Wigan is run as a business and Mr Lenegan has said this over and over again. At the end of the day, if Wigan cannot remain solvent while paying Sam's wages, they are entitled to not do so. Mr Lenegan has stated that he does not wish not pump his own money into the club, and Sam's wages would have contributed massively to that.

On that of that, Sam has not played his best rugby the last two seasons, and has been out injured for a considerable amount of time. It is the clubs prerogative to pay players what they deem to be a fair price. Sam has not earned the price tag he thinks he is currently worth. Wigan offered him a substantial sum to stay on, albeit not at the rate he was on previously, and Sam has walked away from this.

I am happy that the club will only pay players what they feel they are worth. This is in stark contrast to previous regimes who had players on big contracts and not performing. David Vaeliki anyone?

I wish Sam all the best, but can't help thinking he's making a mistake. Not only is he going to a lesser club for more money - there is a real chance he alienates a majority of the club's fans, which could affect his future if he wants to return under any capacity.

So are you saying, Dave, that a player in the last years of his career should earn the same or more than at his peak? That would strike me as a very strange way to do business.

Pleased it's finally out and official.

I'm ok with it all, Sam is his own man, he can do as he pleases, got the opportunity to earn big bucks and experience a new lifestyle with his young family, if this is what he wants I wish him all the best.

For Wigan; made an effort to keep him at the club, I feel another 4 year deal is more that generous. When Sam burst onto the scene, and even more so when converted to FB, I thought he had the potential to be one of the best players to ever wear the shirt. However, after sustaining such an injury over in NZ he lost a lot of his electric pace, and no longer is a threat like he once was. He's adapted his game nicely, but for me, he never lived up to what could have been.

I'm happy to move on knowing his replacement is Hardaker, his game management and passing isn't as good as Sam's, but his defence is far superior, as is his running. Zac like Sam once could, can score a try from anywhere on the pitch, a real game breaker. We're replacing one former MOS for another.

Hopefully now we can secure Bateman.

I didn't think I needed to qualify that to mean the best available to SL. Which Tomkins is one of. If Wigan want to replace him with a player equally as good or better it's not going to cost them any less. Whether such a player this the "best" as in Billy Slater kind of "best" is not what I meant.

Is Sam 'the Best' though? Hasn't been in contention for MoS since he's been back. Hasn't been picked for England. Hasn't made the dream team. Under what measure is he 'The Best'?

He has the best potential, maybe.

Agree with all of this. Good luck to Sam, hopefully we will follow up with an annnouncement of Hardaker signing as well as Bateman and Gildart.

He’ll certainly be missed. Our style of play totally revolves around him chiming into the line. There are very few Stand off/fullbacks of that quality in SL at the moment and I don’t think Hardaker is the answer, unless we change the way we play.

There’s very little loyalty in sport from clubs and players. It’s a business and it’s every man for himself to a large degree.

Good luck to him. We had his most exciting years in his first stint at the club. I’ve been watching us since ‘85 and he’d probably be fullback in my Wigan dream team.

On the plus side, we can join in with Saints, Leeds and Warrington fans in booing him now.... BOOOOOOOOOOO

In his first spell his attacking play from FB is the best I've seen in FB at Wigan. But his defence is a far cry from that of Rads. I feel sometimes attacking fair seems to blind people of defensive play. Saving a try can just be as important as scoring one.

If Wigan can't remain solvent and pay the going rate for the Sam Tomkins standard of player when other teams can, the long term result of this is an inevitable slide down to mid table mediocrity. So while running it as a business might seem a fine idea on the surface and might prevent IL having to dip into his own pocket if that business is not generating enough revenue to meet the necessary costs of signing and retaining the best players it can (within the context of SL) the business model is not working. So IL either needs to run it better or he needs to co-opt some other wealthy directors onto the board who are prepared to help fund it and/or can bring some expertise to help improve the finances.

