The Transfer Rumour Mill Thread

[Saint Toppy]

32 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

- Wigan get a fee that they can add towards his cap space and bring in a marquee player, 

In SL transfer fees have nothing to do with a clubs SC. It doesn't matter who they sell or buy in, or for how much, their total SC doesn't change.

[Harry Stottle]

11 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

In SL transfer fees have nothing to do with a clubs SC. It doesn't matter who they sell or buy in, or for how much, their total SC doesn't change.

I think he means the wages they save on Bateman so freeing up space on their cap spend can be spent on others.

[Harry Stottle]

58 minutes ago, The Blues Ox said:

Im hoping this is not true, he's been really good for us this season and a key part in us playing some exciting rugby.

I like Woodburn Hall, did OK for Jamaica in the WC, would you be looking to play him 6 after the games he put in or keep him at full back?

[Mumby Magic]

1 hour ago, Angelic Cynic said:

   I admire your persistence - and humour!

Exactly what does the great marketing expert pay The Director of Rugby,Mr Chester for? I thought Chester and Lam ran the rugby side of things and the Marketing Expert fooled journalists and Marketing Experts.

Confused 

[dkw]

3 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Oh he’ll miss matches no doubt but he’ll be entertaining as he has been his all career.

Absolutely no doubt about that, but I would hate to be his coach ha ha...

[hunsletgreenandgold]

1 hour ago, Saint Toppy said:

In SL transfer fees have nothing to do with a clubs SC. It doesn't matter who they sell or buy in, or for how much, their total SC doesn't change.

Not sure I said it did? Just meant money they'll get might add to the coffers to throw a bit more at someone else. 

[Mark]

Swinton signed Liam Cooper from Whitehaven alongside some re-signings from last year. Should be interesting to see who fills in the half back places and hookers. Think we could see Else and Waterworth signing again from last year but still leaves us a few short 

[Col81]

Declan Patton - What is he likely to be earning per year? long way to travel daily to Bradford from Warrington where he lives. 

Would Widnes be an option for him? didn't Kear sign him at Bradford? seems an obvious fit

[The Blues Ox]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

I like Woodburn Hall, did OK for Jamaica in the WC, would you be looking to play him 6 after the games he put in or keep him at full back?

I imagine it will just be same again for us next season with JWH at FB, Jouffret/Keyes in the halves and Moore/Wood at 9 with Inman able to fill in for injuries. I really enjoyed the rugby we played last season so Im hoping for the same again next year. I think the replacements we are making are improvments but we have said that before. In Maher, Doro, and King adds a bit of size compared to this year but there are rumors that Arundel won't be at Fax next year which leaves us 2 centres short. With Tibbs emergence last season maybe he takes one of those spots but I imagine we are on the lookout for a good centre but Im not sure there are too many on the market but maybe an ex Leigh player may be looked at for one of those spots.

[Ragingbull]

45 minutes ago, Col81 said:

Declan Patton - What is he likely to be earning per year? long way to travel daily to Bradford from Warrington where he lives. 

Would Widnes be an option for him? didn't Kear sign him at Bradford? seems an obvious fit

Let's hope so 

[Col81]

38 minutes ago, Ragingbull said:

Let's hope so 

Why is he bad news? he is surely in the last chance saloon. I know he is full time now its looking like a big fall from Warrington first team a few seasons ago

[The Phantom Horseman]

2 hours ago, Col81 said:

Declan Patton - What is he likely to be earning per year? long way to travel daily to Bradford from Warrington where he lives. 

Would Widnes be an option for him? didn't Kear sign him at Bradford? seems an obvious fit

Widnes already have Gilmore and Craven pencilled in as their starters with Lyons the likely back up, it's presumably unlikely they would be adding a 4th half especially one who probably wouldn't be cheap.

Batley are the obvious club that needs another half as they haven't yet announced a replacement for Gilmore which leaves them with White and Meadows, but whether Patton would be seen as fitting in with the culture there may be another matter.

