Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:48 pm  

Zig wrote:

I remember you mentioning that Stu. Money talks mate, players outside the main squad are now getting paid £85k in the NRL. As sure as day follows night more players will follow. Don’t be surprised if a few of the Saints younger brigade are encouraged to emigrate, especially if they perform well in the WCC. The truth of the matter is that SL is the equivalent of the Championship in football.

Fully agree. Wouldn't be surprised to see at least 1 if not more of the likes of Welsby, Dodd, Knowles and Lees moving at the end of their current deals and then further down the line, the likes of Harry Robertson who we have (he's 16) who looks an absolute superstar

As you say if any of them play particularly well in the WCC it will only increase their marketability

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:54 pm  

Seeing as the NRL is supposedly the be all and end all, serious question - how many UK players have returned from the NRL a better player that the one that left the UK (or even as good as). I'm not including players from pre-SL that went across in the off season like Hanley, Andy Gregory... Etc.

The only one I can think of is Adrian Morley.

From Wigan, the vast majority have been poor (maybe Tommy L excluded).

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 01, 2023 7:30 pm  

Stu M wrote:

Fully agree. Wouldn't be surprised to see at least 1 if not more of the likes of Welsby, Dodd, Knowles and Lees moving at the end of their current deals and then further down the line, the likes of Harry Robertson who we have (he's 16) who looks an absolute superstar

As you say if any of them play particularly well in the WCC it will only increase their marketability

I fear that they will be gone before the end of their deals.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 01, 2023 8:36 pm  

MattyB wrote:

Seeing as the NRL is supposedly the be all and end all, serious question - how many UK players have returned from the NRL a better player that the one that left the UK (or even as good as). I'm not including players from pre-SL that went across in the off season like Hanley, Andy Gregory... Etc.

The only one I can think of is Adrian Morley.

From Wigan, the vast majority have been poor (maybe Tommy L excluded).

I guess the goal is to either not come back, or come back a lot later in your career. When you take a step back and look at it, plenty of players have either seen out their careers, or come back much later on. You've got Burgess x4, Ellis, Graham, Hodgson, Whitehead, Cooper and it's looking like Sutton will be another too.

Some succeed, some fail and that's life. Some however absolutely change their whole life, in a way that just isn't possible over here. Look at Graham or Sam Burgess as perfect examples.

I love Wigan RL, but I'd take that gamble 10/10 if it was presented to me.
.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:06 pm  

Stu M wrote:

We were in for him big time. Offered to pay the development fee but they refused to sell. He's also really close to the new coach so I guess thats why he's definitely staying this season. I'm surprised with the NRL move (if true, doesn't seem confirmed as yet) and disappointed as he's a very good winger with bags of potential

And the knowledgeable posters on redvee said months ago that he had no intention of signing for St Helens. It’s like they actually have inside knowledge. In fact, the poster who said this also told redvee that regan grace had signed for a union team that wasn’t in England 2 months before it was announced. Hmm, wonder who that was lmao.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 01, 2023 10:04 pm  

And yet you stated only 2 weeks ago that Murphy was rejecting all Wakefield offers to sign for Saints...

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:43 pm  

TheWarringtonWolve69 wrote:

And the knowledgeable posters on redvee said months ago that he had no intention of signing for St Helens. It’s like they actually have inside knowledge. In fact, the poster who said this also told redvee that regan grace had signed for a union team that wasn’t in England 2 months before it was announced. Hmm, wonder who that was lmao.

Same person that said Bateman would 100% be at Wigan this coming season and that Wigan had no chance of signing Wardle, by any chance?

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:50 am  

sergeant pepper wrote:

I guess the goal is to either not come back, or come back a lot later in your career. When you take a step back and look at it, plenty of players have either seen out their careers, or come back much later on. You've got Burgess x4, Ellis, Graham, Hodgson, Whitehead, Cooper and it's looking like Sutton will be another too.

Some succeed, some fail and that's life. Some however absolutely change their whole life, in a way that just isn't possible over here. Look at Graham or Sam Burgess as perfect examples.

I love Wigan RL, but I'd take that gamble 10/10 if it was presented to me.
.

Interesting that all the ones you name are/were forwards - I am struggling to think of any backs in recent times that have been a success in the NRL. Even so I thought the impression that the NRL likes to portray is that it produces so much better players than over here yet they continue to poach players and especially young players (sometimes with little or no first team experience) which seems to be at odds with the impression the NRL likes to project. I guess it will always be hard to fend off approaches due to the money/lifestyle for those that do succeed.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 02, 2023 10:15 am  

We're always hamstrung by the fact we have terrible weather an a fairly grim environment. But we compound his problem by imposing harsh limits on how much money our best players can earn.

It really isn't rocket science. But it continues to bamboozle the RFL.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Thu Feb 02, 2023 10:24 am  

Cruncher wrote:

We're always hamstrung by the fact we have terrible weather an a fairly grim environment. But we compound his problem by imposing harsh limits on how much money our best players can earn.

It really isn't rocket science. But it continues to bamboozle the RFL.

I don't think its as simplistic as that. If the Salary Cap was suddenly 3 times bigger we still couldn't pay our players what they earn it Australia. There are some clubs that don't spend the full cap as it is now. The fact that its their National Sport and the tv deals and sponsorship that the NRL attracts puts them in a different stratosphere to our game. Whether we like it or not our game is still predominantly a working class Northern sport and even then its Lancashire, Yorkshire and Humberside in the main.

Our grim weather doesn't stop PL football clubs from having the best players in the world here