But of course NZ warriors play in which league ?

It is the intent of the word 'Australian' by the person or persons who drew up the contract that is the issue.

I think we all know that it is the RU and the 'Australian game' that are the people with the 'big bucks' who would/did entice Sam to wander off.

I think that is why 'Australian and RU' were worded into Sams contract.

It appears contracts aren't worth the paper they are written on.

And now the rumours are starting that Josh Charnley is also being targetted. Oh dear.

Didn't he vote to keep the CC at it's current level?

he did yes, and hes the only one who has a vote......

Mr Lenegan bragged about it by saying "Why should I pay more ?"....than the salary cap, in the Manchester Evening News.

What does all this bellyaching actually produce beyond a little more wear & tear on a few keyboards?
I really hope IL isn't paying attention to any of this, 'cause if I were him I say "sod the lot of you".
If anyone here thinks they can do better then get your wallet open & flash the cash.

WTF does it really matter who spoke to who first, when they did or any other bits of nonsense in the dozen or so pages of this thread?!

Good luck to Sam. If I were 30 years younger I'd probably be wanting to move to NZ too (I hear the sheep are very friendly). The club's in rude health, there's a bit of extra cash to spread about & we've a chairman who's got his head screwed on the right way round.
If he comes back & we get first dibs (and he accepts) then we'll have a FB who's learned a little bit more in the toughest arena of the sport.

We should be congratulating him & wishing him well, not finding some barmpot excuse to winge & whine. Or will there be more than just the North stand booing him on Friday ?

Whilst at the recent Catalans game on my way back from the ground to the hotel I happened to walk past the USAP ground and witnessed first hand the phenominal interest in Union. The crowd noise could be heard from blocks away. In my ignorance I didn't know that Perpignan had a Top 14 team. I got hold of a copy of L'Equipe (a paper devoted to Sport) on the Monday after both games and guess what - pages devoted to Union not one single paragraph devoted to our game. I mention this because unless you get out there beyond Lancs/Yorks you really don't understand that Super League is tiny in comparison with Union and also the NRL.

Players have a career to think about. They want to achieve as much as possible and earn as much as possible in a game that is one bad tackle away from retirement.

None of this is the fault of IL. The salary caps in French Union and the NRL dwarf that of Super League, even if IL agreed to putting it up by 50% or even doubling it. We still couldn't compete. The world has changed and since Union went professional it has been a long slow decline for League in this country. The only thing that keeps us afloat is that put simply, it's a better game to watch, otherwise the game would have died years ago. It is obvious that Josh will be next to go, and why would you stop him? Once you've won everything in Super League, why not further your career?

Because removing the salary cap would save the game, wouldn't it?

It's nothing to do with poor marketing, poor TV deals, under-performing clubs, stay-away fans, the comparative strength of the pound, our low national profile thanks to Sky TV, the missing international dimension, etc.

FWIW, I don't like the salary cap either, but it isn't the only problem we've got, or the worst one - and you know that perfectly well.

It directly impacts on the ability of clubs to retain the best players.

I would say that is a pretty significant effect of it.

Definitely. If it wasn't for the SC we may still have Joel Tomkins as one example. We may of been able to pay Sam Tomkins enough to keep him in SL. Even players such as Ryan Hoffman etc. Its amazing what a wage increase can do. But of course, like Mr Lenegan said, why would I want to pay my players more money?

And last time we retained all the best players, we had to sell our ground.

Sam is reportedly on £400k pa over there, the game in this country can't sustain wage levels like that. If we offered Sam the same wage, we'd have to offer pro-rata comparable sums to the rest of the squad.

It's not the SC that's the problem, it's the income for the clubs and the game as a whole that simply isn't there.

And likewise, we may not.

How many 'mays' and 'ifs' are you guys going to offer as evidence?

Much as I've lobbied for the cap to be moderated in order to reward clubs who promote youth, abolishing it won't save the British game overall - because it's already bloody skint.

Geoff, go and find a wall, and bang your head against it... Some on here just have there heads up their own ar$e$, like the sound of their our keyboards, and cannot see the wood for the trees....

Cheapest ticket £18 south stand, programs are what £3? Pints £3.20, Pies £10k.....and you want to increase the CAP? Sadly this time round, Wigan don't have a ground to sell

So we'll sell all our best players instead !

Nice soundbite, but it doesn't really mean anything.

We only have Charnley left that would really attract big money because we've sold or lost all the rest!!

Maybe Hansen to Salford? Im sure the Doctor might give us a decent transfer fee for him. Maybe an offer that we cant refuse? Who knows he may even try and buy our new marquee signing out of his contract as well if Mr Lenegan asks nicely?

IMO it's a bit narrow minded to think Sam went for cash alone.
He is one of the most talented players in SL, and like anyone with talent (no matter what their chosen profession) they will try and test/challenge themselves against the best. Unfortunately the Southern Hemisphere is the best place to play rugby.
While RL may be strapped for cash, so is everybody else. IMO getting rid of the salary cap will concentrate all of the best players into 4/5 teams, everybody else will be there to make up the numbers. Look at Scottish football it's a joke as a competition.
We need to get a better profile and more cash into the game. Thats down to the RFL and business men in the sport.
I'm a recent convert from union and RL is a far better game to watch, the crowds are more interesting, its a fun night with away games being reachable after work on a Friday and its great value for money.
Don't underestimate what a good product RL is and don't overestimate the impact of Sam leaving. We might get some other moves added to our attacking plan next year.

Never a truer word spoken in jest? I actually agree with this move HH can be bettered with a realistic replacement as he isnt a top 5 player. Maybe you have some other radical ideas?

What you mean bring in another marquee player to replace him

You mean someone who has scored 597 points in the NRL? or is it 600 points that defines marquee?

Only if he has two dodgy knees and at the end of his career!

Andy Farrell has scored more than that. Should we get him to dust off his boots as well?

For one Bowen doesnt kick conversions, secondly this is the NRL, its nothing like playing Warrington, Oldham and Paris SG every week of the mid 90s. But you wouldn't know how good the NRL competition is because you dont watch it.

I am sad to see Tomkins go as he is very good to watch and players of his talent are rare in this country. As a replacement, Bowen is still very good.

Good luck against Leeds on Friday night.

And chairmen who are seemingly content to do nothing about it.

IL's approach looks to be to end up a big fish in a small pond. He doesn't see losing Sam as bad for SL or Wigan (apparently according to an article in the Observer). Why not? Well in a nutshell he seems to think all the top players will eventually be in the NRL or playing RU so we can survive by replacing them from the production line.

This will be good enough despite any good ones we do produce being picked off by the NRL because when all the decent players currently left in the league have retired we will be best placed to remain at the top of what will be a mediocre competition due to our production line and re-signing veteran ex-Wigan, ex-NRL players after a retirement package.

Gone is the ambition to bring the best players to Wigan or so it seems.

Now you can say that is a pragmatic approach to the problems the game faces or a defeatist approach. I think its a defeatist approach and instead of IL voting against increases in the cap or asking why would he want to pay players more I'd rather see him say things like we can't do that now but are working to increase income to the sport so we can. He's not though and in fact seems dead set against it. Everything is rosy because he thinks we can be top of a pile of mediocrity. A semi-professional future for the game beckons in my opinion.