Press conference

[DaveO]

I'm pretty much on the same page as God here. I agree with Dave that these annoucements are not a "good" thing for the club, but I'd say we are making the best fist of a situtaion that we are not in control of.

Unless I am mistaken making the best out of a bad job isn't God's position. The omnipotent one seems to think there are actually positives here.

One thing IL has seeming done has disproved that theory that the NRL will not pay transfers for UK players. That is a great precendent to set if the SL becomes a selling competition. Tieing players to long term contracts now at least ensures if we develop a quality player who *wants* to go to the NRL, then we will be compensated for that and maybe be able to coax higher quality RU players who wnat to remain in Europe to RL for a few years.

What he's done is prove players can't just walk away from contracts which is something I have said is the case all along. What he has decided to do is let them do so if the price is right.

I'd say SL compared to NRL is like the Dutch football league comared to the premier league. There is nothing we can do *right now* about stopping players wanting to test themselves in a better competition with better rewards. What we can do is work hard to improve the state of the competition so they don't want to do this. Finally, is this the wake-up call the RFL and the clubs need to take some substantive action?

If this is a wake up call they are slow on the uptake. We have debated the implications of the money in RU and the NRL for ages.

[DaveO]

Mossop IMO wasnt the best prop at Wigan you can trawl through all my previous posts and NOWHERE you will see ive rated Mossop as the best prop we have. I can live with him leaving because we have equall or better props already at the club.

Who is better? Prescott? Dudson? Flower? Taylor? Spencer? Lauaki? Cosby? Burke?

I would suggest none of them are. I would say he is better than any of them which is also why he was the target.

Makes great buisness to cash in and improve the contracts of others with the space available.He had his heart set on the NRL even his brother has said "All the hard work has paid off"when the announcement was made, Surely playing for Wigan is the pinnacle.

We don't need the money so why is it great business?

Nobody on this forum knows the finantial situation of Wigan Rl NOBODY unless the clubs accountant is on here and could shed any light on it.For all we know the club could be breaking even.

Yes we do. Wigan publish accounts every year.

Dudson should never had been signed, neither should Ben Flower...Harris was supposed to be a bad appointment yet we are top of the league. Cross was supposed to be rubbish and past it.

Peacock is supposed to be past it yet hes been mentioned as an early man of steel candidate. Age is nothing in this game hell Menzies i would have at the club and hes 40 its how you look after yourself. Im reserving judgement untill he actually plays a game.(Powell)

Sorry but that is rubbish. Powell is not a veteran RL player who knows the game inside out like Menzies or Peacock. He's a rookie at 31.

Looking at the yougsters and how good they are im confident we will be up at the top on a consistant basis for a number of years its never been this good.

The youngsters are great. Burke in particular looks outstanding. My concern is the player drain. You can make all the excuses you want about what has happened this week but when Burke makes his mark and he leaves what then? As fans its no good saying "well there will be another Burke". We want to watch them in their prime and then some. Not see a glimpse of their potential and see them realise it elsewhere.

What happened on Tuesday was an indication of weak our sport is in the face of competition from RU and the NRL. I think IL realises this and I hope despite the t**d polishing exercise he did at the press conference there is no future in keeping things are they are. There was a hint of this in the Andy Wilson article but despite that we are in a pretty bad spot as a sport at the moment.

[thegimble]

Mossop IMO wasnt the best prop at Wigan you can trawl through all my previous posts and NOWHERE you will see ive rated Mossop as the best prop we have. I can live with him leaving because we have equall or better props already at the club.

Who is better? Prescott? Dudson? Flower? Taylor? Spencer? Lauaki? Cosby? Burke?

I would suggest none of them are. I would say he is better than any of them which is also why he was the target.

Makes great buisness to cash in and improve the contracts of others with the space available.He had his heart set on the NRL even his brother has said "All the hard work has paid off"when the announcement was made, Surely playing for Wigan is the pinnacle.

We don't need the money so why is it great business?

Nobody on this forum knows the finantial situation of Wigan Rl NOBODY unless the clubs accountant is on here and could shed any light on it.For all we know the club could be breaking even.

Yes we do. Wigan publish accounts every year.

Dudson should never had been signed, neither should Ben Flower...Harris was supposed to be a bad appointment yet we are top of the league. Cross was supposed to be rubbish and past it.

Peacock is supposed to be past it yet hes been mentioned as an early man of steel candidate. Age is nothing in this game hell Menzies i would have at the club and hes 40 its how you look after yourself. Im reserving judgement untill he actually plays a game.(Powell)

Sorry but that is rubbish. Powell is not a veteran RL player who knows the game inside out like Menzies or Peacock. He's a rookie at 31.

