Made up that Joel has resigned.

I would argue that Faz is more at risk than Bateman of losing his place.

Mind you JT will really need to earn his place before thinking about replacing either.

I always harbour hopes that returnees can play the role of advising other players against going.

The silken words of agents and Union execs can be offset by the experiences of players who felt it was a bag of doo-dah and probably weren't impressed that the "yes, you'll play for England" guarantee actually saw them in some B-team somewhere, which no-one was interested in, or a seven-a-side tournament.

I totally agree, though, that Joel, at present, won't be the Joel we knew and loved; the fierce competitor, the best athlete at the club, etc. If nothing else, Rugby Union has several times proved that it can train all that out of you. He's got some busy days ahead.

I agree. I think Jason Robinson has a lot to answer for! RL players thinking Union is a good move!!

In Sam's only RU game for the Barbarians a few years back it was just awful. I think he touched it about twice. He will have learned from that I hope.

I've seen most of his games this year and I think he joined the wrong team. He's playing well enough but living off scraps. Shaun Johnson is a great player but not someone who wishes to share the limelight! The other half Townsend is a runner, so Sam struggles for a pass when Tommy is not in the team. I could see him moving to an top Aussie club (playing behind the Bulldogs pack would be a great choice) before he returns, hopefully to us, to see out his career back in the halves.

I agree with what you say about Johnson wanting all the glory, several time in matches I have seen,Johnson as made the break with Sam moving up inside him only for Johnson to ignore him and go himself.

If you go on the NZW forum though Sam has his critics at fullback, he seems to fumble quite a few high balls.
That is why I am so reluctant to see Hampshire at fullback before he has had the chance to make a name for himself in his preferred position .

Sam has never been that good under the high ball imo

Yeh I posted something very similar to that on the VT thread discussing English NRL players. The Warriors attack far too flat to get anywhere near the best from Sam's running game and they basically just utilise him as a 3rd half back outwide. He looked a lot more dangerous with his running game when Leuluai played 6, because he was looking to get good service to him running from a deeper position. It's been very frustrating to watch when the NZW have an attacking set close to the line and Sam doesn't get his hands on the ball for 3 or 4 tackles when we have been so used to seeing him involved in nearly every play. You'd have thought if a club was spending a record transfer fee at a player and throwing huge wages at them they would play in a style that most suited that player.

There's a certain Inglis bloke stopping it from happening but I'd love to see him link up with Madge again so he can let him show the NRL what he can really do.

Sam made plenty of howlers early on but has looked a lot more assured over the last couple of months. The total number of errors he's made are comparable to the likes of Hayne, Slater and Inglis. I always thought the "dodgy under the high ball" line was a bit of a myth that was highlighted by a few high profile mistakes. He's no Radlinski but he's always taken a lot more than he's missed.

was playing centre for England and Wigan when he left for RU.

Has the potential to be a world beating centre, who can forget his ties in the Challenge cup final and vs the exiles?

For me this ties in with the Goulding leaving rumour

He was handed the no 11 shirt on the pitch when he signed. If that is not a big hint at where he is going to play I don't know what is.

It is also where I want to see him play. He did well at centre for us but he is an even better back row forward. Joel was another case of a player good enough to play out of his best position in SL and was doing so because we had little other options as far as Madge was concerned.

We tried the same with Hughes giving him a centres shirt and that set him back IMO because he's another back row forward asked to do something different and it also looks like Hampshire is lined up for no. 1 slot when he's grown up playing 6 and being the best 6 in the junior set up.

If we have to do this sort of thing it says to me we are lacking specialists in these positions (and that in SL you can get away with it most of the time).

Joel only ever played second row for England RL, never at centre.

Joel's move to the centres was more of a needs-must situation because of what happened with Gleeson, and Maguire never seemed to fancy using Goulding anywhere other than on the wing. I'm expecting Wane to use Joel as a SR.

Joel and Farrell as 2nd rowers with Bateman covering more and more for Lockers at 13 and on the bench when lockers is fit to play

Fantastic news. Actually predicted it at the game and was bought free drinks for rest of game by all sat near me.

I hope that you get a better player back from RU than we did when we re signed Lee Smith

I have watched quite a few of JT's games for Saracens and England and he always looked half the player he was at Wigan

I wouldn't be surprised if it took quite a while for JT to get anywhere near where he was prior to his departure but good luck to him

This is great news for RL in general and Wigan in particular. There are no garantees but I would expect that with the benefit of Wigan's fitness, conditioning and coaching staff Joel will be able to regain his fitness and sharpness after his stint in the less demanding code.

This is a real boost to our chances of retaining the SL title in the short term and as others have said we have in JT someone who can take on the difficult task of following SOL, a captain who has led the team through a dark era and back to the top of RL in this country.

As for those writing off SOL, I hope and pray you are wrong!