Theres no room for sentiment imo. If he tears it up in union it will only make our problem worse. We have to think about whats best for us and Rugby league. Balls to everything else as far as im concerned.

Who said that was why people wanted him to fail? I want him to fail because it might mean they don't come chucking cash at his bother or any other player.

Nothing to do with being paragons of virtue. He said himself in March he didn't understand why players went to RU and could not see himself doing it because you might end up stuck in the reserves. It would be ironic of his concerns back then proved to be true and it would not do our game any harm if that happened.

Both replies above are incredibly poor thought processes, smacking of bitterness and toy throwing.

Good luck to anybody who wishes to better themselves particularly given the parlous state of our international game and comparatively low wages. It's human nature. Any of this tribal chest beating is guff.

Good luck to him. It's not his fault that the RFL can't find ways of keeping our young talent. As for wanting him to fail no, but I hope if things don't work out for him (not necessarily a fail) then he is man enough to come back to RL rather than stagnate doing something he is not enjoying.

Tribal chest beating? WTF are you papping on about?

Not suggesting that receiving money is a bad thing, but we can't spend it on salaries; unless we spend it on transfer fees what will we do with it to improve the team(s). Remember it is one-off money so adding to the coaching / admin staff would have a limited shelf life.

There's a lot in what you say, as usual. But I don't see in what way he will better himself. He might have a bigger house, bigger boys' toys, better wages, wear the emperor's new clothes at Tickers; but not as a sportsman.

I totally agree with what your saying. The only reason i think they money is superb for the club because it shows the youth setup is bearing fruit and that money would pay for the academy setup for quite a while i would imagine. Apart from that im struggling to see many positives at all.

Theres not much gain for us in the short term which is becoming more of a requirement with the players already gone and now Joel as good as gone. The players rumoured to be signing are not going to solve this problem imo. I just hope we have somebody else lined up who hasnt been mentioned yet.

At the point now were i dont care anymore.If either of them dont want to wear the cherry and white anymore then fire them off and give someone who does the chance.

wigan RL was around long before the Tomkins brothers and will be around a long time after.

Bit extreme, given it's just rumours flying about. Especially as Wane has all but denounced them despite what 'in the know' internet people say.

It isn't tribal chest beating either. You keep coming out with stuff like this to justify your position putting words into people mouths (on onto their keyboards to be more precise).

Given his previous comments on the sport of RU Joel is not bettering himself as you put it if he goes but being totally mercenary going to play a game he didn't see himself fitting into. If he is prepared to do that and him being a success in RU is detrimental to RL (which I believe it would be) then his mercenary actions should not be supported. Wake up and stop being so nicey-nicey.

Not extreme at all. I'm getting bored with it all now. if its a load of bull then great and i'll be delighted. if its true there wanting to leave then get it done quick so we can move on.

If this rumour about Joel (or Sam) turns out to be true I don't have any problem with them following the dark side. Today Yawnion is able to offer them something that League can't and will continue to do so until the RFL take their head out of their ar5e. If it was my lad and he was looking at £400k per year for the next 6 years I'd say take them for all you can get £2.4m is a lot of money. If they do end up going so long as they treat it with a bit of sensitivity and don't rub our noses in it like that tw@ Ashton did, I'd say good luck to them - neither of them is irreplaceable, the Pats/Judes/Rose bridge/st James/u16/u18/u20s sausage machine will continue to churn out the quality it always has..... After all we are Wigan!

Spot on mate,if Joel does decide to go to the dark side and be a success they will come back for more believe you me.

These union buggers will not be satisfied until RL is on it's knees,it's in their blood to try and get rid of us.

True.

For those wondering where you can invest the transfer fee in a salary cap era, how about pumping still more into the youth set up? Plenty more where Joel Tomkins came from.

He did say "if" they don't want to wear the cherry and white. If they do, there's no problem is there?

Doesn't that send out the wrong message - We'll fund our youth set up from transfer fees from Union, when Joel's money runs out we'll cherry pick another good 'un for them, maybe the Union clubs would be so nice and take us over long term?

To then be taken away again by Union in 10 years time, we could get in a vicious cycle here!

Well Sam's safe for the time being. If only the same could be said about Joel. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480

Well Sam's safe for the time being. If only the same could be said about Joel. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480

Im not bothered about him going in the way that; yeah he is replacable unlike Sam.

What does bother me is that he had the chance of being part of something special him, Sam and Logan were probably going to be part of a new Wigan future where most of the players were homegrown talent as they all seem to be coming through now and will hopefully continue to do so.

What worries me now is that him going might mean that Sam and Logan arent far behind. People say Sam wouldn't fit in in Union but if you watched Tuilagi in the world cup youd know that Sam would score many tries every game the way he can break the line is better than Tuilagi and he nearly got over multiple times doing similar things to Sam.

Quote ="LovesToSpooge"Well Sam's safe for the time being. If only the same could be said about Joel. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480'" he may well have said "im not going now..but i will be doing".

Quote ="LovesToSpooge"Well Sam's safe for the time being. If only the same could be said about Joel. www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... ml&BID=480'" he may well have said "im not going now..but i will be doing".

I'm already anticipating it being a yearly thing. Every off season we'll have rumours of whether Sam will be staying or going.

NOBODY is irreplaceable



not even Sam

By that I mean we have backup in his position (assuming he wasnt becoming a permanent centre)

but we have noone anything like Sam coming through or in our side. He is a revelation and if he went we wouldn't replace him for years! People are saying hes a modern Shaun Edwards how long did that take to happen? Do you want to lose him and wait another 10 years for a replacement? I don't.

I have to have a thought in all this for the youngest of the Tomkins brothers. He might get the rotten end of the stick. People/trainers/coaches might say that if Joel and Sam leave,intend to leave, why the hell should we spend time with Logan so that he will probably 'leg it' to Union as well if he makes the grade ?

It's a grim scenario all round.