is this a case of Wigan putting all their eggs in one basket?

Tomkins will not be cheap and say he gets another knee injury......

Leeds have Hardaker so Tomkins would not be needed unless Leeds dump Hardaker.

The problem with this argument is that in the salary cap era it could be used to prevent any kind of star signing.

And under IL, it's the very last thing you could say about Wigan. We are massively lacking in star quality at present, but plenty of cash has been spent on the development of a big crop of promising youngsters.

Surely Leeds wouldn't want "The Big Time Bottler"?

I mean if he is a "Bottler" then he wouldn't want to play in Big Games would hje? So let him come to us were he can run freely Mid-Table with no pressure of expectation.
Because at Wigan we are well renowned for accepting mid-table and certainly don't have a record of appearing in major finals where he could be exposed as a "Bottler" once more?

God forbid he came to Wigan and they make a Final against Leeds for example as I am sure that Leeds results in Big Finals will come shining through against Sam the "Bottler" and the rest of the Wigan team who don't know what it;s like to play for a club with Expectations!

Remeber the Saints fans telling us that winning/drawing a game with 12 men was not impossible and had no bearing on the GF and using the Widnes result against us early season as prrof of fact?

Salford ran with 15 for 60+ minutes agaisnt us on Monday and won so don't use that as an excuse.

Ditto to the injuries etc. when we get SOL, Flower, Charnley, Crosby, Thornley back to provide some platofrm and go forward which IMO is as equally as improtant as playing without halves.

"It's an opinion, time will tell whether it's ill founded or not but Wigan look toothless to me."

Toothless? Expand a bit more? Attacking wise? Defensive wise? Lack of Heart?

I would say writing any teams chances off 7/8 games into the season is a bit premature especially when 1 win or loss can put a team 4/5 places up the league or 4/5 places down.

Lets see where both teams are after the next month or so when we will be over half way through the regular season fixtures.
I think we'll be round about Top 4 and I wouldn't back against us back half of year (Although not favourites by a long way) but talk of Wigan's demise is either premature or Wishful thinking by some IMO.

The fact that Sam has said there will be an announcement within a few days must mean that he is coming back to Wigan.
Otherwise, IL will have had to agree to Sam moving to another club and he surely won't have done that so quickly, would he…..?!!
A half time signing of a new contract on the pitch ( as Joel did last June) - either on Sunday - or even better to do it in front of the Warrington fans and live on Sky next Thursday!

Think someone is having you on there. Bowen signed a contract extension for this season about 6 months ago, seriously doubt that since then he has signed another for next season, particularly given that he has been dropped for 3 games now. Plus IL voluntarily gave an interview with Wigan TV a week or so back referring to our right of first refusal on Tomkins and saying we would be first in the queue if he became available. He would be incredibly daft to do that knowing it almost certainly wouldn't be possible. It's not like he was caught unawares by the interview or couldn't take back what he said, after all he owns Wigan TV.

Not touchy at all. I've read this from a number of Saints fans now and I don't understand it.

The last thing I'd want to do is belittle Saints achievements from last year because with the injuries you suffered in key positions you deserved the two comfortable home ties in the play offs and to play against 12 men for 78 mins in the GF but I'd expect a little more respect.

Do I hand on heart think we'll win something? Not sure but I wouldn't rule it out just yet based on a disrupted start.

There's a helluvalot of chicken counting going on here. Even when he said he's "missing the pies" to Rhino Riley on 5Live this morning, nothing's done & dusted. I suspect this move might have been on his mind for some time (certainly since the injury), so there's been plenty of time for some clandestine bargaining.
As for unveiling, I admit I'd forgotten about next Thursday & was thinking Sunday might be the day, but what a cunning-plan to get bums on seats midweek in anticipation (would back-fire spectacularly if it's hyped up then not delivered). But then I'm just an old septic.

That's the telling comment from Tomkins to me. It all felt a bit like something is sorted on boots n all last night.

If it isn't with Wigan it's been completed very fast indeed considering the hurdles other clubs would need to overcome.

