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100% Warrior wrote:

WW99 wrote:It means more Owen Farrell like scenarios for Saracens, sign them up before they even reach first team level at Wigan.

Exactly, this is my concern. Players such as Hampshire and Williams will come to Sarries attention before they've even had a game for the first team.

Seems an awful lot of paranoia about this partnership. Perhaps if our version of the game was run better it would become more popular outside its heartlands and be able to stand up for itself. We can bleat about it all we want but the reality is RU in the UK is the dominant code for the vast majority. If the current RFU financial excesses do come back to haunt them then so be it but the RFL need to do something otherwise the doom-mongers might be proved right.

mickw wrote:what a sad day for the mighty wigan and rugby league when a nomad small rugby union club can take one of our best players whilst attracting only a 6 thousand crowd at the weekend.they have everthing to gain from closer relations,whilst we gain not very much as far as i can see,and if they cherry pick any more of our players then andy farrells legendary status will be somewhat diminished in my eyes.sams contract is`nt worth the paper its written on.

This was my worry too mick.
Imo saracens are the ones benefitting here with our conveyor belt of well trained top young players now in their shop window.
I see no talent coming our way as they don't possess it in the first place or at least good enough to play league without a good 12 months conditioning.

Owen farrel on loan please!

Perhaps a Union link up unlocks corporate opportunities, sponsorship etc

I must admit I still have concerns over our link up with Saracens but an idea did occur to me, rather than having a "cross codes" game which in my eyes achieves nothing and has already been done before why not instead have a double header of a Wigan game and Sarries game being played on the same ground.

That would be something totally unique and attract more publicity due to it never having been done before.

Our game being played first of course before they rip the pitch up with those mauls.

This whole partnership nonsense sickens me far more than Joel Tomkins going to RU.

Sam staying was fantastic news and made my day yesterday. That was until I read about the the whole Saracens partnership and cross code matches. Now there are even reports that we arent even getting £250,000 for Joel in compensation. If, as reports I have read suggest, that the cross code matches are a little bit of a revenue raiser to pay for Tomkins going, so in effect Wigan fans paying for the transfer fee, then I hope every Wigan fan boycotts them.

Even as it is they should be boycotted anyway because we have nothing to learn from Union and getting in league with them only ends in disaster. We have been down this road with the cross code matches, middlesex 7s and we proved just how superior we was. What was the benefit of that? RU nicking our best players, copying our training methods and playing methods and copying our rules to make RU a more entertaining game. Did RL get any more media coverage? No, Did it get any real praise? No. The entire exercise can only harm RL and it is a lose/lose situation no matter how we do.

Rugby Union would swallow up League the first chance it could get and we should not be getting into bed with them. I dont think that Lenegan realises how p***ed off many fans are about this and for once he has to give the fans some more information about all of this.

Cross code pre-season won't be a worry for anyone nor why should it? It will be a good training session and a slightly different training week perhaps we could learn a bit from it.

A lot of strength perhaps in the rucks and scrums would benefit us... kicking would be a good workout for positioning etc... why not.

Plus it falls into the realms of "i was there" no matter how insignificant it may be like Fulham, Bridgend, Perpignan, Brisbane

Dobby wrote:If, as reports I have read suggest, that the cross code matches are a little bit of a revenue raiser to pay for Tomkins going, so in effect Wigan fans paying for the transfer fee.....

Good point. How many of Sarries 6K fans will turn up anyway?

Maybe you might get some general Union fans off other clubs wanting a day out but it is a bit rich expecting us to pay to watch this game to fund the transfer.

From what I have seen of union games, their forwards are too fat and slow and don't look nearly as physically strong (remember the stories of Farrell bench pressing three times what the Sarries front row were doing when he went over?). The majority of RU backs are like lumbering dinosaurs compared with the backs in RL, and cannot tackle because that isn't their job.
The only possible good from a Wigan standpoint could be borrowing a kicking coach for conversions, and lests face it, Pat's conversion rate is pretty damn good already.

There is, I suppose, a possiblity that one or two RU centres might make a decent show in the second row.

TonyH wrote:Does everyone really think that Lenegan is that much of a mug to let them poach our best young players? The clause's written in to Sams contract are an excellent bit of business in my opinion, regardless if we have a partnership with Saracens or not.

Well said Tony. Seems that we've got loads of businessmen (/women) on here who are in charge of multi-national businesses and a successful sporting club. Seems that IL doesn't have a clue what he's doing - the millions he has made by his own graft must have been a fluke.

IL is nobody's fool. There will be something in this which will benefit Wigan. I admit I don't know what at the moment. Maybe if Sarries have some space on the salary cap they can recruit a League player who Wigan pay for but the loan fee eqauates to a tenner a week and he may be on £100k plus. Who knows but instead of whinging (although a lot of you seem to come on here to do solely that) get behind the club and any initiatives until they are proven wrong!!!!