Hmmm

As a follower of both codes the Wigan player I can see playing international RU is Josh Charnley - way more physical than Sam.

SO when Leicester, Quins etc start sniffing will he become their second marquee player ?

For me I want to see the best - the Salary Cap clearly now preventing that. But we don't want a return to the Wigan days of winning 8 challenge cups on the trot - signing up everybody and winning by 50 most weeks do we ?

Real dilemma for the RFL - our product in serious danger of being devalued.

Briscoe would be a revelation in union. Way more talented than wonder kid ashton. Hopefully we can get dispensation if union comes sniffing that no other club can because he's not come through their academy

When wigan were winning everything they were the only team that could afford big wages. You would have thought there's 2 or 3 that could match Wigans money nowadays.

He's just biding his time until his contract's up and he can re-join Agar at Wakefield.

Every time I watch him I can't but think I'm seeing someone special. And he's 21!

Both you and al283 have obviously forgotten the ultimate outcome of that "success".

They were forced to flog their ground to Tesco and join Wigan Athletic as tenants of the JJB. They haven't got a ground to flog to pay their debts off any more.

Leeds Rhinos have a very strict salary regime but 4 Grand Final Championships out of the last 5 seems to show it's not all about the money you throw at players

Have'nt forgotton but I dont see the point of having salary cap that some teams cant reach.
Lets be honest some clubs are still getting in financial trouble which was the main thing the cap was supposed to stop.
For us to keep players from union we'd have to up the cap which would put us back to square 1. haves n have nots

So let them go then, we spent enough years raping the Welsh valleys.

What we should be doing is developing and nurturing new talent effectively. I personally couldn't give a toss if Sam Tomkins or Tom Briscoe decided to play union or NRL or even bloody rounders. In the great scheme of things it's no big deal, or it wouldn't be if we had the systems in place to identify and develop RL talent at an early age.

Yeah Australias killing sl.

I really don't like the idea that the there can be special dispensation can be given to one player, it makes a mockery of the cap. What about a team who does not have a player that doesn't qualify? What makes a player eligable?

Not a fan of this as there are too mant grey areas and it is unfair to the richer clubs, but

Wigan are doing it, so we should too.

If I was Pearson and Mcrae I would be on the phone to the RFL and Briscoe's agent to look at getting his deal extending my another couple of years.

what concerns me most is Lenegan saying "I am confident that, for the right person, we are able to offer a more attractive package than any club in either code", may as well just admit they don't stick to the cap!!

Must be hell of a deal if it's more than any club in the NRL or European rugby union could afford. Wasn't SBW on £1/2m at toulon?

that was the rumour as I recall, one of those things that is rarely known for certain by anyone other than the player, agent and club.

We keep Tomkins in the game, good move.

He's an excellent player, but not one we should be keeping in the sport at all costs. The way some posters are going on on the VT, you'd think he was Greg Inglis, Billy Slater and Darren Lockyer rolled into one (with a British passport). He's a good player, but he's not the messiah some claim.

Wigan can afford it, their going to stop bringing in bang average Aussies and re invest in uk players.

No he isn't I agree, however he's as good as we've got and we should be doing all we can to hang onto our best players.

He's one player. That's all. It wouldn't surprise me if this dispensation had come about specifically so that Wigan could keep Sam Tomkins, rather than in response to a more generally perceived threat.

If you look at the players that have gone to union recently, Eastmond is no great loss and has been replaced by Lomax, Ashton was replaced by Tomkins, and Joel Tomkins is fairly run of the mill anyway. So it seems that this has all come about to keep one player.

that does very much appear to be the case, just Lenegan has peddled a smokescreen to hide their cheating behind.

If one of the players leaving to union is better than another pro at any club we've lost out.

The thing that gets me is that people keep claiming he's now getting paid what he 'deserves'. Why does he deserve silly money? He only plays a game for ffs. Apart from winning a few trophies what exactly has he done for the game that means he 'deserves' a massive pay rise? There are far more deserving players that have done a hell of a lot for the sport in this country.

Rant over

Totally agree with it myself tbh. We need to stop losing our top talents to the RU and NRL and he is the best player to come out of this country for 20 years. Does the salary cap really work????? Its still the same teams in the finals all the time so I think the RFL should up the cap and if teams spend more than others so what.

We would all go mad if Briscoe left because of salray cap restrictions.

If I was playing alongside him and knew he was getting so much more than me because he's "the best player in the world", he'd be getting the ball at each and every opportunity so he can show off his skills