A common belief last year was that Wigan man for man aren't as strong as say Warrington or Leeds. Another common belief amonst fans of those clubs by the end of the season is that "Wigan are greater than the sum of the parts". This was down to the coaching and back up staff instilling a wonderful team ethic into the squad.

Will Wigan be as strong without Hansen? Well on paper maybe not. But time isn't static. Players improve. Burke/Hughes/Lloyd will be better than last year and who knows what Bateman/Hopkins/Clubb will bring - they haven't even played yet.

Some posters reckon that Hansen's big game play will be missed. Well most of our squad now has big game experience from the last two seasons - the highs and lows.

Another thing that is worth mentioning. In his 23 appearances last season Hansen made one try and scored one try. Now obviously attacking isn't his strong suit. But other so-called big game players with similar defence (eg Jamie Peacock) manage to contribute in attack.

Hansen only became a regular when Joel was moved out to the centres, before that he was always behind Hock/Hoffman/Joel/Bailey. He has certainly given his all for Wigan. No disputing that.

But the club have decided that they wouldn't want to match a 4 year deal on (vastly-if the rumours are true) increased money. Things move on in sport.

And to those who think that makes Wigan a selling club. Well practically every sporting club in the world sells - once someone makes an offer that is considered to be far greater than their true worth (e.g. Man Utd - weathiest club in world sells Ronaldo).

I wish HH well. And I hope for the sake of Super League that Salford do well, because competition is good for sport. I just think that the Salford way of doing things has car-crash written all over it.

Wigan will make top four and get to OT again. Leeds are weaker than last season & Warrington are a lot weaker. Who are people worried about competing against without HH?

I agree 100%. Hansen is an 80 minute player who offers a level of intensity and physicality I do not see elsewhere in the squad other than those such as MM and Lockers who would be on the pitch beside him anyway.

He has been underrated all the time he has been here and I really don't think some people realise what we will miss with him gone.

It is IMO crucial Lockers remains fit because if he doesn't Faz alone isn't going to be able to steer the younger players through tough games IMO.

At 28 I'd say he easily has four years left in him. I also don't believe he had any burning desire to leave based on comments from Josie over on Mike's board who actually knows H. He was even on Wigan TV earlier in the season saying he'd be here as log as Wigan wanted him. All those comments about IL seeing it in his eye that he wanted to leave is PR spin. We should be used to it by now. There is always an excuse when a good player is sold.

The club got an offer and decided to sell. If they didn't offer H as a good a deal as Salford to extend his contract you can't blame H for accepting the chance to move but you do have to question the clubs logic. SL is hardly awash with players of H's quality so IMO if the club has a chance to keep such a player (and it certainly did) then it should.

The old cliché that any player is replaceable is true - if you find a suitable replacement not just by sticking the no 11 on someone else's back andt H leaves a big hole in the side with no obvious replacement.

Don't forget that the younger players like Taylor and Crosby for example are winners now. Who knows how good these guys can be. Added to the double winning youngsters are a load who have already tasted life in super League. Over on the Leeds boards there is a lot of criticism of how they haven't even begun to replace an ageing pack and are heavily reliant on over 30s like Peacock/Leuluia/JJB/Bailey. They have some good youngsters in Ward & Singleton but have manged to lose the England Academy captain to NZ Warriors, mainly because he wasn't given much chance or doesn't see much game time happening this season. That's not something you can accuse Wigan of is it?

Personally I prefer the Wigan way. I think that the talent pool is staggering and we have the coach who gives the youngsters a chance. He doesn't always get it right (Jack Murphy) but more often does (Crosby/Taylor/Hampshire/Thornley/Hughes etc). I can't wait to see Sarginson/Bateman/Hughes/Hopkins/Hampshire/Powell/Williams/Lever/Burke/Manfredi/Burgess etc etc this season.This really is a golden age for Wigan. Try to lose the glass half-full mentality and enjoy what no other club in super league can boast.

