I wonder how Lenegan will go about valuing the loss of Joel. It'll probably just be a case of Lenegan trying to get a much as possible I presume.

Then it comes down to what we spend it on. I don't how beneficial it is for the players, but I'd like to see some of the money fund a trip down under for the juniors, similar to what Saints are doing at present. That sounds like a fantastic opportunity for the players involved, and is probably a big attraction for juniors to join Saints in the first place.

The value of his contract maybe. Assuming he's on c80k at 4 years that would be a tidy sum.

I would want the value of his contract and a fee on top. I get the feeling that IL will screw as much as he can out of the RU boys. Im interested to see what we do with the money.

If we got 400k or 500k thats our profit from the last year times 4 or 5. When put like that it sounds like a good deal imo. After all business is a huge part of sport nowadays.

I wonder where the money will be going? As it stands our wage bill must be a lot less than last season?

IL should not negotiate a deal with RU, he should state a reasonably high price at least £500,000 and stick with it, until it is paid or JT does not move. Lets havesome backbone if they want a player they should find the price asked

It all depends on the guy doing the negotiating i suppose. Youve got a guy who just names his price as above or youve got a guy who starts it high and works it down a bit and sometimes gets more.

We hold all the aces so im sure IL will be highlighting this and the fact that we dont have to or need to sell

I'd certainly want more then the value of his contract. The reasons are simple, firstly they have it, secondly there's not a great deal we can do with 'decent' figures and thirdly it gives them the cards in terms of trying to get Sam across as well at some point.

The last point is the big one for me. It makes a move to Union for Sam more then likely within the next couple of years and that's a very big bonus they must pay for.

I'd be asking minimum 500k for Joel.


As for Sam whenever that day comes I'd be asking for..............a crazy amount that would blow any figure paid for a player in both rugby codes out of the water.

Thats a big assumption, players , especially younger ones have contracts that scale up based on performances and number of games played etc.

Isnt the record fee for a Rugby player still what you lot got for Inga from Newcastle?

I'd be amazed if Joel didn't go. Why pull out of the England squad if he wasn't going?

I suspect we'll get less than the sort of figures being bandied about on this thread as a "transfer fee".

Joel's only on 80k, if he simply walks and starts playing for Sarries then the loss to Wigan arising from that breach of contract would be pretty small, it won't cost the club that much to get a player of similar quality in. If Wigan end up paying a new player more it won't be a lot more than the 80k they would have paid JT so the loss to Wigan (and therefore the damages payable by Sarries) will not be big.

I can't see a court granting an injunction banning him from playing for Sarries so the reality is that fairly modest damages would be paid.

Sarries will want to avoid a court case (it wouldn't help JT settle in, for one thing) so they will pay out more than they strictly have to. I'd expect a figure closer to 200k than 500k. I doubt we'll ever know though. Both clubs will want to keep it quiet.

Its hardly that big of an assumption considering we werent spending up to the cap to start with and the players that have left.

If he breaches his contract and just does one to sarries or wherever and it goes to court as long as we dont get Jim Carey representing us we will get the value of his contract at least.

If Deano G is correct about wigan's weak position in negotitions then theSC hasto be adjusted as a matter of urgency. Other clubs must realise ru will come after Ryan Atkins, Rangi Chase, Foster, Ryan Hall etc. as well as wigan players. If that happens they may as well go to amatuer status. Like Ru was when we took theirbest players, this poaching is as much about killing RL as obtaining players.

Why do you say that? I'm not sure what you mean by the "value of his contract".

Damages are compensation to put the party who has suffered loss in the position they would have been if the contract had been performed (and bear in mind that Wigan will save the 80k a year because they won't be paying it to Joel).

The party who has suffered loss also has a duty to take reasonable steps to mitigate their loss.

Wigan's losses will therefore be the costs involved in finding a new player of similar quality and the difference between any higher salary they have to pay that player and what they would have paid Joel. I suppose if say a sponsor or potential pulled out of sponsoring Wigan because Joel was no longer at the club there might be an argument that there was additional loss, but while that scenario might possibly be relevant to Sam if he moves to RU I can't see it being relevant to Joel.

The courts would simply view this an employment law matter, the fact he is an employee of a RL club is not really relevant. Wigan's damages would be relatively small.

To be honest, I don't think RU raids are the biggest issue in the long term. The erosion of player pay in real terms is the biggest danger for RL - I don't think there will be many top-class players in British RL for RU to poach in 20 years time, the game will have moved down a level or two by then.

RU isn't the biggest threat to RL. The people running the RFL and RL clubs are the biggest threat to RL.