Told you so.

All the more reason to ambush the deal.

ryan is from leeds or sumet so i dont think he would refuse a contract from the rhinos

Dont know if it is just me but i think a lot of the reason were doing ok this season is because we kept pretty much the sqaud we had from last year. If all the so called rumours are correct then we are gonna be almost a new team.
Brad Drew
Mat Peterson
Ryan Atkins
Ollie Wilkes
Tony Martin
Danny Brough
Steve Snitch
Gonna take time to gel again

tHATS TERRIBLE NEWS. Atkins still can get better at passing the ball his physical attributes hes a monster and a young british centre. Evans a back up centre for Gleeson and Atkins yes thats great. Evans a replacement for Atkins very poor indeed !

Not really a Monster!

my concern is also that with so many leaving (if true), then we will take time to gel.

it is no coincidence that the teams with the least turnover of players, do the better the following year. we ourselves are proof of that.

we need to keep a nucleas of players together, but our nucleas could be a lot smaller than others!!!

the other concern for me is that we seem to be linked with "journeymen" players as replacements. i know that we all want to see a team of stars and that is not possible at wakey, but at least a couple of stars are required.

maybe henderson to replace atkins at centre............(said in jest, but you never know...???)

Were there any quotes to go with the article, from anyone that would be involved in the deal?

I'll reserve judgement until it's official, but as gutted as I'd be to lose Atkins I'm sure wiley old JK will have a plan up his sleeve.

i wouldn't be too concerned about journeymen. we have a couple going out and a couple coming in. as long as we keep the nucleus of the team together. well satisfied with the signings up to press. the pack should be awesome next season and if we secure the services of a good 6 with brough. blanche back and i think there may be another signing to come, think we will do ok. jk seems to be steering things along well.

There could be some truth to this LE article for once. I heard a few weeks ago that we would be losing one of our England internationals at the end of the year & that a fee would come our way. I think we'll be getting somewhere in the region of £70k for Ryan, but at least we don't have to spend immediately on finding a replacement - after all we've had a centre playing out of position in the pack for the last couple of years....JD. He isn't exactly my candidate for MOS this year, but he's still far more capable in the backs than he is in the pack.

i have every faith in john kear whatever happens to mould a team and make it gel whoever comes in and who goes

This dual coaching role concerns me too.

‘Come to Warrington on slightly less money than other clubs can offer, but you’ll top it up when I select you for the England squad’

Good point, not thought of it like that. Even if it isn't abused, it is an issue the RFL should have considered & possibly safguarded against.

As stated by me the other day!

DA

No that ones for the salary cap people when they question why they have managed to sign a player on less money than his previous club. There is another reason, =redbut unfortunately I can't post it on here, as the implications of what I would have posted could be construed as libelous and land the site in trouble, according to RR.

If we are open to offers for Ryan (and all players have their price), then I'm glad that Warrington have alledgedly come in for him. Let's now see how much Leeds want him, Hull too seem to have a lot of £ to spend and are making significant changes for 2010. I'm with JK on not entering a bidding war when we want a player, but if we are selling it's a totally different matter.


Anyone want to start the bidding.
If the Wire get him then I wouldn't be suprised to see Ben W involved - it would tick some of these quota boxes ie British and wouldn't he be classed as Wakefield academy trained?

Can't say I am over bothered about this, would like to see somebody like Chris Bridge coming the other way, or Matty Blythe, or Ben Westwood. How realistic this is I don't know, but I don't understand why people would moan before we know whats coming back the other way - either directly or indirectly.

I have to say, and not wanting to offend anyone but what a load of tosh!

Dual coaching roles have been around before. It's not new. He has assistants that are also connected with clubs.....and physios and doctors too. Are they offering better treatment to club players and strapping the others up incorrectly?
There is no evidence of Smith offering anything to prospective Warrington signings.

Are we discussing the moon landings and grassy knoll next? or can we leave this one alone.

The only problem with player exchanges is that you can be lumbered with a player with no desire to play for your team.

Very true, suppose its not much fun being used as a makewieght.

It could also back fire on the players existing club knowing that he isn’t really wanted. I remember Messrs Reardon and Langley were more then a little aggrieved when Bradford were reported to have offered them as make weights for Ellis.

Wouldn't have thought even Atkins would call himself an international player on the back of playing in an 'international' against France.

Will be interesting to see what is coming the other way either money or players. Interesting times.

It's interesting though over the last couple of years we have had a number of players getting representative honours:
Rooney
Atkins
Ferris
Moore

Seems to be a trend of them leaving now?!!? Not all for same reason. Obviously Moore hasn't gone but rumours of him going to Wigan for a while.
No point to make about it, just pointing it out.

None of them have played in a 'proper' international though. I mean Rooney's at Barrow!

He also played schoolboy etc rugby for England as well did he not