Ah Van for Wigan as a straight replacement. Big powerful goal kicking winger.

Very sad news.

Along with Joel Monaghan he is the best I have seen at leaping high for the ball to score a try in the corner.

His kicking game will be missed and I hope we do bring in another goal kicker of that calibre.

For me Pat Richards is the player who perhaps benefited the most from the sacking of Ian Millward. When Brian Noble came in he handed him the goal kicking duties which seemed to give him a purpose in the team and he looked a much more confident player after this - he also looked much more comfortable on the wing rather than at centre.

Great servant to Wigan.

Done more than enough to cement his place in the Wigan Hall of Fame.
Good luck Pat.

By far my favourite player during my time of watching Wigan, he had it all as a winger and was unstoppable in his season that he won the MOS.

A true legend in my eyes!

Wow! Did not see that one coming. Wish him all the best for the future and can fully understand his reasons for wanting to return home for a final swansong in the NRL.

Good luck Paddy!

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Took the other news on board this week ok but this really is bad news, having said that I can't blame him and he owes us not a single thing so can only wish him well and thank him for being such a fantastic player for us. You will be badly missed Pat but a huge sincere thank you for being such a great player for us and a great bloke into the bargain. All the best

Jimmy Hornby and Denis Ramsdale have been seen at the DW, COINCIDENCE ?

How many really easy games do you blokes play each year??

25%

Half??

How will he go in a side thats rebuilding in a comp where every week anyone can beat anyone, NO easy games.

He stands out more in tight games for me. Hardly ever bombs a chance and his goalkicking is razor sharp, a real high percentage player.

what a kick in the gut this is, just looked on skysports news and seen this on the front page and actually shouted out F***ing hell. Certain that we wont sign anybody nowhere near as good as him. We might be the first team in superleague to actually have no aussies in 3 years.

Blake green was saying that there is only him and pat in the camp (not sure why he doesnt include eric in that)

If this is a round-about way of asking how we think he'll do in the NRL, I'd reply that we probably got the best of him. Pat is one of the best blokes you could meet and has been a great servant to Wigan on the pitch, but age is inevitably starting to kick in.