You could easily say how would he be that good? He has never been as good at half back as he has played from full back which suits his game and the style of player he is perfectly.

At full back he provides a 3rd pivot and can get the ball outwide with pleanty of space and time. He can be a maverick and chime into the line at will. He is not stiffled by organising and structuring the play ,which was always a weakness of his at full back and was always a weakness in the u21s. He also doesnt have to do much defensively which leaves him much fresher in attack. This 3rd pivot and playmaker benefits our attack greatly, which has been shown this season. We lose this with Tomkins at half back and gain nothing imo. Indeed the thought of an inexperienced Smith/Tomkins half back combination fills me with dread, we need at least one experienced, organising half back in there.

Its all a moot point anyway because the only way Tomkins will be going to Stand Off next season is if we cant sign a decent replacement for Finch. I was told this weeks ago by a member of the coaching staff.

Like other posters, I'm not surprised that Finch is going back home, at least he's not going to hurt us on the field next season.

Fair to say he's run the show so far this season, there's a lot to play for now, hope we can send off Finchy with a smile on his face.

Thanks for your efforts so far, let's keep it going, please!

Nice to see a player see out his contract for a change!!

Some great memories watching Finch play, hopefully there will be a few more made in the next few months

Signed for the Storm i believe

There is always the "SOL to 6" nugget....

Never been a fan of lockers at 6. He's solid enough, but i can only think of 1 game (against leeds last year?) where he really shone.

Me either, but someone is likely to bring it up.

We don't seem to be very good at holding onto our best players at the moment. OK Carmont is due to retire and both Finch and Tommy have seen their contracts out. I can see why Tommy fancies a change after his length of service and George is at the end of his career but it has got to be disappointing not to be able to retain Finch and Lima.

If those two both end up at Souths did the club drop the ball and not see it coming? I mean had the club acted more quickly and got a deal in front of Brett early on he may well have signed it before any other offers landed on the table. I just get the impression we react to events rather than shape them.

As to this freeing up the salary cap I would not get your hopes up. There is more money in the NRL and the exchange rate is poor. Over here there isn't a half back as good as either of the ones we are losing. That being so I think offering Finch the deal he wanted is one thing. Offering him a better deal than that would not have been out of order given the dearth of talent available. There is subtle difference to the questions "What contract are you after?" and "What can we do to make you stay?". You have to at least [iask[/i the last question given the situation we find ourselves in even if you have to say no in the end.

Agree with that completely, our side will be weaker at 6 & 7 next season just due to the lack of options avaliable.

These players leaving will make a difference, no question, but i feel we will still be in a much stronger position than other SL teams.

If finch is going to the storm, widdop to wigan maybe?

Widdop won't leave Australia any time soon.

Disappointing. But having read Brett's comments I can fully understand why he wishes to return home. I'm sure Lenegan offered the very best he possibly could but if Finch's mind is made up then we're powerless.

The very best of luck to him, here's hoping he goes out on a high.

We've got some spare salary cap plus a supposed transfer fee from Saracens for Joel. I'd be having a serious go at tempting Daryl Clark from Cas. That kid is gonna be an absolute superstar.

A think you have to remember that we were pretty lucky to get Lima, Hoffman and Finch over here at the stages of their careers we did. It was only really down to the fact that we had their ex-assistant coach and their current club needed to offload players due to breaching the NRL salary cap.

Hoffman and Lima (and Tommy) have all decided that they are young enough and good enough to have another crack at the NRL. From the statements that have come out of the club it doesnt sound as though simply throwing more money at Finch would have kept him, in fact the way its been worded it sounds as though he has a contract with a view to coaching after he retires. There's also the fact that he's an Australian, he probably wants to live in Australia.

I'd have loved him to have signed another 2 year deal with us but unfortunately it hasn't happened. I have every faith in Lenegan, Wane, Harris, Radders etc that they will do as much as they can to ensure we have top quality replacements for every player we are losing. FWIW I think this will be Thornley (Carmont), Dudson/Crosby/Spencer (Lima), Matty Smith (Tommy), New 6 (Finch).

I do not think that has any relevance at all.



The way it has been worded is that Wigan did not go out of their way to make Finch's decision that hard. We also caved in and let Lima out of his contract early. We knew of Carmont's and Tommy's position before this season started so IMO it should have been working to sign Finch up back then rather than hanging about (which it did given Finch said himself talks began a month or two ago).



However you justify it the club has got itself into a position of losing four of the best players in the league at the same time. If it does as you say we will be considerably weaker next year.