Surely this means Stefan Marsh will be leaving? He's supposed to be a target for Widnes and I can't see him sticking around if Gareth Thomas signs and ends up taking any opportunities when a regular is missing.

I'd rather keep Karl Pryce to be honest.

Season long loan to widnes would be perfect for Marsh.prove his class and then come back and take his starting place.

Be interesting to hear your view on this Rogues given the stick you gave out over us signing Hodgson

That was different

suppose having to pay hodgsons wages and counting on the salary doesn't compare to getting thomas for free and cashing in on the publicity angle

Who's next? Jason Robinson?

Born in the same month and year as Thomas so why not!

Terrible decision with the likes of Ryan King, Stefan Marsh and Darrell Goulding at the club why on earth have we gone for Gareth Thomas. I respect the guy for his past ability and achievements and but at 37 I'm seriously questioning the ambition of this signing.

Surely nobody actually thinks we've signed Thomas for his playing ability?

If Gareth Thomas is better next season than Stefan Marsh or especially Goulding then they are simply not good enough for us. Reason for going for him is that he does not count on the quota and can cover 3 positions. If Sam Tomkins gets injured Thomas was a very good union full back. But from a PR situation its a clever signing. I dont think you will see much of him playing for us and if he costs nothing then why not have the added cover.

How? Wigan fans are not going to rush to see him play and neither is anyone else so who in their right mind would want to sponsor him?



No it won't. He is not good enough and is past it and so its not worth the risk.

If he has been signed this will not be at the behest of any Wigan coach and it must have come from IL which is the wrong way around. It's OK for chairman to have the final say in signings a coach may want (the chairman always does) but to impose a 37 year old player on any coach is not on.

Well it says on the SSN ticker that he's signed and has done for the last hour or so, but nowt on the Sky Sports website, BBC or our offical site as yet.

1.Carmont
2.Joel Tomkins
3.Marsh
4.Goulding
5.[delThomas[/del


He wont play more than 80 minutes for us garauntee. He is simply nowere near good enough.

He will probably have as much impact for us as Ben Cross had for us this season.

If this really is true then I am very dissapointed with Ian Lenagan.What kind of message does this send out to our young players waiting in the wings, especially Goulding and Marsh. Some are bound to want to leave if they think a 37 year old is prefared to them. I would not blame them either. After our win at Wembley I L said , This is just the start. If signing a 37 year old is supposed to get us excited about next season , well I am afraid it does nothing for me. We dont need Thomas to raise the profile of our club it is doing very nicely as it is, if the profile of RL needs raising then let him go to another club who needs the publicity and the player, we need neither.

I dont care if hes 'free' or not, we've just won the Challenge Cup and are Champions yet this makes us look like the laughing stock of RL, we deserve all the criticism we get for this. IL has done brilliant for the club since he came but this is one massive mistake. As for people claiming 'publicity' We do not need publicity, we are Wigan Rugby League. We have Sam Tomkins in our team, we get enough publicity as it is.

Someone who as the slightest bit of business sense..thats who'll want to sponsor him.

You trying to tell me nobody will want there company name associated with a guy like thomas. who'll this time next year will have a big hoolywood star playing his life story to the world

Your business must be a monster with you at its helm.

Props come and go. You can loan forwards willy nilly. If they run hard, tackle hard and know how to catch they'll do.

3/4's need to be able to defend 1 on 1. Have the ability to read a defence, whether to put the winger in or go alone. And most of all....PACE. If he plays, he'll be an all mighty weak link in defence.


Gareth Thomas. You are NOT welcome at Wigan. Not when we have youth queing up for a chance to play.

Well the more I've thought about it the more I've warmed to the idea, although I'm not red hot about it. He'll be for starters free which can't be quibbled at. Secondly he'll provide us with another body in our squad who can cover centre, an area we are light in. So in summary it'll only be for a year and it'll have been a free experiment.

For the record Marsh should be loaned to Widnes next year, and Goulding if he can find someone to take him should leave. For those crying out for King to play, Ryan's a winger so his place shouldn't be threatened by Thomas in the slightest.

How many times have you seen Thomas play?
How many games will he get next season?
Which of these Wigan youth queuing up do you think are ready for the first team in the centre position?

Do you not think that the Wigan coaching staff realise it's an area we are desperately short of cover for?

Whats so wrong with having this guy around the club ?

I know your scared he'll be first pick but thats not going to happen..I just cant see the negatives with having him around the club at all.

Don't be so bloody childish.

The guy is not going to get into the first team at the expense of anyone if he's not up to it, just as Karl Pryce didn't. Those days went with Noble. And if he does get in at the expense of others, then it's their attitude and form that needs to be looked at.

Let's get serious for a minute. Thomas is a massive signing in terms of publicity. Whether Wigan can turn that into hard currency remains to be seen, but he's costing us nowt so why the gripe?

I understand the puzzlement, but please don't start "you are NOT welcome" campaigns. That is NOT the way we do things at Wigan.

I think you're clutching at straws here a little, there are far better players available if we wish to have 'cover' for the centre position

Spot on.
Don't forget that Thomas is a man who has shown that he can take a challenge, and this is a massive one. He is the most capped Welsh RU International ever

As Cruncher & I have said, if he performs better than the likes of Goulding and Marsh he will get his chance, if he doesn't he won't. Remember all the doom mongers when we signed Deacon?