I know what you mean, but still, Sam, Mossop, Faz & Josh all came from our academy let's remember. Proof that we can produce them! Mossop will go and we'll find the next Mossop. Then maybe he'll go, and we'll replace him too. Sam of course is a special talent that only comes along every once in a decade... the good news is not many clubs are producing lads like him either!

The Burgess brothers were ripe for the picking due to the Bulls well documented financial problems. Graham wanted to test himself against the best, much like Morley and Ellis. Eastmond, along with Joel and Ashton, went purely for the money but his style of play doesn't really suit union. Many backs have suffered in union due to the lack of an open running game and have come back to league a shadow of their former selves e.g. Pryce, Smith.

I can see why Mossop, Hock and Sam may want to test themselves in the best comp. With H you also have to consider his heritage. Farrell strikes me as being another Lockers, Wigan through and through. You often see him watching the junior teams. Personally I think we have the talent coming through to replace them all bar Sam, though Hampshire, Williams or Tierney may prove me wrong.

Why are they looking at Wigan? Because we are the biggest name in the game, have a good production line, we have a good culture in terms of sports science/coaching and training methods and produce players with the attitude to succeed.

Which doesn't help us in the slightest.

Unless the clubs find ways to get more revenue and investment, losing star players to the NRL and RU is going to be the least of our problems.

Most of the clubs in the league can't afford to pay player salaries any higher than a SC that was introduced over a decade ago and has been massively eroded by inflation. The game is headed for a semi-pro future.

Many players will simply not get involved in RL in the first place due to the lack of a viable career. I'm not sure that in 10 or 20 years' time we will have any players RU and the NRL will want.

There seems to be no appetite amongst the clubs or (judging by these boards) many fans to address the issue of financial failure by clubs and the game as a whole in England. No one would argue that SL is likely to be as rich a league as the NRL but there is much that could be done to improve club and RFL finances.

If we carry on as we have been doing for decades then the best we can hope for is for RL to become a feeder competition for the NRL. That way we would see some talented athletes playing RL in England, even if only briefly.

we will have 5-6 SL clubs that will pick up the best young players around from academies and other SL and Championship clubs, keep them for 2-3 years and if they turn out exceptional at an early stage try and sign them up to a longer contract so we get a fee when the do get approached by NRL or Union.

As a sport we just don't have the revenue streams to compete with the NRL or Union, we have teams that can't pay up to the salary cap now so raising it would probably only benefit a couple of teams

How many of these are there now?

Serious question, because if it's only a couple, then that seems an odd reason to condemn the clubs who've managed to develop their income streams to a future in which they exist purely to seed the NRL and the RFU.

Nothing against Mossop at all because careers are short and I've full respect to anyone who wants to test themselves against the best but something really does need to be done to stop the rot in Super League. I agree with us having a salary cap and I know some teams are bound to be better than others but there are 7 clubs at the bottom and who have done nothing for years and don't look like doing anything (bar maybe Salford). Why are we pandering to them so much? Lets have a smaller league of 10 teams and a cap that the top 4 can afford. If the others can't keep up they need to find ways to bring in more revenue

Lenegan had no real option.

About 2 years ago Mossop progressed quickly after coming back from loan and had he carried on this improvement would be first choice for an England jersey, however for one reason and another this didnt happen. and TBH we have managed without him, as we have done without Finch, Tommy, Carmont etc.

Are we a better team? no, it just shows the lack of competition and poor standard in the other SL clubs.

Wire's ageing team looks to have caught up with them.
Leeds ditto to a certain extent and dont look the same without Buderus bossing them round the pitch and a handful coming up for retirement.
Stains, shadow of former selves following loss of Graham and centre issues going from Lyon to Gidley to Shenton. Look lost without Roby and Tony P.

I think that Mossop is a loss but not an irreplaceable one, and if we can make some cash on the deal, why not? My fear with him is that he is rapidly turning into another Prescott, injury wise. I am more concerned about the rumour being banged out on the jungle drums (the more reliable ones) that Sam and Logan, as a package are off to Oz. The story is that Sam won’t go without his brother. I was told it’s a done deal, only time will tell.

Coming totally in peace, and nothing to do with our new owner trying to buy Tomkins.

It has been mentioned, Wigan get special dispensation for Tomkins salary, but what were the circumstances that set this precedence? If other teams were able to take advantage of these rules it could, possibly(?), improve the standard of player in SL.

Unfortunately the powers that be want Super League to be competitive for all teams. The only way they can achieve this is to let the tail wag the dog as some lower teams just don't have the capacity to generate greater revenue, so the cap is kept low and the teams at the top are penalised by running the risk of losing their better players. The whole league becomes weaker as a result. How long before young players don't even bother coming into the sport..??

