Then we screw ourselves in the process having a marquee contract taken up by someone who's not even playing for us.

Longer term we screw ourselves even more if we just let this slide.

I agree with your sentiments. But how to deal with it must have an emphasis on what's is the best course of action for the club moving forward. I don't see how tying a marquee spot to a player who doesn't play benefits the club.

I honestly see your point. But from what I can gather, if Hastings is looking to 'rip up his contract' his people must find grounds in there to do so. Then the club need to decide what they want. I personally wouldn't want him anywhere near us if he doesn't want to play for us. I can't see a drastically unhappy player playing to the best of their ability. Sooner free up the cap and go after someone who wants to represent Wigan correctly.
Other option could be a lengthy costly court case.

I can see it being a mutual agreement to let Hastings go.

Unfortunately, I think Hastings holds the aces in this case.
Wigan can’t actually stop him from signing for someone else. If he signed for another SL club, the RFL could refuse to register him. But it wouldn’t be Wigan’s decision. Similarly, the NRL might refuse to register him to play for an NRL club, but again that’s not up to Wigan.
The best option Wigan have is to take legal action against Hastings for BoC. But they’ll need to prove a quantifiable financial loss, which they can’t do. He’s also in Australia, and therefore it’s complex to take action through an ET. You can’t even go after any future club, unless you can prove they induced him into a BoC.
Put simply, Wigan can’t force him to work for them. Sure, they can appeal to the RFL and NRL not to allow him to register elsewhere, but that might not hold sway if Hastings himself claims a BoC by Wigan. He could then take action against the RFL/NRL for a restraint of trade.
And on the matter of payment, as soon as Wigan don’t pay him, he’s no longer and employee and can do whatever he wants. Wigan have nowhere to go here. If he doesn’t want to work for Wigan, the club can’t make him. They could try to stop him signing elsewhere and sue him for BoC, but both are likely to fail.

Good post.
Which basically means if Hastings doesn't want to play for Wigan, Wigan's best bet is to cut ties and free up the marquee spot until someone worthy becomes available. It's a sad state of affairs yet again for our club.

Pretty certain a UK contract carries no weight in Australia.......

Pretty certain James Segeyaro thought that too...and he ended up in the wilderness for 6 months.

Oh yes, from Dec 2016 until March 17, he was right in that wilderness...... until he signed for Cronulla at the start of the NRL season.

Leeds held all the cards then, too....

Yeah, right! Once Leeds didn’t pay him, his contact became null and void and he signed for Cronulla.
Now if Wigan want to carry on paying Hastings, they can try and claim he is their employee. But they won’t, because it’s ridiculous.
It’s just not legal for a company to force someone to work for them. It can’t be done.

Hastings doesn't turn up, then he is disciplined and fined. I seem to recall Joel Tomkins was fined, Bateman was fined and suspended, Carlos Tevez was fined by Man City for not playing. None of them had their contracts deemed null and void.

We don’t actually know when Hastings contract starts. He may not be in breach of anything if it only starts in Jan.

You can’t fine someone who doesn’t consider themselves to be an employee though.

That really is utter nonsense. Look at the quotes below. Leeds kept hold of him until they received a fair financial settlement as well as a replacement in Matt Parcell. Until that point he could go nowhere and do nothing.

“The situation with James Segeyaro has not changed, even though we have signed Matt Parcell,” Hetherington said. “James Segeyaro remains on our register and on the RFL’s register as well and he may well remain for the next two years.

He will only be off that at the expiry of his contract, ut] he remains on the transfer list and is available to anybody who makes an acceptable offer.”

Hetherington confirmed Rhinos are also pursuing a separate action against the Papua New Guinea international for breach of contract.

Segeyaro joined Rhinos on loan from Penrith Panthers in July and signed a long-term contract two months later, but declined to return from a break in Australia, saying he had been homesick during his time in Leeds.

The Rhinos chief said there is now no possibility of the two parties getting back together. “James himself, through his manager, cancelled his contract by writing to us and confirming he would not be fulfilling the remainder of his contract,” Hetherington stated.

The writing was on the wall after the grand final. All the interviews he gave you could tell he didn’t want to play for Wigan.

I believe all super league conttacts run from 1 november to 31 october,unless a player moves mid season