If Wigan is the reason he plays, why did he sign a new improved 5yr contract with 4yrs left of his current deal?

Money by any chance?

He didn't

They basically tear up the existing contract, which may have had 4 years left at 50/60/70/80k scale and give him a New 5 yr contract that would say be on a 80/90/100/110/120 scale OR say 100k per year for 5 years (Just making them number up BTW not saying they are correct).

Quote ="St pete"Why would he sign a new 5yr deal when he had 4yrs remaining? It can't have been for more money, he loves the club so much he'd turn down more money. One idiot is saying he'd turn down 200k a season to stay at Wigan yet he signs a new improved 5yr deal with 4yrs remaining.'" www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Quote Both Sam and Joel are now contracted for Seasons 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the later years being Options in Wigan's favour. Sam's current contract ran until November 2014 whilst Joel's was due to expire in November 2011.'" Sam Tomkins commented: Quote "It has been a whirlwind last couple of Seasons for me and I am delighted to have agreed a new Contract with Wigan up until 2015. The Club has been magnificent to me and I am more than happy to repay their loyalty to me with performances on the field and, hopefully, some more silverware for the Wigan Fans'"

Quote ="St pete"Why would he sign a new 5yr deal when he had 4yrs remaining? It can't have been for more money, he loves the club so much he'd turn down more money. One idiot is saying he'd turn down 200k a season to stay at Wigan yet he signs a new improved 5yr deal with 4yrs remaining.'" www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... &type=news Quote Both Sam and Joel are now contracted for Seasons 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the later years being Options in Wigan's favour. Sam's current contract ran until November 2014 whilst Joel's was due to expire in November 2011.'" Sam Tomkins commented: Quote "It has been a whirlwind last couple of Seasons for me and I am delighted to have agreed a new Contract with Wigan up until 2015. The Club has been magnificent to me and I am more than happy to repay their loyalty to me with performances on the field and, hopefully, some more silverware for the Wigan Fans'"

Maybe because he loves playing rugby league for Wigan and wants to stay here? If he got offered that money obviously we would offer him a bigger deal but he would stay for less than what they offer him imo.

How can you call anybody an idiot when looking at your comments you think Eastmond is better than Sam?

Because the club thought hmm hes a good player we want to hang on to him. Clearly something your mob havent grasped yet

Do you honestly think he asked the club for a new deal when he had 4 years left on his current deal?

Good post and my thoughts exactly!

I'd imagine saints will have put what they worth Kyle is worth on the table and I'd imagine it was a good offer but what club in the right mind would offer £200,000 plus for a unproved player.

I'm glad saints have stood there ground with him.

I also can't blame Kyle, £200,000 is good money for 20yr old.

And then some.

Any concern I have for England is far outweighed at the delight of 'them' losing a player they would have built a team around (amongst others).

My heart bleeds for them.

Where has this value of £200k per season come from? Rumoured?

Like I said, I WAS taking the pi$$ to get a bite.
However I would rather see him stay in SL or even have gone to the NRL than RU.

I don't think kyle is better than Sam, never have!

If you look back on my posts from last year I've said he's world class and last year was best english player in super league.

I've also said Kyle is unproven and not worth breaking the bank fir as he's proved nothing yet!

How did you know I was referring to you when I mentioned idiot?

Just looking at Wigan's situation with regards to their contracted players: wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=122 Player Contract Type Offered Date Announced Ends George Carmont 1 Year Extension November 2010 November 2011 Andy Coley 1 Year Extension August 2010 November 2011* Ben Davies 1 Year Extension Unknown November 2011* Ryan Hoffman 1 Year Initial Contract July 2010 November 2011* Stefan Marsh 1 Year Extension Unknown November 2011* Karl Pryce 1 Year Extension November 2010 November 2011 Eamon O'Carroll 3 Years Extension April 2008 November 2011 Paul Prescott 2 Years Extension April 2008 November 2011 Pat Richards 3 Years Extension April 2008 November 2011 Stuart Fielden 2 Year Extension September 2010 November 2012 Brett Finch 2 Years Initial Contract July 2010 November 2012 Mike McIlorum 2 Years Extension Unknown November 2012 Chris Tuson 2 Year Extension December 2010 November 2012* Thomas Leuluai 3 Years Extension April 2009 November 2012 Martin Gleeson 3.5 Years Initial Contract April 2009 November 2012 Sean O'Loughlin 4 Years Extension March 2008 November 2012 Amos Roberts 4 Years Initial Contract January 2009 November 2012 Jeff Lima 3 Years Initial Contract July 2010 November 2013 Harrison Hansen 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2013 Darrell Goulding 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2013 Logan Tomkins 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2013 =#800000Lee Mossop 5 Years Extension March 2010 November 2014 Josh Charnley 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 Liam Farrell 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 Joel Tomkins 2 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 Sam Tomkins 5 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 *Deal includes an option for an extra year It's great to see that we have signed up long term these talented youngsters who will be the backbone of a successful Wigan RL team over the next decade.

