I can't help feeling that the club has come off worse after releasing Fielden and O'Carroll (last season). Epsecially in Fielden's case as he will have been on a big contract.

The club has stood by these players, used their time and resources to support them in regaining their fitness and then released them and not gained a transfer fee into the bargain.

Seeing Fielden leave is like groundhog day with O'Carroll, on the one hand you need to say the club should honour the contract but the loss of salary cap space is frustrating.

A solution would be to de-register a player with an injury which required more than 12 months rehab or put them on a lesser contract (no sure on the legalities).

Part of me feels bitter towards Fielden for using the club and basically stealing a living for nearly two years. However he has signed a contract and needs to earn a living like everyone else.

What was the point of him playing against Saints then not in the playoffs?

I could imagine IL going mad behind closed doors with the loss in revenue!!

Thoughts?!

Both have spent more time on the treatment table than the field in the last 2 years and in fieldens case he would have been on too much to be worth offering him a contract. In O'Carroll's case as well as injuries he's not the experienced, "enforcer" prop that a lot of people think we are lacking for 2013. Correct decision to let both go.

It was absolute madness to play him against Saints.

Does that mean all of his wages counted on the salary cap this year because of that 1 appearance?

I was hoping somebody knew?

I hope not when we could have brought someone else into the club.

Don't the top 25 earner's wages count on the cap regardless of whether they play or not now? I struggle to keep up with it tbh.

The RFL probably don't even know so it's anybody's guess.

The salary cap rules are on the RFL website. They're easy enough to find, and have been posted on here many times.

Care to answer the OPs question then seeing as you have enough time to read through them all?

The answers are in that document.

Lazy sod. You've got noute better to do.

Not very useful at all is it?



Bottom line is both players have been rehabilitated at our own cost and to the benefit of the players new employers!!

Can you please explain were O Carroll would possibly fit into this team??

Seems some always get a different view of a player when they are about to leave. Fielden should go tbh i still think he could do a job for us but we can not risk him sidelined for another year. Both Flower and Dudson are better players than Carroll and we have real quality in the second row so we have no place for him now in the side.

Unless he were to have miraculous conversion into a world class centre.

By miraculous I mean impossible.

Correct decision to let both go. Both far too injury prone. Out of interest did O'Carroll finally shake his injury concerns this year? I've not noticed him playing for Hull. Paul Prescott needs to play in a decent amount of games next season or I would lump him in the same category

Tom Spencer may come through for you next year, He's had a decent year at Leigh and will only benefit from the step up. Seems a great lad too.

Probably didn't notice him playing for Hull because he signed for us towards the end of the season.

Played a few games and showed up well, runs in hard, then broke his arm. May or may not be a continuation of his injury prone career to date. We will see what 2013 brings, if we can keep him on the pitch he will do well for us.

I would not get your hopes up, it appears he is injury prone. As is Fielden, who could well end up at the Vikings, come to think of it Cross was inury prone too....there is a theme appearing here - The Wigan hand me downs...

Looked good against Leeds early in the season, dropped a ball at Langtree Park on Good Friday then went out on loan. It's a SW-ism, give them a few games then they go out on loan or into the U20's and into exile - Crosby, Spencer, Logan, Thornley, Russell, Murphy...

I understand he needs to blood youngster gradually but he was quoted as saying that they are given a chance and then the shepards hook comes out if they don't perform, by their very nature they will make mistakes as part of their development i.e. Murphy. Contradiction!!

Weren't they the Wigan reject club a lot until Huddersfield took over to an extent? I seem to remember widnes fans at school finding it annoying but I wasn't really that into rugby before college.

They got a chance when senior players were injured and then went out on loan or back in to the 20s once they returned. If they performed to the required standard they kept their place, ie Dudson, if not the senior player simply displaced them.