One mans Pittance could be another mans fortune?
I'd happily swap his wages for mine!

Go and have a read. The thread is much the same as this one with most now turning on Hock and calling him all the names under the sun, from the safety of a keyboard of course, a few with a more reasoned approach to it all and one or two who say it's not really Hock's fault.

One interesting twist on there is that if Hock or CPWigan tells anyone what happened, it'll put their life in danger.

Some of it has been edited by mods but it's pretty much the same as what 'Last Son of Wigan' has been saying.

While we're talking ifs, buts and maybes ... IF this is true, perhaps he was on less than we'd expect as part of his parole after the drugs episode. In which case, it's still Gareth who's the naughty boy for not being able to take his punishment. Of course, it's still a big IF.

The way the squad seems to have diminished in talent from last season it might not take to long for most S/L teams to be considered as our main rivals.

Just to add. I've heard a 3rd party mentioned in the rumours leading up to this and if it is true then Hock could well do with being a little further away than Widnes. It's also related to the same rumours involving Gleeson and I think Tickle at the time of his departure.

Why when I can get someone else to do it for me?

Good luck with that one, then, Widnes.

Unless it's not true, of course.

As I said, it's just something I heard before Christmas about the people who he was in bother with. I can see it as a reason he wanted to go to Aus but I can't see how Shaun Wane gets tied up in it and it ends up as his fault Hock is leaving.

As you say, it could all be untrue and more than likely is. Basically any renowned hard/bad lad get's in trouble in Wigan and they are invariably linked to this 3rd party wanting to break their legs, or arm in Terry Newton's case, rumoured, allegedly etc, etc...

We don't need to know if he was on a pittance or not and we don't need to speculate if he was on less money for being on parole after taking drugs either. The fact we do not know [iwhat[/i he was paid means we can't judge if his demands for pay rises were unreasonable.

That is the point I was trying to make.

Without knowing why he made his demands and what the circumstances were at the time he made them you can't judge if they were unreasonable or not.

We have just been told what he has asked for and what transpired when he didn't get his demands met and its clear there was a complete breakdown between Hock and the club (not training and trying to get sacked). It didn't happen all at once though and I have seen it happen in my own workplace were over time where people get disgruntled with their employer a bit at a time until they think they are in the worst job the world and paid the least for it.

That said unless he had very good reason to ask for a move to Oz I think he has been shown to be extremely ungrateful for all the help he received and for that alone I am very disappointed in him. At the time of his ban I would have been fine had the club sacked him but given they went the rehab route that was also fair enough. They must have felt like Hock has kicked them in the teeth.

I would still like to hear Hock's side of the story though and we haven't, only Wigan's.

"I have no regrets on leaving Wigan. I thank them for everything they've done, but what's happened since is between me and them."

Hock doesn't sound hard done too there.

I reckon Widnes will suit Hock perfectly. He can do his little cameos which will be lapped up by the fans regardless of whether they're losing heavily, whilst not getting too involved in the hard yards and tackling stints. Widnes are unlikely to be involved in any crunch games which unfortunately Gareth has gone awol from in his time for us.

Which Gareth Hock were you watching? In terms of the 'hard yards' he was, on average, Wigan's 3rd highest metre maker last year behind Lima and Mossop.

As for going AWOL in big games, surely the entire team is guilty of that? In fact in the CC semi final against Leeds Hock was one of very few players to actually have a good game. Last season he performed well enough overall to make the dream team.

Cheers

In the season's 3 biggest games, he was poor in the Cup SF other than scoring a marvellous cameo try. Same again at Warrington in the big league game at the end of the season. Anonymous in the SL semi against Leeds.

The only other really big game he played for us after his ban was the gauging incident against Wire in 2011.