Well said. You are seemingly not allowed to be unhappy about the fact the standard of player we can recruit is going down.

Before Tommy and Finch were known to be leaving I can guarantee you there isn't a regular poster on here would say Smith and Green were better players. Now we have got these two as half backs for 2013 its as if they dare not state the obvious - that our 2013 half backs won't be as good as our 2012 ones.

We may still do very well with these two in the side (if the standard of players in other teams also drops) and I will cheer them on as loud as I do Finch and Tommy but I am not going to delude myself as to their abilities. I hope I am pleasantly surprised by Green as I know little about him and the HKR fans seem to rate him but I already know Smith isn't a patch on Tommy.

Totally agree

Especially after you've quit your original club and gravitated to either Pats or IRB when you're about 14.

I wonder why that happens so much?

As a HKR supporter I am sorry to see Blake Green leave as he is a great player, maybe over exagerated using great but a good stand off, but having said that I do believe we have got the better deal we have signed the guy Travis Burns from Penrith who is supposed to be a better player Wigan will pay his first years contract, using the transfer fee, so we get him for nowt, the rest of his 3 yr contract is the same as what Blake Green was getting ,I assume, he is younger than Green and as I said earlier supposedly a better player. Only time will tell

What has that got to do with Wigan scouts watching other teams?

Lads leave clubs all the time for many different reasons and not because they've been told that thet have to play for either IRB or Pats to be picked up.

In the current under 15's Wigan squad there's 3 players who play for Shevy, 1 whose the current captain of Wigan and 1 who made the England Youth squad. How many Pats players?...none!

Kinda blows your argument out of the water!

In a roundabout way, you've answered your own question there.

Clearly this is a concept you're not unfamiliar with.

As to the rest, maybe NWC have finally grown a pair.

Also, a scrum half from Shevington 15s is on the St Helen's scholarship.
If your good enough, you will be spotted.

Yeah, there are quite a few lads who make it to Saints, Wire, Salford etc from the likes of Orrel, Judes, Shevy. But that only underlines the original point.

Also quite a few who originally get picked up from the likes off Judes, orrell and Shevington at Wigan, don't make out that the Wigan scouts only pick up players from IRB and Pats because you know that isn't the case.

Okay. (Psst ... there goes that flying pig again).

Seriously though, if super-team building has now become a thing of the past at junior level, I'll be delighted.

I'll be watching my grandson play this weekend. Be interesting to see if those involved can confirm what you say.

At the end off the day if the Wigan scouts pick up the correct players, which by the looks off the 16s,18s and 20s results, they do. Then it is irrelevant where the players come from.

Totally. Who cares if they're not as good as they could be because they've spent the most important part of their development years participating in an annual two-horse race rather than a competitive league in which the talent is spread around thus testing them hard each week? Regular 50-0 victories are great for the spirit (if not the ability). I mean it's not like they'd ever get beaten by the French.

But as I say ... I'll check your facts with others over the weekend. Be great news if those bad habits have genuinely been dispensed with. Now, we're getting OT and anyway, I'm off to the match.

Again, I go back to results against other super league teams in 16s, 18's and 20's. If as you say Wigan scouts aren't doing there job looking at other players then they can't be doing too bad comparing them to the other scouts off super league. As we are either up there with the best or the best in each individual age group.

I know even less about Burns than Green! I did wonder myself if HKR have pulled a fast one here but as you say only time will tell. Given what your fans say about Green I am more concerned about Smith replacing Tommy than Green replacing Finch.

Blake Green is a class player who was absolutely fantastic for us in the first year he was at KR, BUT

This season he's only played 9/10 matches and hasn't looked a patch on the player he was last year, perhaps being in and out of the side with injuries all year has knocked his form/confidence?

Considering at KR pretty much everything goes through Dobson in attack anyway, i'm happy to let him go to Wigan for 100k especially as we've already got his replacement signed up on a 3 year deal.

This was a GREAT deal for rovers IMO and not bad for Wigan, assuming you can get/keep him fit and on the pitch. When he's on form he really is a cracking player.

Blake Green is no Brett Finch, some of Finchs passes were great last night, imo Green doesn't have that in his game.
Good luck to him though, hopefully hell regain his 2011 form.

Some of them were awful as well tbf, he's trying the short death ball far too often IMO and it's resulting in a lot of errors.

still gutted to see him go. he will kill it at wigan.....for anyonw whoant seen it...www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2PK6kAZFIE

still gutted to see him go. he will kill it at wigan.....for anyonw whoant seen it...www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2PK6kAZFIE

Im looking forward to seeing the smith/green combination. Smith has been great for us this season in the little time he had played and green had looked good from the little i saw of him. I think people are too quick to write off this combination but they arguably have a better kicking game than tommy/finch and can run at the line.

All I will say is give him a chance. I remember when certain player from London signed for Wigan and a lot of people were say that he was not the type of player that fits in with the ethos of Wigan. Tommy has left a hero of the club. Just give Blake a chance, let him play a few games then judge him.

Oh dear, oh dear.

Thought it dig this up for a bit of off season fun.

Humble pie is available at the front of the class, please form an orderly queue in single file.

Hockmonster and BrettKenny get 2 slices each.

Super league freak on twitter saying he's been offered a big deal by the storm in the NRL.

Also says Harrison Hanson thinking over a a offer from Salford.

I actually think Blake Green can still play a lot better for Wigan next season. He had some very good games but I'd like to see him more consistently take control of games.

Him leaving should be out of the question - he has only 1 year left on his contract anyway so surely we will hold him to that.

If Storm offer to pay Wigan back the fee they paid HKR for his services and Green makes it clear he will go at the end of the season anyway he'll be on his way IMO.

That's the way we work.

I'd hope that, as Green has enhanced his reputation at Wigan, an increased fee would be demanded.