[Harry Stottle]

2 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

I imagine it will just be same again for us next season with JWH at FB, Jouffret/Keyes in the halves and Moore/Wood at 9 with Inman able to fill in for injuries. I really enjoyed the rugby we played last season so Im hoping for the same again next year. I think the replacements we are making are improvments but we have said that before. In Maher, Doro, and King adds a bit of size compared to this year but there are rumors that Arundel won't be at Fax next year which leaves us 2 centres short. With Tibbs emergence last season maybe he takes one of those spots but I imagine we are on the lookout for a good centre but Im not sure there are too many on the market but maybe an ex Leigh player may be looked at for one of those spots.

Hi Oxy, I thought you would say that in relation to JWH, in my opinion I would put Jouffret at 7 and partner him with JWH, why, I just don't get the hype that Joe Keyes receives, I remember watching him playing for the Academy in '14 v the Aussie Schoolboys and even back then was not that impressed in fact I thought he was a political selection coming from London when there were better halves to select from, but fast forward to the last couple of weeks I just could not fathom out where he was playing for Ireland eve though he had a 7 on his back, perhaps he was overawed by Luke Keary or playing to instruction but he was hardly in the games. How do you rate him Oxy, have I not seen enough of him to make a more realistic judgement?

 

[The Blues Ox]

13 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Hi Oxy, I thought you would say that in relation to JWH, in my opinion I would put Jouffret at 7 and partner him with JWH, why, I just don't get the hype that Joe Keyes receives, I remember watching him playing for the Academy in '14 v the Aussie Schoolboys and even back then was not that impressed in fact I thought he was a political selection coming from London when there were better halves to select from, but fast forward to the last couple of weeks I just could not fathom out where he was playing for Ireland eve though he had a 7 on his back, perhaps he was overawed by Luke Keary or playing to instruction but he was hardly in the games. How do you rate him Oxy, have I not seen enough of him to make a more realistic judgement?

 

Watching him every week I think he has been our best player over the season by a long distance. He is not really the type of player that I would say you pay money to watch, for me I pay to watch Jouffret and JWH as they can produce that bit of magic, but at this level Keyes does everything you expect from a half back and probably does it better than most of the other players that play that position. Im trying to think of a comparable half back partnership from the past and the one that springs to mind is Long/Martyn(Obviously gulf in class allowing) but Long able to produce the magic but its really Martyn that is running the show. Keyes does that role very well.

[Ragingbull]

2 hours ago, Col81 said:

Why is he bad news? he is surely in the last chance saloon. I know he is full time now its looking like a big fall from Warrington first team a few seasons ago

He's been a 'bad apple' so to speak.  Disruptive bad attitude that's not part of Dunnings plans going forward. 

He wasn't the only one by the way, we have got rid of the other senior players that didn't give a toss. Hopefully we can manage to move him on

 

[ATLANTISMAN]

7 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Great business for Wigan, I would snatch Wests hand off if they can get that for him he is nowhere near the player he was two years ago - my opinion of course, you would think that Wests would give Wigan a wide berth though with the last two signings they brought in from them they didn't exactly set the competition alight did they.

Totally agree have seen him various times last season and was average TAKE THE CASH:)

 

p

[binosh]

9 hours ago, Davo5 said:

Yeah because Wigan have no previous history of signing imports who make a significant impact on our comp.

Not for a long time, Wigans last few imports by their own fans admission have been underwhelming. Lam is well respected in Australia and the UK, and has a decent reputation as the Aus assistant.

[binosh]

8 hours ago, Angelic Cynic said:

   I admire your persistence - and humour!

Exactly what does the great marketing expert pay The Director of Rugby,Mr Chester for? I thought Chester and Lam ran the rugby side of things and the Marketing Expert fooled journalists and Marketing Experts.

Is that a question or a statement?

[Angelic Cynic]

3 minutes ago, binosh said:

Is that a question or a statement?

