Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:47 am  

Yes good luck, still find it odf he went to wigan, only because i have my doubts on how much game time he will get, they are awash with quality players who cant get into 1st team. You only need look at spencer to see that. Also any sign of a transfer fee, or have we had to let him go. Any way good luck sam

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 9:51 am  

The easily offended shouldn't go to the Wigan site and read their news story on Sam... he's wearing a Wigan polo shirt in the picture

Good luck Hoppy. From the junior East side he played for three have gone professional. Sam, Ben Davies and Toby Adamson.

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:03 am  

Good luck Sam.

All Leythers think the Pies have signed a great player.

You will be missed.

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:27 am  

Upwards and onwards for Sam ,good luck with Wigan next season .

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:06 am  

Leigh24.7 wrote:

From the Leigh Official Site 11/04/13:
Leigh Centurions can today confirm that highly rated forward Sam Hopkins has penned a new 12 month deal with the club which will keep him at the Sports Village until the end of 2014.

Paul Rowley, Leigh Coach said;

"I am absolutely delighted that Sam has pledged his future with the club and am looking forward to seeing his meteoric level of progression continue over the next couple of years."

From the Leigh Official Site 20/06/13:
The 23 year old will join the Warriors for the start of pre-season in November when his current contract with the Centurions comes to an end.

Was someone telling porkies ????

Good luck Sam by the way - most consistant player since Chris Hill left.

Imagine our pack with Chris Hill, Sam Hopkins, Rob Parker, Mickey Higham, Ben Davies included.

Just to clarify the situation, Sam was contracted to us till the end of this season, he also had a further 12 months on contract with us but this had a SL release clause in it.

All in all this was the right deal for the boy and for us as a club at this point in time as we don't want to stand in the way of the player and would have lost him next season if a SL came in anyway.

Can I assure everyone having witnessed how hard our football director DB has worked on this deal, Wigan now know about our new BOD and the way we professionally negotiate and I would also assure our fans that the "Wigan Partnership" as its called by many on here had absolutely no bearing on this deal and other offers which were not as suitable for both player and Leigh Centurions were given serious consideration.

This deal IMO should leave Wigan Warriors and everyone else under no illusions that going forward we are a ambitious club in our own right and will be looking to retain the services of our talented players as we strive to build a SL club of our own over the coming years.

Can I just say Wigan Warriors conducted themselves professionally and while we have a rivalry with them which we want to reignite for Sam its a fantastic opportunity to go on and progress hopefully all the way to elite level.

All the best Sam.

Andy

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:38 am  

Hope it's a good move for Sam. I'm gutted that we've lost him.

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:50 am  

Andy, you say you didn't want to stand in his way, which is fair enough, then further on you say you want to keep hold of the talented players.....

Bit of a contradiction, cos lets be honest, ANY young 'un with loads of potential will "do one" if a SDL club comes calling!

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:57 am  

You inherit what you inherit. If his contract says you can leave if ....... with a fixed fee etc then you have little to negotiate. I would like to see these clauses excluded in future negotiations because they never say if your pants we can terminate

The only way we can ever have a hope of keeping our best is within a full time set up, until then we must get the best we can for them whilst not being silly and stopping them moving on.

Good luck Sam, I know you will want some medals before you go.

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 12:02 pm  

joanne callotte wrote:

Andy, you say you didn't want to stand in his way, which is fair enough, then further on you say you want to keep hold of the talented players.....

Bit of a contradiction, cos lets be honest, ANY young 'un with loads of potential will "do one" if a SDL club comes calling!

What I said was:

Quote "going forward we are a ambitious club in our own right and will be looking to retain the services of our talented players as we strive to build a SL club of our own over the coming years".

In Sams case it was a case for the new BOD to get the best deal we could as he had a clause in his contract which stated he could leave next season for a SL club, we have done a deal with Wigan were by the player gets his move and we don't stand in his way and we get to keep him to see this season out and hopefully challenge for honours.

With the new BOD and the ambition we have and hopefully the RFL changes league structures we feel as a club we will have a better chance of retaining our top class youngsters and are already building the structures and putting in place the foundations of SL club with real long term strategies.

Re: Hopkins to Wigan? : Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:15 pm  

So he's definitely our player until the end of the season, but we haven't got a fee for him? Is there anything to stop Wigan wanting him to play for them on dual reg this season?