Can't blame him looking after number 1 when he's approaching the end of his career and has s bad injury record. Think it would have been a mistake for the club to keep him for 4 years on a marquee salary

Some interesting statements made by the club that can be taken several different ways. I wonder if Tomkins will bite and repsond.

All the best Sam. One of the most exciting and most talented players to pull on the C&W. He had a massive hand in us competing and winning silverware again. I hope to see him back at Wigan in some capacity in a few years.

I’m kind of sad for him in a way.
He was just getting back to his best and proving some of his detractors wrong. Now he’s at Catalans there will be no more silverware for him. And I assume much ridicule as people who dislike him watch him lose most weeks.

I sound bitter, and that’s probably because I am. He’s ruined his own career through bad choices, and proved that he’s more interested in the money.

That’s fine, and that’s up to him of course. Last time he left I was ok with it, this time is frustrating and just leaves a bad taste.

Disappointed, especially given we offered him a 4 year marquee contract.

Unlike others I do ‘buy’ the wanting to live and work in another country for a few years, having done it myself.

Can somebody please check on DaveO?

In part I feel a little let down but he has to look out for himself, and a four year top dollar deal in the SOF would be hard to turn down.

He is one of the best players I have seen play and will never forget those first few years when he was unplayable. If we have signed Hardaker and keep Bateman, it’s a good piece of business for me.

No point worrying really,last big contract and one I suspect the club couldn’t or wouldn’t match,even with the offer on the table,I wish him well

Sure he can go and look after himself, culture, sun etc in the south of France but he was offered what Radlinski says is in the top 3 highest offers we've made in the last 10 years. Are you telling me he wouldn't live comfortably? Catalans have basically got him for free too.

We as a club have paid him a substantial amount in wages and resources to turn a broken player into a pretty good one for Catalans basically.

To those of us fortunate enough to have watched locally born star players who apparently signed for Wigan for life - Shaun Edwards (14 years), Steve Hampson (10 years), Any Farrell (13 years), Kris Radlinski (13 years) etc, only leaving when they were veterans - this kind of thing is a bitter pill to swallow.

But we just have to remember that the game is different now.

The current salary cap does not reward the wholesale development of homegrown talent. It does not reward clubs whose players go on to represent their country. It does not provide additional funding to help keep them out of the clutches of RU and NRL predators. It does not allow us to make the UK a more attractive place to play RL in than Australia or the South of France (venues that already have enormous natural advantages over us).

But we can't blame the players for that. Who wouldn't turn down swimming pool land, 8 months of guaranteed sunshine, and a very big payday?

If there's any annoyance with Sam it's that he hasn't been half the player we thought we were getting, he's been absent a lot of the time through injury, and he's never in the memory of man been marquee standard. But there's nothing to be done about that now. Anyone can get hurt, and all players who base their style on whippet-like speed are going to slow down at some point (he's 29, let's remember). Farrell and Hanley were shipped out as they approached 30, so there is a precedent for this.

Time to move on. Like Kris Rads said, big changes at the end of this season.

Does the "it's a short career" tag really apply in this case? He's already earned a lot and would have earned a lot by staying on a new deal, albeit apparently less then he will at Catalan over the next few years. Add that he will probably walk into a job at Sky Sports when he hangs the boots up and it just confirms the feeling that he is putting money above playing achievements or leaving behind a legacy. A strange choice IMO for a man already comfortably off financially.
Re the club, I await recruitment news with interest.

They wanted him to take a pay cut he didn’t want too and as is his right he’s moved on,be on less money but you can still be a marquee player I find that a bit odd to be honest.

Salary set too high on his return,well didn’t the brains trust at Wigan agree to that to get him back? Surely as he came back injured from NZW they could have been in a position to renegotiate the contract?

I reckon he'll be Championship Player of the year 2019

I reckon we'll be looking at a 14 team Super League if Catalans end up in a position to get relegated.

Maybe this will be one of the many changes promised, or something like it.

The only teams who should be in Super League are the teams who can afford to be there and afford to compete.

Catalan tick many boxes for me. They have a good ground and a big home crowd.

A couple over here in the UK are less impressive.

Best of luck to him! He’s been a phenomenal player and I’m glad he played for us and not one of our rivals.
We coped with the loss of Hanley, Edwards, Gregory etc and we’ll cope with the loss of Sam Tomkins. As has been said, if we have Hardaker and Bateman then it’s good business by the club.