Was it Adam Smith or David Ricardo who said something along the lines of - when you see two businessmen working together you can bet someone's being ripped off. In my mind the word "partnership" implies not just a mutually beneficial exchange but an equally one. Given that one element of this partnership operates under the umbrella of an organisation whose apparent goal is to leech talent away from Wigan (as well as SL as a whole) I doubt very much Wigan will gain from this little venture as much as Saracens.

At the very least it gives them networking ties that either didn't exist before or were conducted through several intermediaries. And when it comes to tapping up players networking is the name of the game.

last week someone intimated that Salford were getting into bed with the devil if they sanctioned a ground share with Sale RU.Speaking as a RL fan I would never trust anything rugby union.Having said that I agree that a man of Mr ILs business acumen would not do anything purposely to the detriment of Wigan,but I still dont trust RU one bit

I think it may be a security really. If, say Bath, come in for one of our youngsters we can say to them "hey want to go on loan at Saracens try it out first? Dont rush into things" Saracens can do that for us. Also if Bath, Sale etc came in for a big name we could say "no we only deal with Saracens" if Saracens dont want said player then we keep him. It also means that to maintain a good link Saracens may be more willing to wait until a contract ends.

We would have said this 2 years ago as well but then we got Bitcom from RU and according to most he's been a revelation to RL.

Well Wigan have certainly gained some publicity. its not long ago when when posters were seeing the links with G Thomas as a means to get at the RU production line in Wales.

On a related point, has anybody seen anything in relation to Wigan retaining Joel's RL registration - so that if he wants to come back to RL part way through, we get first refusal?

sound like being an aquiesant poor relation

IMO the advantage of taking players from each other is hugely stacked in RU's favour. The players RL are likely to take are the lads who aren't really going to cut it in kick n clap, they may turn out to be superstars in league but still it'll be no big loss to kick n clap on the other hand they will probably be only looking to take the established players or hot prospects from our game.

Where did Mark Bitcon come from?

It will raise the profile of Wigan Warriors specifically and RL generally to the rah rah fans. A few might start to keep an eye out for our scores and maybe even watch a match or two. Coaching methods will be shared.

Few comments about our players joining them - well even though we might think it - not every RL player will make a good yawnion player, so I don't think we have to worry too much about that.

IL's not daft, so it will be to our benefit as well.

IL is not stupid he has great business sense and more than anything the passion for Wigan to do well and win things. People questioned when Madge was appointed and look how that went, there is no way Wigan will not benefit just as much as Saracens and your crazy if you think otherwise

Gloucester.

What we can learn from them is how to market big events. They got much bigger crowds than we ever get for their game at Wembley. I think they have done it twice. They are doing it again this year I think on the 10th of December for a match against Ospreys and then again in early 2012 for a game against Quins. Huge events like that are great for publicity, it is something their marketing staff could help us with. Our club needs to build our brand outside of Wigan.

Saracens attendance at the weekend 6012. The one before that 4500. Crowds lower than Wakey, other than the odd one off promotion.
Here's hoping that Joel enjoys project Saracens and doesn't progress to the next level.

Don't think I've ever seen so many toys thrown out of so many prams in ages.

After all that IL has done for Wigan many of you still don't trust him, it seems.

Paranoia rampant in the People's Republic!

RUGBY UNION

what do i win?