Excellent point.

Briers didn't have quite the same influence for Wire last year anyway so I don't think he'll be quite the loss he would have been a year or two back. His experience will be a loss though and to lose so much in one go must be a worry when you consider Hodgson and Morley have gone through the door as well.

Overall though Tomkins is the bigger loss. He was the catalyst for our rebirth as a trophy winning side imo and whilst we wouldn't have got to where we have without Ian Lenagan, Mike Maguire or Shaun Wane, none of those would have had the success without Tomkins IMO.

Shaun Wane will be coaching a Wigan side next year without Sam Tomkins in it for pretty much the first time in his whole Wigan career. He's had Sam in his sides from u18's to u21's right through to the first team and they've been fantastic for each other. It's going to be a real test for Wane but one I'm sure he'll pass.

You say it as if we haven't replaced him. We have Matty Bowen now and Dan Sarginson who can do a job at Full-Back. We're not going to be using Hampshire/Tierney as starting fullbacks next season so theres no problem.

You say that like they're all as good as Tomkins

Well he's in good company with British Lance Todd trophy winning Stand offs

Lee Briers
Leon Pryce
Kevin Sinfield
Tommy Martyn
David Topliss


I'm suprised you lads dont have a stand off of that ilk.....you know what with all them finals you reached you would have thought a good local stand off from st pats or somewhere would have snapped up one or two Lance Todds.....??

Enjoy it now because time will come back and bite you in the backside.

some people have NO class at all...none. Anybody who gets any sort of pleasure out of the misfortune of others is the bottom of the barrel.....mate you are rock bottom. ugly. Still your happy..so I guess someone won't get beaten up tonight or worst....so that's something I guess.

By the way.
You need to see a therapist as you seem to have a big problem with anger management.

What a end!

One is a born winner the other happened to be in a side that won a few trophies. Stains are the real winners here, its a good job they are rubbish or I'd be worried they might win something......=#FF0000cut out the offensive posts please. Pemps.

If Bowen continues where he left off last season, Bowen is better.

So you're sticking up for player who's last ever words on a rugby pitch were " ref you're a f***ing joke" . Ugly yes.

Your comments on here, on the Wire Site, and was word you couldn't spell really do sum you up.
Let's face it, both are tremendous players and both will be missed by their respectives sides. One point about Briers though, he hasn't actually played that many games in the past two seasons, so we have been learning to play wiothout them.
RL in this country needs every personality it can get. Both will be a big loss to the game in this country and anyone who thinks otherwise, whether Wire or Wigan, is completely deluded.

So you think HH did a hatchet job on Ratchford and your having a go at me? Get real

Both players will be a big loss to the British game. I think Wire fans are naively playing down the importance of Briers to them. Certainly as far as games against us go, he has always been the key man for them.

We have shown we can handle big personnel changes whilst maintaining the club culture and style of play. Big challenge now for the Wolfs.

Although I hated him with a passion my hatred was for a reason.....he was a bloody good player and always caused us problems whenever he played against us. Its a similar situation to us with Briers as Shaun Edwards was to them all those years ago
Will I miss him personally...No
Will I miss him playing against us....No
Will Warrington miss him.....Yes
Will the game miss him....Most definitely

I'd say briers, we are replacing Tomkins with an experienced fullback from the NRL, wire are replacing briers with a guy who's been playing fullback for most of the year and replacing him with a risky signing who's only played a hand full of first team games.

And people accuse me of trolling and derailing threads. I'm now receiving personal insults on threads that I haven't even commented on. Grow up.

No I don't actually. I just think you're pathetic making fun of someon's serious injury.. I'm having a go at you because your comments set you up for it.
Any real RL fan would realise that the loss of anyone who makes people sit up and take notice of the game is a bad loss. Both Briers and Tomkins were able to do this.
My last word on the subject on this Board. Off now to cheer on Sam at Hull.

Some quite childish comments on here. As much as I dislike the bloke, its never nice for a player of Briers quality to have to end his career because of injury. He's one of the best half backs iv seen in my life time over here (im 24) and its been a pleasure to watch him play in our league for the length of time that he has. He's one of them players you "love to hate" he is a personality just like Sam. The sport, like many others, needs personalities.

As for who will be missed the most, id go for Briers. Sam has been replaced by a world class fullback in Bowen, where as Briers will be very difficult to replace, Ratchford certainly doesn't fall into the world class catorgary and I can see Moran getting the cheque book out before the season begins.

wire are now in the position we were in last year.
no one realistically expected our new players to step up quite as well as they did - but it happened. we have learned to compensate the loss of a player by building new strengths in different areas. I'm sure wire will do the same, but whether they can do it in a single season - only time will tell.
when you lose a superstar, the mistake is to try and replace them like-for-like. the secret of succession is to re-evaluate and build on the strengths that you have rather than those you have lost.

I was defending HH (yet again) not making fun. We had to defend HH for weeks after the final, it was just a tackle, however the Blake Green incident was cold and calculated. I will miss Briers I thought the way Stains treated him was shocking and disgraceful. He then established himself a long decent career at the Wires, that takes some doing. I am a big Ratchford fan I think he will have a shout at MOS next year he just keeps getting better, I know its immaterial now but he should have been selected for England he is international class. The HH tackle was unfortunate

Quite right. I'd be amazed if Moran doesn't sign a replacement

I disagree I think he is class and he kicks goals what more does a team want?

I think Briers will be biggest loss.

Wire are loosing their General who controlled the full team, and the ref. Very hard to replace.

My first thought when I heard this news was "phew". And that s a compliment.

Big loss for European RL.

This only leaves one pantomime villain to boo next season.