Did you see Sams tackle on Wellens in the game at Widnes? superb defence.



Do you honestly believe that Eastmond is/was anywhere near the standard of Sam? I was telling people on here four years ago just how good Sam was, and about the "problems" with Eastmond, despite his talent.

I could catch wello in 20 yards if i gave him a 10 yard start!

seriously though Sam is improving this side of his game and its easy to forget how young he still is and so learning the game and his new position.

Him committing to RL in this country is great news

It was the tackle on the line when he stopped Wellens who was at full speed and was running straight at Tomkins.

All this is doing is raising the expectations of players and the costs to SL Clubs.

This is not the answer.
If a club such as wigan want to pay their superstar sam a load of dosh to bribe him to stay then fair enough but unless all the other clubs agree to a salary cap increase then wigan will have to save salary money elsewhere.

Ignoring personalities and clubs, this is bound to favour the bigger clubs.

Is this not connected to the image rights issue that wigan and some other clubs have been caught out with and are now as a result finding it impossible to keep paying the wages they were paying?

This ruling needs massive clarification.

For example how many per club?
What % of the wage is over and above the cap?
How will this effect payments for other players?

Ie Tomkins gets £170000 for example. Is all that off the cap so allowing wigan to offer a deal to a player or players they could not afford other wise. Is £100, 000 on the cap £70000 off it, there fore freeing up £70000 for another player.

How do you judge what would have been offered under the cap to after the cap.

Minefield and can of worms spring to mind. Anyone got a link to the actual break down of this.

Also nice for RFL to step in on Wigans behalf, left it just the right length of time for Saints to have to let Graham go and spend a bucket load on a replacement for Eastmond.

Ah well normal service resumes.

I've stated previously 'proper league fans' will be made up Sam's staying in the game.

I'll leave it there.

indeed. As a fullback Sam's 1on1 tackling will always be suspect as he's so small

Quote: bewareshadows "This ruling needs massive clarification. For example how many per club? What % of the wage is over and above the cap? How will this effect payments for other players? Ie Tomkins gets £170000 for example. Is all that off the cap so allowing wigan to offer a deal to a player or players they could not afford other wise. Is £100, 000 on the cap £70000 off it, there fore freeing up £70000 for another player. How do you judge what would have been offered under the cap to after the cap. Minefield and can of worms spring to mind. Anyone got a link to the actual break down of this. Also nice for RFL to step in on Wigans behalf, left it just the right length of time for Saints to have to let Graham go and spend a bucket load on a replacement for Eastmond. Ah well normal service resumes.'" The ten year £50K dispensation came in when Wigan lost Andy Farell to Rugby Union. Saints have benefited by using this rule for Long, Cunningham and Wellens. I will agree with you that the rule needs clarification and should be seen here in the next few weeks. rfllive.dyndns.org/~rflmedia/doc ... on%20E.pdf

Quote: bewareshadows "This ruling needs massive clarification. For example how many per club? What % of the wage is over and above the cap? How will this effect payments for other players? Ie Tomkins gets £170000 for example. Is all that off the cap so allowing wigan to offer a deal to a player or players they could not afford other wise. Is £100, 000 on the cap £70000 off it, there fore freeing up £70000 for another player. How do you judge what would have been offered under the cap to after the cap. Minefield and can of worms spring to mind. Anyone got a link to the actual break down of this. Also nice for RFL to step in on Wigans behalf, left it just the right length of time for Saints to have to let Graham go and spend a bucket load on a replacement for Eastmond. Ah well normal service resumes.'" The ten year £50K dispensation came in when Wigan lost Andy Farell to Rugby Union. Saints have benefited by using this rule for Long, Cunningham and Wellens. I will agree with you that the rule needs clarification and should be seen here in the next few weeks. rfllive.dyndns.org/~rflmedia/doc ... on%20E.pdf

I love the way its the wigan fans telling us how the new rule 'should' work.

'oh it has to be a player that's come from the academy'... why? The sp wording, from wigan (and not the RFL) would appear to me to suggest it also applies to a 'marquee' signing... any club should be able to nominate any player from their playing staff.

As Saddened has correctly pointed out......All the ruling is doing is freeing up cap space for other players.

And so did we. Robinson & Ashton and if I want to be really tenuous, Thornley. Why wasnt anything done then? Why is it always us, why, why, why, wah, wah, wah

Seriously, if Salford had have been given special dispensation for Ratchford would you be moaning so much?

Utterly, utterly disgusting and shameful pro-Wigan bias from the RL yet again. Yet another nail very firmly rammed into the sport's coffin and my interest in it. There's no point in having rules if one team is allowed to circumvent them whenever they feel like it and others (e.g. Salford with Ratchford) can just go hang. I feel like saying **** it - just remove the cap from Wigan altogether and let them bankrupt themselves again buying SL for the next 10 years - I'll happily go and watch lower league footie and pretend RL is already dead and buried instead.

I was very unhappy about Kyle leaving Saints for Bath particularly under the circumstances he did, i.e. His contract just running out rather than a fee but you'll just have to take my word on that. He's a great talent and would/could/should have been playing for England for many years.

I've always thought the salary cap should be amended to look after homegrown talent and I'll let you look through my posts regarding that, search facility at the top, shouldn't take you too long. It's the fact that Wigan have suggested this idea and it seems to be benefitting Wigan initially seems to be sticking in some peoples throats. So rather than just looking at it through ant-Wigan spectacles I think people should look at it through their pro-RL spectacles. It could be useful when RU come knocking for Lomax, Myler, Jones-Bishop etc...