Finn and Grix both born in West Yorkshire but don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

yeah...with those players they should be able to bounce straight back into SL in 2020

WRONG. Wakefield born Maxwell Jowitt is the current fullback.


As others had said, if the development of French RL is of no longer importance to Catalans, they cannot therefore claim to be important for it such they face relegation.

s

Plus
Hampshire-Wakefield lad born and bred
Grix and Finn- both West Yorkshire lads, both played for Wakefield previously before their current stint
Kyle wood-Born in Castleford (WF10 part of the municipal district of Wakefield)
So Randall and Miller just left from that list

People on this thread seem to be losing sight of the fact that Samuel Tomkins is leaving Wigan Warriors for Catalans Dragons, thereby giving the France-based club a better chance of winning silverware in 2019. If we are lucky enough to have Toulouse also in Super League in 2019, then we will have an exciting boost for the game in France.

On a serious note, one of the things Tomkins has shown is that he works very hard and has quite a professional attitude. He certainly impressed in that regard at the Warriors. Its a move that probably suits both parties. Am I correct in reading that Wigan offered Tomkins a contract but wanted him to play for less next year in return for a longer deal?

A 4 year deal offered by Wigan I heard on the radio BrisbaneRhino, whether this was for less or the same money has not been divulged I believe.

From the BBC report on Tomkins signing:

"Wigan had the option to keep Tomkins for 2019, but wanted to reduce the original terms in their offer of a new four-year contract."

Not entirely clear what that means, although it sounds like they made an offer previously and then decided to try to back out of it.

He was on a set amount for 2019 as agreed when he came back. That year on his deal was only an option in the clubs favour though, so if we felt he was warranting his reported huge wage and wanted to keep him next season then he had no option.

The rumour when he came back was that we’d offered him as much as £250k+ to return and Wigan didn’t feel he was worth that, so rather then extend his one year deal on pre agreed terms, we put a four year deal on the table for less money but Tomkins then had the option to say yes or no. He didn’t have that option with the deal we could’ve enforced for 2019.

Catalan need to be investigated for illegally approaching a player under contract before the deadline, this is now coming out more often and we can not allow this to become the norm.

If it was Wigan/Leeds/Saints as a club, people would be throwing daggers at them.

As for Tomkins well for me he has taken all the wrong options in his career, had the pick of his NRL clubs and could have chosen wisely but chose the poorest choice for his career in favour of the biggest contract, then came back to Wigan in pieces and just after a few mediocre seasons on a massive contract with Wigan spending time with his rehabilitation etc he snubs a decent 4 year deal for a big payout again. As many great players have, i imagine he will dwindle at Catalan and maybe after a few seasons get a gig at a bottom end SL club/top end championship club. Like so many, could have been a great but greed got in his way.

If at the end of my short playing career I could look back and have extra zeros in my bank account, or be remembered as a great of the sport, I know which one I would choose. Its not greed in any way. These guys put their bodies on the line every time they make or take a tackle! He could have taken the coin of rugby union which would have dwarfed what he was offered in Aus, but he didn't. Something for which he should be applauded.

Wigan didn't back out of anything - They didn't have to do either of :-
a/ Invoke Year 4 - They could let him go
or
b/ Offer him a new 4 year deal.

It's exactly the same as having a young player 2 years through a 3 year deal and then asking them to renegotiate and improving their original year 3 for a new 3/4/5 year deal with different terms (Usually improved) for Year 1.

The only difference here is that Wigan could simply have let him walk way at end of this year.
or
Invoked the 4th year of his deal and had an unhappy player on it's books as at the end of that 4th year the possible chance of a 3/4 year deal comparable to what Cats are offering would potentially be diminished.

So Wigan offered him a new 4 year deal (the 3rd highest they have offered in the last 10 years, bearing in mind his current contract is the highest) that he says he thought was actually more than he would get offered but he chose to go to Cats on a shorter but improved deal.

I don't think either Wigan or Tomkins have done anything wrong here and to be honest Cats have only done what others including ourselves must have done in the past i.e. Turned a players eye.

End of the day Tomkins has decided to go and Good luck to him for whatever the reasons behind his decision are, it's his decision not mine.