We aren't talking about signing players of £500K a season but using marquee money to keep a junior player and I also don't think anyone has the notion we can sign anyone from the NRL that is genuinely a marquee player. To say Wigan used the marquee slot to limit his cap value is ignoring the fact that to do that means they had to pay him a minimum of £175K. That is what a club has got to pay to a home grown player in order for him to be classed are a marquee and for his cap value to then be limited to £100K. For that level of wage at his age I expect him to be Shaun Edwards MkII. Already.

My suggestion was merely one of hindsight based on the fact he seems to have failed to cope with the pressure of being the starting 6 whereas had he gone to Oz I doubt he would have been and would have been eased into the game. In giving him so much money Wigan ruled itself out of affording having an experienced half back with Williams playing alongside of him or interchanging with. It was a gamble and at the moment it seems bad value for money. I don't know when his contract is up but when it is on current form he'd lose the marquee status and if that meant he left the club I doubt the club would put him back on a marquee contract to keep him.

All that said I think there is something in what NickKiss said about being stuck with Powell as the other half back. I have said the same thing myself before in that Powell offers no threat so opposition teams just look to close Williams down and the expectation is always for Williams to create the break. It was the same when Smith was here and is why I'd love to have seen Sam T in the halves. When Wane leaves and a new coach comes in hopefully we will see some changes that will let GW show he's worth the money.

George had an excellent game on Saturday. He troubled Hull on many occasions. I think the main weakness in his game is in choosing the wrong option too often. That's something he definitely needs to work on. I do feel, however, that this stems in part from the feeling that he needs to do it all himself. Maybe a more 'aware' game will come when he doesn't feel that is the case and that most definitely is a consequence of little coming from his half back partner. If you compare the stats of the two halves the disparity is a real eye opener.

Does anyone remember how Edwards struggled 90/91 ish for around 6/9months?
The knives were out from a lot of fans and he too had occasion to step back inside, die with the ball etc. at times. Audible groans from the terraces when he touched the ball.
To be fair to Edwards he was coming back from that shocker of an injury at Wembley 90.
He was MOS the year before with 25+tries - in 90/91 he scored single figures tries wise in the league and struggled.

However - He was 24/25

We all know what happened next
40+ tries 91/92 - 40+ Tries 92/93 and more importantly became the organiser in chief that a lot of people remember.

Now in no way am I saying I expect George to do the same - However I do believe at 22/23 he needs time to develop, a little bit of patience.

As everything else people can interpret how they choose to - For me if George had left mid way through last year and gone to Wire or NRL there would have been knives out for IL.
We used the 2nd spot for George and for me it was definitely the right decision.

I'm a big fan I don't mind admitting - I don't think Post Marquee last year he was top of his game but I would suspect there are many other reasons that influenced that (Injuries/general poor form of the team) than just George.
As for this season - I thought he was pretty good up to Week after magic - been awful for 3 weeks and bounced back with a very good show last weekend.

What I can see though is there seems to be quite a few who since the Marquee suddenly expected Brett Kenny esque performances, Trent Barrett Mk2 etc.
Paying him the extra money doesn't guarantee that, what it does do is give us a chance that he may progress to that. Without it he would go and I wouldn't blame him one bit.
A lot have made their minds up, I've seen threads and I've spoken to people who've made their minds up - He will now be criticised for everything he does wrong and given no praise for anything he does well.
Some people would rather he fail than admit they were a Touch hasty.

I for one have thoroughly enjoyed watching the lad over the last 4 seasons - and I think he's been ok mostly this year bar 3/4 Bad games
I look forward to watching him a lot more moving forward.

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Your suggestion suggests we wasn’t the starting 6 before the wage increase. He was, he was also coping with the pressure of being the starting 6. The wage increase along with this marquee tag and fans expextation has added to that pressure. Imo the kid is trying too hard and needs to relax and play his game.

I don’t understand why you have such a downer on all things Wigan and look to criticise at every opportunity. Try glass half full for once, it’s much less stressful. "My suggestion was merely one of hindsight based on the fact he seems to have failed to cope with the pressure of being the starting 6 whereas had he gone to Oz I doubt he would have been and would have been eased into the game. In giving him so much money Wigan ruled itself out of affording having an experienced half back with Williams playing alongside of him or interchanging with. It was a gamble and at the moment it seems bad value for money. I don't know when his contract is up but when it is on current form he'd lose the marquee status and if that meant he left the club I doubt the club would put him back on a marquee contract to keep him.'"

I'm well aware of the Salary Cap breakdown.

As for the highlighted - we've lost 4k season ticket holders under Wane. Who's footing the bill for that lost revenue?

You have to cut your cloth accordingly - not every owner wants to throw away good money after bad like they've done at Saints.

I actually don't like the man, but I don't fault him for wanting to reduce running costs considering the current climate Wigan Warriors operates in.