Had to laugh at the little bit of sensationalism in the article - 'He was the hottest property in league'. Wishful thinking I feel.

Eastmond at Sts is rumoured to be looking at Union at some point. We simply don't develop enough class players to be able to shrug our shoulders when English-qualified players leave.

A central RFL 'defence fund' could be a good idea to protect RL from poaching to a degree. Not that it would stop a player leaving for ridiculous money, but if a player (I'd stick for maybe under 25 years old) has a bona fide written offer from RU, and a fund was available to help a club keep them by topping up their offer, I wouldn't have a problem if that extra was exempt from the Salary Cap. It would have to be very carefully managed, with clubs having to show that their offer to the player was in line with what they are paying others, but that could be done with a little foresight. There'd also have to be agreed limits to which the fund could go for any one player.

Its not as if we're talking about RU coming in for hundreds of players a year. We're only looking at players who clubs want to keep, and the requirement for a written contract offer from RU would stop most shenanigans anyway.

There lies the problem. This suggestion is tantamount to a heresy for many RL fans and administrators.

People on here are shrugging their shoulders about the loss of Ashton because they have no choice. In reality, most, if not all, Wigan fans think as you do - but they're now very used to being shouted down hysterically when they propose even the slightest moderation to the salary cap, so most don't bother any more.

Good idea - we could call it "Club Great Britain" or something!

Didn't something similar to that happen to Radlinski?

I think the original Club GB was aimed at marquee players rather than promising juniors.

The basic idea was to enable British clubs to hang onto those players who were known to be on RU's shopping list, with the net result that Great Britain wouldn't be weakened.

Of course its most notable effect was enabling St Helens to hang onto King Kieron; Great Britain were neither weakened nor strengthened in his case, because he'd rarely played for them before and he rarely played for them after (not that this stopped him being cannonised after he retired).

Despite that almightly con, I think the basic idea was a good one. Something similar would be well worth investing in now, because you can guarantee that if the RU press continues to mythologise Chris Ashton into the next best thing, they'll be back again and again looking to pick over our bones.

There,s some rubbish put on here !! Chris Ashton was a young lad in his Wigan days and was a great prospect, he was very good going forward and quick. However he did have some weakness in his defence, which can be worked on by coaching.

That fact is ML would not put his hand in his pocket at the time because to many big money buys were already here doing nothing. Who can blame a young lad for taking the money when Wigan weren't willing to offer much, at the time when he was one of our better players. He made the move and took at while to settle in and is now one of the best backs union, and good luck to him !!!

When tries like that are scored against the Aussies in what ever code its fantastic, and when its Wiganer who played amateur rugby round here, its even better!!! We should be getting behind him not saying he was rubbish at Wigan, his defence was crap etc. He was young and some on here are jealous, simple as that. , good on him !!

By the way I,am from Wigan and coach a junior RL team and don,t know him.

Edited for accuracy.

Can only wish Chris Ashton all the WORST in the world....WHY?
Because he went to RU? NO
Because he took the big bucks? NO
Because he turned his back on on RL? NO

No its because this arrogant, ignorant, offensive, upstart had the audacity to wear another clubs shirt whilst still being under contract for his home town team. Never once has this twonk apologised for his actions that day, never once has he shown any humility towards his former club, players or fans. For me this ignoramous can jump off the nearest bridge, I couldnt care less what the feck he does in another sport.

lol, What a response!! I never said he was a big loss to Wigan, he was a young naive player. As it has been mentioned on here so many times how many young players have not been offered contracts at Wigan and moved on only to come back to haunt us is untrue, if he had not gone to RU it would have been another SL club for sure. I,am sure he would have been playing for GB / England.

Trying getting your head from up your ar.. !!! He made a mistake with the shirt yes, I don,t like RU as much you don,t but when a player scores a try like that against the Aussie tw... and makes good in another code he should be applauded. Faz has made good in RU to name but a few, are these lads suddenly all tos.... ? No they are not.

As for playing for your hometown club, its a great thing do I believe, but the amount of Wigan lads that have been overlooked or not offered contracts that are now elsewhere playing SL is incredible! He choose RU, so what !! Its a Job to them remember as well, they need to pay bills as me and you do. If your employer does not offer you the right money you have a choice, put up or fu.. off elsewhere were someone will pay you the going rate.

End of chat!!

Go on, how many?

