Agreed. If you stood Carmont and Gidley side by side and got someone (not familiar with the British game) and showed them player highlights from their time spent in SL, then informed them that one is on *£150k a Season and one is on *£40k a season - would the person tell who was on the most salary? Possibly,..... probably even. But I bet they would say there wasn't three/four times more quality consistent with the difference in money.

[size*Educated guess for arguments sake.[/size

So you reckon Carmont is only on 40k?

Only a Wigan fan would try and compare Gidley and Carmont as players. There simply is no comparison, Gidley wins hands down in every department.

Also there is no way that Gidley is on nearly 4 times what Carmont is. Carmont has had his contract renewed/renegotiated a couple of times since he came. If that is the case and he is still only on 40k then he should get a new agent. He may have been fairly cheap when he came (still would have been far more than 40k though!) but he would still have been on decent enough money seeing as many young fringe first teamers get more than 40k. It also certainly does not mean that he is still cheap now. Wigan fans always use this value for money argument when talking about him but it simply does not exist now. If you are plucking figures out of thin air if he was now on 100k+ a year he would hardly still be good value for money, he would simply be getting the going rate.

Dont forget Wigan fans have been telling everyone how good he is and that loads of clubs wanted to sign him when his contract was running out but now you are saying he stayed for 40k. This means that either no clubs wanted him, they didnt want him enough to pay much more than 40k or he is on far more than Wigan fans try and make out. So which one is it?

You are talking rubbish and I really cant see how you can believe what you are writing.

On the one hand you are trying to argue that he is one of the best centres in Super League and is so good that most clubs in Super League would take him. However on the other you are arguing that he firstly got released early from his contract at Newcastle, uprooted his family and took the risk of traveling across the world for much less than 40k (and thus gets paid about the same as a good academy prospect). Not just that he gets his initial contract improved as he is a success, gets a further contract extension last year (which will be his last big pay day in the game) and is still only on about 50k which is less than the Super League average wage. This is despite being so good that, according to Wigan fans last seaso,n he would walk into most teams in Super League and that other Super League teams and French RU wanted to sign him.

Either he is not as good as you think and no one else wanted him or he is getting paid far more than you think. You cant have it both ways.

Oh and one more thing to add to the argument.
How many missed tackles did Carmont make V Wire? 5? 6? Up there with the best of dreadful defensive performances, who was he up against that day? None other than Chris Bridge who had him in his pocket.

As did Shenton a couple of weeks ago. He has faced 2 decent centres this season and has been destroyed by both. He really is world class though and only on 50k a year

Georgie must be doing something right,if he wasn't Maguire wouldn't have him in the side.(the side thats top of the table)

Don't get me wrong, decent centre and for the money (probably a bit more than 40k) a cracking signing. In SLs top 5 centres? No chance.

well done wigan

give maguire a contract upgrade before an nrl clubs nabs him

the sleeping giant is emerging

Stolen off the Wigan board but at one point yesterday Wigan's pack on the pitch was completely produced by the club

Times have changed the likes of Mossop and Tomkins on new long term deals. Players getting championship and SL experience via the dual contract and loan systems instead of being let go.

2010 Wigan are a very fine side. Having said that, their most over-rated player is O'Loughlin who never has been more than average.

He's average enough to set up more tries than anybody else from Loose Forward, and yet still be in the top 10 for tackles made. He is possibly the most balanced and complete player out there mate.

Average?

Rugby League week gives them a big write up in their ESL section, saying the australian whose made the biggest impact on SL is maguire

the article says wigan styles includes many of the storms hallmarks including robust defence, 5 man leadership team and big emphasis on fitness which saw players like feka losing 14 kgs in the off season

former players like robbie paul and martin offiah see wigan as a real chance for the title

Regardless of whether individual players in Wigans team are average or not is irrelevant. It is a 17 man game and if those 17 are playing as a team ,complementing each other , working hard for each other or compensating for each other then that is what will count.

From what i have seen so far Wigan are the team to beat this season.

the only thing that would worry me is the same as we had last season where players were working hard and adding up to more than their indavidual parts. When those players are struggling with injuries, are busted and tired it catches up with you and you cannot keep that pace up all season without a big squad.


the real crunch for wigan will be in august and whether they can keep it going particularly if they have a good cup run.