will serve even more to put him in the shop window for RU predators?

Someone else on this thread was rightly whining about how poor some SL sides are. I totally agree, but it hardly helps given that each year we seem to lose one or two major talents from the game.

I don't give a flying f#ck about whether or not these lads have to look after themselves. Of course they do. I don't blame the players. But I'm not going to celebrate their defection just because it's awesome for them or for the club they've wound up at. I care more about us.

SL needs top quality talent. The NRL has got more than enough already. And RU wouldn't recognise it if you smacked it into their face like a brick. It's a depressing state of affairs.

Just about sum's it up for me...

Agree with this. The most depressing thing about it all is that we can probably hazard a good guess on our next set of departures to the NRL/RU.

Charnley (If not the end of this season, then definitely next).
Scott Taylor - Has NRL written all over him (couple of years prob).

I can even see that we may only have 3-4 years of Joe Burgess if he continues to impress on the pitch, how depressing is that?????!!!!!!

Am I right in thinking that Scott Taylor's contract was only for 2 years (the current season being his second), at the time people on here said that the 2 years was so that Wigan could be certain of him before offering him a longer contract.
I was shouted down when I offered a different view by saying that maybe he only wanted a 2 year contract.
I am not certain if the option was in the deal for an extra 12 months and if so in who's favour.
Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, it has been known in the past.

Just googled it, Wigan have the option for the extra 12 months (2015)

You are absolutely right Cruncher and I shouldn't have mentioned the comment Sam made about the friendly against his new team, it irritated me at the time because of how soon some players forget about things that once allegedly meant the world to them but it is the big picture which is so depressing, the Aussies have the cream of the crop from both sides of the world and very few of the ones who come this way are doing so other than to finish off their career in a different environment whilst we are left with a constant battle to try and keep hold of home grown talent whether it be to the NRL or union. We are fast becoming the Cinderella League and the RFL's apparent problems in failing to attract major sponsors doesn't help

You could argue that SL needs needs more quality but to what end? Would having this quality lead to more paying speccys, would it lead to an expansion of the game, would it lead to increased sponsorship etc etc.

I hate the fact that players like Sam, the Burgess brothers, James Graham have decided that the NRL is the place they want to be but there's no denying it, SL is a peripheral sport over here and at the moment can't afford to keep these type of star players.

I don't understand how you can ask why do we want great players, and in the same breath say you hate it when they leave.

It's probably not the first time he's wanted Wigan to lose, i mean there were times on the terraces as a young boy at Wilderspool with his Alfie Langer Wire shirt on.

For your nursery-age Sam Tomkins I'll swap you an all-ages Mike Gregory.

And guess what, both points are equally irrelevant to this conversation.

I have to say I pretty much agree with the points being made here and have said much the same for many seasons now. It's great to see we are producing talent able to go and compete, and even be better than, the cream of the NRL. It's just a shame they can't be operating in the SL as they should. I can't help thinking that Sky is shooting itself in the foot somewhat here. It is undoubtedly underpaying for what is, by all accounts, it's second biggest team sport in terms of viewing figures and, while it may be patting itself on the back at getting a 'bargain', ultimately it is devaluing it's own product. Can you imagine a film producer saying 'we have this great movie here but instead of getting an A-list, certified draw we'll find a hungry unknown as I'm sure the audience won't notice and will still turn up to the box office in the same numbers'. It's madness! One can only assume that, being run by an Aussie, they don't give a monkey's about the British game as long as the NRL is flourishing. In the long term, what price our administrators will be regretting not going for a deal elsewhere this time around? We need someone who is prepared to champion the sport if this is to be readdressed properly. Just to add more doom to the gloom, the NRL has recently voted that clubs are now able to bust the cap to sign ESL players! What a short-sighted view of the game the Aussies have. It beggars belief!

All you're experiencing is pretty much what every other club bar Leeds did in the Late 80's early 90's, and most of the other clubs outside top 5 up to this very day.

You're not THE big dog anymore, and for all your arrogant chest beating you're now in the same boat as everyone else, welcome to everyone elses world.
It's not fun is it? but hey we get used to bigger/richer clubs cherry picking our talent eventually.
Andy Gregory, Paul Sculthorpe, Iestyn Harris.
There always has to be a big dog, the Alpha the thing is it isn't you guys anymore and it's depressing you.

You'll forgive everyone else for not feeling sorry for you.

And Warrington never did it did they?
Drummond, Murphy, Potter, Ashcroft etc
Then Gregory and Davies.

It's always been done.

Jesus Christ mate, get a life! This is about the SL not Wigan. It's about the Burgess brothers, James Graham, Tomkins et al and the future stars we are going to lose to our game. Put your petty jealousies to one side for a moment and see the bigger picture! Yeah, we get it...you hate Wigan because we took your best players 30 years ago! Well done you. It must take some doing to hold a grudge for that long..

Andy Gregory????



But seriously, this is a truly pathetic post from a parochial no-mark.

You know full well what this discussion is about, yet you'd rather try to score cheap points by insisting that Sam Tomkins once supported Warrington. When you are then reminded that Mike Gregory once supported Wigan, and not just when he was a baby - you lose it and go on a rant ... missing the point of this thread (or ignoring it) even more than you did previously.

You are an absolute joke, mate, you really are.

The game and its problems are vastly larger than your silly bigotry, and all your last post does is underline that perfectly.

People mentioned Tomkins 'comment' forgetting the fact he played for Wigan not supported them.

People are crying that people are stealing all the talent you produced, forgetting the fact that your club was the most guilty and not just from here, i do recall you throwing big bucks at many a spell binding Aussie in the past.

You complain that the drain of SL is upsetting you and that the NRL already has enough talent so leave ours alone (that is a pathetic statement).

You think it's any worse than seeing your own talent playing for another club in the same league?

If Moran has thrown money at Tomkins (hypothetical) you're genuinely telling me you'd be more happy with that than him going downunder? Give over.

Similar to how Rouges works on other boards, they were light hearted digs and examples and you get all serious.

The truth is SL is no fun for a Wakefield fan or a London fan when a team like Wigan come in (yes Wire too) and say "Oh we like the look of your best player, we'll take him off your hands for you".

It's the way of the world money talks bulls**t walks.
Part of the reason so many teams were going bust was to keep up with the maurding Wigan team of the eighties, the reason sponsors stay away is because only your team could win the league, and pretty much everything else on offer, but at least you guys had fun, at least you have all those cups to shove down our throats.
Now because of how the game was run in the past they changed it, to even it up and it became a race to the bottom and if you can't see that Wigan played a massive part in that then i'm not the only joke on here.

Time to bring out the Wigan supporters rule book again

Read Phuzzy's post...

This is about SL, not just us...

Phuzzy was the OP, and he was right, it was an interesting article. Then Cruncher started crying like everyone bar Wigan cared.

Btw IL doesn't want the salary cap increased, start looking a little closer to home.