I can't complain, it was a stroke of luck for us that the club got the three fantastic Melbourne players, all who have done a brilliant job for the club and I wish Finchy and Lima well.

huge loss, but lets not get selfish...hes done a great job, and i wish him all the best in planning his life after rugby league

Big loss, he's a major reason we're such a force this year, but he isn't irreplaceable. Best of luck for the future Finchy, it's been a pleasure, now bow out with another CC medal and a GF ring

We'd be an even better team this year if the likes of Joel and Hoffman were sill here. That is obviously true but equally there loss has not proved the teams undoing. However the fact we are where we are is hugely dependant on Finch (especially), Tommy, Lima and Carmont's contributions. Unless we replace these four with quality players we will not be as good next season. You deluding yourself if you think we won't miss Finch and the other three. With Joel and Hoffman we have covered their loss from within the squad but we do not have squad players anywhere close to the likes of Finch, Tommy and Lima and there is disagreement over whether or not the rumoured signings are any good such as Soward and Smith.



You haven't seen [ianything[/i of Thornley playing at SL level since he left the club so speculating he will do an "excellent" job in place of Carmont is based on hope rather than knowledge. The fact we have numerous players to compete for front row spots doesn't turn them into a Lima clone. However the worst situation is half back and here we have got (by the sounds of of it) one average squad player in Smith and we might get a.n.other.



We need to sign some good players but no one seems to think there are any available of a similar standard to those we are losing.

You would hope there was enough over for a marquee signing but they club can't spend the money if there is no one available so it wouldn't surprise me if we upgraded contracts, signed Smith plus a couple of squad players and went with what we have got.

If we had lost Tommy and Carmont and had got Smith alongside Finch and gave the centre slot to Gelling or Thornley we might have done the same next season as this in that we would have covered the losses because the backbone of quality in the side was still there. Taking out Finch and Lima as well is too much.

I read it but it is all after the event isn't it.

I also read this in Marchhttps://www.wiganwarriors.com/WContent.aspx?id

"I'd definitely like to extend my stay here, but I understand Wigan have got plenty of young fellas coming through - local players as well - and they might want to head in a different direction.

"I'll just play it by ear. I'm enjoying my time here and I'd certainly give Wigan the opportunity if they want to keep me."

We should have taken it in March. Every player has his price and we didn't meet Finch's or we left it too late.

Look at the style of half back that we included when we moved Sam to full back: Paul Deacon.

The game is evolving and so are the roles of half/full back. Full back is now our main point of attack, like it has been in Australia for the last 15 years.

Sam will not be moving from full back.

Dave - what if we had signed him for another 2 or 3 years back in March. He is clearly missing Oz. Next season he may have asked to leave on the basis he wanted to go home. We would be in a worse situation then.

I think you need to respect what IL has done for the club and trust the fact that he will be doing his best to get the best for the club.

What would you do if you took over the running of the club tomorrow?

I saw him at Haydock Park Races the other week and he said that Wigan will definately release him by the end of next year on the condition that he returns to Wigan when he comes back to Super League. I hope it's not true though as much as I want to see you lot lose your best players and come down to the rest of SL's level i'd hate all the best players to head to the NRL.

Anyone considered moving Sam to 6 and playing Russell at fullback? That could work.

This reminds me of myself when I left my last job, "yes I would stay, just pay me some more cash and throw a promotion in", which gave me a better position with the new offer.

agreed. its also unbelievably naive of anyone to imagine that a player looking for his last big contract is going to accept an offer that early in the season. his agent must have been choking on his cornflake when he heard that.

also the quotes regarding our next crop of juniors. Finch is not exactly going to want to just state "sorry guys. better money back home. see ya". he'll want to try and deflect a little of the ire onto the Club. and when you have people like DaveO waiting to lap up the 'bad' news, its an easy play to make.

Lets face it. Good Aussies are increasingly difficult to tie down for more than a couple of years. Who realistically expected him to extend ?

He'd only have done so for big(-ish) money, and I'm increasingly thinking that a hard-headed approach to player payments is the way to go. We took exactly the same attitude with Hanley when he wanted a pay increase non-commensurate with his age and performances level, and we didn't suffer when he left (whereas Leeds still won nothing).

Agreed. we suffered in the pre IL days of throwing all of our cap at marquee players and not having a team/squad to build around them (assuming that they lived up to their billing of course, which didnt happen quite a lot)

This hard-nosed approach could be the best thing to happen for GB International status.
If our better plays get experience down under, and we are forced to blood locals rather than expensive imports, I am certain we will start to unearth talent that would not have previously been given an opportunity.

I believe if we had made an offer earlier which matched what Finch wanted then he would have stayed. However the club waited to see how Finch performed this season, rightly as well because you can imagine the criticism if he had been given say a 3 year deal before the start of the season and then been awful. However this more hardline approach ended up backfiring and in many ways Finch's great form has been the reason why he has ended up going as it made him a wanted man and he had offeres galore. It is just one of those things imo and you cant blame him for wanting to return home nor can you blame the club for wanting to see how Finch performed. I am sure most fans have grown sick of imports being stuck at their clubs on long deals when they are past their best and not performing.