I agree completely.

I better return that shirt I bought you then!

Get in!

All about Field and French now - from memory I think everyone else is signed up on multi year deals (aside from players at the end of their careers I.e. Isa and Cooper).

Getting them both signed up would be a dream and give us a real shot at a dominant spell. But signing either to play fullback would still put us in a great position even if the other leaves.

Saw the highlights reel of Field from 2023 yesterday and it highlights just what a weapon he is. It’s laughable how good he has to be now to get in the conversation for a Sky MOM award. If he plays a full season last year, he probably ends up with getting on for 50+ try contributions. The best fullback in Superleague by a distance IMO.

Field is awesome but if push came to shove and we end up with a straight choice between Field and French, I'd still pick French. I think...

It would be a tough choice. Interested to see how French develops at stand off going forward. It feels like there is loads of improvement in him there, which is a pretty scary thought with Field at 1 and Smith controlling things from 7.

I'm greedy, I want both. Absolutely imperative that we try and keep both of them for as long as possible.

Feels like it’s getting closer to the NRL ship having sailed for French and Field just doesn’t physically stack up to what they seem to want, so I think we’re a chance. Those 2 lads are getting treated very well at Wigan by the looks of things and the trust both ways seems to be there. They look to be on extended post season breaks again and that’s absolutely fine when they keep producing the goods. They’re superstars here in the UK and that’s very different to the roles they’d conman’s back in the NRL.

I'm sure Mike Danson and Rads will do everything they can. They clearly thrive at Wigan and in SL but its ultimately a big personal decision.

That’s a great bit of business by Wigan.

For me he’s the best 7 in SL

Had a crack at guessing the salary cap spend across the squad. Might be way off (would welcome any feedback) but if its anywhere close you can see how it's possible to fit in the big hitters of Field, French, Smith and Thompson when utilising the three marquee spots.

Field 200k
Miski 75k
Keighran 75k
Wardle 100k
Marshall 100k
French 150k on marquee
Smith 50k on marquee
Thompson 100k on marquee
Leeming 100k
Dupree 125k
Farrell 100k
Walters 75k
Ellis 125k
Havard 100k
O'Neill 50k
Byrne 75k
Cooper 75k
Nsemba 50k
Isa 50k
Mago 50k
Chan 50k
Eseh 50k
Hampshire 50k
Eckersley 30k
Hill 30k
Sutton 30k
Forber 30k

The total is almost bob on the £2.1 limit. There is also another change to the salary cap rules next year whereby the value up to which Under-21 players will be exempt from a club’s cap will rise from £25,000 to £30,000.

Excellent business - the one player we can build around who controls things from the middle and still has improvement in him as well (easy to forget he is still a relatively young player).

Best news of the off season so far

Fair play that's a great bit of business, I thought he would be off for sure. Have Wigan juggled the marquee spots around to fit him in, would make sense as they would save the most on him out of anyone.

You would assume so but i doubt we will find out

When you read that list I think a lot are underpaid rather than overpaid so shows how well we have done to get this squad under the cap (I understand this is a guess but it equates to the cap limit).
I’d have thought Farrell would be on more and the kids coming through will likely be on a bit less. Although I’m sure there will be some surprises both ways.

I think that's it - it may be a guess but we know the total adds up to the £2.1 and we can be pretty confident in predicting the higher earners (inc marquee players), mid-earners and lower earners depending on their position in the squad/experience/quality etc.

The total on the salary cap adds up to that figure the ACTUAL total could be significantly more as that is the whole point of the Marquee rule (as I understand it)

Yes I included that in the list - so French would count for £150k on the cap but his actual salary can be any amount above that. Wouldn't like to guess how much over the £150k figure his salary is.

Added my thoughts in bold.

We have done especially well to meet the salary cap with this squad!

One thing I do know with the younger player contracts is that they tend to increase YOY.

So O-Neil for example has a new 4 year deal it may go something along the lines of 50, 60, 80, 100k.

Junior just earned himself a new 4 year deal so that figure wouldn't be miles off I reckon.

You could be right about the Walters 75K talking to a very good friend of mine from Leeds who said Leeds only offered him 40K to stay.

I look at it another way MD.

It is fair to assume that we complied with the salary cap last season and since then we have lost King, Cust, Thornley, Shorrocks, Smithies, Powell, KPP and Silva and we have recruited Thompson, Leeming, Walters, Chan, Keighran and Eseh. If, for arguments sake, we accept that Keighran has replaced King (although I think we will have made a saving salary wise), Thompson for Cust, Leeming for Powell (I think Leeming will be on more money), Walters for Smithies, Chan for Shorrocks, and Eseh for Silva, that still leaves the club with Thornley and KPP's salary. We also need to factor in any contract upgrades e.g. Junior and recognise that Smith will likely count less against the cap. So, in summary, I think we still have some salary cap to play with.