Kris Radlinski delivers unique insight into club’s salary cap planning, including marquee players

[josie andrews]

Chief executive Kris Radlinski has provided a unique insight into Wigan’s squad and salary cap management, revealing the club’s marquee players.

Super League’s current salary cap is £2.1million, while clubs are able to spend more through dispensations such as the marquee player rulings, which added a homegrown spot ahead of the 2024 season.

Off-season signing Luke Thompson currently holds that position for the Warriors, with superstars Bevan French and Jai Field the other two marquee players at the club.

The transfer window officially opens on May 1, with off-contract players free to negotiate with other clubs beyond this date.

And former full-back Radlinski admits a part of his job is the constant contract negotiations alongside head coach Matt Peet, labelling it as a 365-days-a-year job - not just beyond May 1.

“A part of my job is looking and seeing who’s next. I think May 1 is a bit of a myth. If people are waiting until then to do their business, they’re not doing their jobs,” Radlinski said.

“It’s a 12-month-of-the-year business. You obviously can’t approach people at different clubs, but for me and here, Matt and I start to look around November at contracts. We got Kaide Ellis, Junior Nsemba, Brad O’Neill tied down for long contracts.

“What’s difficult in succession planning to a degree in a salary cap sport, you don’t know what’s going to change in the rules, and you also have to take a gamble on things as well.

“Squad planning and succession planning is no way near May 1, it’s a full-time job in itself.

“One of the things that people don’t realise, I always say when you tie a player down on a long-term contract, someone has to go as well.

“We’ve all seen how well Junior is playing and we knew he’d be a player, so we had to invest in Junior knowing that he might not have an impact originally on the salary cap, but next year he gets a significant improvement.

“So then it’s managing that, it’s falling off the other end somewhere, it’s people who have perhaps reached a certain age and they start gettting less money. It’s a constant cycle.

“And in a salary cap sport, you can’t take one signing in isolation.

“You might sign someone and people question it, but you don’t always know how much we paid, his injury status, the impact he can have on the group, there’s a whole plethora of information that we have to consider before making a decision.

“I think that’s the difference from our sport to others without a salary cap, signings can be taken in isolation, but not in ours.”

Radlinski, who has been in the role as chief executive since January 2023, also believes that the salary cap should be increased in relation to current inflation.

He also stated that Sky Sports’ previous reports of Wigan’s £3.1million salary spend wasn’t accurate.

“The salary cap is there at 2.1m, but with dispensations, you spend more and that becomes the club’s or owner’s decision on how much you want to invest in the squad,” Radlinski explained.

“I don’t like that the salary cap has been static for the last few years. Inflation in that time has seen everything go up, so I think it should be linked to inflation.

“Revenues are going the other way, so there’s not really a strong argument. But with inflation, everything is costing more money, including players. But it’s never been considered and everything is going up.”

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... rs-4609868

[the pieman]

thats an interesting interpretation of the cap rules as we arent using the club trained option. If the article is correct as that part isnt Rads words and its factually incorrect as Thompson cannot be home grown but is Federation trained (trained by Saints) so will cost us £100k ont cap

so our cap hit is £100k (Thompson), £150k (French) and £150k (Field) according to the article

[fozzie58]

Have to agree that the cap should be linked to inflation bizarre that’s it’s not really

[the pieman]

Have to agree that the cap should be linked to inflation bizarre that’s it’s not really

its virtually criminal that they can let professional rugby players take a pay cut year on year (for every year the cap has been frozen). What other sport, let alone profession would allow that. Its only been since Koukash kicked up a stink have we had marquee players to give a bit of scope outside of the cap and we've seen a little bit of movement in the cap

hopefully IMG see benefit from increasing the cap to allow us to attract top NRL talent (i know we could argue thats what the marquee is for) but for too long the likes of Cas, Wakey, Hudds etc have prevented the game from moving forwards

[josie andrews]

Wigan boss Matt Peet makes recruitment admission with Super League transfer window to open from May 1

Wigan boss Matt Peet admits he is expecting a quiet transfer window with the reigning Super League champions having already worked hard to tie down some of their star players.

The recruitment window officially opens from May 1, allowing off-contract players to negotiate deals with other clubs ahead of next year.

But the Warriors have already been planning long-term with key extensions handed to superstars such as Bevan French, Jai Field and Harry Smith.

Only five first-team players are known to be without deals beyond the current campaign, with Patrick Mago and Jacob Douglas among those but with options for another year in their respective contracts.

“I think it’s a good sign for us when I’m not expecting our squad to look very different next year,” the Wigan boss said.

“We like the group that we’ve got, we feel like it’s one that’s going to improve over the next few years with it being young.

"I don’t see us doing a great deal of business.

“We’re always with an open mind and an eye on the market, but the salary cap and quota is there for a reason."

Peet has welcomed the early completed business, saying it will allow him to develop his current squad, which boasts an average age of just 24, having signed the likes of youngsters Sam Walters, Sam Eseh and Tiaki Chan ahead of their title defending season.

“It means you can concentrate on your work which is developing your players and developing your team,” he continued.

“Recruitment is important and it can be a way to add to your group, but I think most coaches prefer to coach.”

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... -1-4611363

[Wintergreen]

Have to agree that the cap should be linked to inflation bizarre that’s it’s not really

its virtually criminal that they can let professional rugby players take a pay cut year on year (for every year the cap has been frozen). What other sport, let alone profession would allow that. Its only been since Koukash kicked up a stink have we had marquee players to give a bit of scope outside of the cap and we've seen a little bit of movement in the cap

hopefully IMG see benefit from increasing the cap to allow us to attract top NRL talent (i know we could argue thats what the marquee is for) but for too long the likes of Cas, Wakey, Hudds etc have prevented the game from moving forwards

100% correct and how anyone can try and justify this position is beyond me.

[DaveO]

Have to agree that the cap should be linked to inflation bizarre that’s it’s not really

its virtually criminal that they can let professional rugby players take a pay cut year on year (for every year the cap has been frozen). What other sport, let alone profession would allow that. Its only been since Koukash kicked up a stink have we had marquee players to give a bit of scope outside of the cap and we've seen a little bit of movement in the cap

hopefully IMG see benefit from increasing the cap to allow us to attract top NRL talent (i know we could argue thats what the marquee is for) but for too long the likes of Cas, Wakey, Hudds etc have prevented the game from moving forwards

100% correct and how anyone can try and justify this position is beyond me.

I agree but the reason the cap doesn’t increase is obvious. There are several clubs that can’t afford to pay to the full cap so the last thing they want is it going up and clubs like Wigan being able to attract and/or retain top players.

Not increasing the cap is actively holding the game back but the owners of the clubs that do not pay to the cap would obviously rather see top talent swan off to the NRL if it means their squads built on the cheap are competitive.

These clubs do not belong in the top division of the sport. Unfortunately if you kicked them out you would probably end up with a league of about five, possibly six teams (Wigan, Catalan, Saints, Warrington, Leeds and maybe HKR).