Wigan Peer wrote:
As would i, but RL in this country will struggle to compete with the money on offer in Aus, and you really can't blame the players either.. Many i'm sure will blame the clubs, and expect owners to be able to resist, but Aus clubs are not spending money put up by owners, but money from TV revenue and we just don't have that.
I don't pretend to have a solution to the economics, but one thing is clear - if this continues to happen, we may as well all go home.
I've said differently in the past, but I'm now fed up to the back teeth with this, and I for one am not sticking around to watch British RL revert to semi-amateur status, which apparently is our fate if something isn't done soon (though I don't expect the defection of Josh Charnley to change anything at Red Hall, because after all it's only another bloody Wiganer! - probably we'll have to await the departure of Ryan Hall and Kallum Watkins for that, though I'm not holding my breath).
And to be honest, I'm getting to the stage where I DO blame the players - at least for the part where they seem quite happy to break their contracts. Sam Tomkins signed a 5-year deal, and yet the club had to incorporate an extra clause supposedly tying him to a minimum of 3 years because apparently the overarching deal was no guarantee of anything!!!
When did this actually start happening?
When did RL players suddenly develop a conscience bypass?
I don't give a f*** how much money they stand to gain if they go somewhere else, the fact is they were happy to sign these contracts when it was in their favour. They ought to at least have the good grace to look shame-faced when they try to break them.
If Josh Charnley is allowed to go next year, we are in a big, big mess - at Wigan particularly.
I've never known a period when as many Wigan fans of my acquaintance were talking as much about not renewing season tickets. Even the pending Challenge Cup Final has done little to lift spirits in certain quarters, because people can't see a long-term future for us and the British game.
What'll be really funny is that we'll probably have an unexpectedly good World Cup, and the RFL will use it to try and gloss over the multiple cracks. To be followed in short order by the emergence of Ryan Hampshire as the best young player in the world, and Russell Crowe and whoever the f*** is running that game of donkey-heads called RU to immediately start jockeying for his signature.
Wigan, if not the RFL, need to fight them to the death over Josh Charnley. I really mean that. To the death.
If JC finishes up sulking and sitting on the bench for the rest of his contract, that may be a preferable option - because someone has to send a message to these lads and their agents that - okay, we've got no money, we've got no decent TV deal - but if nothing else, we are not being f****d over anymore when it comes to contracts.
