Quote: Wigan Peer "Agree with this, and the salary cap issue is the biggest problem. All the other ball handling competitions can spend more. how you deal with it, i'm not sure, but we still have the old problem of the smaller clubs holding back the game. Not enough coming in, simple as.
I can see a time in the not too distant future where WRLFC, will also be WRUFC...'"
I worry about that too, but I don't think it's just Wigan.
This country is terrifyingly short of star talent. It's not that we can't buy it anymore; now we can't hang onto it either. What a typical example Budgie was. A new superstar-in-the-making bursts unexpectedly onto the scene, but within one year he's already looking at options elsewhere. When did it happen that Wigan RL was suddenly not among the top players' first choice destinations anymore?
I've never been one to celebrate the departure of our top players to the NRL. Granted, I'd rather they went there than RU, but it doesn't help our domestic game in any way. Exactly the opposite, in fact, and it's a situation that seems to be getting worse, with even those who come home again, from either code, looking like shadows of their former selves - Joel and Mossop being classic examples.
Looking at the Wigan team that lined up last night ... it struck me how they probably wouldn't last five minutes against our own class of 2010, let alone the great teams of earlier decades.
Things are in a bad way at present. But even if we get whitewashed 3-0 in this series, which I expect, the RFL will ignore it.