Exactly - Hopefully Pat will recover fully and be back to the player he was and sign a new contract - after all stability is a big faxtor is coninuing success. But, good though Pat undoubtedly is it is not as though he is a player we would miss hugely, a goal kicking winger ..... Charnley seemed to fit that bill pretty well against Hudds.

Whichever way things pan out the team/club will manage.

By whom??????? The Wigan Gazette.

M. Lindsay, I believe.

There doesn't seem to be much point in Pat going to Sale RU for one simple reason: he's an Aussie. He'd get far more recognition going to play in the NRL when his Wigan career is over than playing club RU in England.

Both Ashton and Eastmond went for the glamour of playing for England RU, something not afforded to Pat.

You wiganers keep telling me he's Irish!





Have you ever heard of a bloke called Brian O'Driscoll? He does OK in the profile stakes for Ireland.

Pat would make a good union wing IMO - quick, good finisher, great boot, very solid.

I wish these union clubs would fook off personally every week theres a different story personally i think the game is a joke and stevo hit the nail on the head by saying the crowd touch the ball more than some players. Id offer pat a 2 yr deal with the option of 2 years if he doesnt come back as strong which i think he will we could put him at full back.

On the gleeson to salford rumour i hope we get nero in return he is a good player or a few quid.

If theres any truth in it then theres some sense here. If theres truth then maybe its because Wigan have decided that he has little to no chance of regaining his former quality and want to offload early pulling a fast one on Sale for the way they have taken our youngsters in the past. The chances of this are very slim though as I doubt they can tell until he plays. Also this story has now been printed in the Sun and therefore what little validity it had has now been completely erased. And my final thought the whole "getting match experience in first team in union over u20s" is rubbish because Union is much more dangerous with the way they stamp and dive onto the ruck etc. Also just found this which was linked to in another thread: www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ma ... -st-helens "There is no chance of Richards making his comeback in rugby union with Sale, as had been reported, but a Sharks spokesman confirmed that they would be interested in signing him on a permanent basis if he fails to agree a new deal with Wigan beyond the end of this season."

If theres any truth in it then theres some sense here. If theres truth then maybe its because Wigan have decided that he has little to no chance of regaining his former quality and want to offload early pulling a fast one on Sale for the way they have taken our youngsters in the past. The chances of this are very slim though as I doubt they can tell until he plays. Also this story has now been printed in the Sun and therefore what little validity it had has now been completely erased. And my final thought the whole "getting match experience in first team in union over u20s" is rubbish because Union is much more dangerous with the way they stamp and dive onto the ruck etc. Also just found this which was linked to in another thread: www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ma ... -st-helens "There is no chance of Richards making his comeback in rugby union with Sale, as had been reported, but a Sharks spokesman confirmed that they would be interested in signing him on a permanent basis if he fails to agree a new deal with Wigan beyond the end of this season."

I received the following pm from Mick Hogan this morning:

[iThe story which has caused this original thread is utter rubbish. It is written by a man known for basing his stories on rumour and gossip and the fact he has acted on a text message says it all really. Its actually quite incredible to think that a player (as good as Pat is) without any RU experience could come over and use Aviva Premiership games to gain fitness in order to get back into RL is ludicrous. Dont get me wrong I think Pat could well be a big success in RU but not sure that would ever happen as he is such a legend now at Wigan Warriors.[/i

That sounds pretty cut and dried to me. It's clearly a load of nonsense, though obviously a player like Pat would be of interest to anyone who was looking to recruit. I guess it's down to us to keep him happy at Wigan.

On this subject, I owe Mick a bit of an apology. I made some rather uncalled for (and uninformed) comments about him earlier on in this thread, and I now take them back.

I think it's good of him to send the above info. That should put this whole thing to bed.

It certainly is.

Not many would have taken the time.

Seconded. Case closed.

All of Aus, was rated far higher than Lyon who left Parra at the same time...keep up

I believe this puts an end to all this