He's almost 24 now and 5'10 at best, he's fine defensively and he's never going to break tackles. What more physicality are you expecting from him at this stage? If he's not ready right now (and I'd dispute that) he certainly will be in another 12 months.

He's not particularly well paid and especially not now considering the year he's just had. Lifestyle benefits are endless and he's moving to a better competition and instantly trebling his money in a career which he can only expect to have another 10 good years. Not to mention every SL club with cap space would bend over backwards to have him sign if it didn't immediately work out. He would be very poorly advised if he didn't go.

Imagine if injury-prone Thompson being on marquee money for four years prevents Smith from signing a longer improved deal. Absolute madness.

i think in terms of physicality we are generally referring to defensively where he has been targetted previously. However, he has improved massively over the last 12 months and certainly wasnt shirking the defensive side of things v Tonga, where he couldnt have really gotten a bigger / more physical team running at him

in terms of Marquee, Smith and Thompson would fall into different categories ie club trained v federation trained. So both could be marquee, and Smith would only cost us £50k on the cap and Thompson £100k

I dispute the fact he is 5’10” I’m 5’8” and was chatting to him not too long ago and he certainly didn’t seem taller than me.

In regard his physicality it is an area in which he has improved in but I think he would need more than another year to improve in this area.

It was interesting after the World Cup when they asked Luke Keary about the main differences between NRL & SL players. He stated that players like Byrne were classed as larger athletic props, but in the NRL he would be a smaller second row.

It’s a massive step up in terms of physicality and he would be faced with that challenge week in week out by every team he came up against.

Another 2/3 years in the gym and working on his technique for me would be best for his career. He could still going to have a 5 year NRL career.

I fear if he has ambitions of NRL and goes over in 2025 his career may be much shorter lived than that.

Hopefully I hope he stays for the duration of his career though and agree, he is more worthy of a marquee stop than Thompson.

I love this “ Thompson being on £400k and being marquee” is talked about like a fact.

The £400k figure was his NRL salary, after a not so great NRL career and injuries, combined with age his salary will have come down significantly.

He’ll still be on good money and might be marquee but £400k is probably way off.

He is marquee, and the only person I can see making reference to £400k is you.

Its not way off at all. Wigan's offer blew NRL clubs out of the water. He is earning a fortune, its without doubt a risk given his salary but if does stay fit he will be outstanding.

I can see Smith going in the next two years with Farrimond taking his place. There is an easy succession plan in place for Wigan with Farrimond coming through who as I've said before is a once in a generation talent.

Smith will be 25 by the time the 2025 NRL season starts. Why would he delay the prospect of a massive pay rise for another 2/3 years?

Makes very little sense to me, if he wants to go he'd be mad not to go for 2025 IMO.

A real shame though, it's getting harder and harder to keep top players in the game (and HS has certainly proven this year he is well and truly in that bracket). Hopefully Wigan can make a marquee deal work.

I think Wigan fans will have to accept the high likelihood that 2024 will be the last year we have Smith, Field and French as the spine of our team. Because 1) they are all off contract at the end of 2024, 2) they will all have NRL interest and 3) there are only three marquee spots and we decided to use one on Thompson.

The one thing I hope hasn't happened is that Wigan have inadvertently snookered themselves by offering Thompson the marquee deal he has. As I said on a previous post, Smith's rise has been relatively quick (primarily over the 2nd half of 2023) so perhaps Wigan didn't view him as someone who could be in the marquee mix in their long term planning. The long term plan may have been Field, French and Thompson for marquee spots.

Alternatively, Wigan may already be aware that one of Field or French will move on thus opening up a spot.

Personally, I think if we start 2025 with two of Field, French and Smith then I'd be over the moon.

It’s a big ask to expect Farrimond to step up and replace Smith so quickly but I’d rather have French and Field if it came to keeping 2 of the 3. Smith has obviously stepped up this back end of the season so he’s shown it can be done with the right players around him.

Maybe just me but I don't think Field will get much attention from the NRL. You'd certainly be happiest losing him out of the three you mention

Or I would be, can see that has already been disputed above!

It isn't possible to have those 3 as marquee.

It is according to the below press release on marquee players.

[iThe current two marquee player limit will increase to three, as long as at least one of the players is federation trained.

Non-federation trained marquee players will remain at £150,000, but federation-trained players will count as £100,000 and club-trained as £50,000.[/i

I see Owen Farrell has just announced he will not be available for selection for the Six Nations in 2024 as he wants to take a break from International rugby to protect his and his family's mental wellbeing. It says he will continue to play for Saracens but might this be paving the way for a change of scene?