Just looking at Wigan's situation with regards to their contracted players: wigan.rlfans.com/fusion_pages/in ... age_id=122 Player Contract Type Offered Date Announced Ends George Carmont 1 Year Extension November 2010 November 2011 Andy Coley 1 Year Extension August 2010 November 2011* Ben Davies 1 Year Extension Unknown November 2011* Ryan Hoffman 1 Year Initial Contract July 2010 November 2011* Stefan Marsh 1 Year Extension Unknown November 2011* Karl Pryce 1 Year Extension November 2010 November 2011 Eamon O'Carroll 3 Years Extension April 2008 November 2011 Paul Prescott 2 Years Extension April 2008 November 2011 Pat Richards 3 Years Extension April 2008 November 2011 Stuart Fielden 2 Year Extension September 2010 November 2012 Brett Finch 2 Years Initial Contract July 2010 November 2012 Mike McIlorum 2 Years Extension Unknown November 2012 Chris Tuson 2 Year Extension December 2010 November 2012* Thomas Leuluai 3 Years Extension April 2009 November 2012 Martin Gleeson 3.5 Years Initial Contract April 2009 November 2012 Sean O'Loughlin 4 Years Extension March 2008 November 2012 Amos Roberts 4 Years Initial Contract January 2009 November 2012 Jeff Lima 3 Years Initial Contract July 2010 November 2013 Harrison Hansen 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2013 Darrell Goulding 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2013 Logan Tomkins 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2013 =#800000Lee Mossop 5 Years Extension March 2010 November 2014 Josh Charnley 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 Liam Farrell 3 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 Joel Tomkins 2 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 Sam Tomkins 5 Years Extension February 2010 November 2015 *Deal includes an option for an extra year It's great to see that we have signed up long term these talented youngsters who will be the backbone of a successful Wigan RL team over the next decade.

Ideally, if he'd have gone to the NRL then the sport keeps a good young player and Union miss out.

I'd be lying if I said that I'd prefer him to stay at Saints than go to Union though, my dislike of RU doesn't feature compared to that of our friends from over there.

When I meant SL, I mean't another SL team.

Now that I can live with!

It's a ball park figure!

This is a lesson learnt that Saints should have got him signed up to a long term deal earlier like we have with Sam that way he would have a contract that the thieves in union would have to buy out and that gives Saints the power however as is Kyle has the power and union has the greater attraction (MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!!)

It was obvious who you were aiming the comment at. You call me an idiot yet you think people at union reckon Kyle is the next Jason Robinson



You said you dont think Sam would get offered the 200k which Kyle is rumoured to of been offered in union. That does not fit in with what you say above.

Paying a £200K wage for a key player in the 2nd best side in the land doesn't seem an outrageous wage to me. He may be a contemporary of Sam T so just at the start of his career but surely if a player is good enough not only is he old enough to have a 1st team place but he deserves the wages of a top half back.

The worth of Eastmond should not be decided by what RU can offer to prise him away from RL but what is a fair wage for professional sportsmen playing the toughest team game in the UK.

It's about time people realised this is 2011 and £200K a year for a professional sportsman who has a short career is just not a huge wage.

Instead of thinking how smart Saints are not to be meeting any wage demands people need to realise the real problem is that they [ican't[/i meet those demands.

While we as a sport have "headline" [uclub based[/u events like MM in 1/3 full stadia the RU rightly push International RU as the pinnicle of their sport and that will influence players like Eastmond as well. Not only will he get recognition he will get well paid for it as well.

Nope. Can't afford to. Saints offered him the best deal they could but no-one can force another player to sign a contract. Roby signed up without hesitation because, like Sam for you guys, he knew he wanted to be at the club and he loves the sport. Kyle isn't a local lad so probably doesn't have that sense of identification with the club, and maybe he prefers to be rich and famous.

Nope. You're missing the point.

The point is that RL clubs can't afford £200k for one of the leading players in the game.

If you assume inflation of 3.5% over the last 12 years then the equivalent wage back in 1999, in the early days of SL and the SC was around £130k. Lots of players were on that sort of money then.

So the point is that not only is RU leaving RL far behind, but [uRL is actually going backwards[/u.

Even with the Eastmond situation, which should be a real wake-up call for Saints fans, none of you seem to be able to face up to the reality that our sport is in a very serious decline and we will have more to worry about than RU if this continues - RL will only be able to support a semi-pro game in this country.

On the TotalRL forum quite a few of them seem to be going out of their way to point out that this is not a problem, reality bites, we have to move on, we'll just produce another better player, he wasn't that good anyway yadda yadda ... all the other meaningless bravado born of being completely and utterly wrongfooted by the opposition.

