Fair enough, but i hope we scared the hell out of the RFU

I'm miffed about this, it's like your bird catching you cheating and saying you want to stay with her and won't do it again then the week after go to Bangkok for a week.

In one way I'm happy for Sam to get the recognition but then again it's a sneaky way of snatching him from under our noses, if he wants to go then we shouldn't stand in his way, after all he might hate RU. If he likes it then we should sell him for a £1,000,000 and put that towards buying the DW in a few years time.

Just put sky sports news on to see Sam running through the Bradford team at home earlier this season.

Not often Rugby League clubs get coverage like that outside of the season. Interviews with the Aus RU captain and coach talking about him, along with clips of him training with England RL. In a normal week after the season has finished, there would be NO Rugby League coverage at all.

Fab.

Perhaps we can send all our best young players over to play union games, then we can pat ourselves on the back about how much coverage we got for a couple of days whilst reminiscing about the time when we used to be a proud sport that wouldn't stand for this patronising bollox and had some good young players that we tried to keep in RL rather than rolling a red carpet to Twickers to allow them to have glorified trials?

It's not Rugby League coverage though. It's Rugby Union coverage.

Beautifully put.

It is RU coverage.

The message RU are getting across here is: look, the best player from that small northern game aspires to play on the big stage and be part of our fabulous rugger tradition....

It makes me sick.

First post, so please go easy!

This is how I see it: If we make the assumption (as I do) that Sam is a man of his word and will see out a minimum of 3 years at Wigan, then we potentially have a player to build the Wigan brand around for the next three years.

Looking at it purely from a business perspective, surely people can see how we can begin to exploit the potential commercial opportunities of having one of the most exciting , talked about players in world rugby (league or union) in our team.

People like Robinson and Ashton have benefitted hugely from the union propaganda machine in the past – like it or not RU know how to get the media and fans talking about players. I think IFL is being very clever here by trying to piggy back this and use it to our advantage by getting Sam the profile he deserves, whilst being committed to Wigan for the next three years.

If we are to grow the Wigan brand and build up a fan base that is nationwide, and perhaps worldwide then we have to somehow get the interest of the casual sports fan.

How many people all over the world are now Man Utd fans because as kids they watched David Beckham play for them?

How many union fans just need a reason to start taking an interest in following a league team? Surely having one of the world’s most exciting players at the club gives them a reason to watch.

I really don’t see a downside – Sam gets to raise his profile and potentially Wigan get a huge transfer fee in 3 years if he decides to go. Wigan and consequently RL get to use the RU media machine to our advantage – we can’t just moan that RL players get zero coverage and then continue moaning when we get a chance to start changing things.

Agree with all on the coverage front - we're prostituting one of our most talented players. I'd feel as aggrieved if it was Roby, or Hall etc...

We are getting crumbs from the table in terms of coverage. It won't result in ANY benefit for Wigan or RFL - in fact it will probably result in more approaches.

I can understand on a personal level why Sam wants to do it, and I hope he goes really well (and doesn't get injured!)

I'm extremely uncomfortable though with the whole Sam saga.

I work in a role where I ensure that people's T&C reflect the contribution they make, and people understand why someone gets paid more or less than them, but what's important is a sense of fairness in the differential. Am not sure we have that if the rumours on pay are true. ATEOTD how many other players would we be prepared to sacrifice to keep Sam? We know from experience that one player does not make a team.

And the message the RL and us supporters need to be getting across, is this: www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... rians.html i.e. Union has no up and coming talent, one of its poorest national sides ever with poor discipline, and that League is the code to watch... I agree it feels slightly uncomfortable and if it starts to affect his performances next year, i'll undoubtedly be saying let's show him the door, but until then let's assume it won't. You never know he might actually hate his first experience of the game...

And the message the RL and us supporters need to be getting across, is this: www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyl ... rians.html i.e. Union has no up and coming talent, one of its poorest national sides ever with poor discipline, and that League is the code to watch... I agree it feels slightly uncomfortable and if it starts to affect his performances next year, i'll undoubtedly be saying let's show him the door, but until then let's assume it won't. You never know he might actually hate his first experience of the game...

Kin ell

I agree with Deano!



This at the end of the day is just getting League fans to watch union.

Great.

Interview with Wish FM. Fair comments IMO www.wishfm.net/news/local/listen ... erview-32/

Interview with Wish FM. Fair comments IMO www.wishfm.net/news/local/listen ... erview-32/

Thanks!



I felt the same way when I read FTV's excellent post of yesterday evening!