As to Sam's rugby he came back injured and the club still chose to pay him the wage they did. That wasn't his fault so why that has any bearing on any deal I have no idea. He then got injured again and he gets blamed for doing that out on the town which even if he did also has absolutely no bearing on how he is playing now and what that means he is worth to a SL club. It's as if people want to punish him for that despite his obvious quality on the pitch now. He can command the salary he commands. If Wigan don't want to pay it then as I said the question is can Wigan afford to pay the going rate for top SL talent?

I am saying there is a going rate for Sam Tomkins. If that is the same or more than when he was at his peak then that just reflects the market for players today. The dearth of talent available to SL will put the value of the few class players knocking about in SL up even if they are no longer at their peak when they can play as well as Sam T still can.

I’d have Henry Paul as a close second.

I agree regarding attack/defence play, and maybe this is a discussion for another time, but a fullback as a supporting runner who can’t beat a man has never floated my boat. The game has changed a lot over the years and I really like the thought of a ball player at 1.

I know it seems almost certain that Hardaker will be the replacement, but would it not be worth looking for a marquee 7 instead? I feel like overall I'd prefer:

1. Escare 7. Marquee 9. Leuluai 14. Powell (coming on at hooker)

to

1. Hardaker 7. Powell 9. Leuluai 14. Escare (coming on at scrum half, with Powell to hooker)

Not having the figures to hand, how do you know that Sam was only asking the market rate?

Would you not at least consider that the French are being silly, probably because they are in desperate straits? Why is it always Wigan who are at fault?

I totally agree in terms of attack. Especially when playing split halves. FB is a second pivot which links in where and when around the 3/4s. For me the one who perfected this is Billy Slater. But attack is only half the game, a truly great FB can also defend, read the play, make the try saving tackle and be in the right place at the right time, as well as being safe as houses under a high ball when challenged (something which Sam has greatly improved on).

I was a big Hampo fan. He also did chime into the line, and was once a golden boot candidate way back in the 80s. His defence and positional play was superb, always rated him higher than his NRL counterpart Gary Jack (who was also considered the best of his time).

We've been blessed. Hampo, Paul, Lydon, Radz and of course Sam. How these rank is debatable.

I think people are being very harsh on the defensive side of his game which has improved exponentially from when he first moved to full back.

It has. But in comparison to Rads? Criticism is fair.

No one has said Hardaker is going to be a marquee. Could still be more coming and goings before 2019.

Good Riddance

An extremely overrated player who has shown no loyalty to the club

Slagged the fans off, and been paid well over his skill set would deserve

Laughed at in Australia as the worst overseas signing ever

No wonder a few other players in the squad are holding out for more money when you have the biggest grabber of them all in your team

For what it’s worth I think this is a cracking signing for Catalan. Irrespective of his talents on the field, they are crying out for someone with his leadership skills and will to win on the pitch.

Regardless of current performances there is some real talent at Catalan and Tomkins may just be player/character they need to bring a different mindset to the playing staff.

I for one am sad to see him go.

He’s finally hitting form on the back of an international free off season.

Was unplayable in his first stint with us, since back from Aus (or NZ) been hit and miss, never hitting form due to injury.
A very valuable team member, vastly improved in defence and a marshal on the field, I thought was the natural successor to SOL, not sure who that’ll be going forward.

His performance since coming back did not justify a contract extension on the same terms, but if he can get more £/€ elsewhere but kiss goodbye to the chance of silverware and his legacy at Wigan then that’s his decision to make.

Call me pessimistic, but I can’t see the ZH situation ending well, hopefully we get a few seasons out of him before he brainfarts or he grows up, fingers crossed.

Need a new coach first.

Sam who ? I hope Catalan get relegated. This, and other imminent announcements, will derail our season.

Thanks, I hope we dont ! but I do wonder what would happen to this deal should Catalans go down.

Some time ago I had a chat with John Monie and I asked him who the best fullback is that he's coached at wigan. His reply was "When Hampo is fit, Hampo plays".

I believe he was a scrum half in his youth. Maybe he was the first 3/4 fullback.

Maybe he was. I wish I still had this old 1980s NRL video. At the end of it was a run through of golden boot candidates, including Hampson. (around the time when we had a bulldog esq away kit) He was superb, and often did link in the line. When all's said and done, he's arguably a better all-round than Sam.