I think the 4 nations highlighted our weakness in the outside backs so in that respect I think he is missed. Playing on the wing hides his defensive frailties and highlights the strengths of his game. People with pace and an eye for a try like his don't come along often so it's vital for our game going forward that we keep hold of them otherwise we'll continue playing second fiddle to Oz while the RU side beats them.

I am no watcher of Union so no idea how he's developing there, but must admit saw his trys today on the news highlights and with the recent performance of England backs in the 4 Nations, must admit I found myself thinking, "what if".

That said, those comments above about ego and arrogance are properly right, but then, we need a little of that if we're ever to produce a team capable of beating the Aussies!

Sh1thouse, hope he he is exposed in Union and ends up playing for Swinton next year.

Please explain what you mean by being exposed?

We've not missed him. Glad he put the boot in to the Aussies though.

I find myself falling asleep watching Union, but of course I'd support England at Tiddlywinks, especially over the Australians.

I honestly think that if Ashton would have been playing for us last season he'd have broken SL try scoring records with ease.

You only have to look at what a good player like Gouldind did to realise a guy with as much talent, pace and an eye for the try line as what Ashton has would mean he'd be a superstar.

Sadly I feel I agree with most of his points. Another terrible mess from RL management.
Ashton was a top RL talent with all the talent in the world to become a great RL back.

He was a young Wigan lad who wanted to play for his boyhood club, if management would have dealt with the situation better right now he would be progressing at Wigan as either a FB, wing or centre. What a terrible loss.

So who's to blame? For me, not Ashton. The season he left he was arguably our best player. I can remember the big money signing of Fielden and Dobson, for me it was them 3 who kept us up. Fielden was rewarded with megabucks, Ashton, still now only 23 was overlooked by poor management and a deal wasn't created for him to want to stay.

Additionally I now think it's high time to English RL put something in to the salary cap to protect young up and coming English players.
A different ruling for such players who allow them to earn more money so they won't be forced out to end up in RU.
That would benefit RL, we'd have a better chance of beating NZ and Aus, we'd build a better reputation as a sport. And not lose good players to RU.

Ashton is right, under present leadership RL will never change. the 80k watching Eng v Aus is far superior to what our England team generate.

As a produce RL is by far the better code. faster, more physical and entertaining. It's about time it was managed with the intelligence it deserves.

I have just seen the hightlights and to be fair brilliant try, But i still dont agree how he treated the club and the fans, in March 2007 it was announced that Ashton had signed to play rugby union for Northampton. Yes the money is better and there is more media coverage of union then league. But the think that annoyed me about Chris was the comittment he gave us, when he signed his attiude and playing changed, it was like he didnt care and his head was thinking of £££ signs instead of helping the team that got him to where he is now. And the fact that he has never said sorry to us, But i agree with this saying NO PLAYER IS BIGGER THAN THE CLUB no matter who it is.

Its funny how he gets bagged but the likes of Robinson, Farrell and Inga didnt do wrong be leaving. He went for money and who can blame him, its a tough job and you need to get what you can out of it as its a short career.

It's not that simple.

As the article alludes to, he wasn't treated well by Lindsay.

I worked with his Uncle for a few years (in fact my first post on here was saying that Ashton had signed a new contract), and they weren't very complimentary as to how the club behaved.

Union is much bigger because it's in the universities. You can't compete with that, even though your product is infinitely better.

As for Ashton himself - much like Ainscough, he couldn't defend for toffee. You can get away with that in union apparently.

Bit unfair, he was a centre asked to play at fullback.

The full back we have now aint a bad player.

Ashton was excellent on the wing.
We were beaten 48-10 at Saints a few years ago and he scored a 70 mtrs try that day, an absolute blinder.
Wigan's, or Noble's mistake, was putting him at full back. That was a move and a position he couldn't cope with yet Noble persisted in playing him there.
Mo said when he left Ashton was the highest paid teenager in the game.

What the RFL do have to do is ensure we keep the likes of Ashton in the game.
Wigan have already lost Owen Farrell, George Ford, Ashton and Thornley.
Jason Robinson's son is in our U15s I believe. What's the chances he'll learn his rugby in Wigan and his money in Union? Or what's the chances of him seeing his rugby career through from start to finish in Rugby League?

