Quote: Stu M "Well firstly I was laughed at for saying a while ago if Thompson came back to SL it would be to Wigan but hey ho..
Secondly it doesn't matter whether Thompson counts £50k or £1 towards the salary cap, he will still be earning a fortune. Saints can't compete with that and if they are going to pay a wage like Thompson will be on then they'll need to put that towards Welsby or he'll be off to the NRL.
He also left on bad terms hence him leaving mid-season after being the only player unwilling to take a pay cut during Covid. The Covid repayment loans have now kicked in and Saints along with Leeds were the worst affected club.
There's no doubt that we will see some transition now and maybe a few trophyless years potentially but with what we've won recently its not like we've too much to complain about.
I don't for one minute think our Recruitment is finished either. 11 players are leaving/retiring at the end of the season. Whitley will be announced soon and I think there will be more to come. We have some outstanding Academy kids who undoubtedly will be playing first team in a couple of years. Stephens already has a squad number for next season and the one we are all excited about is Vaughan- Lancashire and England Academy captain and will be playing first team sooner rather than later. He is a back rower too. Delaney coming through is a huge bonus, the sky is the limit for him and I can see given his age why the comparisons with Thompson are being made.
I said on Redvee that this could now be a golden few years for Wigan. Smart recruitment, huge investment from a wealthy owner and still bringing talented lads through.
Thats sport, its cyclical. At some point Leeds are going to challenge again, then we have Warrington and maybe the Hull clubs can challenge too.'"
I can’t see this for awhile. The club looks in chaos. The recruitment has been questionable at times. I don’t see Smith being the right man for the job especially being in charge of a rebuild.
It does appear you’re at the end of a cycle. A very good cycle admittedly. I think the players you’ll loose Roby, Makinson, lomax will be near on impossible to replace. I think you’ll enter a different difficult period now and going forward we’re your youngsters will be off to the NRL. I think Welsby will go. I don’t rate Dodd but he might be gone too