Apologies I believed he was from Halton/Widnes way I stand corrected, a feather in his and the academy's cap no less.

Phil Clarke bigging us up as a possibility, however, I just can't see it.

Surely Wigan will struggle under the cap though.

The salary cap won't be an issue. The vote on a marquee player looks set to go through. All 5 of the defeated yes votes are from teams still in SL. Now that's reduced from 14 to 12, 2 votes and its through.

I even think St's will back it now as they are beginning to make a profit with their new stadium.

have you seen the details of the proposed marquee player suggestion and what it actually entails?

No FMC but it was said at the last vote that things need to be clarified and retabled.
I'm guessing that is the case and I wouldn't expect the 5 yes voters without a structure to vote no with it.

There is a little bit of me that thinks we may just pull this one off. We are due a big signing....I know we signed Clarke but was a promising young talent rather than an established star of the game.

If we signed Tomkins it would easily be a bigger signing than Gleeson, Morley and King.

It would solve our full back problem for a start (watching Ratchford not reading the plays and wrapping round too slowly last week was painful.) It would also solve our captaincy issue out as well.

we should be chucking serious money at him.

that said, and despite reading that a friend of Tomkins on Twitter has said "Looks like I'm going to have to start supporting Warrington then " , I'm still convinced he'll be pie eater by the time the Wigan Wires game comes around.


I hope twitter isn't full of poop

Marquee player rulings. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=581138

Marquee player rulings. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=581138

The 'first option' thing is slightly misleading - In reality, its a bargaining tool for the player involved and his agent, especially if that player is sought after the way Tomkins is.

What will have happened in the last week or so is that Tomkins's agent will have contacted ALL the SL clubs informing them of Tomkins's availability and, with it, invited any interested parties to make a bid, thus, creating an auction.

Now, and I'm making up figures here just as an example, if Salford top the bidding with an offer of £150k a year, then Tomkins's agent goes to Wigan and tells them to match that offer - If Wigan can't, or choose not to, then Tomkins becomes a free agent... He is then able to sift through all the offers and pick the one he fancies.

He could very well end up back at Wigan on less money than the (imaginary) Salford one, but that wouldn't be through any 'first option' clause, it would simply be because that's where he wants to go.

Put simply, from Wigan's point of view, its very much a game of poker and hoping that Tomkins is bluffing when he suggests that Wigan isn't necessarily, his only possible destination.

It's amazing how many wire fans now say how great Sam is and how much you want him to sign for you! Sure you'll all be back to "what a w---er" he is if he doesn't! !!

Dude, that's sport, everyone is the same.
Part of that is trying to put people off their game, it's psychology.

Obvious really, it often happens when an opponent is feared that they usually attract that kind of attention, it's a kind of back handed compliment unless you live in Darceydo land of course.

don't forget the "harrisgate" clause in the contract for Sam's release 3 yrs early in 2013 that he signed. On return to Superleague he agreed to play for Wigan on a pre-determined salary, now Wigan have meet 2 criterium, pay him the agreed fee and fit him in under the salary cap, If they can't do both then Sam has the ball in his court....of course he can ignore the release contract he signed and play for someone else even if Wigan can meet their side of the contract but that could lead to another Bulls/Leeds "Harrisgate" battle

One Bradford couldn't afford, unlike Warrington

we're the wire bum bangers... we say what we want.