Never been a fan of lockers at 6. He's solid enough, but i can only think of 1 game (against leeds last year?) where he really shone.

Me either, but someone is likely to bring it up.

We don't seem to be very good at holding onto our best players at the moment. OK Carmont is due to retire and both Finch and Tommy have seen their contracts out. I can see why Tommy fancies a change after his length of service and George is at the end of his career but it has got to be disappointing not to be able to retain Finch and Lima.

If those two both end up at Souths did the club drop the ball and not see it coming? I mean had the club acted more quickly and got a deal in front of Brett early on he may well have signed it before any other offers landed on the table. I just get the impression we react to events rather than shape them.

As to this freeing up the salary cap I would not get your hopes up. There is more money in the NRL and the exchange rate is poor. Over here there isn't a half back as good as either of the ones we are losing. That being so I think offering Finch the deal he wanted is one thing. Offering him a better deal than that would not have been out of order given the dearth of talent available. There is subtle difference to the questions "What contract are you after?" and "What can we do to make you stay?". You have to at least [iask[/i the last question given the situation we find ourselves in even if you have to say no in the end.

Agree with that completely, our side will be weaker at 6 & 7 next season just due to the lack of options avaliable.

These players leaving will make a difference, no question, but i feel we will still be in a much stronger position than other SL teams.

If finch is going to the storm, widdop to wigan maybe?

Widdop won't leave Australia any time soon.

Disappointing. But having read Brett's comments I can fully understand why he wishes to return home. I'm sure Lenegan offered the very best he possibly could but if Finch's mind is made up then we're powerless.

The very best of luck to him, here's hoping he goes out on a high.

We've got some spare salary cap plus a supposed transfer fee from Saracens for Joel. I'd be having a serious go at tempting Daryl Clark from Cas. That kid is gonna be an absolute superstar.

A think you have to remember that we were pretty lucky to get Lima, Hoffman and Finch over here at the stages of their careers we did. It was only really down to the fact that we had their ex-assistant coach and their current club needed to offload players due to breaching the NRL salary cap.

Hoffman and Lima (and Tommy) have all decided that they are young enough and good enough to have another crack at the NRL. From the statements that have come out of the club it doesnt sound as though simply throwing more money at Finch would have kept him, in fact the way its been worded it sounds as though he has a contract with a view to coaching after he retires. There's also the fact that he's an Australian, he probably wants to live in Australia.

I'd have loved him to have signed another 2 year deal with us but unfortunately it hasn't happened. I have every faith in Lenegan, Wane, Harris, Radders etc that they will do as much as they can to ensure we have top quality replacements for every player we are losing. FWIW I think this will be Thornley (Carmont), Dudson/Crosby/Spencer (Lima), Matty Smith (Tommy), New 6 (Finch).

I do not think that has any relevance at all.



The way it has been worded is that Wigan did not go out of their way to make Finch's decision that hard. We also caved in and let Lima out of his contract early. We knew of Carmont's and Tommy's position before this season started so IMO it should have been working to sign Finch up back then rather than hanging about (which it did given Finch said himself talks began a month or two ago).



However you justify it the club has got itself into a position of losing four of the best players in the league at the same time. If it does as you say we will be considerably weaker next year.

Gutted, but we have lost important players before, and im very confident we'll get who we need for next season.,,

I am glad you got the news you were clearly waiting for. Enjoy indulging in your usual curmudgeonly style.

For all you know we could have very significant signings already wrapped up. Even if we don't, whoever is put in the halves next year could be the best thing since sliced bread.

Why is it always the negative with you?

Jeez DaveO, how do you get through the day!

I was happy in the daze of a drunken hour.........................

You beat to that one.

When we signed TL you can guarantee that many on here did not think he was good enough and even up to the end of last season some felt he was a hooker not a no7. Carmont the same journey man pro was the term people used for him. And Finch after his first game some would have got him a plane ticket back to Oz. Some are never happy but nothing we can do about it until we get announcements of the players who will be coming. Matty Smith is not my first choice but tbh neither was TL when he joined us.

We lost Joel and Gleeson as a centre last season but Goulding is the best centre in SL atm. We have players to cover Lima and Carmont in the aquad atm we only need 1 more to cover Finch and we will be sorted for 2-3 seasons. Will be a massive loss but instead of jumping the gun and going all downhearted ENJOY THIS SEASON. IL will take care of next for us.

Just how much money will be freed up for next season?
Carmont, Lima, Amos, Tommy, Finch, Fielden?
Dear lord well struggle to spend up to the cap surely.

players come and go wane will put out a competative team again next season at least theses players leave on good terms

Jesus christ, it's all doom and gloom then. We are going to be the worst team in SL, we have still yet to announce that we are swapping Sam with Mathers and are bringing Moran out of retirement as our half back.

Finch will have been offerred a decent contract, he's chosen not to accept it and is leaving. There is nothing in any of the statements that suggest anything other than he wants to go back to Oz and there is an offer there for him. As for Lima, I don't think there is any point keeping players here against their will, I know the old "my wife's homesick" is a soft excuse but moving across the world is a big commitment and some people don't take to it.

I've just posted in the Rumours thread, we don't know fully what next years recruitment is so you can't say for definite we will be a worse team. People (i.e YOU) were saying the exact same things last year when we lost players.

FWIW I think Thornley will do an excellent job replacing Carmont, I've not seen a lot of him but he does look an exciting player. Dudson, Spencer, Burke and Crosby will all be fighting for starting berths against Mossop, Prescott, Lauaki and Flower - still a strong front row with plenty of depth. Smith I'm unsure of but I'm willing to give him a chance. My main issue is who will be stand off, but the coaching and backroom staff will have known for some time losing Finch was a possibility and will have been searching for a suitable replacement.

Realistically how much will Roberts', Fielden's, Finch's, Tommy's and Carmont's wages add up to. Surely enough for a marquee signing once we've paid Smith's wages and put McIlorum, O'Loughlin and some of the youngsters have been put on improved deals.

You obviously haven't bothered to read it then:



Then again that wouldn't have suited your agenda would it Dave?

Hope Ryan Hampshire gets a couple of games if not more next season superstar in the making and has had finch as his mentor. Takes the game very very seriously and is a class act

ben jeffries

I think Dave expected Lenegan to send thousands of boats to Australia and drag the country into the Atlantic ocean between Britain and America so that Finch could be closer to home and remain at Wigan. It's not asking much. Shame on Ian Lenegan.

Hampshire and Williams are the halfback partnership of the future for Wigan. But it will be 2-3 years before they are ready for Super League.

The ideal scenario would have been Finch and Leuluai taking us through to that time but not to be.

However as we have two outstanding prospects waiting in the wings, we're probably looking for someone to come in for just a couple of years to replace Finch - probably ideal for an NRL recruit.

Hopefully Wigan can release some news soon that will have supporters looking towards 2013 more positively - purely announcing Matty Smith won't do the job either. Smith and Soward would be a different matter and surely there would be more money to spend either if those two were to sign. Which positions the money should be invested in is open to debate.

why not