I think the only contracts you can read anything into as far as getting a fee goes are the five year ones.

I could as easily say the club didn't want to give Taylor more than 2 years in case it didn't work out but if it did would have him for at least one more season.

The 2+1 option meaning the "+1" is to get a fee is a pretty poor reflection on the clubs views anyway as it means they expect to [ihave[/i to sell. Or are even counting on it.

BTW, we do give players the option as well sometimes. Last time we did that was with Lauaki. If we do that then we can't cash in as they can stay until they are free agents.

That's the second time in a row you've come on here taking that tone, last time you made yourself look a fool as well (unless Hardaker's running out for us this week)

Pot kettle black springs to mind

in recent years, and in my opinion since Joel Tomkins left for RU there seems to have been a trend of wigan players bumping up their credentials with the club then aspiring to do better elsewhere, we just seem to have been lucky with the batch of players we have had since joel left that we have managed to quite rightly win some silverware.
I doubt we will be anywhere near the trophies this year as other teams look to have improved massively, while we have had too much turnover of playing staff.
I honestly think that as soon as our better players look to earn themselves a better contract that the club says ok, earn one and someone else will offer you a better one than us!
the club seems to be more of a business than a club this year, in comparison to the last few years under IL.
concerned!

But be fair ... IL's tenure has coincided with the worst assault on our playing talent in the history of the game, not just from the RU but from our so-called friends in the NRL too.

I agree he needs to fight harder to keep them, but he's also loaded us with silverware, which is something Mo and Whelan failed to do during their period of control. it isn't just Wigan either. Burgess is the biggest loss to the game ever IMO, both because of his ability and his apparent security in Aus.

One thing I am wondering is about the agents' role in all this. Without doubt they are the recruiters-in-chief for RU, and will remain so until RL can start offering comparable paydays, but could Wigan's excessive losses be down to the defectors all sharing a particularly RU-friendly agent? Or is that a naive question?

Did we ever really replace the income from cigarette advertising? Money was on tap back in the heyday. Sad thing is there are just as many people who smoke now than back then, so it seems the only loser was rugby league. On the plus side- pubs smell better...

Quote: Mash Butty "Did we ever really replace the income from cigarette advertising? Money was on tap back in the heyday. Sad thing is there are just as many people who smoke now than back then, so it seems the only loser was rugby league. On the plus side- pubs smell better...'" And the non-smokers and people who work in them aren't subject to the dangers of smoking related cancer. Just a small point... Just to clarify your other little factoid too: www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... ntury.html

Quote: Mash Butty "Did we ever really replace the income from cigarette advertising? Money was on tap back in the heyday. Sad thing is there are just as many people who smoke now than back then, so it seems the only loser was rugby league. On the plus side- pubs smell better...'" And the non-smokers and people who work in them aren't subject to the dangers of smoking related cancer. Just a small point... Just to clarify your other little factoid too: www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... ntury.html

Pretty quiet again tonight I thought, yes its early in the season but just doesn't seem to be involved enough recently.

Thoughts?

I think part of it is down to Tomkins and his space creation

he is still working on being fit, the guy hasn't had a preseason.

He's completely starved of the ball since tomkins left. Sam often drew men across the field drawing in the opposition centre creating a two on one for Daz and then onto josh.
Daz was picking up assists for simply drawing the winger and setting josh free.
Without Sam daz's lack of ability isn't good enough to set josh off. He's a poor attacking centre. I don't care what anyone says.
Bowens style of passing early from second reciever would be ideal if we played with strike centres. He gives them early ball to do their thing; Goulding is not a strike centre.

Solutions.

1) play Hampshire. He plays like Sam. Runs across the line dragging players out of position creating 2 on 1s
2) play sarge with Bowen. Sarge would thrive off early ball.
3) coach Bowen to draw men and not pass early when attacking down Dazs side.

Josh last season was the top try scorer. Get him the ball and he'll score. He's not the issue.

I thought it was his best game tbh. He got through tonnes of work taking the ball out of our half and really gave the forwards a rest. He still looks short of full fitness but it's coming.

But he's not scoring tries.
Don't know where the evidence is to say he's not fit.

i thought the majority of last nights' game was played through the middle and we targeted their right hand side a lot after spotting their inefficiencies early on, despite this charnley played as well as could be expected IMO and put in his fair share - a lot better than the last few games.