Joe may have looked at or spoken to Sam Burgess and realised the move to Aus at this time could be a far more lucrative way to get into Union.

The club have actively been trying to retain the existing group of players with Smith, Williams, Powell and Sutton signing four year deals. They are also negotiating with Charnley, Gelling, Sarginson and Hampshire. That's almost our first 17 backs and half backs together with one of our most talented young props.
If they retain the last four then Joe Burgess will be the only one deciding not to stay.
Trying to keep to a salary structure so a large squad can be assembled and retained can't be easy with a salary cap as low as SL's.
As much as I'd liked Burgess to stay I'd far rather they keep those they are still in negotiations with as we have Manfredi as a very good replacement.
I do hope we can re-sign Charnley, Gelling, Sarginson and Hampshire as they are all very talented rugby players who I want to see playing at Wigan rather than anywhere else.

...and a lucrative way to ruin a promising career...

(on both counts!)

I don't think it will though. It [imay[/i do it if the entire squad was based there, twenty-odd players playing first grade NRL on a regular basis but I really can't see that happening but if it did just what sort of naff competition would we have here domestically?

The alternative is to have some players in the NRL and the rest in SL as we do now and this puts the national side at a distinct disadvantage from the off regardless of the quality of the players.

As to raising the profile in the UK just what are the tangible benefits of that going to be? The RFL have locked the game into a Sky deal for several years for far too little cash and I don't expect Sky to start offering more money if England win a series. Who else will?

My view is (and always has been since the entire game went full time) is that it is all about money and crucially that you can't run a pro sport on the cheap but that is what the RFL are trying to do (largely because they are too inept at securing enough revenue IMO but also because they spread the cash too thinly with the new structure).

He wont be missed too much. He was good last year but wasnt really outstanding. If a 27 year old had done what he did people wouldnt be talking him up half as much. Realistically he's had a good season for his age but so did Shaun Ainscough a few years ago for us. I imagine this deal being a disaster like Matty Russell's was. He'll go over hoping to emulate the other Burgess's and in fact he'll end up playing in front of 20 people and a dog in the Roosters B team in the NSW cup. Give it a few weeks and he'll be homesick and desperate to come back to England. He'll sign the only offer he can get from an English club with room on the salary cap (probably Wakefield).

Hopefully Wane will see sense and ship him up to Workington now and Manfredi can prove that he's a far better winger (especially in defence!!).

I was thinking of ainscough when I submitted my most previous response on page 5 regarding the "cockyness" joe has shown (in a good way) and how wane loved that about him as he had the audacity to go out there and almost show off his insanely young skills to us all. ainscough had all the attributes to be a great star for many years; he had the skills, speed and swagger that us wiganers love from a back. unfortunately he got too cocky for his own good and things didn't work out for him one way or another. a big shame really, he would have been an immense player had he kept composed and not thought he was bigger than tom cruises' bank balance. although I can't comment on what or why his wigan career ended, I'm just summising.

I'm worried the same could happen with burgess but from what I hear his feet are a little more firmly on the ground so perhaps not, but it does cause concern.

Yeah, Ive seen comparisons with Ainscough and him on social media as well. Very different players but a danger of peaking too early on the wing? I remember Saints fans saying Jamie Foster would be a future Golden boot winner 5 years ago - look where he is now, clubless!! My old account on here I remember people saying we should have kept Ainscough as he was a future "star". Look how he's ended up!! Wing is an easy position to play for anyone and that might be why young kids are seen to do well there but struggle later in their career.

Either way Id still rather have Manfredi over Burgess any day. From what Ive seen Manfredi doesnt have the huge defensive errors in his game that 'Budgie' (*Cringe*) is prone to.

If you believe what Roosters are saying ([urlhttp://www.nrl.com/burgess-boost-for-nrls-roosters/tabid/10874/newsid/83490/default.aspx[/url) then it was a done-deal in the middle of the year & was planned from last February.

As said previously, I wish the lad well & if he does get game time he'll be an asset in the internationals. It's chicken & egg, without better international performance we can't hope to get coverage & money, without an increase in the SC we can't hope to retain kids in the UK, let alone in League.

Although this is a bit rich: [urlhttp://tinyurl.com/pdpeger[/url

And hasn't Hall just got hitched? Maybe his missus is scared of flying.

Well, I'll take your word for that, bearing in mind I don't live in the 'heartlands' (far from it!), but my simple point was that I'll bet the NRL has many more English viewers now than it had 20-30 years ago. As I'm a Sky hatah, I've seen more NRL than ESL in recent years, and I daresay I'm not the only one.

But on Burgess, yes, I was a bit surprised at the idea that he'd walk into the Roosters first team. So in place of Daniel Tupou? Whether this is tied in with the idea for RT-S replacing Mini at full-back? But of course they've bought Blake Ferguson as well...

Good luck to Joe Burgess.

Who can blame him for going for the Sydney lifestyle and to play in the best RL competition in the world.

And I believe that the Roosters see him as a full back and not as a winger, along the lines of the fast, big striding, large and strong number ones that play in the NRL.

You read it here first!

They seemed keen to trial RT-S there last season. And NRL full-backs are hardly all massive; Minichiello, Barba, Sam Tomkins, even.

Be interesting to see, anyway. If nothing else, it adds interest to the NRL for English fans, seeing our players perform down there.

Fair point.

RT-S is imo a much better winger than JB.

I see JB more as a full back in the GI mould.