Where have they gone?

Quote: DaveO "I was discussing the specific notion that Hampo said a reason Sam left was the poor standard of the competition here. That is the first I have heard that one mentioned by someone from the club so why are you mentioning everything [ibut[/i that issue in your post above?

We dominated the game for a period under Mo winning numerous championships and cups to the extent it was even suggested it was detrimental to the game and I didn't see the players then deciding to leave because they had a couple CC medals and won a championship or because other teams didn't offer much of a challenge. We don't dominate now yet our chairman says Sam has done it all so needs a new challenge and Hampo says part of the problem is the other teams low standards. So are we to expect all our players who have won a CC and GF leave? If that had happened in the 80's and 90's despite us winning the CC seemingly a forgone conclusion our history would be much the poorer.

Players like Edwards hated losing from one season to the next. For them the challenge was to keep winning cups and championships, not win a couple and leave yet our chairman and now Hampo are suggesting having won stuff and the poor standards are reasons for Sam wanting to leave.

I personally think its a bit of an excuse because as I said in my previous post unless there is more money in the game even if the competition had 12 equally competitive teams in it, players would still leave.

Also if IL and the rest of the management think there is an issue with other clubs why isn't this being made known to the RFL? If he can see what is wrong with the game why isn't he taking the lead in getting the RFL to address these issues? Hethrington is not backwards at coming forwards when he has an issue but IL seems more interested in making sure Wigan is competitive in the environment we are in regardless of what that means for the actual standard of the game. He certainly gives the impression he doesn't want to ruffle any feathers with the RFL so its a bit rich to be like that and then the club be complaining about what other clubs do.'"

The likes of Edwards, Hanley, Lydon and co would almost certainly have gone if RU and the NRL were offering the money they are now. Okay, we can't say that for certain, but neither can we say otherwise. Hanley and Lydon were strongly influenced by money, and the likes of Edwards and Farrell both finished up in RU anyway. I doubt the standard of the rest of the British game would even have come into it had those big golden carrots been dangled.

Whatever Hampo said - and let's remember it was being reported second-hand - it may indeed be an excuse why the player is leaving. But it could also be the player's excuse, not necessarily the club's (despite your previously expressed desire that Sam should be blameless). It isn't even true. Sam hasn't done it all, any more than Jason Robinson did, and Robinson offered the same self-serving explanation - he's never won the RL World Cup, he's never won the Ashes. He's actually won less than Robinson did, because he's never even won the WCC. But would you seriously expect Wigan to come out with something like"If he can see what is wrong with the game why isn't he taking the lead in getting the RFL to address these issues? Hetherington is not backwards at coming forwards when he has an issue but IL seems more interested in making sure Wigan is competitive in the environment we are in regardless of what that means for the actual standard of the game. He certainly gives the impression he doesn't want to ruffle any feathers with the RFL so its a bit rich to be like that and then the club be complaining about what other clubs do."[/i

This is all such codswallop. How do you know he doesn't address issues with the RFL? How do you know Hetherington is crusading on all our behalf (first I've heard of that)? How do you know IL doesn't care what happens to the game as long as Wigan are competitive (and anyway, shouldn't the state of Wigan be his main concern)? Why is this excuse - which we've now established is not unique in the history of players leaving the club - such a bone of contention when there are so many other bigger issues that are actually not Wigan's fault? I can only assume that it's because, once again, you think you've found a way to try and smear IL and his management team.

I'm baffled these days as to what you want from Wigan RL, Dave. You surely realise that the 80s are gone. From your own comments, you clearly understand that the prevailing financial conditions are stacked against us. You're not such a sheep that you'd unquestioningly accept every bit of ranted gibberish from an arch-conspiracy theorist like CPWigan. And yet we've got one trophy already this year, we're in the final for the big one, we have a massive squad of very talented players despite the Salary Cap, the club is being run profitably at a time when others are struggling - and yet you're more interested in whether Matt Bowen is a 'marquee player' or not, whether an off-the-cuff comment made by Steve Hampson in the Supporters' Bar proves that the club are lying to us, and most amazingly of all, whether or not the loss of Sam is now indicative that IL is contributing to the collapse of the British game. Is that going to be the new theme, Dave ... if Wigan win the Grand Final too and put themselves beyond criticism at a domestic level, is it going to be that IL's lack of interest in the overall standard of the game is killing British RL?