I think youngsters will still come into the sport, but their ambition won't be to win the grand final or the challenge cup, it'll be to win the NRL final or the 6 nations. The NRL and union have been bigger than us for ages but the gap really is too big now. No way will we be able to produce and retain players of the calibre of Radlinksi, Long, Fielden, Peacock, Farrell and Sculthorpe in future, they will all leave for money and a better competition

Sam to play first team and Logan to sell hot dogs I presume! In all seriousness I can see why a team would take Logan on if it meant they were getting San but I'm far from convinced he's Wigan quality so therefore he's probably not quite up to the standards of 'most' NRL teams. He was poor yesterday I thought.

Whatever does happen with Sam Tomkins I just hope we have plans in place to soften the blow via a couple of big signings.

It seems like under the RFL's stewardship the quality and progression of Super League is dictated by it's weakest teams, any one for a 10/12 team competition?

I increasingly feel that this is the only future for the fully pro game in this country.

A higher salary cap, discounts on home-grown players and a central fund to top of the salaries of our marquee talents should also be in the mix.

No doubt there'd be objectors to this, but I'm increasingly thinking that it's do something or die a slow death.

These are my thoughts entirely, the RFL claim to be "innovative" in expanding the league but I think for financial viability and quality of rugby league in this country they need to take a proactive approach and reduce the teams now. Nigel Wood claims the sport in this country is better than it's ever been but how much more blow out score lines and quality players leaving super league does he need to observe before he notices some thing isn't right with the current setup.

But how do you address the fact that our very own chairman opposes a SC hike? Seems to me that it's not the size of the pond that's important, merely being the biggest fish in it.

I do think it's time to make changes to the salary cap, it's been the same for 10 years now. Although even with an increase to the salary cap the NRL still offers a profile and quality of life that we simply cannot match.

We can apply the same logic to every player in the first team squad. They are all on finite contracts at the end of which they are free agents. Why don't we sell the lot of 'em and be done with it?

Faz's value must certainly have soared recently so why don't we stick him on the transfer list right this minute and cash in?

If there is any negativity about it is IMO the excuses that get trotted out such as Mossop being injury prone that get used to justify the prospect of selling him.

The club needs to work out a way to keep a team together and one way to do that is to simply accept that they won't get any cash for some players who may leave at the end of their deals. If the contract is seen out it is not as if anyone has been short changed is it? The bargain has been kept between all parties.

I also don't understand why any fans see the club getting a transfer fee as a positive thing. It doesn't need the money, it can't spend beyond the cap on wages and these days it is rare to find a player out there as good as the ones we let go.

I think for now there'll be a huge surge of youth for a few years, more English lads will probably go to the NRL, then eventually they'll want to wind down and we'll probably get a fairly steady flow of English players coming back to Super League like Ellis has done. They'll replace the Aussie imports of the past few years & can offer the kids some guidance

matty smith
blake green
scott taylor???

we paid a fee for all of the above. Thats like owning a house on lease hold land and been told you have no chance to renew the lease and not at least trying to sell the house before you lose all your investment but just being happy you had the house for the agreed lease. I am happy with the way the club is being run and we should be rewarded for producing players, the money doesn't just have to be used on player contracts or other transfers it can be used to improve facilities, training equipment, more scouts, coaching and staff training. Also its better to have a healthy bank balance incase of any unforeseeable circumstances or future potential investment opportunities.

its hardly like the club is whoring out players for the transfer fees either its come from players looking to make more money in the NRL or rugby union and there isn't much we can do at present to stop that.

personally i think super league is just going through a cycle at the moment and it must strengthen during it. Before we had a lot of average aussies coming in and stealing a living and costing english youth a job which eventually has weakened british rugby league and the england national team, now there is a lot more talented british youngsters coming through and we must use it to are advantage and improve the quality of the national team just like the NRL has.

Rugby is a business, alright we don't see any immidiate benefit when the club makes money but what's good for the goose is good for the gander

I take your point but feel that it’s not that I would want to sell off any player who is an asset to the club, that would be silly, but if a player has made his mind up to go for whatever reason, to further his career, money or new challenge in a different code, and does not want to serve out the remainder their contract (as they should) what can you do. Hock for example. If they really want out it must be better to get something for them than not. When you have a good stream of promising young players coming through, as we have, once they reach a standard when they think they deserve more, how can it be done? When the salary cap won’t let you keep them all happy, even if the club could afford it.

I'm only talking about Mossop, why you putting words in my mouth?