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

I am not sure this is 100% correct, I think the term used was to keep Ashton in RL we would have had to made him the highest paid teenager in the game.

Rumours I have heard is that Ashton was willing to negotiate to stay in League on a "fair" salary with Wigan but Mo would not budge.

Either way I do not think it is a massive loss for Wigan and the game, he is a good player with brilliant pace but when you look at the quality of Sam at the moment, Ashton wouldnt even come close.

This thread highlights some of the short term narrow minded attitude of wigan and rl fans in particular.

Ashtons attitude was probably wrong at the end of his career at wigan - he admits himself that during his time at northhampton, getting dropped from the 1st team was the best thing that could have happened to him.

He was only a young kid at the time, Noble was probably treating him like he treated the rest of the young players at wigan, yet he was being picked at FB - one of the most responsible and exposed positions, in a team that wasn't playing particularily well.

By all accounts, Mo didn't really seem to appreciate him - whether because of cap restrictions or whether he had his eye off the ball (probably both).

IMO -with better management, (e.g. if MM had got his hands on him earlier, and IL was showing that the best youngsters were highly valued) he would have had to take a strong look at himself - something he only did a couple of years later at Northhampton, and we possibly would have had a great winger to go with a great FB/half in sam.

With all credit to Goulding, I know who I would rather have on the wing - can anyone see Goulding scoring the sort of try ashton scored on saturday?

Ashton is the sort of attacking back we are crying out for in the England team, big, quick, good feet,always in support.............I can't think of any other young (or otherwise) english back who is anywhere near him.

Unfortunately - when you compare the crowds and coverage the RU team get compared to the 4 nations, the abject performance of the england RL team, compounded by the farce of appointing Archer as the ref in the final - the gap between credibility of RU and RL is widening, and many of the comments on this thread show why we will probably never expand and grow our game significantly beyond the heartland.......