that didn't take long...you leave your brick throwing scum at home as well eh.

Not a Wigan or Leeds fan but Wigan are far superior when it comes to development. Yes Wigan are paying Tomkins silly money but who wouldn't for talent like his but bet a lot of the other kids they have are on much smaller wages than most of your squad which you have scavenged elsewhere.

Really looking forward to this. Trying to think when the last time both of us
met each other in the final. I remember when you tonked us at the Mcalpine
in Hudds guessing 96. Should be a great game and great atmopshere.

Should be a great game. I think you are favourites but then so were Hudds v us in my opinion so I hope my predictions are as poor as ever.

Bit sensitive aren't you exile like I said apologies to the decent wire fans .......

Very excited!

How would you know this? The season isn't over, with a CC win, GF appearance/win, constantly high supporter numbers, world record transfer fee (potentially booked this year) and Hock out on loan - there's a good chance that it could be Wigan.

But, that being said, are the profits retained profits or are the directors at Warrington taking a nice dividend from the club? If the latter, it's good to see the money men getting the cash while ensuring that players have a salary cap to stop them getting more.

and that's our fault because we are the RFL who set the cap?

Money has nothing to do with it. For me Wigan have built a team round most of its surrounding local amateur clubs with a few dotted in to make the squad strong. Warrington mainly have picked the talent from other regions to get where they are.

And why does Wigan have so many amateur clubs, success breeds success as they say, IF Wigan hadn't have been the powerhouse they were then the popularity wouldn't have been so high. I wonder how many amateur clubs Wigan had in 1970 compared to 1995. I wonder how many kids were also on the books in all the clubs in 1970 compared to 1995?

Strangely enough, money does have a lot to do with it.

And your problem with this is what,does it really matter how a squad is assembled.NO its about doing the best for the club as a whole,if it means bringing in from other areas so be it.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's less now than it was at the start of the 70s. The effects of other entertainment, softer lifestyle etc reduce the people wanting to play sport and I suspect more so for one of the toughest sports in the world.

Well I'm not gonna get involved in a mines bigger than yours argument about junior rugby because IMO the fact that Wigan, and other towns like Leeds or Wakefield/Cas, have great traditions of junior rugby and clubs, better than Warrington, is a good thing. If talented young kids in the region get attracted to play rugby league because of Wigan and the Wigan brand in the way that kids in Catalonia get attracted by the Barca brand then thats a strength to our sport and although it means Wigan are likely to be strong having all those kids, its still good for the game.

In the days when Wigan were strongest a lot of good Wigan lads couldn't get in the first team so went off and played for other clubs so Wigan junior rugby helped support and strengthen British RL as a whole.

I think we are all concerned that these days the game is not at its strongest and is a bit short of talent so if Wigan can produce some more Sam Tomkins types then I'm all for it.

Warrington hasn't really had the same tradition, for most of our history we have brought players in from other towns and its been since we had a 'reboot' of a junior system that had broken down in the 1990s, and set up the scholarship scheme and a few other things while Van de Velde was here, that we have started to have some results and had more Warrington lads coming in to play in Super League which is good. But you have to remember where we are, we're like a developing economy trying to get our infrastructure right but not going to be like the USA for many years...

On junior rugby I think its a bit petty when fans of clubs use it as something to try and get one upmanship over each other, really when a club produces talent its a win for ALL fans of British rugby league.

Next Saturday I for one will be applauding Sam Tomkins on his last appearance in our game and looking forward to how he goes in the NRL as the UK's finest export for years, if he rips them up then fantastic.