We don’t need to spend the world on a prop. If (big if I admit) we get GW back he takes up £75k homegrown. There’s plenty of cap left considering we’ll be departing, and have departed, with several high earners to sign a centre if we need to. We [icould [/i also look to our academy to fill that gap.



If GW goes elsewhere and we sign another HB - the first one to mind is Sezer, that promotion probably becomes a reality as it’s unavoidable really that Sezer would come at a decent price. Though I certainly wouldn’t say marquee level.. Don’t forget Bibby can play in the centres as well and shows up well there. I’d be fairly comfortable with Zak and Bibby at centre.

75k may only count on the cap, but his full wage will need to count in the budget.



Salford for example probably have loads of cap space left, but don't have the budget to buy anyone else.



With no income for almost 2 years perhaps we need to cut our cloth.

Does anyone but a rugby club to make money on their investment? Surely it's a labour of love?

Say the same about most sports really.

Yeah and that's why I'm staying positive that we aren't cutting the cloth.



IL isn't an idiot and he's certainly not a swivel eyed fan (something I've be guilty of), but he is a fan at heart and that says something imo. He wouldn't have bought us if he didn't want to make the club successful and he knows that he'll have to spend to deliver that.

How often can he keep throwing 500k down the drain though?



He might not have bought us to make any money, but he also won't want to pee it all away.

Oh yeah I get that but, just in respect of the cap we [ishould [/ihave the space and I’d even argue the finances with Danson for his wages.

I guess it's until has had enough and then someone else wants to throw their money down the pan.



If might be a cynical way of thinking, but that's all this is. It's ego stroking for rich dudes who want a dabble at owing the favourite sports club. I know I'd probably be the same.

+1 if I had that kind of money though I don’t think IL is [ithat much [/iof an ego stroker. It’s likely our next owner will be Danson and so the cycle begins again.

Just hasn’t happened for him at Wigan, hopefully will do the player and Newcastle some good.



Assuming it’s a short term loan?

It’s two weeks. Get some match fitness ahead of our next batch of games.

I think that all loans have to be a minimum of two weeks before recall is possible so that is why most loans, like this one, tend to be referred to as an initial two week loan. I expect it to be extended after the two weeks to give him game time until he is deemed to be needed at Wigan.

Williams if he becomes one of our top 2 earners will only count for £75k, if not then his full wage will count against the cap (maybe minus some homegrown dispensations which others could clarify). If he is one of our top 2 earners than our current second highest earner would move out of the marquee spot and full wage count against the cap so it’s not as simple as saying GW will only count for £75k because that’s not true.

It’s not happened for him at Wigan because he’s not good enough, he’s lazy in defence and for a supposed impact prop he couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding. He’s a complete waste of cap space.

Thats not quite how it works. He may not be marquee this season but would take up a marquee spot next season.



However rumour has it wire are throwing stupid money his way and he is going there

People are making out that regardless of his wages he’s only gonna count £75k to the cap which is just not true.

I would absolutely love to have GW back but we need a new coach and at least 1 prop

It should always be about the bigger picture.



GW would be good news but behind a pack like we currently have? No thanks.



Priority needs to be a strong pack and to also have a strong squad, if that’s without GW then so be it.

Fully agree.

Can we not have George Williams and a strong pack? Does it have to be one or the other?



Williams is available. A top class forward isn't.

I’d say yes!



But given the option I’d prioritise the forwards and I don’t think we need to bring in a name as such, but we need two forwards that can offer more than what we currently have.



Successful sides have a habit of unearthing players that are not viewed as ‘top class’.



Can we bring in better than Clubb and Clarke? I’d hope so.

Imagine if we couldn't!!!!!

We may not have to imagine....

Have we really fallen so low? Perhaps Leigh will let us ground share with them.

This is nonsense and not how the marquee rule works within the salary cap. Where a player sits in “the earning order has no baring on whether a player is labelled as “marquee” or not. A team has to (openly, though there is some interpretation on what openly actually means) declare who their marquees are at the point of a contract being signed. Marquee status can be “turned off” during the length of the contract but that’s it.



Imagine an example where Williams signs for 150k and Hastings is on 200k. The marquee rule “effective saving” on Hastings is 50k (non home grown marquee is capped to 150k), where as the Williams effective saving is 75k (home grown marquee capped at 75k). Clearly, despite Hastings earning more, it would be more beneficial to Wigan to have Williams as a marquee rather than Hastings - thus why Williams doesn’t need to be in “the top two earners” to only count for 75k cap space



Similarly, since George Burgess was a marquee signing, we know that Wigan currently have an open slot available on the Marquee rule (or not using the second marquee, if you prefer). I am happy to be directed otherwise, but I haven’t seen any other declaration from Wigan of anyone else taking that slot. So if Wigan were to sign tomorrow, Wigan would need to be 75k under the cap to register Williams, assuming he was declared as a marquee registration. It’s also entirely possible he can be registered without the marquee, but that would be using the usual cap value methods, based on his salary and other factors (there are no home grown dispensations per say on an individual salary any more, it is instead a bonus up to 50k over the cap limit based on the number of players homegrown playing in SL and the NRL).