I'll be honest I think trophies may be difficult to come by in the next year or two but we're in an amazing place to really push on. The salary cap raising in Australia is really going to cut back superleague clubs options over here in terms of bringing top NRL players over so teams will do 2 things. One is panic and bring in second raters and the other is bring through their own young players from the u20's side.

We will go down the latter route (Well mainly although Lauaki tests that theory) and thats easily the best way to go. We will probably be followed down that route by clubs like Leeds, Saints and to a lesser extent Wire and thats why i'm positive. We have the best youngsters of those 4 clubs and it will ensure we stay near the top for a long while.

So regardless of what happens with Joel or further down the line Sam i'm confident we're set fair. We're going to see some new young faces next year and I think people will be happy. It may be a bit rocky for a few months but they'll get there.

Great post. Im certain that Wane will be a lot more willing to play youngsters from the academy than Madge ever was, which for me is not only an exciting prospect but would make any future success much more satisfactory

Quote Kernel="Kernel"Mate if someone offered me £100K to do a job i love and i know i love, or £300k to do something I might like, somewhere away from my family, I dont think i would. Theres interesting research done on motivation that suggests money is not the key motivator people think it is; [uits said that the biggest factor when regarding money is to take the issue of money off the table which £100k a year or more certainly does [/u:) Link here for interest. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc'" You assume so. However, if the figures of £70 or £80K that have been bandied about as Joel's salary are true I would suggest that the issue is very firmly on the table for Joel, especially when he watches Amos Roberts put in another performance for the reserves.

Quote Kernel="Kernel"Mate if someone offered me £100K to do a job i love and i know i love, or £300k to do something I might like, somewhere away from my family, I dont think i would. Theres interesting research done on motivation that suggests money is not the key motivator people think it is; [uits said that the biggest factor when regarding money is to take the issue of money off the table which £100k a year or more certainly does [/u:) Link here for interest. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc'" You assume so. However, if the figures of £70 or £80K that have been bandied about as Joel's salary are true I would suggest that the issue is very firmly on the table for Joel, especially when he watches Amos Roberts put in another performance for the reserves.

The third option is to recruit young RU players. This was mooted by IFL at this weeks press conference and earlier on this season. In fact I believe our chairman is actively seaking some form of salary cap dispensation for signing young RU players from the RFL.

Given that we could potentially be employing a Welsh RU legend and the Welsh National RL coach, it would seem to me IFL has a plan to source and nurture this talent in the South of Wales.

What about players that travel half way around the world to play at wigan for more money?

didnt realise Judas player RL?

I'm assuming he's referring to Garry Connolly. I can't for one minute believe he's referring to Andy Farrell in that tone.

He's played both RL and RU, he's your new Assistant Coach. Known as Judas when he left Wire, the name was resurected by Leeds fans when he went to the dark side.

I would imagine they will all be queueing up at the prospect.

Not a chance of recruiting any half decent ones. If IL thinks there is then he is living in cloud cuckoo land.

Is a bit early to ask is everyone happy. Im happy with the announcements so far. Im not so happy about the rumours though but they arent fact yet so some of them may not happen with a bit of luck. Even if they are true I will give any player who signs for our club my full backing and hopefully everybody does the same.

Whatever happens i will still be there next year enjoying watching us play. Weve still got the core/basis of a very good team and have the best future prospects coming through so the futures bright imo.

Not happy. Can't remember the time that I have been as depressed about the future of RL as I am now.

The sad thing is I knew it was coming. That said, still doesn't make me feel any better.

I guess it has had 100 years as a first rate sport. Maybe that was always it's destiny.

So not only do we have a player that's going to wind-up the Dire and Whino fans (well until he decides to join his brother), we have someone on the coaching staff as well. Happy days.