Replacment for barret??

[standishwarrior]

wiki turned wigan down about 2/3 weeks ago!!! he will not be joining us or any other superleague team. he doesnt want to move his young family over to the uk!!!!!!

[Sutty]

wiki turned wigan down about 2/3 weeks ago!!! he will not be joining us or any other superleague team. he doesnt want to move his young family over to the uk!!!!!!

But that contradicts what he has said in this interview posted by Butt Monkey very recently.

Wiki, 36 in January, refused to confirm his plans for next year, saying only there was "an opportunity" in England.
The Bearded Warrior was the centre of attention in a sombre visitors' dressing shed last night as journalists queued for interviews like youngsters lining up for autographs.

His reaction to the loss to Manly epitomised the spirit which carried the side from eighth to within touching distance of the grand final.

"I've just had fun mate. The last few weeks have been unbelievable. No one really backed us to get this far and we were one game short of a final. It wasn't meant to be.

"What a great ride, man. There were ups and downs, but we finished on a high.

"I might as well have a shave now, eh. It's all over now but it's been great with the beards and every one supporting us.

"Everyone got behind it in the crowd with fake beards so that was pretty cool."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4708766a10713.html

As the NZ Warriors play-off hopes were finally dashed by Manly

[DaveO]

But we only have one overseas spot, so who may be off loaded?.

We can't offload anyone. They are all contracted.

Our overseas players for next season already on the books are:

Richards
Riddell
Phelps
Carmont
Bailey
Feka
Smith

That is seven and next season the quota is eight. It goes down to six in 2010 so I am sure that will mean the end of Carmont and Bailey as any new overseas player won't be coming for one season and they are the two out of contract at the end of 2009. If they leave that means we have six left for 2010 (five plus the new recruit).

In 2011 the quota drops to five and that is when Phelps contract is up. So I'd expect him to leave then leaving us with 5 to comply with the regulations. It almost looks like the club has a plan here!

This assumes Smith stays of course (by no means certain IMO).

So what this means is we can have one overseas recruit next season and if the club wants to he can be given a longer deal (three year deal for example).

So if we are going to get three players as has been mentioned elsewhere, two will be coming from the UK.

Dave

[standishwarrior]

wiki turned wigan down about 2/3 weeks ago!!! he will not be joining us or any other superleague team. he doesnt want to move his young family over to the uk!!!!!!

But that contradicts what he has said in this interview posted by Butt Monkey very recently.

Wiki, 36 in January, refused to confirm his plans for next year, saying only there was "an opportunity" in England.
The Bearded Warrior was the centre of attention in a sombre visitors' dressing shed last night as journalists queued for interviews like youngsters lining up for autographs.

His reaction to the loss to Manly epitomised the spirit which carried the side from eighth to within touching distance of the grand final.

"I've just had fun mate. The last few weeks have been unbelievable. No one really backed us to get this far and we were one game short of a final. It wasn't meant to be.

"What a great ride, man. There were ups and downs, but we finished on a high.

"I might as well have a shave now, eh. It's all over now but it's been great with the beards and every one supporting us.

"Everyone got behind it in the crowd with fake beards so that was pretty cool."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4708766a10713.html

As the NZ Warriors play-off hopes were finally dashed by Manly

thought it strange reading that tbh...only saying what i got told before fridays match!

[gpartin]

But we only have one overseas spot, so who may be off loaded?.

We can't offload anyone. They are all contracted.

Our overseas players for next season already on the books are:

Richards
Riddell
Phelps
Carmont
Bailey
Feka
Smith

That is seven and next season the quota is eight. It goes down to six in 2010 so I am sure that will mean the end of Carmont and Bailey as any new overseas player won't be coming for one season and they are the two out of contract at the end of 2009. If they leave that means we have six left for 2010 (five plus the new recruit).

In 2011 the quota drops to five and that is when Phelps contract is up. So I'd expect him to leave then leaving us with 5 to comply with the regulations. It almost looks like the club has a plan here!

This assumes Smith stays of course (by no means certain IMO).

So what this means is we can have one overseas recruit next season and if the club wants to he can be given a longer deal (three year deal for example).

So if we are going to get three players as has been mentioned elsewhere, two will be coming from the UK.

Dave

Doesn't Richards have an Irish passport or would that not make any difference?

[kirkamania]

But we only have one overseas spot, so who may be off loaded?.

We can't offload anyone. They are all contracted.

Our overseas players for next season already on the books are:

Richards
Riddell
Phelps
Carmont
Bailey
Feka
Smith

That is seven and next season the quota is eight. It goes down to six in 2010 so I am sure that will mean the end of Carmont and Bailey as any new overseas player won't be coming for one season and they are the two out of contract at the end of 2009. If they leave that means we have six left for 2010 (five plus the new recruit).

In 2011 the quota drops to five and that is when Phelps contract is up. So I'd expect him to leave then leaving us with 5 to comply with the regulations. It almost looks like the club has a plan here!

This assumes Smith stays of course (by no means certain IMO).

So what this means is we can have one overseas recruit next season and if the club wants to he can be given a longer deal (three year deal for example).

So if we are going to get three players as has been mentioned elsewhere, two will be coming from the UK.

Dave

heard somewhere that samoan players didnt count on the quota either and paaat has an irish passport as well.

correct me if i'm wrong which i probably am.

[DaveO]

heard somewhere that samoan players didnt count on the quota either and paaat has an irish passport as well.

correct me if i'm wrong which i probably am.

Yes you are wrong . Irish passport or Smaoan passport you are still classed as overseas and that includes this season when the limit was 10 overseas players

The only player who gets out of this one is TL as he was given "federation trained" status (due to how much RL he played here while young or some such reason). Which is why I didn't include him the list of overseas players I gave:

Richards
Riddell
Phelps
Carmont
Bailey
Feka
Smith

All those are overseas players by the new rules. TL and Hansen are not despite both being foreign internationals.

So as I said with the quota dropping to 8 then we can only have one more overseas recruit next year whether he comes from Samoa, NZ, or any EC country via Australia, France or anywhere else.

Dave

[gpartin]

heard somewhere that samoan players didnt count on the quota either and paaat has an irish passport as well.

correct me if i'm wrong which i probably am.

Yes you are wrong . Irish passport or Smaoan passport you are still classed as overseas and that includes this season when the limit was 10 overseas players

The only player who gets out of this one is TL as he was given "federation trained" status (due to how much RL he played here while young or some such reason). Which is why I didn't include him the list of overseas players I gave:

Richards
Riddell
Phelps
Carmont
Bailey
Feka
Smith

All those are overseas players by the new rules. TL and Hansen are not despite both being foreign internationals.

So as I said with the quota dropping to 8 then we can only have one more overseas recruit next year whether he comes from Samoa, NZ, or any EC country via Australia, France or anywhere else.

Dave

Until the RFL get sued under EU working regulations??

[weststand-rich]

Tim Smith's existing contract was for this year with a second year option. I've been lead to believe that it is by no means certain that Smith will return after he has been home.

I must admit I'm worried at this stage. I can't see where our new signing are coming from.

[DaveO]

Tim Smith's existing contract was for this year with a second year option. I've been lead to believe that it is by no means certain that Smith will return after he has been home.

I thought it was for this year, next year and an option for the year after but whatever I share your reservations.

I must admit I'm worried at this stage. I can't see where our new signing are coming from.

We can get one overseas player but any other signings must come form the UK. I don't know of any top class UK players available so I am concerned we will be making signings of the Andy Coley standard rather than really top class players.

Dave