But no charges have been filed!!!

Doubt anything coming of that considering it was meant to be Jason Taylor that was going round like a drunken teenager slapping his players in the face.

It was meant to be the second time he'd done it to Fa'alongo(sp) when he snapped and decked him.

Self defence maybe? well maybe not but fair do's for him knocking out one of those annoying drunks that tries to wind people up

Blimey, Wakey/Hudds & Bradford aren't half doing some player trading. It shows there are deals to be done out there for clubs....if only our chairman...

Look at some of the players that have signed or re-signed. Quite a lot of chaff in the wheat.

To be fair the deal/s we need are for 1 or 2 real high quality players and not the run of the mill lads that have moved between those clubs.

The teams recruitment we should be looking at is Warringtons. They are signing guys who are already good players but with potential to improve or guys like Solomona and possibly Moi Moi who are explosive players who will turn games for you.

You have to be prepared to shell out some decent money for them though but i'd have thought that wouldn't be a problem for us considering Hock and Tim Smith have left.

I don't quite get this statement from Lenagan that we have no room to move unde the cap without others leaving

Some players on bigger contracts than we thought?

Hock and Smiths money though would still surely make a decent amount available? I know Smith wasn't rumoured to have been on a top top wage but he must have been on something reasonable.

Wire lost a couple of fringe players last year and managed to sign 2 internationals in Carvell and Higham and have done amazing business again for next season with rumours of even more coming in whilst we always release more then what comes in yet the pressure never seems to ease.

I wouldn't be suprised if we're not spending upto the cap limit anymore.

Both Carvell and Higham left their previous clubs through the back door, so to speak so I'd imagine they aren't paid top dollar.

It's all speculation of course as we aren't privy to the players' contracts.

We've brought Mossop back who was out on loan for most of last season, so his wage wouldn't have been on the cap at all until Hock went.

Similar to Goulding, he was farmed out when gleeson arrived because we couldn't afford him under the cap, now he's back as well.

Mossop = full wage
Gouding = full wage
Sam, Ainscough = much bigger wages i'd imagine.

That'd add up to a fair bit, but if and when Bailey leaves i'd still expect there too be some money available.

Pretty sure he'll be here next year.

cap money used up on a player shown to be not good enough...joy

How has bailey "shown not to be good enough"?

bailey thoroughly deserves his contract extension. its a pity he got injured when he did, he has been in great form this year, one of the clubs players who deserve more credit than he's got from this years performances.

Couldn't have said it better..

I don't see how we can be. IL wants us to be able to run as a profitable business, one way to ensure we hit that target is reduce costs, including payroll, until we are turning a resonable profit I wouldnt expect us to be close to the cap again.

Correct.

But add him to the Roberts & Riddell list of Aussies we hate. The guys in front of me at the DW border on racism in their abuse of them.

When a player is out of contract a club has to evaluate whether or not giving them a new contract fits into the grand scheme of things the club is working toward.

In Australia players who have had excellent seasons for their clubs who you could say deserved a new contract will be moving on because the clubs have decided they need to use the cap space on a younger player(s) or on a different player from outside the club to further their ambitions. It's been like this for years.

You can't sack players so when a players contract is up this is when you need to look at the big picture and in this case if Bailey's wages would be better used on a prop then that is what needs to be done. And that is before we consider the risk of tying up cap money on a player with his injury.

A player must both deserve a new contract and actually fit in with the clubs plans.

Giving players a contract just because they deserve it is sentimental nonsense and just not a hard nosed enough approach. If you do that you end up re-signing everyone because they tried hard/are nice blokes and you don't make any progress, which looks exactly what we seem to be doing.

Looking at players on a individual basis when they are off contract it's easy to make a case for them to deserve a new deal but that is the wrong way to approach it.

Dave

I agree with this Dave. I really like Bails, both as a club man and for what he brings to the team. His performances this year have been very good indeed. However, he doesn't fit in with what the club needs most urgently as we have an abundance of very capable 2nd rowers. Let's not forget that we didn't flinch at letting the likes of Ellery Hanley go when the time was deemed to be right for the best interests of the club.

But even if this guesswork-based assumption that the club is well below the cap were true, we'd be unlikely to be far enough below it to sign the modern equivalent of Ellery Hanley.

I understand where you're coming from - we want the best players in the world in Wigan shirts, but releasing the likes of Bailey wouldn't free up that kind of money.

Don't get me wrong. I think his time should be up at Wigan, likeable guy though he seems to be - I'd like someone better. But the days of signing the likes of Ellery are sadly gone.

The only reason Hanley's name came up was as an example of letting a better player than Bails go if it was right for the team.

As to the days of signing a player like him again being gone that is a different issue and any debate about that it would depend if you mean no RL team could do that or just Wigan.

Dave

Apologies. I miss-read Phuzz's post. Thought he was talking about [usigning[/u players like Hanley - which I feel would be a non-starter for most SL teams in the age of the cap, but as you say, that's another issue.

We are not making any signings for next season so we may aswell keep as
much squad depth as possible.

Ian Lenagan has not said that we will not be making any signings for next year.
The last time I heard him speak on the matter he said that "We have not made any signings for next year but that does not mean we will not be making any".
It's five months before the start of next season.

There is that but how long a contract would you give him - just the one season?

He may want longer and then there is the injury to consider.

Also players may become available mid-season and signing him up may mean we would not be able to move for them.

If the club re-sign him it has got to be because they think he fits in with the club plans not as some sort of stop gap or because we may as well IMO.

Dave