I knew you what you meant Wires - just for clarification if Clark wins a GF with Saints I would NOT be pleased for him, not in the slightest. 40+ years following this mob has made me bitter and twisted.

totally underwhelmed by the prospect of signing Dwyer. I watched him play for Hull the other night and thought to myself "I'm glad we got rid of him!"...if Clark goes to Saints, for me, thats a MASSIVE mistake. The fact they want he tells me we should be trying harder to keep him.

Salary cap is a big factor in this. We have an excellent hooker developing in Walker, is he a good as Clark is right now, its debateable but probably not, although he is a much more rounded hooker. There could be £80k difference between what we are paying Clark and what we would pay Dwyer, which would allow us to strengthen other areas in need. Add in to that Clark will be 31 start of next year, Walker (I think) will be 24.

I’m with A7 on this. Rumour has it Saints offered DC a 3 year contract, Would we have been happy about that? I wouldn’t. D Walker will be on much improved terms so salary cap comes into play. Dwyer should be seen as a replacement bench hooker NOT as a direct replacement for Clark.
I also agree that Danny Walker has more variety in his game and potentially could go no to be a real class act. This is not to denigrate Clark in any way who has been a great player for us. Fact is as you climb the ladder you sometimes have to let players go before you want to. happens to both Saints and Wigan regularly.
Ps have I mentioned that Danny Walker was my “one to watch” for this season?

Yes I think we'd all prefer Walker and Clark to Walker and Dwyer but I do think by doing this we are spending our cap more wisely if it allows us to bring in a quality centre and a quality second row.

Clark will probably smash it at Saints but it's still the right decision all in all.

all fair points Alffi, I just have an in built rule...never lose a player to wigan or saints.
I think Clark has another big couple of seasons in him..and saints must be thinking the same. I know his age is creeping up, and he is spending more time on the treatment table BUT he's still a top player.

If it all transpires in the way it looks at the moment, then I just hope we use the spare money for another top class player or two (a top centre and another quality forward would be nice!)

One of the real problems with all our debates on the retention of players & why we don't try and sign other decent players is the fact that we never get to know the finances (and rightly so). Looking at how things work we were never really likely to keep Walker & Clark for another couple of years. Last year Clark looked a tired hooker as if injuries had taken their toll ... but wouldn't anyone. He has been superb this year.

It all makes a lot of sense and I think Warrington have made the right call.

I'd say Walker is our best hooker right now. Is he as good as prime Clark? No, but he's vastly improved during his time here and will probably improve further.

Alffi_7 mentioned an 80k difference between Clark and Dwyer but I'd suspect it could be a lot more than that. Dwyer gives us cheap squad depth and he'll surely know he won't be the first choice, so no disgruntlement.

Even if Clark gets back to his best, Walker surely would have been unhappy being a backup hooker for much longer. The timing seems perfect

I can understand that, from our side of it - in this situation, we just need to make sure the quality of our squad isn't negatively affected as a result. We lost Coops to Wigan, but I don't think it was really a loss to us, regardless of how good a player he was as we strengthened the squad off the back of it.

Traditionally the top clubs don’t keep expensive players once they’re at the back end of their careers, bar the hometown heroes. Recently, Coote was still in top form for Saints but wanted a long deal, so they shipped him on to give a developing player a chance. Thats why I’ve got faith in us moving Clark on. If we didn’t, we’d lose the best upcoming hooker in Super League (I admit there aren’t many) and we’d no doubt be moaning on here about it in the second year of Clark’s 3 year deal. Dwyer will give a good impact backup, even if he’s not the most refined.

There’s something very un-Warrington about letting ageing heroes go early, and I like it. It feels like we starting to grow up and act like the big club we should be. I even have a lot of faith in the talent coming through the academy.

I suppose it depends on what Dwyer wants - an interchange hooker with us, or a first choice hooker at another club (albeit maybe not the top 3 or 4 clubs).

I suppose money comes into it - that's fully understandable.
And money from the point of view of him, and us (to use any savings to recruit someone to strengthen/balance the team).

Crikey!

I hope this isn’t true.
Wasn’t very good when he was here last time. That’s why he got moved on.

Maybe he's been assured that we are operating as a meritocracy and he thinks he can push Walker? BTW 'One Trick Mick' had a decent autumnal career with us at interchange.

We've been well served by Clarke so it's hardly like losing Sculthorpe and if we can retune and add a bit more quality elsewhere that's not a bad strategy.

To this day, I'm still fuming about the mighty Rochdale stealing the best of our young talent in Danny, from our club.

He is a decent option as a 2nd hooker... As people have said, you have to think about balancing the books.

Clark off the wage bill.. improved contract for Walker... 2nd tier wages for an experienced hooker who knows the club well.

The total parts of the hooker transfers/contracts, probably frees up considerable cap space that can be spent in other areas.

Feels like clever business from the club.