It’s a big ‘if’ but if Wigan signed Owen Farrell, maybe they’ve done so knowing they can get money for Smithies now and it works for both parties for him to make the move now. I’m not saying they’ll have pushed him out but it could’ve been a case of his agent saying there us interest, Wigan seeing what they can do elsewhere and then it all falling in to place. I can’t see the Farrell deal happening and maybe the same sort of scenario played out with Luke Thompson. Rads admitted recently that Thompson only had a medical and signed the deal about two weeks ago. A transfer fee now and a top replacement seems a better deal for us than no fee and potentially no decent replacements being available in a year or two.

I've not criticised the club?

Salford, Castleford & Toulouse in for Cust according to League Express.

Seemed like you were criticising the player and club for letting him and others break contracts when you wrote -

“Here's a novel idea, if you're a talented player and have aspirations to play in the NRL don't sign long term contracts with your current club. Instead of a 4 year one, sign a 2 year one and just leave at the end of it.“

That’s how it came across to me anyway.

All I’m saying is we don’t know the clauses in those contracts and both club and player may well be honouring them.

We are and have been for quite some time. Whether we like it or not 99% of the best British players ultimately want to go to the NRL at some point. We're not in the same situation as 20 years ago where we could reasonably hope to fend off NRL interest. Too big a difference in the money, quality of competition and international selection prospects. We need to work that reality to our advantage, not pointlessly try to fight against it.

I would not he surprised at all if Wigan used this as a selling point to help secure the best youngsters (we'll develop you and help you achieve you ambition of playing NRL as we have with Tomkins, Williams, Gildart, KPP, Smithies etc). Presently the only way not to be a stepping stone to the NRL is to not get players who will ever be good enough to play there (bar the very odd example such as Farrell who clearly chose not to for whatever reason).

Together with Hanley.

Add another sub plot to the Smithies thing, some respectable people (who used to post on here) are saying he's not been picked because of the way he's gone about getting his nrl move.

If that's the case, it validates other fans perception that Wane is highly influenced by his Wigan connection when it comes to the national team. If that's the reason he's been left out it's completely uncalled for. I'm struggling to see why he hasn't been picked otherwise though. I think Smithies & O'Neil can feel very hard done to not to be in there.

Such a tough spot to break in to loose forward. There’s no way anyone is playing ahead of Radley and then you could make cases for Knowles, Smithies, Cam Smith and Elliot Minchella at least. I’m not saying Smithies shouldn’t be in but I probably wouldn’t have picked him in my squad just on performance alone (and he has been excellent).

I agree with the post above actually that Brad O’Neill is unlucky. He would’ve been in my squad, instead of Danny Walker and I think he’d have worked well alongside Daryl Clark. He’s very young but he looks made for test match rugby league to me and I’d have given him a taste of it before the World Cup/Ashes.

The club have been aware and comfortable with how Smithies went about his departure.

To say otherwise is false.

He has handled it in a very professional and respectable way which the club were fine with.

The way it has been dealt with by both sides has resulted in us being able to go early to secure a replacement and plan for life without him in 2024.

The most obvious but less conspiracy theory focussed reason for him not being selected is he is still a young developing player who has put his body through the mill in the last few years and with a view of what is to come for him is being allowed a rest to recover, and prepare for his move.

We are now in a new World Cup cycle.

Wane knows what certain players are capable of, no need to rush them into these games when we still have opportunities down the line to pull the team together for an actual tournament.

Just reporting on what I've read on Twitter, from people I know of and aren't involved in unsubstantiated rumour mongering.

I never saw any of the Leeds "golden era" team wanting to play in the NRL, Ryan Hall only went at the back end of his career. Same with St Helens, other than Thompson who else from their glory years went to Aus? We appear to be the only NRL feeder club in superleague.

I wonder if Smithies & KPP haven't been selected so that they can get to Australia a bit sooner to get settled in?

Well that one 100% is.

Club didn’t want to lose him, but it was dealt with professionally and amicably (and early) which was vital to pulling together our squad for 24.

I’m guessing that is where the Smithies not getting picked because of how he dealt with the NRL move came about.

KPP had a spell where he was trying to go early and force our hand but the club shut it down. He missed a few games around the time he was pushing.

Obviously things got back on track though between him and the club.

Different climate when those Leeds guys were coming through. The salary difference wasn't as big and it was more of an unknown to go over there at that stage, whereas now the path is well trodden. Not sure who you would want from those Saints teams to be honest. The ones who hadn't come from the NRL in the first place weren't really players the NRL sides would be chasing too hard. Maybe Walmsley and Makinson I suppose. Roby peaked before it was the done thing (similar to O'Loughlin), if they produced an identical player now he'd be off. I think Welsby will go.

We are a feeder league just something we have to get use to, only people who can change that are the RFL and they can’t seem to do anything right. It can work to Wigans advantage however, especially if there are fees involved. Not that I want Smithies to fail but if he does 3 years in Aus and we get first refusal once’s his deals done what’s the harm in that. If he stays great. We’ve seen players like Rushton, Williams, Gildart all come back if we sign these young lads to a 4 year deal with a clause to sell to the NRL plus first refusal. We get money back potentially a fitter more developed player later down the line. Having Danson as our owner makes us stable at least. The squad we have for 24 must have cost him a pretty penny so he’s happy to spend for now. Hopefully he’ll be happy seeing money coming in from players we’ve developed. We just have to assure we don’t let too many go at once

Wigan have been fending off Canberra all year and had held firm that Smithies saw out his contract before moving. Smithies was planning to do 2024 with Wigan but then Canberra have put a crazy offer on the table (more than double Wigan's) and a transfer fee and it's been enough to turn heads and convince us to let him leave early

At the end of the day it rarely works out keeping a player who has had his head turned.

That been the policy under IFL and I don’t think that will change regardless of the wealth of our new owner.

Now official, Croft & Ackers to Leeds

Good signings for them but are they enough?

No, they will be better than this year but still won’t be mixing at the top end of the table.

Salford are clearly in big trouble.

I can see a real gap between London, Cas & Salford next year at the bottom and the rest of the teams.

On paper it's an impressive recruitment drive and their spine is now one of the best in the league imo.

I think they'll be top 4 next year.

Weve also brought in Miller, Frawley and Momirosvki, our squad is far more balanced now, we just need another prop, youve got loads, fancy giving us Liam Byrne ?

The league needs a strong Leeds, so I’m happy to see them making moves like these. I’m not convinced the coach is the right man but we’ll see.

Funny how mindsets can change fans views, when you signed Frawley your fans were moaning like mad at how poor a signing he was (in the midst of some awful form) now you have signed Akers and Croft (great signings imo) he is being listed in the players that are a big improvement (may well turn out like that) but the reality is he has been less of a success than Sezer was in the NRL, I also think Momirovski is a step down from MacDonald. Miller is a 29 year old with hardly any NRL appearances, his style certainly looks like it should favour Superleague but I don’t think it’s a given he’s going to be a slam dunk over here, I get the comparisons with Jai Field but Field came over in his early 20s not late 20s.