Wigan have snapped up Lauaki on a three-year deal. Cracking signing for them.

Just like when they picked up Ben Cross, we have been caught napping.

Shaun Wane.. signs Lauaki and tries and fails to sign Gareth Thomas. And so their new era begins...

A ridiculous signing for them given they are in discussions with the RFL over getting a cap exemption/central contract element for Sam Tomkins. Why not give him Lauaki's wages instead and promote a young player?

Makes you wonder why they've not announced Flower and Dudson as well. The suggestion is that they are holding those back for the day they announce Joel's defection, but those names are hardly likely to provoke a positive reaction from the fans.

As we are mocking their signings lets make sure we don't have a disaster like 2010 where we managed to finish below them despite them having crap like Deacon, Fielden and Coley in their first team.

Joel is probably ed off at playing centre for Wigan when it is abundantly clear to anyone with a brain that he is not a natural centre.

It's highly unlikely that he'll be playing in the pack in RU, though. It would seem almost certain that he'll be in the centres. Though I accept that doesn't contradict your actual point

Yawnion tried to play Farrell in the the centres and look what happened to him.

What position do you suggest he will play for Saracens?

Farrell was in his early 30s trying to recover from a knee reconstruction. Joel is in his early 20s and has been injury free. Other than that I see your point!

Farrell was also a world class player. Joel is not.

If Joel Tomkins goes to play RU then I will be hoping for England's sake he succeeds but I can't see it, the only logic I can see in getting Joel over is as a preamble to getting Sam over when Joel is already settled and established. Sam could be a gamebreaker in RU.

I would agree with most of that. Farrell was class but his best days were well behind him when he switched. As a fanr I would rather Joel stayed but he is more than replaceable. We are strong in the 2nd row and he hasnt pulled up any trees in the centres. He has huge potential though. I am not sure any club would pay around £200K for a player just so they can sign his brother for even more money a year or so later but I understand your link. Sam would be a game breaker but I have previously stated on our board that I dont think his kicking game is good enough to play international RU.

My biggest concern is that 2 bright young stars of our game (JT & Eastmond) are making the switch at this stage of their career. Its the thin edge of the wedge. If nothing is done we will all be watching 3rd and 4th rate players playing for our clubs. It could be the begining of the end for our sport and whoever your team is that cant be good.

We would pay that for Hill-Billy Senior if it meant we could have Middle Hill-Billy for £400k a year later, no doubt.

Did Welsh RU capitulate when Davies, Bateman, Quinell, etc. took the RL money?

We can't cry foul about RU taking talent when we had been doing the exact same thing, pre-1995.

is it fair to assume you are one of the 'increase the salary cap' brigade? It tickles me no-end how people make such a glib statement, whilst wilfully ignoring how, even the most sucessful of clubs struggle to break even.

No its not fair to assume that. Previous posts state that I cant see how clubs could afford to. Wigan would have made a small profit just because we got to Wembley. Warrington are backed largely by 1 individual so its a wrong assumption. However as a sport we need to do something. International RL will be dead (er) if top players switch codes whilst all of the work done in the SL era to increase crowds will be for nothing when the quality of the product falls. Some people will watch their team no matter what but quality and/or success leads to bigger crowds. You only have to look at average crowds of some clubs e.g Wire and Bulls to see how attandances are affected. As the standard drops so will Sky's interest, attendances and therefore income. Its a downward spiral.

Yes the period 1989-1993 was the worst in Welsh (recent) history. They didn't make it out of the group stage in the 1991 World Cup, and had to play the qualifying tournament to get into the 1995 World Cup.

In 1994 they had a revival and won the Five Nations but then lost Scott Quinnell and Scott Gibbs.

I think we should be using this to lobby for the removal of the salary cap, we always have Wigan fans bitching about what we are paying players and is it over the cap, well why not just scrap the cap, if Warrington have bigger financial muscle behind them then so be it. If guys like Sam Tomkins get lost to the game then there's a danger that some Wigan fans will just get disillusioned and turn their backs on rugby league but if Warrington were free to pay him what Wigan couldn't afford then that might keep those Wigan fans interested in rugby league because at least they could watch him when they played us.