Contract starts in October according to the bbc. Big loss for RL

Hammer blow. Possibly one of the biggest the sport has ever taken due to the timing after what was a successful World Cup.

We had little chance of winning anything with him but we've literally got no chance without.

It's all very depressing especially given that we seem to be inviting the Union men who are raiding us in to training camps and our set up.

Take a bow Andy Farrell. I believe Sam was tapped up by Farrell whilst Faz was handing out shirts and giving motivational speeches to the squad at RLWC. IMO he's just lost his Wigan legend tag.

Farrell is doing a job I suppose and I find it hard to blame individuals when we have invited them in to our camps. We're the same with the NZ warriors tbh. We're all matey with them and Dean Bell yet to my mind any relationship only benefits one club (apart from us using their training ground for a few days).

Wigan leave themselves wide open to these raids and now the national side has as well.

What a waste.

Knob off now Sam, hope he fails.

I don't blame him for wanting to get rich. But he can hardly have been on peanuts at Souths - we were told repeatedly that he was hooked on the Sydney lifestyle and that nothing we could offer would ever lure him back home.

Bewildering.

But then I was bewildered that Joel and Kyle went to Union. Neither looked suited for it, and neither have exactly set the game alight - yet the Union-ward drift continues.

It seems as if every time we produce a genuine world star, the clock starts ticking towards his defection.

Sam next? If I were a New Zealand Warriors fan, I'd treasure those memories of the Nines. I'm not sure there'll be too many more.

I hate saying this, but I genuinely believe it's time we stopped allowing the Andy Farrells of this world into our club set-ups. Not for reasons of bloody-mindedness - as the Union did all those years ago, but because they've proved they can't be trusted.

We better get used to it because Josh Charnley is going to Union at the end of this season.

Lost all faith in the RFL, NRL and RLIF at the moment - why don't we just have done with it and join 'em? Would be good to see a Wigan RU team tear the Premiership a new one...

There is one thing worse than allowing players to leave the game - Allowing them to come back!

I find it quite humiliating that RL players can leave League knowing full well that League is so desperate for players that we will welcome them back with open arms should they fail to make it in Union.

It would make player's think twice before leaving knowing that its a one way ticket with no way back.

Any player leaving League for Union should not be able to come back - the sport is under attack and needs to take strong action!

I can't think of many who came back and picked up where they left off.

Henry Paul and Iestyn Harris were shadows of their former selves - and as for Karl Pryce and Lee Smith ... Crikey! Blokes I know who watch RU reckon Joel and Kyle are nothing like they were.

I doubt emotion will come into it. The lessons of history ought to dictate that the first thing Union does to these lads is teach them to forget how to play high-level rugby.

True but it must be of comfort knowing that they can still return and make a comfortable living out of League should they fail to adjust to Union.

Rugby League is like a comfort blanket for them.

It's only a matter of time before Joel Tomkins and Kyle Eastmond are back in RL ranks. As you've quite rightly suggested neither are anything like they were.

I suppose there is 1 exception to that "they don't come back the same" rule in Iain Thornley. Looked like he had never been away! Mind you he is young enough to adapt easily.

If they do come back, we need to make a real song and dance about it - not necessarily expressing delight, because they'll require a lot of speed to get up to SL standard, but to point out that the grass isn't always greener.

Gutted, massive loss to RL, massive waste of talent.