Agree with your sentiments .... the trouble is I cannot remember my enthusiasm for RL being so low.

There's little incentive to buy a season ticket as it is today with the league becoming nothing short of a farce but this continual talent drain has to impact on future attendances and the overall profile of the game in the country.

Speaking to one of the clubs higher profile sponsors the other day he said he was not renewing his sponsorship next season ... as far as he's concerned RL is finished in this country. Not necessarily my views but worrying when sponsors have that perception of the sport !

Do you know this as a fact? If not watch out or you could end up in court

What if Sam hasn't broken any contract but NZW approached Mr Lenegan and asked if he would be willing to sell Sam? Who is to say Sam wouldn't of carried on next year and stuck to the contract and it wasn't Mr Lenegan who approached Sam to see if he would be interested in going to NZW and Sam just brought forward his plans a year early?

Me too. RL is in the worst state since the late 70s/early 80s and this time we have pro RU and the NRL to contend with.

How long before RL goes semi-pro in this country?

All very predictable. Where are the pro SC muppets now?

Lets all have a party on Friday to celebrate . Hopefully Grand Final qualification, and the 8 loyal years Pat Richards gave to us .

Regards , EW

IL misled us over the terms of the contract. There is no way a 3 year restraint of trade (not being able to talk to NRL and RU clubs) was lawful, it was nothing more than a gentleman's agreement. The same goes for the deals for Mossop etc. with us having first refusal of their services when they return, not enforceable by law, simply a gentleman's agreement, that I hope comes to fruition.

IL has been made to look a mug by bigging up a basically worthless contract.

The Harris / Bradford / Leeds court case shows they are enforceable.

I think a world record transfer fee disputes that sentiment.

There's an awful lot of hot air on this one - we had a player, under contract who wanted to leave, and another club paid a significant transfer fee to us in order to sign him. It's not that unusual.

I think they've been saving up a lot of that hot air too. It's not like they didn't know this was going to happen.

I think the main issue people have with this whole thing is the fact that we were led to believe that we had him for 3 years. That's certainly my gripe with it all anyway. we've got some decent money for him and we've got the best replacement possible. I would hope that the transfer fee will be used to buy a good couple of players, when available, in the next couple of seasons and not be swallowed up by relaying the car park at Orrell or something equally underwhelming.

When negotiating any players contract, where a buyout clause is part of the contract, it is usually based on a percentage of the remaining contract eg 75% of salary x remaining years of contract. Even if IL knew ST was going this year, he'll have simply agreed a new contract to reflect the amount of money Wigan see as acceptable for letting ST cancel the contract.

So, give him £300k/yr, for another 3 years, knowing you wont have to actually pay out the £300k from your cap (as he's leaving!), and the new club have to give you c£700k to get him 'released' from the contract. When IL said he was pleased to announce he'd agreed a contract with ST, what he meant was if he goes, I'll at least get enough money to get a replacement.

The only thing that's surprised me is that people on here are surprised!

Credit to ST and good luck from a Rhinos fan. He'll do well in the NRL, and look forward to seeing him play

Just hope his final game is a losing one

They have to come back first.

That will only happen if it suits both parties yet some give the impression it's a done deal and they will be back in Wigan colours in X years.

Maybe that is what they want to believe but its certainly not guaranteed and there is IMO an element of spin from IL when he announces these deals suggesting they will return is a certainty.

I was also under the impression we were only able to hold their registrations for a set period of time. I am sure when the Mossop deal was announced we only got first dibs if he came back after two or three years i.e. immediately after his contract with his Aussie club expires.