The on the pitch signing may prove difficult though. Might have to be skyped on a big screen

Of course it's not impossible, of course it is more difficult a man down. We were enormous underdogs for that game (I'm not allowed to say why because the I word is banned regardless of relevance) and the sending off changed the game.



And did so with a proper 1/6/7 spine, which is part of my point.



Agree you have injuries and important ones. Do I think those listed are as important as Lomax/Percival/Burns/Walsh/Wilkin/Vea/Greenwood/Wellens are to us? No, but that's another argument and one which I suspect will never be settled.

I texted a Wigan supporting mate at half time on GF saying given the lack of any attacking clue on both sides, the game would be decided by tries from kicks and that means only one winner given the respective halves. Losing Wellens at half time and the re-shuffle just reinforced the point.



Certainly no lack of heart or commitment in defence. Toothless = lack of bite. Lack of game breakers. I don't rate your 1/6/7/9 options highly enough to see trophies. Again, an opinion.



And you're entitled to that "IMO", it just differs with my own. No dramas.

Getting a little OT, but I remember thinking Leeds were going to do nothing in 2012 when we put 50 on them at Headingley. They ended up reaching both finals, winning at OT. The new structure has a greater incentive on finishing higher up the table but still nothing is decided in April, especially with how erratic the form of about 10 teams is at the minute. We need to improve massively but I'm still confident of a top 4 finish this season and we'll be there or there abouts when the trophies are handed out.

Saints could probably also do with another FB

Or play Hardaker at Stand Off.

Peacock, Sinfield and Leuleui all leaving - that's a lot of cap space.

Squeaky bumtime for Weegan.

In that Tomkins has dropped more bombs than the Luftwaffe....

Great going forward - a liability in defence.

From a very very good sauce (I know everyone says that) but believe me it is, and he’s signed for Wigan yesterday (Wednesday) and it should be announced in the next 48 hours.

Tomkins last season at Wigan 23 tries, 21 try assists, 24 missed tackles and 32 errors
Hardaker last year at Leeds 8 tries, 13 try assists, 27 missed tackles and 30 errors.

We'll stick with Sam thanks.

Now that's a great comeback Rogues!

If Sam wasn't in the pipeline, I'd love Wigan to get ZH from Leeds but Sam is in the pipeline and there's nobody who can touch his level of class over here. I'd pick Sam ahead of every other FB in Superleague without thinking twice about it!

I must admit though,I wish they'd get the deal done and announced to put us out if our misery!

Exciting times ahead with Sam and Hampshire hopefully in the same team. It would give us electric pace and real X factor in attack.

I'm loving your idea about the Thursday - what a brilliant idea although if things went pear shaped and Sam did sign for Wire we could see the biggest "Wigan walk" in living memory

Zak (as you imply you are on first name terms) says he's not really interested in your silly stats. He'll stick with his CC medal. Thanks.

I remember the time we where all on tender hooks waiting of the white smoke coming from Jackie Edwards chimney to see if Shaun had signed for Wigan on the eve of his 17th birthday, it's a bit like that with Sam but the odds are swinging to Wire according to their board.

Well if the pre-release contract clause from 2013 allowing Sam to go to NZ with 3 years left on his contract is legally binding then on his return if he wants to play in Superleague he would be contracted to Wigan as long as we can:-
a) Fit him in under the salary cap
b) Pay him the pre-agreed salary that was negotiated

If Wigan can do that then Sam should be a Wigan Player for 2016, the only fly in the ointment is If Sam doesn't want to play for Wigan under those terms and signs for someone else, If this is against Wigan's wishes then we could end up with "Harrisgate" all over again and another club goes the way of Bradford

But he drops bombs (or more to the point just doesn't attempt to catch them).

It cost us about 2 try's in 4 seasons from memory.

He's also never beat up a student, got lashed on international duty or levelled homophobic abuse at another player.

Hardaker all day for me.

It's amazing how many wire fans now say that Sam is the perfect player and how much they're looking forward to signing him when all the time he played at Wigan he was the biggest cheat in super league!

And if Sam only had a cup winners medal and a few International caps.