You can't have Wigan relatives
They're all "local", as Tubbs and Edward used to say.

Very narrow family trees.

There you go:- https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2021/06/ ... -williams/

There you go:- https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2021/06/ ... -williams/

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"There you go:- https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2021/06/ ... -williams/'" So it’s a case of making cap room for him to come in now or is he going to play elsewhere for rest of season. All the talk as been Widdop and Austin and we now know it’s not going to be Widdop.

Quote ="Lord Tony Smith"There you go:- https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2021/06/ ... -williams/'" So it’s a case of making cap room for him to come in now or is he going to play elsewhere for rest of season. All the talk as been Widdop and Austin and we now know it’s not going to be Widdop.

Not been their night as it,getting beat by HKR as well.

Parody club who’ve spend years trying to buy a title.

From a poster on the other board,he must be to young to remember how they won everything back in the day.

Duckie whistles a happy tune.
Just to recap. When I was tipped off he was coming to Wire, it was about a 3 year deal starting in Nov. Nothing about Wire making room in the cap for him this season.
I can only assume as a Wire in 2021, he’ll be loaned out.

TBH that's written in present tense, not written as "will be a Wire from Nov...."

Which by all accounts was likely to be the case anyway, prior to all the faff caused by his early release from Canberra.

I don’t know if he’ll play for us in 2021. I was only tipped off he was coming to Wire on a 3 year deal.
Most seem to be convinced GW is going to play for us this season. I don’t know how that is possible. But let’s be honest, the crime of busting the cap is a tickle.
Leeds was £10k - Challenge Cup last time? Wigan was 2 points - 1 point - 0 points - Grand Final before that. Who said crime doesn’t pay!

I really can't see us breaking the cap intentionally.

I think the club probably tried hard to work something out for this season, but this has somehow become an expectation that he WILL join us imminently. I think all the signs point to an announcement for NEXT season. The Warrington staff comments suggest Widdop is going nowhere this season, the Wigan statement doesn't hint at anything regarding CW coming here immediately, it's just seems to stem from fans wanting it to happen right now.

If we can't fit him in yet, then such is life. We only found out he was going to be available last month. And to be honest we are not doing that badly without him at the moment. We have lost two games this season. So have Saints and Wigan. We have a superior points difference and we've beaten the top team twice already. Not sure it's worth a shameful cap violation just to get him sooner than we need to, and I don't think the club want that either.

The dilemma regards to this season if whether SLE or RFL are willing to bend the cap, or come to some compromise, to allow Williams to play somewhere meaningful between now and the RLWC, as he's probably pretty important to England's chance in that tournament.

An agreement will be met by ‘no!’
It’s better to deed and plead!

Back in 2007 Wigan were initially facing an 8pt deduction for the salary cap breach relating to Fielden joining them, eventually it was reduced to 4 pts.

[urlhttps://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/jul/26/rugbyleague.sport[/url

So a blatant disregard might well cost us a playoff spot, or as seen in NRL, any title achieved during that period expunged.

Unfortunately our sport will remain a minority one given the fact that rules can be broken and - if it's by the big clubs - the fine / points deduction doesn't fit the crime.

It probably happens in other sports but the 'protection' over long periods of time to a select few galls.

Imagine if it was a lesser club or a lower league club.

In my view the TFL/ SL have a lot to answer for.

You think we'd get the tiny punishments Leeds, Saints and Wigan got if we broke the cap? They'd relegate us in the blink of an eye.

Even though Price said Widdop going nowhere watching the NRL earlier in the week they seem pretty sure Widdop will be joining NZ Warriors imminently!

I know Moran and Middleton are not short of a few bob but I do have reservations about this move..
Reading articles recently about widdop and the eye-watering amount his contract is worth (reports in aus are saying $800,000aus). I know that widdop was signed before the pandemic so have no issue with that but I just hope we are not breaking the bank for williams.
Just reading these forums I don't see people crying out to come back to the HJ so I am not too sure the financial landscape will be the same as before or might take a while to get back to pre covid levels.
If the goverment had lifted all restrictions do we expect a sell out against Wigan or Saints?
The club have emailed me this week with details of the season ticket refund for the games missed at the start of this year stating that I have the option to donate it to pull on your heart strings. I could have wrote the script for that. But it doesn't feel right that the tone of that email and then giving a big money contract.
Now if we have indeed put a contract under Williams'nose then I expect it to be more than what wigan would have offered, I don't buy the "wanting a fresh challenge line".
It might all be OK and Powell comes in with Williams and we grab the big prize in 2022 but I think some other clubs are being a bit more cautious. Trueman, if he is available might have been a more sensible option. Time will tell I guess.

I can't blame the club for insisting Widdop stays til the end of this season. If he goes now we are finished for the season, even if Williams replaces him. Although I'm glad we are getting Williams, it's foolish to think he's in the same class as an in-form Widdop, or that he will suddenly be our saviour. If anything the usual Warrington pressure of expectation will drop straight on Williams' shoulders, putting him off his game and making all of us question his huge marquee salary. I think it's best for everyone if Widdop stays for this season, and Williams joins Powell with a fresh head and a full pre-season.

Wouldn’t Trueman be even more expensive than Williams given that Castleford would demand a fee approaching £200k ? We are very lucky to have 2 genuine fans who support the club over the long term and, for that I am very grateful. Felt the same about Ossie Davies in the ‘70’s. Of course income will be limited for some time and I for one will be happy to donate and not ask for a refund and hope most supporters are able to do the same and back the owners. They seem to be determined to get us to a Grand Final win.

Yeah but as with other signings, if we can pay cash for players, we don't get into fictional bidding wars with other clubs

How will he be "loaned out" in 2021 if he's not a Wire player until November?

We sign him now on a salary that doesn't take us over the cap (probably nothing) & then loan him to a club that pays his salary?

I’d like to be 100% convinced he’s actually going to sign for us, even though I’m pretty confident. I see Leed’s as the dark horse club.
The reason being in the joint statement issued with Wigan last night, he thanks Wigan for not taking legal action to allow him to play imminently to get prepared for the forthcoming World Cup.
Steve Price stated that Gareth Widdop isn’t going anywhere though I’m not sure wether to believe that. That for me means to make up his salary, one of Blake Austin or god forbid Daryl Clarke are the other 2 players in the squad which will leave enough cap space.
The only other scenario I can possibly think is that Greg Inglis who from day one for me hasn’t had his heart here ( because of the COVID situation) possibly will leave straight away along with another player who’s been told his contract won’t be renewed. This possibly will leave enough cap space for this year with his money being made up over the next 3 years.
He could always do a Kris Radlinski and play for free this year because he’s desperate to play in the World Cup.

We can sign him now for next season but, unless we have space under the cap, then he can't be registered as a Wire player this year. We cannot pay him less this year then more for the remainder of his contract, his 'cap value' will be set by the RFL and it will reflect the total amount of his contract divided by the total time period.

It's a strange state of affairs when a player is left in limbo part way through a season.