We are due a player turning down the nrl surely! Not had much luck at fending them away have we!

Use the club trained marquee on him I reckon.

I think they are all used.
LT - Fed
JF & BF

Think this might be an unpopular opinion, but i would let one of French or Field go at the end of the season if it was necessary to keep Harry Smith on, he is so integral to everything that i think he is more than worth it. Whichever stays would be fullback and i would be looking to purchase a budget friendly Stand Off.

Personally (although i prefer him as a fullback) I would let Field go as French is more versatile and overall the better Rugby player.

If you factor age in if one had to go I think I would be keeping Field at the end of the season if you could tie him down to a long term deal

Not sure one would have to go, looks like we have cap space with Shorrocks and Powell going and Cooper and Mago will likely be leaving next season with their replacements already at the club so should be room to give Smith a tidy pay rise.

From what I’ve heard it will take a substantial pay rise to even give us a chance of keeping him.

I think that was always going to be the case even without the NRL interest. An integral part of the team with proven big game ability, full international (and a Man of the series one at that!) plus the normal contract increases you would expect for a player of his ability would all combine to suggest a hefty increase. Factor in the NRL and it is, as you say, going to be substantial.

Any rumours as to his thoughts on going or staying?

Sent you a PM Phuzzy.
I think it will be very difficult to retain him. Hope I’m wrong.
Obviously we’ve got Farrimond coming through but I think that Smith is probably the most influential player in SL and 2025 maybe too early for Farrimond.

I hope it can be resolved. The best 7 in Superleague currently and absolutely crucial to the way we play.

Couldn’t agree more.

I think the only way Harry Smith is retained is if we assign him marquee status (and even then it may not be enough). He has a partner here so a lot may depend on how attached they are to home and Harry's career ambitions.

Wigan are in a fortunate position whereby the owner can potentially fund three marquee players but its tough when you have more than three players in the squad that can potentially warrant that status. Long term planning would be tricky with this I imagine as it isn't always clear whether a player will develop to that level. Remember Harry Smith has only really been discussed as a possible marquee over the last 6-12 months - 2023 has been his real break out year both domestically and internationally. He didn't start in the first few games in 2022 and struggled in 2021. Its only now that he's come into the marquee conversation.

If we're now in a position where we've allocated all three marquee spots to Field, French and Thompson then something has to give. I don't know that Thompson is marquee but you'd imagine the vast majority of Wigan fans would prefer Field, French and Smith to be the three.

The nightmare scenario is all three of Field, French and Smith leave at the end of 2024. Field and French are the box office players but Smith gives them the platform. I would say enjoy it while we can.

i've seen a couple of comments re our use of the marquee spots, and Thompson being one (home grown). from my understanding that isnt possible, although he could be federation trained

the marquee rule changes to home grown (club trained), Federation and Non-Federation, so assumptions of Thompson, Field and French i dont believe can be correct

i would say but with no club knowledge to back this up
1. Home Grown - Farrell - could then be used on Smith (if it isnt already)
2. Federation - Thompson
3. Non Federation - French or Field

whilst we dont have to have marquee players, if the club wants to benefit from the salary cap reductions it does make sense to declare players are marquee, if we are going to spend up to / over the cap

purely as an example Farrell is currently on £200k and Smith on £100k, so Farrell declared as marquee, so counts as £50k on the cap under club trained (hit to Cap = £150k Farrell £50k / Smith £100k)
we bump Smith up to £300k and declare him as Marquee, so only £50k counts, we then need to work out the effect on the cap as Farrell would then count as £200k v Smith £100k (hit to cap = £250k Smith £50k / Farrell £200k)

the cap / marquee is dynamic, so can be changed as long as we declare the changes and are under the cap limit with dispensations etc

It would be interesting to know which NRL have made the offer. If you look at the top 12 teams in the NRL, I can’t see a team where Smith would be a regular scrum half. Maybe Canberra. If the money is similar, would you rather be in a losing side like Wests or St George or a winning team like Wigan? Also, what would being in a bottom NRL team do to his England prospects?

Harry Smith is in the last 4 for Golden Boot. He’s a good chance of winning it too I’d say given England were the only unbeaten team.

Raising his profile more.

So funny seeing opposition fans have gone from saying he’s rubbish to now buzzing about a rumour of NRL interest