I just find it amusing that, according to some, its only for the money

Maybe he wanted to come home and he only really wanted to sign for Saints which, as an ex Saints player, wouldnt be surprising but they didnt want to sign him so he settled for 2nd best?

Who knows.......

Someone has to be leaving off the back of this. Not necessarily for salary cap reasons but there's too many players and they're all players who would expect to play.

My best guess is Ellis or Thompson might be playing #13 next year. Hope not.

In the words of Frano Botica "Why would i want to play for St Helens"

If it is Smithies as many predicted. (It was only a matter of time) then it's better to happen now than in a couple of years when he would be irreplacable. Gutted to lose Smithies if he is going and he goes with my best wishes if so but my word, Thompson doesn't half cushion the blow. He is a fully developed battering ram.

Smithies isn’t leaving .

If he was don’t people realise the announcement would have coincided with the Thompson announcement,

Announcing Thompson now gives the fans a boost and another reason to be vocal and behind the team on Saturday. Smithies won't be announced (If he is going) until seasons end. Can't imagine Peet would wan't that kind of distraction. It's counter productive to what is the biggest 2 weeks of the season.

Thompson Cooper Havard Byrne Dupree Ellis Mago Hill O'Neil Leeming Powell Farrell Walters Smithies Nsemba Isa Shorrocks plus next in line from the academy, going to be an awful lot of disappointed forwards next season unless we are going to announce some departures

I'd imagine Hill will be going out on loan somewhere for a full season next year.

Wonder if there are any clauses in the contract if Thompson doesn't ever get back to full fitness.

Intrigued by the comments on here I popped over to Red V.

TBF they are mainly fair comments and not a lot different to when Williams signed for Warrington.

Look on their Transfers and Rumours thread not the Thompson one

Looking at the prop rotation I’d say as others have said Hill will be going on loan, possibly somewhere like Wakefield or Fev.

I can also see a scenario where Thompson is rested for pre planned spells throughout the year in order to ensure he remains clear of his historic head injury issues.

It will allow us to rotate props and keep them fresh.

I asked his dad years ago I think he should play for Wigan is words- "He will never play for Wigan".
Luke lived opposite me in Appley Bridge.
What a signing.What a team we have next year (bloody good one this year mind).

I'm very sure they have. Trying to work it out is the intriguing bit.

Well, just because someone "can't work it out" doesn't mean there isn't one.
Not aimed at you by the way

Someone named the options we have earlier and o think they named 17 Forwards for what are generally 6 starting and 4 sub spots
But they forgot Chan, so that's 18 and that's assuming Powell moves on or that's 19!!!
And that's before we consider next in line from Academy etc.

We have (Currently) 10 "1st team" Backs (I'm including Cust/Thornley/Hampshire) and I'm sure at least a couple of them will move on with Eckersley/Douglas not being a million miles off chances (Eckersley deffo ready) to replace them so were covered decent there.
Add to the a whole host of lads in Forber/Astley/Makin/Farrimond etc who are within 12 months of knocking on the door and that's awesome

I'd rather focus on the positives of that, credit the club, coaches and management, for being able to get us into that position and conventrate on winning Saturday amd then the week after, rather than worry about who plays where 1st game next year
Worrying about will "X" get a game, will Y" start at prop or LF, why have we signed Leeming (after lots of posters particularly on the other forum have had a witch hunt for Powell for 2/3 years - BTW I said 8/9 weeks ago that Sam Powell will have a big part in our end of season and IMO he's certainly showing his worth in his understated way and will get very little credit).

Just seems/feels like sometimes some posters create problems when it's actually a positive over situations

I said about 4 weeks ago that I want everyone fit, everyone fighting for places because you never know Whats round the corner (in response to people worrying about ISA and Havard returning as if it were a bad thing) and lo and behold Byrne gets injured and out for season.

The way Peet/Rads and IL/Danson (and Wane) have all worked together to refresh and rebalanced the squad over the last 18months to 2 years has been fantastic

I'm sure there was a plan

The ambition we’re showing in recruitment/retention is fantastic to see. There will obviously be talk about who plays where, who starts, who is benched, do players make way and so on. That only natural and I don’t think people are creating issue but they’re simply wondering about possibilities and how things will play out.

Naming a preferred 17 going in to 2024 will bring as many varying opinions as we’ll have seen for a while. The competition for places will be intense and one thing is for sure, any young players coming in to the side will have a fantastic group of players to help them along. The buzz about the place feels fantastic and it feels as though the club is on an upward curve. It would be amazing if we can really accelerate all that in this next 2 weeks.

Where’s our favourite Saints poster gone? The one that guaranteed Thompson would not sign for Wigan

. Listen to idiots and you finish up becoming one of them.

Don’t forget there is another signing to come

What makes you think Morgan is leaving?

They should be asking why they didn’t sign him. Perhaps it is down to funds. There are not too many good federation players around, we have just recruited two of them. Add to that our great production line and we are well set for the foreseeable future. Saints need to find replacements for Walmsley and LMS, trying to bridge that gap with Matautia and Knowles reminds me of where we were a few years ago.

One guy on Redvee is predicting that Delaney will be mullering Thompson in 18 months, we shall see.

Does this mean we now have a player good enough to make the Saints team?

I just don’t see how we keep all these forwards unless someone is leaving. Probably the pessimist in me. Can just see Smithies making way for Thompson

Glad it’s finally announced no point keeping it a secret as most people seemed to have guessed he was on his way,now if it pays off and he returns the player he was when he left to go down under then it’s a hell of a signing but I guess it’s a wait and see I suppose.

I seem to remember a statement a few years ago where he said the only way I would sign for Wigan was if I was short of money, but.....my Dad's a millionaire.
This is the guy who wouldn't take a salary cut during the pandemic, and refused a Covid jab, all sounds a bit me,me, me.
Can't help but think it'll go t*ts up long before the four years are up.

If we look at the picture over the next 3-5 years and who Wigan would expect to lose compared to Saints, there is no doubt who would look to have the bigger rebuild job on. If I listed our best 6-8 players, I’d say only Farrell from that list is over the age of 30 going in to 2024 (he’ll be 33) If I listed Saints best 6-8 players, one in Roby is retiring, his replacement is 31, Makinson will be 32, Lomax 33, Walmsley 33, Paasi 32, Sironen 30 and Welsby/Dodd have been linked with the NRL.

Now we could lose Field/French as well over time but the older guys like Cooper and Isa aren’t players we’re hugely reliant on, so the core of the squad should be settled and many of the players are yet to hit their peak years. Saints have found one gem in Delaney to add to that player pool and cushion any exits but finding replacements internally or externally for guys like Makinson, Lomax, Walmsley or somebody like Welsby would be nigh on impossible because they’ve been that good.