Tomkins Leaving - Official

[TrueBlueWarrior]

Exactly. He costs the club on the salary cap £75K but what the club was worried about was overall cost.

They could have kept him for another year on the same wages and then offered a deal from that going forward but decided to tell him they were not prepared to pay him his current salary for another season. Then offering a four year deal on less money is still a pay cut even though it would have made him still a marquee player.

Whether Sam is really motivated by a different lifestyle or not, the club opened the exit door and he chose to walk through it.

The most interesting thing for me though in this statement is that the deal they offered him would have made him one of the three top paid players at the club. Not THE top paid player but one of three highly paid players.

I'd love to know who the other two are because whoever thay are, they are being seriously overpaid. And I would include Lockers in that if he is one of them simply because of his age the fact he does so few minutes these days.

It says '.....one of the top three contracts that the club has offered anyone in the past 10 years......'

So he must have been the top earner ever then,so they wanted him to take a pay cut surely?

Definitely!!

[Wigan_forever1985]

Don't really know how to feel about the whole situation to be honest. On the one hand i don't begrudge any player who wants to better their financial situation but it leaves me questioning our recruitment/retention policy

we seem to have a very much open door policy in our out, if you go to a NRL club you can walk back into the team if you fail, if another club comes sniffing you're likely to find better deals away from the club.

Sam has played us well, he signed on a top wage injured has used our top of the line medical facilities to regain fitness and in his first full season of fitness managed to use his form to bag a bigger contract elsewhere. I dont blame Sam for any of that, but i think the club needs to be a bit more stringent on signing players, Project players and "oh he played for us before" is not a recruitment policy, signing injured players in not a recruitment policy and its coming back to bite us

[ian b]

Sam gone Bateman marquee player

[Wigan_forever1985]

Sam gone Bateman marquee player

As good as player as bateman is though, is he a "marquee" player?

He's a strong runner and a tenacious defender but lets call a spade a spade, he's limited passing skills and no kicking skills, so can he turn a game on its head?, i suppose you could argue he can lead the charge but in terms of what i consider a marquee player to be then i dont think he fits the bill

really i cant see any justification for a marquee outside of a spine position and really i think 6 or 7 should be the main target for them, those are the players who you need to be the top end players

[Wes]

I can’t help but think Dave and others would have had a moan if we retained him on mega money!! It’s ok saying he’s only 75k on the cap but that’s no excuse to overpay somebody!!

Also most contracts in sports now are progressive, sams 4th year may have been more than his 3rd. Let’s not forget we lost a year of that because of his own p1ssed up antics.

Ok he’s a good player but he isn’t the best Sam Tomkins we’ve ever had nor is he the best player in the league.

Hardaker at FB and a Marquee 7 from Oz will be better than Sam at 1 Powell at 7 so here’s to hoping the club sign an NRL 7 that has lots of class.

[Wes]

Sam gone Bateman marquee player

As good as player as bateman is though, is he a "marquee" player?

He's a strong runner and a tenacious defender but lets call a spade a spade, he's limited passing skills and no kicking skills, so can he turn a game on its head?, i suppose you could argue he can lead the charge but in terms of what i consider a marquee player to be then i dont think he fits the bill

really i cant see any justification for a marquee outside of a spine position and really i think 6 or 7 should be the main target for them, those are the players who you need to be the top end players

No he’s not, I agree with this post word for word!!!

[Josie's friend]

Sam gone Bateman marquee player

Tbh I don't agree he plays at centre for England because there are better second rowers, your marquee should be for a top player who would walk in to the England side.
Using the marquee status as a bargaining tool has already failed with George.

[Wigan_forever1985]

I can’t help but think Dave and others would have had a moan if we retained him on mega money!! It’s ok saying he’s only 75k on the cap but that’s no excuse to overpay somebody!!

Also most contracts in sports now are progressive, sams 4th year may have been more than his 3rd. Let’s not forget we lost a year of that because of his own p1ssed up antics.

Ok he’s a good player but he isn’t the best Sam Tomkins we’ve ever had nor is he the best player in the league.

Hardaker at FB and a Marquee 7 from Oz will be better than Sam at 1 Powell at 7 so here’s to hoping the club sign an NRL 7 that has lots of class.

I totally agree with this however there is 0% of this being the case the comparison is

1.Sam 6.Williams 7.Powell or 1.Hardaker 6.Williams 7.Powell

in which case Sam is more of what we need as we have a completely avg 7 who isn't going anywhere.

I agree also that Sam now is not the player he was, however i disagree he isnt still one of the better players in the league, name a fullback other than Barbra who is better within superleague, not many 1's can slip into the halves, because not many 1's have the skill set Tomkins has.

[First Try Tickle]

Theres not a person on this board who woudnt take the opportunity to earn more money given the chance. Especially if your earning power stopped at say 35yrs old.
Good luck for the the future Sam and thanks for the memories.

Its not just earning more money, its then moving your young family to another country away from friends and family. Then telling them that he'll spend every other weekend away from home as he travels the UK playing games. There's also a good chance they will lose more games than they win, so his mood wont be the best.

An opportunity at work came up like this recently, more money but it meant staying away during the week and much more work at the weekend. The missus said no thanks.

[DaveO]

Jesus Dave, you really will spin it to make the club look bad, won't you? Work it out man! ST's current contract is the biggest ever, Locker's highest contract would probably have been 2nd, this new contract for Sam would have been 3rd. Are you seriously trying to make out that's a bad deal given his age over the term of the contract and recent history?

The only person spinning anything is Radlinski. Comparing what the club chose to offer a player today to what it offered players over the past ten years is totally irrelevant. The rules were different and the players available were different.

To spell it out when there were more class players about you would not be forced to offer a top wage to a 29 year old player. Given there are few such players available you are now forced to do that if you want to keep them. Given also we have a marquee rule you actually can do that if you want to where you could not before. What the club did over the last ten years when circumstances were completely different is totally irrelevant because the situation today is not that which prevailed over the least ten years. Radlinski is spinning a line.