I wish some of them would start to see the bigger picture. Every key player lost to RU is a PR disaster for RL. Not only that, it weakens us internationally. So many people trot out the old line that we need a strong international side formed from quality home-grown talent, thereby expanding our base and our global competition immensely, before we can even start to compete with RU's expenditure. But no-one seems prepared to face the reality that we'll never have - and that means NEVER, as in it simply WON'T HAPPEN - a quality international side so long as all our most exciting young players get signed up by RU as soon as they make the first team (in Ian Thornley's case, he didn't even have to do that much).

You'd have thought that those who prophesied this would never be a problem (when it only seemed to be happening to Wigan, of course), would be hanging their heads a little bit by now. But no - not at all. They're as vocal as ever. "The game's in better shape than it's ever been. We are looking forward, not back. We run a sensible economy. We have better viewing figures than ever before ... where's the problem?" And so much more irrelevant crap.

I certainly don't expect us to pay out massive salaries when we can't afford them. I don't expect us to abolish the Salary Cap (though it needs updating). But good grief, we can not afford to do nothing. We just can't. And yet apparently that's the plan, and so many of the game's lemmings wholeheartedly support it.

Well, your chairman on 5Live before the Magic weekend made a very good point: how many quality players have we actually lost to Union over the years? Hardly any, actually. Union lost far more players to League in days gone by than League has lost to Union since Union got its act together.

So far as the international scene is concerned, what that needs is more - many more - clubs producing their own English talent so that England is not so dependent upon so few in key positions. Once clubs all begin to pull their weight in terms of home grown produce then we will see more options at international level. In the meantime, we will struggle.

I don't disagree with you Cruncher, in fact I think your spot on with your assessment. I just want to put accross how I see it....

Isn't the whole point of this franchising system with the new stadia, encouraging sensible financial management from the SL and Championship clubs etc. formed to ensure more money is brought into the game? Therefore all the clubs are then able to start to pay more money to their players, in effect abolishing the SC? Or have I completely mis-interpreted the RFL licensing thing?

I agree at this moment in time, it isn't bearing any fruitition and doesn't really look promising. 5 years time, maybe it'll be different. I don't know therefore I won't speculate on whether it will be or not. For a sport that has been in existance for as long as ours has, for a sport that probably did experience a boom in demand in the 80's (before my time so could anyone confirm/throw that out?) why have we declined?

I seem to remember watching a WC match England v Australia at Wembley on ESPN Classic, not sure what year it was, but the stadium was packed. Could we honestly say that we could do that in the new Wembley? England RU could, but not England RL. The RFL need to seriously look at how the RFU gets revenue. How the RFU go about advertisement etc etc. Yes they are RL's "main rival" but it doesn't take Stephen Hawking to realise that in every department, the RFU is better. I for one just wish the RFL would get their damn finger out their ar$e, stop thinking that a 2/3 empty Millenium Stadium will get interest in RL and stop with the gimmicks and start learning from RFU.

We all wonder why when RU come knocking 9/10 RL players jump at the chance. I reckon it's money, international competition and fame. All of which RL cannot supply.

Well ... Wigan alone have lost Jason Robinson, Andy Farrell, Chris Ashton, Owen Farrell and Ian Thornley.

Three of those players would likely have become RL internationals in the next few years. Add Kyle Eastmond to that, and probably George Ford, and that's five we won't be able to turn out for England in the next World Cup.

Not sure how many more you want, but I think even you would agree that's not '"hardly any". And that's not even taking into account Paul, Harris, Pryce, Walker, etc - who all came back from RU as broken shadows of their former selves. Vainokolo - one of the best wingers in modern times, was not British, but he somehow ended up wearing an England shirt in RU.

I rarely disagree with IL, but I do on this. Personally, I think he was being diplomatic. You on the other hand, are being a typical lemming.



Irrelevant. A different era, and entirely different circumstances.



And when is this miracle going to happen? And who is going to wave their magic wand to bring it about? As you say, in the meantime we'll struggle. But the way things are, that struggle may not end in your or my lifetime, or even in the lifetime of RL as a fully professional British sport. Do you seriously expect the game to just trundle along, letting every half-decent youngster it develops leave before thery're 22 until such time as the likes of Wakey and Salford and Cas and even Wire are producing as many youngsters as Wigan, Leeds and Saints? And even if they do, what's to stop those new kids being cherry-picked as well?

You're living in a fantasy world, lad. We need action NOW, not in some non-existant future Nirvana, wherein everyone's got loads of cash and loads of players and loads of fans, and state-of-the-art stadia. Somehow or other, we have to find the cash to pay some of these kids a more tempting wage. I realise that's unpalatable to those who still entertain honourable dreams about running their clubs on a shoestring (or are so uselss at business that they can never generate any income whatever the financial climate), but we're never going to reach this golden future you talk about unless we secure our present.

Doing nothing is NOT an option.

Well, as your chairman also said, he was talking about good players, not players who might or might not have made it or who haven't made it in League. The latter are irrelevant as they are not of value to the game. The good players, like Jason Robinson, they are the ones that matter and they are few and far between.

Your chairman made a very impassioned speech about this very subject. I was impressed. Pity you didn't hear it.