And mine....

So Gleeson is good enough for England, but expendable at Warrington? The mind boggles.

I wonder how long before Gleeson follows Long and retires from international rugby to focus on his club career.

That will be a big disappointment to the England coach.

Have you paid any attention to what's been going on?

These people goin on about commitment make me laugh,
how long as gleeson been here nearly 4 years??
anyone see him stand in front of the south stand and kiss his badge,
or even come over to the fans beating his chest or even try to get the fans going,when all is not goin to well..
I think we know the answers no on all counts.
wiganners you have sighned a real gem,
but he doznt give a toss for the fans...

We should be thankful for small mercies.

Badge-kissers biggest mercanaries of the lot - see Alan Smith for evidence.

maybe he saw something in him down under that he didn't like ?

Excellent post.

Yes, of course. That's why I'm intrigued by all this.

If Smith has seen fit to get rid of Gleeson after such a short time in charge, then that's a pretty damning indictment of our previous coaching regimes.

If Smith thinks we can get rid of one of our best players, and still compete, then, again, I'm intrigued.

If Smith has decided that he is unable to get the best out of said player, for whatever reason, then, again, it's interesting.

If Smith thinks that player X will do for England, but I won't have him around my club, then again, that's rather interesting, no?

Personally i would rather we had got a straight cash deal for Gleeson of around £180k then we could have gone out and found our own full back, if you were Richie Mathers it wouldn`t exactly make you feel on top of the world that you were threw in as a part exchange.

The way i see Mathers is Wigan are basically getting away with trading in an old vauxhall corsa thats had a re-build in the past but it still breaks down occasionally, it also comes with a full halfords go-faster pack that makes it look faster than it really is.

Yes Mathers is a slight improvement on Reardon but your comparing 2 fairly average full backs here, both have had past injury problems and both havn`t shown any worthwhile form for a good number of years hence why i said at the start that a straight cash deal for Martin Gleeson would have been my chosen route if we were going to let him go.

Unfortunately, because of the salary cap, the days of having 13 top class players on a pitch have gone.

The trick nowadays, is to actually build a team....4 or 5 really good players, on the top money....5 or 6 average players (This is where the Mathers of this world fit in), and then top it all off with your academy bringing through quality youngsters.

Leeds and Saints have it off to a fine art....I mean the likes of Gardner and Ablett aren't exactly world-beaters are they?....Yet they are members of teams that regularly win trophies.

Mathers will hopefully become a small piece in the Tony Smith jigsaw...a jigsaw which he saw no place for Martin Gleeson...

1) I'm with JWP.

2) I wish Gleese well.

3) I won't be giving him any stick when he plays against us. I wouldn't expect my employers to have a go at me if I changed jobs.