Not moaning. Really no need for that.
I wasn't referring to the Salford game.

Lam signed a 1 year contract with Wigan. His job was to lead a champion side to more success within a small time period. The 'champion team' is a reference to this season, as currently we are defending champions, which means we aren't missing Tommy George or Lockers. We're missing 3 players Tomkins, Bateman and Sutton. Which were replaced with Hardaker, Greenwood and Bullock. Are they as good as the 3 departing? Perhaps, perhaps not. But lets face it, each team will lose players, difference is, we are a team/squad which are defending champions minus a few which have been replaced.

For a new coach, or if Lam does end up coaching long term; it's exciting, to review, Tommy is an average 7 and a decent/good 9, not superb or outstanding. Lockers is class; one of my favs, but in recent years his games per season aren't great, and George, I rate George but his departure opens up a marquee spot, next season we'll have more money under cap and marquee spots to build, exciting times...

That's if of course, going along with your hypotheticals... Lockers and Tommy do retire and George does leave. All are very possible, especially George, but as far as I'm aware nothing's been confirmed on any of the 3 you mentioned.

But if the marquee comes from overseas we are in a worse position cap wise as 150k will count on the cap opposed to George's 75k. So before we start we are worse off

I’m not disagreeing for the sake of it but whilst the club would never say it, Lam was not brought in to bring us success. He was brought in to have an average season with Edwards taking over the year after. Lam was a stop gap, but that dynamic has obviously changed.

Let’s face it, George is gone. It’s a matter of when not if it is announced. But as the other poster said, him going only frees up £75k on the cap. I think we will miss him massively.

Almost right. It does free up £75k on the cap but it also frees up a marquee spot, should Mr Lenegan choose to use it. Now I’m a huge fan of Williams but the prospect of a marquee halfback from Australia or NZ excites me a lot. Assuming Williams has gone, I only hope we do bring in a marquee player because if the rumours are to be believed, Chris Aitkin from Hull KR is lined up to replace him and I’d honestly shed tears if that happened.

I wonder how many more fans it would lose, Surely Lenagan can't be that tight or stupid

We already have a marquee spot free though?! Funny Lenagan was one of the main voices to get two but now only has one (to be zero).

What makes you think we've only got one?
Any Wigan trained player on over 75k will immediately be worthy of a marquee spot
Farrell
Lockers
Gildart
Budgie
Etc
Whichever one of those earns the most will be the 2nd marquee behind with Williams
Unless one of the non trained players earns more over 150k than any of the above do over 75k
You k ow
Players like
Hardaker
Sarginson
Tommy
Greenwood
Etc

I'd be right next to you on that one.
But... I can see it happening.

I think that people are assuming we only have George as marquee because we were told by the club that Sam T was our first marquee and that George was our second. When Sam T left they did not announce that any existing player (or the subsequently signed Hardaker, Bullock or Sammut) had replaced him as a marquee player. In the lack of any declaration on the club's part we can only assume that they have kept the marquee slot vacated by Sam unused.

It may be a vain hope but if by not using the £75k Sam T had cost (in terms of the cap) this season it allows us to bring in one marquee player costing £150k for next year once George leaves and his £75k becomes available, without needing to lose yet another player worth 75k+ next year to make space, then that may be the reason it is seemingly not being used this year.

I see what your saying but Without going into too much detail people are looking at this from the wrong angle.

It would make no sense to not spend Sams 75k slot - in effect it's just a figure that we wouldn't be using.

Ultimately if Farrell for example is on 200k then the first 75k of his wages would count and the rest wouldn't - The 125k remainder that he used the previous year would then be allocated somewhere else i.e. for Sams replacement Hardaker for example (And if he's on more than Farrell was the previous year we'll have less to spend than the previous year on the cap).

What happens over 75k or 150k for non trained players is irrelevant
The club will allocate the 2 "Marquee" spots to the 2 x highest paid players who can gain relief down to 75k or 150k leaving more in the "Pot" for the others.

So although no-one may have been named - they will have just chosen whoever to best fit the salary cap rules (Doesn't mean anything changes etc.).

If next year we sign a Big name who is on more money than Farrell (Lets say 260k) but because the first 150k only is exempt etc. then Farrell will stay on Marquee

With regard to the bit I underlined, like what I suggested it is only an assumption. The club haven't said someone has taken the vacated marquee spot but they have also not said that no one has taken it either. You quite logically assume that they will use it for the top earner. This could be the case but it isn't necessarily the case.

Given that we also sold Bateman and Sutton at the end of last season we probably wouldn't have needed to use the marquee slot to be able to fit Hardaker, Bullock and Sammut in. With the plan prior to the start of this season having been to just get through this stop gap season before a long term permanent coach came in, then holding back the slot for a player to be brought in in 2020 rather than letting the stop gap coach (as Lam was and perhaps still is) pick someone for it could be more plausible.

In terms of whether or not the second slot is in use this year you may be right or I may be right but both of us are making an assumption.

If they haven't then it doesn't matter as whatever we are paying out is under the cap - But if they wanted to bring someone in all they would need to do his name that person (i.e. Farrell in this scenario) as Marquee and anything over 75k would come off the cap and be available.

What they will have are players that will qualify for Marquee rule if and when they choose to use it.

Any Wigan trained player on over £75k will immediately be the second marquee? I don’t think that’s correct.

5.14b of the Salary Cap Regulations states “A Marquee Player is a player whose Salary Cap Value would be (but for for provisions of this Clause 5.14) £175,000 or more”

I remember reading an article specifically stating Hardaker is not a marquee player. Though I do understand what you mean in that another player already at the club on more than £175k could now be marquee.

Kind of & Yes I didn't word it correctly
The player has to be on over 175k to begin with - but then anything over 75k won't count against cap

What I am saying is that people who say we don't have a 2nd Marquee are not correct as any player that was on over 175k would automatically have dispensation that would qualify for Marquee dispensation if required.

So for example - We all accept George is Marquee no1
So his 250k (I'm guessing) only 75k counts against the cap

Now if were saying we haven't got a 2nd Marquee - That means we don't have any Wigan trained players on over 175k - or non trained players on over 175k
I can't believe that's true?

So if we didn't allocate another Marquee and we were up to the cap then we couldn't bring anyone in - But just by say allocating a Farrell (I think it's fair to assume he would be on more than 175k - I hazard 200k for example) we could then use the 125k that becomes exempt to bring someone in "If Needed".
It creates cap space if needed to bring someone in.
Why would we not do that, All we need to do is name "Someone" and whichever player is on the most over his allotted dispensation would have that amount taken off the cap and we'd be under by that much freeing up availability if we need it?