NZW wouldnt be my choice of club in the NRL.

I'd want to go and experience the whole Aussie lifestyle bit and not do it by proxy.

Cant see him coming back to England or Wigan.

Thanks for the memories......

I don't see any signs that NZ warriors are prepared to stump up a huge transfer fee so if that is the case we must surely be entering in to some sort of agreement where Tomkins comes back after x amount of years.

The problem I have with that is how watertight is that type of deal? Not very I'd have thought.

I personally would be looking for upwards of 500k for him.

I have no doubt whatsoever that he's going.

The outstanding issues are what kind of deal is it, how will it benefit us, who or how many will we get to replace him, and how will he take to the life Down Under, etc etc?

None of that is by any means settled. With regard to the last point, in my own personal life I've known four families who emigrated to Aus, and two of them came home again fairly quickly. It simply wasn't for them.

Nothing is fixed at this stage, so for those confidently predicting that Sam has gone for ever, yes, it MUST be a case of their having a crystal ball.

I admire your optimism but players like Andy Farrell, Hanley and Tomkins don't come along very often, especially these days. Sam is the most naturally gifted player of his generation and has a will to win that even Edwards would be impressed by. I would rate him Hanley's equal and the tragedy for British RL is that we will not see the peak of his career.

He is already an all time great of British RL and Wigan. He is the only real star of SL. When he leaves it will be a massive blow to the game in this country.

Minichello going to become a dad for the first time in December, hardly the best time for him to move half way across the world to start a new life the following month.

The Roosters fans seem to think time has taken its toll and his is in the bottom 3 players in a key position on the NRL roster. Not seen enough of him to comment but not exactly a ringing endorsement from his own.

rlhttp://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/warriors-seal-deal-to-sign-tomkins-20130622-2opac.htmlrl

This got posted on our Bulls forum may have been more use to you guys.

Until anything is announced by either club, i'm going to remain skeptical.

What i cant see is that why is there only NZW after his signature there are much better teams in the NRL to ply your trade.

I can see why NZW are being linked, Tommy plays there, and there's a strong link between the two clubs, with Dean Bell having a long association with us. I haven't heard anything concrete, now any official source say he's leaving. Sam has also said he'd be the first to hold his hand up and say he was leaving, and nothing from him as well. We won't know anything until at least after the GF [or if Wigan don't make it, after we are knocked out the playoffs]

FWIW I think he'll be a Wigan player next year.

It all depends if his lady friends Husband knows about.

I have stated on another thread (NZ Warriors and Wigan Warriors tie up) that Radlinski is in NZ for three days, now one of the forums is saying that at the end of Radders 3 day stay an announcement maybe made.

Might be a coincidence that Sam is missing on Friday when any announcement would be made.

Just a thought.

You know what we're like nowadays though. Tomkins won't be allowed to say anything until Lenagan say's so and he'll have a whole host of other news to announce to try and gloss over a enormous loss. We'll announce new deals for a few players, a signing or two and a 'flip of the coin' chance deal that Tomkins may come back in the future.

I do think we'll know before the grand final though because this will hang over us like a black cloud if we don't and every defeat or bad performance will get linked back to this.

If I had to say hand on heart will he be here next year I'd say no although I'd love to be proved wrong. I'd love for sense to prevail on our part and cut a deal with NZ Warriors (because his move to the NRL will happen at some point like it or not) for 2015 but not for next year. We need him more then we need a few quid although when I say 'we' I suppose I mean the supporters and the team and neither will have much say. The youngsters simply aren't ready to play week in week out but they could well be in 18 months.

Great post.