Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:06 am  

Would it not have been better to keep him till the season end for cover in case of more injuries ? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/33657339 Regards , EW

Would it not have been better to keep him till the season end for cover in case of more injuries ? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/33657339 Regards , EW

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:20 am  

You'd have thought so but Bateman has been impressive at centre and hopefully it means Sarginson is fine (it must do).

In terms of Bateman him playing at centre is getting him on the field for 80 mins which is fine by me!

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:39 am  

How are all of these clubs adding players and, more importantly, finding the cap space to do it?

EDIT: Also, where is the benefit to us in this?

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:50 am  

jinkin jimmy wrote:

How are all of these clubs adding players and, more importantly, finding the cap space to do it?

EDIT: Also, where is the benefit to us in this?

Maybe they are not up to the cap limit anyway...

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:20 am  

Wigan Peer wrote:

Maybe they are not up to the cap limit anyway...

Absolutely, though I find Paul Wellens' "retirement" extremely convenient for the Saints. I'm not accusing anyone of breaking the cap but am somewhat dispirited that so many clubs either can't or won't spend to the limit. With the cap itself eroded in real terms and clubs not even reaching that limit its a pretty depressing scenario IMO. Apologies for going o/t.

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:43 am  

Wigan, and I assume other clubs as well, keep a proportion of the cap back in case they need to make emergency signings. If the money is still there I would guess that some clubs have decided they can risk using it now on a new signing to bolster their play off chances, especially as a transfer ban comes in for duel reg /loans and presumably other transfers when the Super 8s start.

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:48 am  

Wigan have quite a bit of cap space available. They never replaced Pettybourne.

Thornley has already sighed for HKR for next season so I presume they have just decided to let him go early.

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:04 am  

I can't be the only one who isn't at least a little bit unnerved by this.

I don't consider Thornley that essential to our long-term plans. He has never lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he was a kid. But we've been light at centre for a while, and now it's technically worse. The last we heard Sarge was out for at least a few weeks, which leaves us only two second rows and a utility type player to pick from. Okay, all can fill the gap on their day, but with this crucial part of the season upon us, how does it help to offload Thornley?

Also ... what's the plan for next year? Even if Sarge stays, that leaves us no extra cover worth talking about. Gildart is still ages off from what I hear, and I'm simply not sold on Gelling the way others are. When are we going to be able to field two centres who are actually centres? I tend to trust IL, but I can't believe that George retired at the end of 2012 and we still haven't found or produced a real centre with which to replace him.

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:52 am  

I guess at this point with Thornley having not played for over a year, the club see us better off even with Bateman/Tomkins at centre, or even Charnley with Manfredi coming back in.

Re: Thornley : Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:18 pm  

if rumour mill is correct then sarge and gelling with joel/bateman/gildart as cover is fine.
gildart now has SL experience and next year we should be looking to give him a lot more experience with us, rather than onloan.
thornley hasnt really figures this year, so effectively its the same cover but promotion of ollie gildart to eventually take over from sarge (if he goes).

we only have to worry if sarge does go, or is out longterm. however, i would get gildart in. at his age he will develop very quickly, and certainly did not look out of place in SL according to reports when out on loan earlier this year.