It might be a bit premature to judge really.

Tomkins has been fantastic since his inclusion to the point where Noble can't drop him. If he continues his good form then I would I agree that it was a good omen that we missed out on Bird.

I'm pretty happy with what we already have.

Can't believe he has been made captain of Catalans

I'll still be interested to see what happens if/when he tries to play in UK.

AFAIK he hasn't tried to play in this country yet.

It could be very embarrassing if he is detained at half-time in a match and deported as he has no visa to work here.

How have we missed out? He cant get a permit to work in the UK.

Hopefully there will be a Wiganer on passport control when it comes to their JJB fixture.

Bird would have been another attempt at a quick fix, which has'nt worked for us in the past. We need long term stability as regards half backs and I think we are now heading in the right direction by playing sam at 6.
This lad is our future and it's finally a relief to see us getting things right after so many years of short term imports.
It's a pleasure to see our young lads coming through and other clubs talking about them rather than us looking at the likes of Saints and Leeds wondering why we can't produce future stars.

Definately haven't missed out. We aren't going to be a Grand Final winning side this year but on the other hand we can't go down, therefore there isnt a great risk in giving players like Ainscough and Tomkins valuable experience rather than throwing another import in the 13.

Even though he wasn't availible for a work permit I still feel Lenegan was right in not offering him a decent salary.

He played at Wakefield a couple of weeks ago.

Well said pal

I think you will find if IL offered him anything at all it is what our salary cap allowed us to pay.

There was clearly a desire by either IL, Nobby or both to get him here. They didn't deliberately offer him a lower salary because there was only a half hearted interest as your statement above implies. One or both of them wanted him as a Wigan player.

Dave

speaking to a few catalans' fans, they are less than impressed with him and would much rather have a young french lad getting some experience.
there's a thread about him on the catalans forum.

Another who believes the myth. In what parallel universe have Saints produced more kids than us?

The one where Eddie Hemmings is the voice and master of all things RL where Wigan RL are scum and anything Rhino, Wolf or Saint requires him to chance his pants after mentioning them.

Quality not quantity.