RLFANS.COM - The World's Most Popular Rugby League Website

Quote: SFW "I was resigned to losing Welsby given all the achievements you state (plus the England captaincy) and was very pleasantly surprised when he signed again. Don't think there is a clause in his contract although I stand to be corrected, I certainly hope not as most of our attacking threat is carried by him currently. He's certainly got the game to succeed over there but he's still only 23, I think it's simply a matter of if/when he chooses to go.

The contracts for 2026 I mention above, I don't think an external coach comes in and gives them out personally. Lomax, Percival and Walmsley have all spent significant time on the treatment table and I think we would be in a better position from a cap spend perspective if we had been more ruthless and kept them waiting until this point of the season before making decisions on all three. With that said I can't really speak to the succession plan as it isn't particularly clear given the contract status of most of the squad - there is every chance we have offered them longer deals on reduced terms with a view to naturally phasing them out for the likes of Robertson, Whitby, Vaughan and Stephens. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Wigan have a lot of players tied up long term, it looks like a smart move now given the current state of the market but the true test of that will be in another 18 months - how is the cap going to be managed if and when players fall out of favour with time left on their deals, and will it prevent the club from being able to offer good deals to the next batch of players? The short term succession plan for players looks pretty clear but Wigan have been more susceptible to NRL interest than most so even that is not without risk.'"

it really is difficult and i wouldnt want to be managing the cap. I have a friend associated with the club, and he told me how many iterations of the cap they went through last year to accomodate changes i.e Dupree in and Singleton out plus the signings for this year

i suppose the good thing in our favour now with the changes to the cap is that you can pay Jack whatever you want and it will only cost £50k cap wise, but clearly the club has to be able to afford anything over and above that. You only need to look at Cunningham, Roby, Scully (i know he signed from Wire), LMS to show that you can have a good career over here and dont have to go over to Oz, especially if he's in a side challenging and equally getting good international exposure (if we can ever get the international calendar right)

i know Stu and think there's another poster who speak highly of some of your academy stars, but is all about timing and getting the balance right, whether that be through good planning or sheer luck. i think Isa may have stopped Junior getting some good game time this year, but bad luck for Isa, and good luck for Junior, has meant he's now getting good game time and looking like he can play at that level week in week out (and i know there is likely to be a dip at some point for him, but we need to manage that). From what i've seen on TV, a couple of your lads are looking ready or close to ready, but its bedding them into a consistent / successful team as you've been able to do over the last few years, and i think that makes a big difference to how they go, especially if your team is playing iwth confidence

onto the 5 year contracts, it is a slightly different approach, but hopefully we'll see the best of the players, whilst managing other recruitment i.e. Cooper, Isa likely to go this year, Farrell probably next year which opens up 1st team spots for Hill, Junior and Walters for example, plus all 3 have had good experience this year. There is no doubt we wont get it right with all our player retention, and we'll still lose some good kids, but we cant keep them all. I know i've posted on the Warriors fans forum and Forber could be an example of this, where O'Neill has stepped up probably ssoner than anticipated, and Leeming gone from starting 9 to bench, so highlighting the risks / challenge as we have him on a 4 year contract, with O'Neill and Forber both chomping at the bit for 1st team