I'll give you Sean Long...

Again, like who? And which ones are good enough for our current squad?

The list is long mate, Joe Lydon for one before we paid big bucks for him. Wembley 84 springs to mind, Lance Todd ?

He was missed as Junior......

Go on then.

I'm not giving you Joe Lydon either. That was nearly 30 years ago.

Phil Ford

Joe Lydon signed for Widness from St Pats so was never at Wigan to start with. Think your clutching at straws. Give us another example (right this time) from your long list

Kevi Iro



I think he may have misplaced his list.

Thats his starter for ten.

My list is on the way...........lol, I concede the point about haunting us, however the amount of home grown players who we have not signed is long, some we signed later on in their careers and some who I think would of been great players in a good Wigan team.

I,am not having a go at Wigan here, the point I,am trying to make is that Wigan did not show Chris Ashton and a host of other players any loyalty when it came to contracts, Its so hard to look at young players and know for sure they are going to make it, and clubs and the players will make mistakes, but it bugs me that the post is all about what a wan... Ashton is and he was shi... anyway. We never saw his full potential at Wigan because in my opinion he was allowed to leave just as he was getting going. No one will ever know for sure how he would of turned out, but the slating of him is wrong.

If Sam got an offer and left, would his defence and attuitude be a load of shi.. a week later on here? I suspect so !!

If he had not scored that try on Saturday we would not be talking about him, I loved watching JR, Faz, Connolly, Paul etc playing RU knowing that they started in RL and showing the ra ra,s the way to go.

These for me were missed and then signed and some who if they played or stayed at Wigan would have been great players for us, these are Wigan Lads! I,ve not started with young lads who we had first then let go.

Now my list starting oldest to latest :- Andy greg, Mike Greg, Andy platt, Malcom Alker, Longy, Chris Joint, Kev Brown ( which a load on here would like to re-sign ) Shaun Ainscough, Mike Foreshaw, Terry Newton, Paul Johnson, Shaun Briscoe, etc

Not really one for putting specific figures on here, but seeing as it has already been mentioned, I feel okay about it.

I was told in a relatively small public forum by a player who knows his family and was asked his advice about the offer from RU. The player stated he was on £12k at Wigan and was being offered five times that figure. His advice was; go for it. How many opportunities present themselves in life where you can increase your salary five-fold? What would the reaction have been by Wigan fans that a teenager was being paid £60k? I would imagine most would find it quite incredulous.

I don't recall, from the few games I saw him play, that his defence was poor, but I don't recall it being good either. Wingers with iffy defence are exposed mercilessly, see Kevin Penny for reference.

Fair play to him I say, make as much money you can in a pretty short working career.

It does, again, raise the point of amending the salary cap for Academy produced talent. I have stated previously that these players should have their salaries off-set from the cap by a sliding scale, ie: 75% for their first year as part of the full time squad, 50% for the second year, etc. Or 50 games, then, 75 and so-on.

At the time when the game was losing the likes of Robinson, I think the RFL had to be quite pragmatic and relay the fact the game could not compete with the salaries, especially those part-funded by the RFU. You also have to bear in mind these players would be the top earners in the game, which leads to a situation of where you decide to draw the line.

It is pretty unnerving that RU are pinpointing Academy players such as Thornley, who I believe we can try to retain by utilising the offset principle as above.

Which ever way the game approaches young players leaving the game, if indeed it ever does, you cannot get away from the fact RU is a far wealthier game, with just as many wealthy individual benefactors.

Using that one is pretty low to be honest.

The rest....well other than Longy (SL era onwards), NONE have as you put it "come back to haunt us".

You mentioning the two Greg's, Joynt and Platt is nonsense.

No, but you're still criticising the club for the losses of Joe Lydon, Andy Platt, Andy Greg. Mike Greg ... all circa 1980.









We'd have to have our heads up our ar2e2 if we took your opinions seriously.

NO NO NO NO, making a mistake is putting two different colours of socks on, what he did that day was not a mistake it was deliberate and something any self-respecting Wigan fan cannot forgive especially when the twonk has never apologised for it. Nah feck off Ashton and good riddance not good luck. George Formby was a cracking ukulele player but it doesnt mean that because he comes from Wigan I should watch that sh it!!!

If it was a Saints RL shirt I could understand the anger but a Northampton RU one?? I can't see why people get so worked up about it.