You started the "talking B0110x" Bit below



I was just joining in?

With the return of Tomkins someone is going to miss out. Do we think it will be Sam Powell?

Im thinking more like bowen retiring

Could be that the low spending, and the opportunities given to younger players has been geared around this happening, lets hope so.

Bowens ooc at the end of the season anyway

With any luck, we will ship him out in the next few weeks and bring Sam home early

I think he means because there's 5 positions (FB, SO, SH, H and one bench spot) between 7 players (Hampshire, S.Tomkins, Smith, McIlorum, Williams, Powell and L.Tomkins). I think L.Tomkins and either Smith or Powell will end up at pastures new. Problem is both Smith and Powell are contracted for 3 seasons after this one

Well we have Tomkins, Hampshire, Powell, Williams, Smith, McIlorum and Logan Tomkins, 7 players for 5 positions.

I feel it could be Smith and Logan that we see leaving the club and I'd go with...
1. Tomkins
6. Hampshire
7. Powell
9. McIlorum
Williams on from the bench.

I do worry about the lack of a long kicking game though!

I think you are right about this. IIRC Lenegan mentioned at the time that the return clause (i.e us getting first refusal) included a pre-agreed wage level for Sam. If that is the case then I would imagine any re-negotiation would probably only happen if there was a desire for a longer contract than was stated in the clause.

I am still wary of counting chickens too much though. Hope he does return to us.

"@SkySportsNewsHQ: Phil Clarke says he wouldn't be surprised to see Tomkins move to @leedsrhinos or @wolvesrl" -his brother still his agent?

Phil Clarke's main function for Sky seems to be to spout total guff in order to generate comments from fans disagreeing with him. Things he says have about the same credibility as if somebody said their dog had told them. He is all about getting stuff to trend on twitter and so forth, the content is of marginal importance compared to the response to it.

With a lot of stuff he puts out on the website and during broadcasts you could be forgiven for not knowing he had played the sport. Whether his output is his choice or his paymasters' I don't know but it just makes him look daft a lot of the time.

We need to make sure this is us (which I'm sure we will, unless he goes to RU).
If we could somehow arrange for Bowen to suffer homesickness as well and get Tomkins in sooner then even better!

Quote ="wiganermike"Phil Clarke's main function for Sky seems to be to spout total guff in order to generate comments from fans disagreeing with him. Things he says have about the same credibility as if somebody said their dog had told them. He is all about getting stuff to trend on twitter and so forth, the content is of marginal importance compared to the response to it. With a lot of stuff he puts out on the website and during broadcasts you could be forgiven for not knowing he had played the sport. Whether his output is his choice or his paymasters' I don't know but it just makes him look daft a lot of the time.'" talksport.com/rugby-league/sam-t ... mpaign=RSS All i'm pointing out is that it's not done and dusted..... Chill..

Quote ="wiganermike"Phil Clarke's main function for Sky seems to be to spout total guff in order to generate comments from fans disagreeing with him. Things he says have about the same credibility as if somebody said their dog had told them. He is all about getting stuff to trend on twitter and so forth, the content is of marginal importance compared to the response to it. With a lot of stuff he puts out on the website and during broadcasts you could be forgiven for not knowing he had played the sport. Whether his output is his choice or his paymasters' I don't know but it just makes him look daft a lot of the time.'" talksport.com/rugby-league/sam-t ... mpaign=RSS All i'm pointing out is that it's not done and dusted..... Chill..

bowen is leaving at the end of the season, but will come good now the weather is looking to pick up, just as he did last year (are our fans so forgetful or what he CAN do on his day in better conditions?)
Tomkins will have to refuse to come back to wigan before he can be open to offers from other SL teams or maybe even union.
he has said himself in one statement that there would be no other team in SL than wigan who he would want to return to.
in another he has mentioned he would tentatively look at his options.
he is simply creating media coverage and rightly so. it not our god given right to have him back, its up to him, but the media this man creates can only be good for the game and gives us a good talking point for once, rather than consistency of reffing and disciplinary hearings or the big grand final moment two minutes in last year.
if he comes back, fantastic, but its not the end of the world. some fans seem to suggest we wont win anything this year or next without him, what utter rubbish. its early days yet and we have been without captain talisman for ages (again), MM is off form and the backs are constantly changing around.
i'll be over the moon if or when he resigns for wigan and in turn I hope waney keeps hold of Hampshire and puts him in at 6, all the evidence would suggests that sam would come back "home", but we don't know yet. so lets take it all in and get behind our current team shall we?!

My favourite part of that article was Clarkey talking about the similarities between Sam Tomkins current situation and when Willian (the Brazilian footballer) was choosing between Spurs and Chelsea.

It's that similar I wouldn't bat an eyelid of Willian turned out at fullback for us next year.

He's a crazy man is Clarke.

Yep..

...like there was with Harris & Leeds?

And how did that turn out for championship side Bradford?

He's obsessed with comparing RL to other sports. Does my head in when he's on commentary "If this was a boxing match..." "I was watching the athletics today and..." Bore off

NRL is the bigtime.

Not ing about scoring tries in the SL playoffs vs Widnes/Hull.

Homesick my bum, he's been a flop. All the NRL Warriors highlights i've seen have involved him missing a tackle of being outpaced.

thats it then, end of debate..........

Go and lie down in a dark room... All that Easter chocolate has made you go all peculiar...

So what you're saying is that you expect him to flourish now he's coming back to SL? I agree!

He was clearly unsettled from the start and was still one of NZ's best players. Hope IL brings him on the pitch at half time against Catalan!

He never made it as big over there as Hall and Watkins, I'll admit ... oh, hang on.

I've watched most games he's played in and to say he has been a flop is harsh. He had a bit of a slow start but once he got going he started playing some slick stuff. Particularly along the right side attack he set up quite a few tries for Conrad Hurrell. Ultimately he's playing for one of the "weaker" sides and the fact that he also plays alongside Shaun Johnson makes it hard for him to establish himself when he doesn't get used in the same way or anywhere near as much as he did at Wigan.

Granted he's hardly done a Sam Burgess and won an NRL title... but he has hardly disgraced himself. If he does come back to the superleague I suspect he will come back a better player for his experience over there playing some quality sides every week.