Interesting note from the head of RL commercial that there are apparently 20 marquee players in SL. Seems very high to me - wouldn't have thought many clubs could afford them.

I’m not surprised, if you have a federation trained player on more than 100k (which every team will have bar maybe London) you might aswell set them as marquee to save £50k on the cap.

Made no sense when the likes of Saints claimed to not have marquee players, just gets you more value out of the cap.

Exactly
And even if the club doesn't spend up to the cap you would still claim it for the 1/2/3 players that eat up most of your cap whether they choose to use that Space or not

Surely this is against the spirit of the game (heard that somewhere else)

Well, there's that, but also, they are Aussies, after all. Australia is home, with friends and family. Can't blame them for getting homesick in time. As posters have said, neither owe us anything, considering their achievements at Wigan. I think French's departure from Parra was not the happiest, and quite simply, he is a much better player now that the one who first arrived in England. And he wasn't too shabby then!

Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler were both calling for Field and French to get NRL gigs next year hopefully we can stagger their departures so we dont lose both at once if they do go home

Looks like the most likely scenario currently is French leaves at the end of this year and Field at the end of next. Both will have done around 5 years at Wigan in their prime - we can have no complaints.

If this is the last year they play together at Wigan then hopefully they both stay fit and the fans enjoy it as much as possible.

From what I’ve been told from someone I know at Wigan is that French is as good as gone but there is zero interest in field from the nrl

When you think, a few years back, we were all saying, oh, if only we could hang on to just one of them, and we've managed to hang on them both, it's great really. So we can look forward to watching them both this year, and if Bevan gets a swan-song in the NRL, good luck him. As I've said before, he's definitely a much better player now than the guy who left Parramatta.

You also told us that Thompson would never sign for Wigan! I rest my case mi lud.

Maybe Thompson the inside man

French owes us nothing, if he goes I’m sure he goes with everyone’s best wishes.

The last “favour” he can do for us though is make a call on his future early.

We as fans don’t need to know but the club need to know so they can do business early to replace him.

We don’t have a player who can step up to fill the void he will leave and I don’t think there is anyone in SL who is able to fill the gap. I wouldn’t mind Tyrone May or Mikey Lewis but both have got 2 years at KR and they are not a selling club so we will need to go to the NRL and probably have to pay marquee money so the more time we have the better.

Looking at the off contract NRL players the style of half we need and whom is available is limited. Given Smith is such a high quality organiser we need a strike 6.

Daine Laurie looks the best bet or someone like Anthony Milford if you are wanting to roll the dice and in reality neither of those should command marquee money.

Let's not beat around the bush; French is all but irreplaceable in real terms. There's no one in world rugby who we could realistically get who is a like for like replacement. We got lucky getting French when we did. He's one of the very rare Antipodean signings who could have flourished in the NRL. Usually when we get this type of player it's because of circumstances outside of rugby but, in his case, it was more a matter of timing. As others have said, he owes us nothing. We got several of his best years and it's very rare we in Superleague can say that!

So where does that leave us? Well, as I see it, we have 2 options. We either offer him whatever it takes to stay (outbidding the NRL may not be easy but Mike Danson could, of course, do it if he so desired) or we make up for the loss by adding quality elsewhere which is what we've been doing. It will be interesting to see how we go with something approaching a full team as we seem to be strong even when down on troops. It's worth remembering that we won the WCC minus Thompson, Harvard, Walters, Nsemba and pretty much without an interchange hooker and losing Cooper and Byrne during the match!

Jack Farrimond seems to be the future at half so it's all about integrating him into the team, putting the right quality around him and building a partnership with Harry. Do that properly and the loss of French, if that's what happens, can be accounted for.

What about Welsby Jon?

I don’t see Smith and Farrimond playing together.

I think Farrimond may well be Smiths long term replacement if the NRL come calling.

Both are too similar in regards their strength which is organisation.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Smith heading to the NRL at the end of 2025.

Unless you were/are an NRL fanatic hand on heart could you honestly say you'd heard of French/Field before they turned up here ?
There must be plenty of 2nd/3rd in line players in the NRL who we could be looking at, come over here have a great chance of winning something and increase your profile for a return to the NRL after a couple of seasons.
As jonh said above letting the club know asap what his intentions are are key, if he decides to go home then all I can say it's been a pleasure watching him through his peak years and good luck for the future.

Well he recently announced that they're expecting their first baby later this year so it's certainly not a given he'd be looking to go so soon as 2025. I also think Farrimond has more to his game than organisation. I suppose it depends how he develops as he's obviously currently seen more as a 7 than a strike 6 but then we won the title in 2010 with what was effectively two 7s. It all depends on how you set up to play.

I think Farrimond has the potential to be a complete halfback and could play with anyone. It wouldn't shock me to see him fast tracked to a starting spot - he's that highly rated at Wigan.

I just personally feel both are 7s.

Similar to the situation with Cust and Smith. I appreciate Farrimond has more to his game than just an organiser but it’s a big part of his game. To get the best out of our halves I think pairing one with a 5/8th style 6 is where we will have most success.

Absolutely would have him, don’t think it’s realistic though.

I believe that we did look to sign Welsby but Saints wouldn’t sell him.

Any chance we can have Wane to sort that shower of e out and replace the totally out of touch Smith and his totally useless side-kick Gene.Yet another Pearson master stroke

Any chance we can have Wane to sort that shower of e out and replace the totally out of touch Smith and his totally useless side-kick Gene.Yet another Pearson master stroke

I think Rowley may be in the equation for either the gig at Hull or Huddersfield.

It’s a mess and I think the fact Tony Smith looks incapable of making an impact only highlights how tough a job it is. He’s been a coach who turns clubs around and puts them on the right track for as long as he’s been here, so I’d be loathed to think a lot of this is down to him.

I’d love to know who recommended the signings for the last couple of off seasons? If it was Tony Smith then I take it back and he should be getting pelters. They’re honestly the most pathetic bunch of signings I’ve seen in the history of superleague. This Pele looks a horror show of a signing but even more so, the big one for me is Okunbor. He looks a total and utter gutless wonder. On opening night Mickey Lewis gave him a shove and he absolutely sh*t himself. A 6ft 4 forward verses a 5ft 7 back and he just walked away.