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.

Have you been watching englands first half? Doesnt look 100k better than anyone else IMO

another one who sounds like they haven't stepped on a rugby field... when 6,7,9 dont make any space or even string more than 3 pass together how is he sposed to do hes job? other than scout. if sam was in the aussie sqaud he would all over england and you know it so stop being a blind idiot

at the end of the day, there's people out there do the same job as you that get paid better than you. That's the way things work. I negotiate one wage, you dont negotiate as well, tough boobies i'm afraid.

ST is a quality player, for Wigan & for England, nobody can deny that, and anyone that does deny that is a fool, and if we want to give him that extra £100k, then we will. There's nobody in the squad who's going to bitch and whine over it, they'll do their job and aim to be the next person to get £100k pay-boost!

The club has lacked a real soul ever since the end of Central Park and there seems to be an attempt to try and graft a bit of "everyone hates us" spirit onto this homeless entity. But is anyone out there really feeling threatened by Wigan's "innovations" (most of which no one outside Wigan has really paid attention to)? Really?

FIOS

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"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.'" Wouldnt even bother replying on that board. They are scared of any improvements and cant accept that some clubs are far far bigger than them and should be allowed to develop and keep talent. If it was up to clubs like Wakey, the Superleague would be like the championship. They dont like that we and other clubs can grow and show ambition whereas they are stuck in the dark ages.

Quote ="Rogues Gallery"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.'" Wouldnt even bother replying on that board. They are scared of any improvements and cant accept that some clubs are far far bigger than them and should be allowed to develop and keep talent. If it was up to clubs like Wakey, the Superleague would be like the championship. They dont like that we and other clubs can grow and show ambition whereas they are stuck in the dark ages.

Actually played and watched rugby for many years and btw its your forwards who make the space not your halves. And in any case im not denying tomkins is a good player, and one day may be a great player, but for me hasnt shown for wigan or england that hes 100k better than any other sl player. I always say the mark of a great player is to play well behind a beaten pack or when your teammates arent playing well which mr tomkins has failed to do. Therefore imo hes not upto the level of being called great yet

You shouldn't feel threatened by them. You should just feel embarrassed that you aren't doing something similar. And if you're not, well that says a lot more about you than it does us.

You think Leeds have anything to learn from Wigan about getting into bed with Rugby Union, pillaging other areas for the best young talent or having partnerships with educational establishments?

Yep, its called giving back to the community and raising the profile of the sport. Its a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.