I love seeing the ex league lads becoming superstars in Union, i take great pleasure watching every union fan rave about how amazing they are, how well they tackle, how they run with ball, how they know where the try line is.

We get that week in week out with vastly superior players, i take great satisfaction knowing that union has to come to league to look for their next great hope. We are doing 'something' right folks.

That has nothing to do with the RL putting a policy in place to protect and keep young English players in the game.

The entire management of RL has a lot to be desired.

I can't understand people retaining bitterness at Ashton after this long - he made a decision that were in his best interests and it worked out for him, Wigan moved on without him and haven't done too badly since. We can all play what if and it's undoubtedly a shame that a talent like Ashton no longer plays RL, but the game is about more than one player and will be around long after he retires. I'm not a fan of Union, but I bear no resentment that he is making a success of himself in the 15 a side code.

Agreed. What does annoy me, even though I'm a RU fan, is that when a player does well they fail to mention he's an ex RL player. A player doesn't do so well and they mention it at every opportunity as a sort of 'reason' why he's been gash. 'Oh well he is ex rugby league'

He may enjoy the International game, but how god damn awful is their club rugby he certainly can't enjoy that!!!

Except it does. We can't compete with the contracts handed out in Union. The Premiership is propped up by Twickenham. Those 80k gate receipts are used to pay the players.

We've already seen Crusaders go into administration and half the teams in Super League can't up their wage bill either.

What, exactly, are the powers meant to do? It's all about the money - and they have more of it. The only way to keep these players, if Union clubs are serious about them, is to hope that they love League more than they love money. It's as simple as that.

Ashton was on 6K and when he became a regular player this was increased to 8K. Not much more than a young job seekers allowance. I dont blame him one bit for leaving , I dont think anyone else would have stayed in the same possition When Mo said he would be the highest paid youngster he meant that if Wigan were to pay him what union had offered then he would have been the highest paid. Mo always tried to get away with things, such as paying Mick Cassidy peanuts along with a few others, I believe O Conner was another one and yet certain players were earning a fortune at that time, so where was the loyalty from the club to certain players. I also noticed in yesterdays match that although they were praising Ashton sky high, not once was R League mentioned but at other times when a past league player played and made a mistake they always got it in that a R L player had messed up , Faz was always being pulled about it and Stuart Barnes was the worst for it.

I remember when Farrell was playing for England and therefore it was one of the few times I tuned in to watch. He missed a tackle and Brian Moore pounced on it “Andy Farrell missed a tackle, I thought rugby league players never ever missed tackles (followed by a chuckle).” Poor effort and shows the disdain that they hold us in.

The contracts have nothing to do with RU being played at Universities. Secondly we work in a salary capped sport, the cap has been instated by the RL, there are other options to counter club money issues.

Union is the same, the crowd game at Twickenham doesn't go into the clubs so that has nothing to do with anything which reflects on Crusaders going into administration.
The crowd gates goes into the English RU. Not the clubs. This reflects on the RU, which is ran by the management. It should be the RL management that helps out the clubs and the league, the national team by contrubuting to the salary of up and coming RL English talent (like Ashton) to stop him leaving the code.

RU at Universities the problem? Not at all.

A few misconceptions amongst RL fans on this matter.

1. Whilst in the past there has been a perception that RU was played by the "Middle to Upper classes", this was never really the case, and after the advent of professionalism, certainly isn't now. If you go to places like Northampton, Bristol, Gloucester etc, RU is very much a game played and watched as much by the "Working Classes" as RL is in the North of England.

2. Frankly nowdays it takes about as much academic talent to go to University as it does tying your shoe laces.

The REAL issue here is that, like it or not, RU is a National sport, whereas RL is a regional one.

For those people who don't follow any code of rugby, ask them about it, and they will instantly think "England RU, Johnny Wilkinson". They may not be fanatical about it, they may not even watch it, but they will "know" about it.

This is the key when it comes to marketing, sponsorship and TV rights. Until RL can establish itself as a sport played all over England, then it will always play second fiddle to RU, and WILL lose some of it's talented players (and you cannot blame the players for going, it's common sense).


e.g. Compare Will Carling to Ellery Hanley.

It's a bit like comparing a Ford Mondeo to a Bentley.

However, ask 90% of people in England which name they recognise and they will say Will Carling. Sad but true.

I agree with most of your post apart from the bit in bold