It would be good for season ticket sales and exciting for the short time they are here but they would be gone again pretty quick imo which would put us back to square one.

For me transfers will always happen even to the biggest clubs, just look at Ronaldo at Man united leaving for Real Madrid. It just feels worse when weve developed him ourselves and he has his best years to come then he gets stolen. We have taken players from smaller clubs than us so we can hardly start crying now somebody with more financial muscle than us does the same to us can we? That money we get will be superb for the club though and all free money so to speak as we didnt buy him. It proves our youth system is doing a good job imo.

Its just sad we are losing him from our sport and theres nothing anybody can do. If Sam goes too it would be a massive loss to England and knocks us back a few steps in our attempts to improve our international game.

Agree mate. His talent would be a loss to the sport. It makes you feel for some of the smaller Superleague clubs who are unable to keep any talent they develop or uncover. Look at Wakey. Any player who shows any talent has been taken from them by bigger clubs. Nigel Wright, Henry Paul, Gareth Ellis, to name a few. Must be hard to support a club were this happens often. I know how I felt when Peacock, Fielden and Burgess were signed from the Bulls. Although they're still in rugby league, I'm not sure It feels any better when they're ripping your team apart.

tell us your source then

Don't be daft I'm sure you expect I can't do that.
Believe me if you want or not so but the source is as close to Sam/Joel as needed.
It'll all come out in time but I think Joel looking at Property near Faz says enough really...

What about Sam?

He used to annoy the hell out of me with his antics, but he really seems to be growing up and getting better and better.

Be a lot worse imo if he went.

See my recent post in the rumour thread about Sam.
Not as clear cut as Joel but don't expect to see much for much longer than 12months at Wigan (if that)
Nothing is certain on Sam yet though so there's hope on all fronts there

worth a try!

I understand.
But I don't expect most others to reveal their sources on here with other info. I just appreciated they're usually repeating what they've been told - for our benefit on here.

Thats all I'm trying to do.

Or just add more fuel to the fire lol

But the game at Wembley has already sold more tickets than people can fit into the DW which proves my point.

You also have to look at the pricing. Previous International tickets at the DW have been over £20 whereas to encourage people to go to Wembley they have been selling them for a tenner. No coincidence we get more going.

Poor attendance at play off games is down to two things IMO the cost and the format. There are just too many teams in it to offer quality and meaningful games. People have worked it out. The fans of the 7th and 8th placed teams rightly have low expectations because they are basically poor sides who they know will not progress far. There is no sudden death in the top 4 games of round 1. So at £19 a head, a price set by the RFL, people refuse to be ripped off. Not when they are expected to pay the same for each round. As I said in my previous post the cost of watching the play offs is excessive and can cost more than a season ticket. In case you hadn't noticed we are pretty much in a recession again with prices up, wages down, unemployment up and inflation at 4.5%.

If the RFL want to market an 8 team play off tickets should be half price at £8 or in with season tickets for round 1. Do you think it is a coincidence there are over 30,000 sold for Wembley at £10 and play off games struggle to get crowds at £19? I don't.

The RFL need to take a leaf out of Wigan's book over the way games like the heritiage day game were marketed. A huge crowd for a game that normally sees the north stand closed.

So yes I can blame the RFL for low playoff attendances, they are simply pricing them too high.

Same here. If he failed they may stop looking at our game so readily and our players may think twice in the first place. However money does task and given what Joel said last March about the risks of going to RU so didn't see himself going its clear the wages on offer have convinced him otherwise.

To wish any pro sportsman who has served his club well, to fail at an alternative employer, is pretty average. At best.

I can fault no individual for wishing to test or better themsevles in an alternative environment. His motivation is his business. I certainly wouldn't wish Tomkins or anyone however, to fail, merely so we can puff our chests out and pretend we are paragons of virtue for sport and that the rest of the world hasn't simply discovered our game. It's for us to coerce them. That we can't do that, is more indicative of our p!ss poor marketing and PR efforts than anything else.

Good luck to Joel Tomkins if he does go; unlike Kyle Eastmond at least he hasn't taken the rise out of his club and teamates this season by pretending to be injured. Nobber.

Theres no room for sentiment imo. If he tears it up in union it will only make our problem worse. We have to think about whats best for us and Rugby league. Balls to everything else as far as im concerned.

Who said that was why people wanted him to fail? I want him to fail because it might mean they don't come chucking cash at his bother or any other player.

Nothing to do with being paragons of virtue. He said himself in March he didn't understand why players went to RU and could not see himself doing it because you might end up stuck in the reserves. It would be ironic of his concerns back then proved to be true and it would not do our game any harm if that happened.

Both replies above are incredibly poor thought processes, smacking of bitterness and toy throwing.

Good luck to anybody who wishes to better themselves particularly given the parlous state of our international game and comparatively low wages. It's human nature. Any of this tribal chest beating is guff.

Good luck to him. It's not his fault that the RFL can't find ways of keeping our young talent. As for wanting him to fail no, but I hope if things don't work out for him (not necessarily a fail) then he is man enough to come back to RL rather than stagnate doing something he is not enjoying.