Looking at the yougsters and how good they are im confident we will be up at the top on a consistant basis for a number of years its never been this good.

The youngsters are great. Burke in particular looks outstanding. My concern is the player drain. You can make all the excuses you want about what has happened this week but when Burke makes his mark and he leaves what then? As fans its no good saying "well there will be another Burke". We want to watch them in their prime and then some. Not see a glimpse of their potential and see them realise it elsewhere.

What happened on Tuesday was an indication of weak our sport is in the face of competition from RU and the NRL. I think IL realises this and I hope despite the t**d polishing exercise he did at the press conference there is no future in keeping things are they are. There was a hint of this in the Andy Wilson article but despite that we are in a pretty bad spot as a sport at the moment.

So here is the answer to all the issues. Raise the cap to 4 million. Are you ready to pay £40 a game to watch Wigan because that is what it will take to raise the cap to the level the NRL have atm. If you were offered double the money your on to move you would as well especially when you know you can not get that pay at your present employer. So you get a bigger TV deal which we can not atm or you raise the prices to watch games. Which you can. Or you change the cap which is another issue and i do expect a reaction from certain owners and a move to a cap increase will come not to the level of the NRL but enough to keep some players from going. Salford have an owner with too much money he will make a move to change it i feel.

RL is a business and IL has the right to do the best he can out of a his business. Wether you like it or not it just seems anything he does its not right. You are missing the point last season Mossop wanted to go to the NRL and his form dipped. He has had 4 good games this season. So he is not the best prop at the club 4-6 good games in about 20 weeks of games is not a sign of a great prop. Its a pity he has been injured for part of those games but its reality he gets injured often and is out for around 1-2 months per season. IF he is fit he is one of the best props in SL nevermind Wigan. But you can not just say he is the best prop we have when he misses so many games.

Flower, Crosby and now Taylor are as good as him this season. You can not pay Mossop the money he wants and have him injured again and again which will happen. A player on the sideline injured is of no use. Yes any player can get injured but Mossop is young and has a history of it.

I would guess if Powell makes the grade which is debatable he will play more games for us from next season for 2 years than Mossop does in the NRL. You can not escape he has a dodgy shoulder.

Sorry Dave you look at things from a short sighted point of view Mossop will more than likely return in 3-4 years to SL most do and we got a contract in place with him with an agreed contract and its length. He wants to go so should we say no let him sulk form dips again he gets an injured and then we go to the play offs and his form is just as bad as it was for last seasons Play offs. If we went with Dudson and Fielden instead of Lima and Mossop for the eliminator against Leeds we would have won. Another factor people like to hide.

[Wes]

Sorry Dave I refuse to quote your super posts ....

IFL has been very smart in how he is handling the NRL situation, when an NRL club pays a fee the fee counts towards their cap as well as salaries so if NRL teams want Wigan players its going to cost them a damn sight more than signing SL players from other clubs who will release them for no fee.

We may/will lose a few exceptional players to the NRL but so will other teams that's just fact to the differing situations the leagues are in.

Powell will be a good acquisition to aid our youngsters I'm not going to start repeating myself here though as you can argue til your blue in the face, you have opposed my opinion Quinells and IFL's so obviously you know best.

Grass is blue and the sky is green .... I no doubt wait for your next extra long response with the super quotes on whilst you are right and everything Wigan is wrong.

[Owd Codger]

Very shrewd man is our Ian!

And I would sooner have him as captain of the ship rather than "I have a big chip on my shoulder about Wigan because they did not sign me" Hethington.

[Kittwazzer]

Looking towards Sam's eventual departure, how is Matty Russell shaping up in OZ - will he feature in the equation?

[markill]

Looking towards Sam's eventual departure, how is Matty Russell shaping up in OZ - will he feature in the equation?

he hasn't had a look in in the 1st grade. Not sure if he has played any Holden cup though

[markill]

Looking towards Sam's eventual departure, how is Matty Russell shaping up in OZ - will he feature in the equation?

he hasn't had a look in in the 1st grade. Not sure if he has played any Holden cup though

After looking into it, Russell has played every week in the Holden Cup (U20s). Played a mixture of FB and wing. Scored a few tries and made plenty of metres. Also made a few errors and missed a few tackles. Gold Coast are bottom of the Holden Cup ladder. Not sure where he is in the pecking order but they recently gave a debut to another winger over him. We'll see if Zillman gets injured whether they rate him or not.