Glad we agree.

Fair enough. Having said that, I'd rather he was in League than Union and if he is, I'd rather he was at Wigan than somewhere else

Here's the thing. Wakefield, Quins and Crusaders have gone into administration recently. Apparently only four SL teams turn a profit and people want the salary cap to be abolished?

Really? Until the sport starts to prove itself to be self sufficient there's very, very little we can do about Union offering blockbuster deals to our stars. It's the world we live in.

Great post and I totally agree!

Because of the salary cap we may lose players to union but without the salary cap we may lose clubs.

Players come and go but the clubs don't, we need to keep the clubs from overspending and going bust.

On the flip side, we still have clubs going bust with the cap in place.

I'm not big into thas SC debate but here goes.
As far as I can see this is what the Cap was brought in to do? How come the clubs that are going bust and struggling are the ones not spending up to the full cap and yet overspending on their Operating costs?

I believe there should be a Cap in operation but at the moment the RFL are just playing at it. It needs to cover a far wider range of areas such as Youth development (Reducing the %amount of cap that counts for Home grown players and increasing the %amount for Non GB Eligible players) and allowing clubs to spend more on Youth players wages up to the age of 21 without it counting against the cap etc.

There is also a need to allow businesses to Grow and re-invest, I mean what if Leeds did make 10m profit per year, what can they do year on year with that cash and then say 1 year they suffer horrendous injuries yet can't call in reinforcements?

My other concern is with the profile of players on a National stage, we complain there not getting enough (Practically Zero compared to say 10/15 years ago) yet does sponsorship etc have impact on Players Salary cap value? Surely we should be encouraging our top line players to attract as much sponsorship deals etc as possible?

And with regards to the RFL's Visionary outlook, It now seems were happy to have 13k for major semi finals if were lucky when 10/15/20 years ago we often had 25/30k at places like Maine road & Burnden Park!

We can't sell out games against the Aussies at 25k venues and we struggle to get 20k against the Kiwis yet again 10/15+ years ago MO was getting savaged for only getting 55k for tests at Wembley!

I agree the cap is a good thing but needs a revamp.

The needs to be something added to the cap that young home grown players have reduction on the cap to prevent union and the NRL taking our young home grown players that's clubs put a of time and money in to these kids and lose them.

At least the franchise system, although not perfect, is encouraging clubs to play young players, as Castleford did last night. A few years ago those two young hookers wouldn't have been in the frame because, in fear of relegation, Cas would have brought in some over the hill Aussies. I do feel Salford have erred in signing the likes of Feka and Bailey instead of giving youth a chance.
If a team loses with youth in the side at least you know theywill be better for the experience. However, if they lose with old players, the only way is down because they won't get any better.

He'll probably be played as an inside centre. They play like a stand off in our game. their scrum half plays like a 9, their 10 plays like a 7 and their 12 plays like our 6. Don't think they'll think he has the kicking game to be a 10.

I sometimes don't think RU know or even care where they're going to play these lads.

Clearly they're looking for a type - i.e. athletic, fleet-footed, possessed of a good sidestep, a good fend, etc. In other words, someone who can play somewhere in the outside backs.

They even did that with Andy Faz, despite it being plain to anyone who'd been watching him that last season that his sprinting days were over. (More fool them, though I suppose they could argue that it got them Owen as well).

That may be one reason why Sam seems to be immune to Union approaches. He's an eccentric kind of player, a League specialist really, and he's clearly too small to figure in the centre or on the wing in RU.

But every time we develop a quality running back who's got size and strength, I reckon Union will be all over them.

I know it might be a little early to say this. But Lenegan get Hoffman signed up for next year.

If we play Joel in the centres and Mossop & Hock at Prop i hope we give him a new contract for sure, he's looked great so far!

I think you have hit the nail firmly on the head there. RL threequarters are about utilising the little space they have to work with (footwork.fends, etc), RU threequarters seem to have a propensity for returning towards the ruck to create a rolling maul (that and the fact their passing skills are nil).

Attract a RL back who can exploit a decent ball and gap, especially with the introduction of sliding defences and you have a ready-made exponent.

It makes me feel quite sad thinking about this.

who would have thought the kangaroo and SOO backrower might be able to play??

What?

Far too early yet, we might not need him next year. From the form at the end of last year I woould have been more than happy with Tomkins, Hansen, Farrell and Tuson as our backrow. With Hock coming back and other players coming through the club must think carefully about this.

Hoffman is a class act, we need to keep hold of him as long as he is willing to stay.

I'd prefer to wait a lot longer than two competitive games before assessing whether a player should warrant an offer of a contract extension.

The single biggest loss next season will be Carmont.

Is Charnley A-Good enough or B-Ready to fill Carmonts massive boots?

Carmont is a truly fantastic player and week in week out he makes others look good whilst being a rock in defence.

I’m not knocking Charnley as he looks like a top talent but Carmont for is just something else.

Tahu ?

Out of the 3 signings it was Hoffmans who attracted least attention & 'excitement' IMO. Certainly nothing compared to Lima & Finches but, at the end of the year I think he will be the one we will least want to let go.

Carmont doesn't have to leave though hopefully. I posted on here a few weeks back that I thought this season would be his last at the club but going off his first 2 competative outings this year he may have life on the old legs yet! He looks on top form and looks very fresh aswell and given that the guy only made his first grade debut at 24 he could well go onto become rugby leagues own version of Ryan Giggs(althought Giggs did make his debut at 17 but hey it's an easy game).

Charnley will push everyone of Wigans outside backs very hard though and he's good enough to take a position off anybody including Carmont, Gleeson and Goulding going forward as he develops.

No.

sick of bringing in big name players from overseas, Charnley is more than good enough to be Wigan's #4, i'd be really annoyed if we brought in another big name Aussie/Kiwi centre to fill George's spot

Carmont is good yeah but your building him up to be a superstar which he is not. He is a solid centre who has done a very good job for us at a cheap price over the last few years. I do not think we struggle to replace him at all.

If Carmont does go I'd have thought that Goulding would be the more obvious replacement than Charnley.
He will have done two years playing regular first team rugby and the wing spot will be very good training for filling a centre spot.
The following year Gleeson and Roberts are OOC so Charnley will get his chance of a regular place from then on. Until then he will get plenty game time being on the fringe of the 17.

This will be carmonts last year before he retires,

As for hoff, we need to act quickly, i know its only a few games in but good off contract players don't hang around, saying that it depends if he wants to stay.