Three and a half year deal starting from when he gets back from a short holiday.

Nice to see him back.

I guess this will signal the Sale Sharks forum going into meltdown forecasting the death of rugby union being signalled by this loss to their game.


A good signing for Wigan in a position where your squad is probably the "thinnest".

Nice to see him back,but he didn't have a very good season with Leeds Carnegie on loan from Sale.

Goulding has nailed the right centre berth and now we have 2 big athletes battling it out for Carmonts spot in Gelling and Thornley.

If neither look ready the club will have plenty of spare cap space to bring in a more experienced replacement for Carmont.

Excellent planning.

Think it's good bringing him back so he can tell all other itchy feet yawnion is sh*t haha

I've literally not a clue about Union especially at club level but somebody on here said he'd made the championship team of the year. Is that not right?

I didn't even know Leeds were in the second division now though so I'm limited.

Yet he made the championship Dream Team?


More strength in depth to an area where we needed it and one of Wane's "babies".


Big athletic lad, if he gets his head on then can have a big future in the game.

As others have said good to bring a young lad back who can let his pears know about the grass not always being greener.

Hopefully he's not been so long in Union that he's forgotten how to play.

It only took Lee Smith six weeks.

That said, I'm pleased. I want as many of these lads back as we can get.

Lee Smith still looks over weight

Willie Mason, Lee Smith, Karl Pryce, Chev Walker, Mark Gasnier, Craig Gower, Lote Tuqiri, Wendell Sailor, Matt Rogers and now Iain Thornley. Most of them come back once they see the grass is certainly not greener.

Source www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... 106&type=1

Source www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.a ... 106&type=1

Good news.The future is looking very, very bright for Wigan rugby. Our rivals must be very worried indeed. We are assembling a squad with a view to the long term and we are already top of the league!

a better league player than union

I'm very surprised to how well we are playing this season considering the exodus of senior players leaving last year. Huge credit is due on the coaches and players, we look a well integrated team which is great considering the many new arrivals we have had.

Still qualifies at U20 and won't be cup tied. A good move by Wigan.

I'd heard about it around three or four weeks back, but thought it was for next season.

i miss the days of us signing over the hill aussies!

looking at the signing of Thornley and at the progression of Gelling it appears that IL/SW are hoping to take care of George leaving and then this leaves us a massive cap space to address the hole that Tommy will leave........If there isn't a class scrum half ready to promote from within or an available british option then we might be able to tempt an NRL player who is of origin quality.......

Watched most of Leeds Carnegie's home games this season, whilst the team performed poorly, Thornley was the stand-out player in a poor back line, constantly making breaks and offloading well, he suffered from having lesser-able players alongside him not reading his play. Im sure he will thrive at Wigan.

Thanks for that, good to hear from someone who has watched.



When Thornley left, those "In the know" were certainly disappointed, and i don't refer to myself there. But it was overshadowed by the JT departure.

Hopefully he can step in to George's shirt and leave a good chunk of cap to bring in a quality 7 (plus Finch, SoL and McIlorum need signing up ASAP). A possible 1st choice back line next year of:

Sam
Charnley
Goulding
Thornley
Pat

with Gelling eventually taking over from Pat.

Glad hes back, excellent potential.

I expect Gelling to be long term Carmont replacement with Thornley replacing Pat, although it may very well come down to who takes the opportunity best at centre as I am sure both will get a crack at it.

You make an excellent point when mentioning the Cap. IL and SW seem to be being very shrewd with the progress and decisions being made behind the scenes. I'm sure they still have a good relationship with Madge, and will be drawing on that too. Nothing is perfect, and i'm sure people will find fault with my comment. But overall we are going in the right direction.

You could well be right, I put them that way round as I understand Thornley played a lot of his junior rugby at centre, whilst after seeing Gelling I think he has the attributes to make a better winger. His defensive positioning is still very iffy, which is why I wouldn't really want him in the centres, but he has an excellent work rate, good pace and is good in the air. I think the next 10 or so weeks will tell us more, if he can keep hold of the left wing spot while Pat's injured. More performances like last week please Anthony!

I know nothing of Thornley apart from at last years shareholder meeting Mr Lenegan said that he didnt regret losing most players, he only regretted ever losing two, and one of them was Thornley.

Sounds promising to me