WiganWarriorsFans.com

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-pr ... 979e51540b

Well that made me mad. From the article:

Crucially, that weekend traditionally features more fringe players for Wigan to view, much in the mould of former Rabbitohs youngster Gabriel Hamlin who was recruited in the off-season.

“The Super League has been a great nursery for some players in recent years,” Radlinski said.

“A few years ago it was players at the end of their career trying to make a quid. Nowadays we’ve young kids who we’re trying to make it.

“Gabriel’s a fair way off first grade in the NRL but if he can come to the UK and get some good football under his belt that’s only going to be valuable to him later on in his NRL career.”


Way to go Wigan! We are aiming to put in our time, effort and resources into developing their young players for a future NRL career.

Why are we doing this? We supposedly have the best development set up so why is the club suggesting it is going to voluntarily use itself as an NRL nursery and not simply concentrating its resources on local young players?

and then:

And Wigan coach Shaun Wane said he accepted that while he was out here casting his eye over Australian talent, his players too were more visible than ever to NRL clubs.

“I’m looking every day to see if we can improve on those we’ve got. I’m never ever satisfied,” Wane said.

“I understand that people from the NRL will be watching our players as well, it’s just the way it is. If someone goes we’ll just get another one."

So we are putting our best players, not fringe players, in the shop window for NRL clubs.

Now you could argue our best players are always at risk of being tempted by an NRL salary but it would be naive to think we are not potentially highlighting some of our talent who might otherwise be overlooked.

It seems completely bonkers to me and talk of the trip being also used for scouting is just another bit of PR justification for the Oz trip. You don't need to go and play games to scout.

People moan when the NRL take our talent ....
People moan when we take them back .....
People moan when we try and take their talent .....
People moan when we try to have a team full of wiganers .....

Common denominator

People moan!!!!!!!

It seems like running one of the biggest clubs in the world is a thankless task for those that are involved, whilst the armchair experts sit at home spouting what a bad job is being done at every turn.

Maybe you could do a better job Dave? Why don’t you put yourself forward with a few fans off here and attempt a Salford style take over?

Wes
You are happy nurturing players for the NRL?
Obviously!
It's not about moaning, it's about the reality of the situation. The fact two of the top men have stated it in a round about way should be a bit of a pointer?
You carry on as you think but don't expect others not to think deeper!

I thought we were looking at signing players who played in the world cup?

Wandering Warrior wrote:Wes
You are happy nurturing players for the NRL?
Obviously!
It's not about moaning, it's about the reality of the situation. The fact two of the top men have stated it in a round about way should be a bit of a pointer?
You carry on as you think but don't expect others not to think deeper!

Think deeper ha it’s hardly rocket science!
What would you like the club to do to compete with the NRL with a third or less of the NRL cap?

Team full of wiganers? Wait we hate that it doesn’t work!
I know resign players who come back? No wait we don’t like that either!
How about sign younger Aussies? Oh hang on why do we need to do that when we have our own academy tut that’s it we don’t want a team of locals!
Let’s sign average players or project players? Nope can’t do that as we moan at that too!

Our salary cap is not going to match the NRL’s anytime soon so why don’t we make the best of the current situation and be realistic? Oh wait we are trying that and surprise surprise - moan!

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

If you however have it all figured out WW please share, I’d love to hear how you would make us more successful as a club and a business?

You're right Wes, we should settle for second class mediocrity and go part time as well.
Look on other threads, the sport as a whole in England is on the bones of it's backside and we'll have what crumbs are left.
I don't know how to change it, that's down to the RFL but rose tinted glasses won't!

Wes wrote:People moan when the NRL take our talent ....
People moan when we take them back .....
People moan when we try and take their talent .....
People moan when we try to have a team full of wiganers .....

The NRL have enough talent, why do they need to take ours and weaken SL

People wouldn't moan if we only brought back improved players rather than injured or failed players

Not got a problem what so ever about bringing young Aussies over as long as the pay the club back for the time and effort the club has invested in them by staying at the club for more than 3 seasons

A team full of Wiganers is a non starter, a pipe dream, it would be nice to have if players of the right standard where available, but it isn't going to happen anytime soon

Wandering Warrior wrote:You're right Wes, we should settle for second class mediocrity and go part time as well.
Look on other threads, the sport as a whole in England is on the bones of it's backside and we'll have what crumbs are left.
I don't know how to change it, that's down to the RFL but rose tinted glasses won't!

Super League is second class mediocrity now. The Aussies spend a lot of time scouting over here now so more and more players are likely to move. When Perth join the NRL more players will go. Many clubs below SL level will become part-time and the amateur game is receding at a remarkable rate.

Big question, if you were offered 900,000 aussie dollars a season to play in the NRL or £100k to play in the SL what would you be doing? Agents are now writing, into their clients contracts, a clause which allows them to move to Australia - no clause then they don't sign. The tail is wagging the dog and the only way of reversing it is to attract more funding to our game.

medlocke wrote:

Wes wrote:People moan when the NRL take our talent ....
People moan when we take them back .....
People moan when we try and take their talent .....
People moan when we try to have a team full of wiganers .....

The NRL have enough talent, why do they need to take ours and weaken SL

People wouldn't moan if we only brought back improved players rather than injured or failed players

Not got a problem what so ever about bringing young Aussies over as long as the pay the club back for the time and effort the club has invested in them by staying at the club for more than 3 seasons

A team full of Wiganers is a non starter, a pipe dream, it would be nice to have if players of the right standard where available, but it isn't going to happen anytime soon

It's a business, each team wants better players than they have got now. They need to make choices given that they are controlled by a salary cap - e.g. do we pay our Australian winger £650k or should we sign two players from England for £650k. If you had the option of signing Valentine Holmes or signing Ryan Hall and Alex Walmsley, what would you do?

Rather than bringing Sam, Budgie, Sarge and Tommy back who would you have signed?

We could sign young Aussies on three, four or five year deals but how do we know if they will make it?