Totally ungrounded. There is nothing in that article that says he has career ending injury or it is likely to be. Lockers will be in a similar position with is knees and we signed Bowen who his club said had knees not up to another season in the NRL.

As usual a player who is leaving has his injury exaggerated and and those staying or coming in with question marks over injuries have theirs played down.

Wigan used to pension players off pretty ruthlessly under Mo (first time round certainly) but they did qualify as ready to go and were often in their 30's such as Ian Potter, another similar and underrated player. H isn't of the pensionable age so I question what the current Wigan way is in that regard. I don't think the same thing is going on here. Later on we even signed Denis Betts back at the same age we are selling H.

We certainly do have a lot of good young players and Burke in particular made a great début and was one I was disappointed not to see more of last season when Lockers was out injured but that doesn't mean there isn't an obvious hole left by H that none f them can easily fill.

I think this is a poor decision and I also don't think the PR put out about his burning desire to play for Salford is anything other than that especially given his comments about staying here earlier in the season. I reckon he would still be here had Wigan offered enough and I don't see why we couldn't as we aren't competing against the NRL here, must have the cap space and players of H's quality are few and far between in our game. If you aren't going to pay players like H a top wage just who are you going to spend that money on?

While I agree with you in spirit, the bit I've underlined is really no more than an assumption designed to suit your argument.

In other words, the club is lying.

How do we know that?

Also, remember that players do PR as well. Hansen told Wigan fans he wanted to stay. Of course he'd say that. But he'd likely say exactly the opposite to the Salford lot ... especially if he learned their valuation of his services was higher than Wigan's.

At the end of the day, his burning desire will be to go where he can earn most money, which would appear to be Salford. I'm not at all happy about that - I consider this a bad loss and I'm disappointed, but we can't just assume - as people on the other site have - that Hansen was the personification of loyalty and desperately wanted to stay.

Fair points, especially re Ian Potter. Lockers however, will play for Wigan until well into his 30s. But that's because he's world class. I suppose that I think you are over rating HH. I don't put him anywhere near the class of Lockers/Sam/Tommy.

Maybe the coaching staff think that it is best to lose HH and get a good deal and give Hughes/Bateman/Hopkins etc more game time and that at least least ONE of them will in fact turn out to be better than HH. And it may happen as soon as this season. It should be fun watching.

So you believe HH 100% because on Wigan TV he said that he would stay here for as long as Wigan wanted him, but IL saying he wanted to leave is PR spin? He was offerred a long-term deal at Wigan and turned it down, he was going to leave at the end of 2014 anyway for free even if IL turned down the transfer fee and made him stay. He's left for more money, that's the bottom line. Koucash has clearly made him an offer which means even a WCC is Oz and a testimonial isn't a big enough draw to stay on for one more season, and Wigan have benefitted financially by getting a large transfer fee for a player who would have left for free in a year's time anyway. You're just, once again, trying to spin a story so you can use it as a stick to beat IL with.

H did not want to leave Wigan.
Wane really did not want him to go.
Rads really did not want him to go.
The team really did not want him to go.
The fans did not want him to go (and H knows this)

Lenagan should not mistake loyalty for stupidity, Wane wanted to offer the money, Lenagan did not, simple.

H has a family and a future to look at after Rugby League and has made a very smart move in my opinion, but I can assure you he is gutted he's leaving. The contract Wigan offered was nothing short of disgusting.

I think it will be interesting to see if peoples views change once they have seen Hopkins and Clubb perform for Wigan.

Hopkins in particular would clearly of been snapped up by other clubs had Wigan not offered him a very good deal in comparison and from what people who have seen him play regularly say he has a very bright future in the game and Wigan have made a great signing.

Having said this I think Hansen is a great signing for Salford and gives their ambition a lot of credibility.

Can't wait for Wigan V Salford - usually a fixture that would raise few eyebrows.

Unfortunately we've only got your word for that.

There's nothing personal intended here, but if some people aren't prepared to believe IL, why should others believe you?