'Twas a question for Harry - hence the question mark - after he came out with quotes,such as, 

Quote

But perhap's Mr Beaumont is a very good salesman and he works very well with Mr Lam, in that Mr Lam brings in the contacts and Mr Beaumont sells his club and vision to them, just a thought

Just pondered why Mr Chester was at the club.Seems superfluous. ( No question )

[binosh]

6 minutes ago, Angelic Cynic said:

'Twas a question for Harry - hence the question mark - after he came out with quotes,such as, 

Just pondered why Mr Chester was at the club.Seems superfluous. ( No question )

In SL a club must have a certain framework of people within the business, minimum requirements by the games governing body. From what I remember the owner (common place in the championship) used to deal with a lot of daily business, when Chester became available he didn’t want a coaching job but Derek thought he would be an experienced operator in that role to support Lam so Derek could step away and focus more on his business ventures and travelling. Chester & Lam have been brilliant for our club and have attracted a style and professionalism I haven’t seen before. They have so far got our recruitment spot on.

Edited November 2, 2022 by binosh

[EagleEyePie]

14 hours ago, UTK said:

John Bateman to West Tigers being reported as a done deal in Australia - 250k AUD transfer fee suggested.

Wigan's statement saying there had been no formal offer and Bateman saying he'll talk about it after the world cup rather than denying it pretty much confirm that this is probably going to happen once the world cup has finished.

It seems like a good deal for everyone involved. For me Bateman is in exactly the same boat as Sam Tomkins was when he returned to Wigan from the NRL as a marquee player. Both struggled initially and then settled at a level that was decent but nowhere near good enough for that marquee tag. I think it's very likely that when Bateman leaves he'll be outstanding because he's a quality player. It was the same situation with Tomkins. For whatever reason both players just couldn't recreate the form they used to have at Wigan on their return. Perhaps being a marquee player just adds too much pressure that is hard to live up to. It's why I'm quite relived Williams didn't return. He'll be a quality player for Wire but nothing will convince me he'd have played well for Wigan given the evidence of other players.

Not that it only applies to marquee players. It seems to happen with pretty much every player that leaves and then returns - something that was quite frustrating when it almost seemed like Kris Radlinski's policy to re-sign former players.

In this situation, yes it's a shame to lose Bateman as I think his performances haven't been poor but they've been well below what he produced at his best and what you'd expect of a marquee player. Wigan get to free up some cap space and maybe put that towards strengthening another position. Going into next season with Farrell and KPP as our back row doesn't seem too bad. Smithies can cover there given how many loose forward options we have, Isa still under contract who is steady if unspectacular and there's Junior Nsemba who will hopefully get more opportunities next year. It's a shame Nicholson and Rushton left in the last couple of years but that's the way things go.

Good move all round I reckon.

[The Phantom Horseman]

17 hours ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

Widnes already have Gilmore and Craven pencilled in as their starters with Lyons the likely back up, it's presumably unlikely they would be adding a 4th half especially one who probably wouldn't be cheap.

Batley are the obvious club that needs another half as they haven't yet announced a replacement for Gilmore which leaves them with White and Meadows, but whether Patton would be seen as fitting in with the culture there may be another matter.

Josh Woods announced by Batley this morning, fills a need for them with Gilmore gone to Widnes but also makes that another unlikely destination for Patton.

Edited November 3, 2022 by The Phantom Horseman

[kiggy]

On 31/10/2022 at 12:21, The Phantom Horseman said:

A few days ago I was trying to work out who had left and who was staying at Toulouse and I came up with this list (may not be 100% correct)
Staying
Olly Ashall-Bott
Benjamin Laguerre
Latrell Schaumkel
Matthieu Jussuame
Paul Marcon
Lambert Belmas
Guy Armitage
Harrison Hansen
Joe Bretherton
Maxime Stefani
Anthony Marion
Dom Peyroux
Eloi Pelissier
Hugo Pezet

Leaving
Justin Sangare
Cory Norman
Romain Navarette
Matty Russell
Chris Hankinson
Maxime Puech
Lucas Albert
Andrew Dixon
Tony Gigot
Nathan Peats
Lloyd White
Joseph Paulo
Mitch Garbutt

Not sure about one or two others ( such as James Cunningham, Ilias Bergal, Daniel Alvaro).

On the one hand, I think 11 of the staying players played in their final SL game where they gave a good account at St Helens, so they are still going to have the nucleus of a strong squad at Championship level.

On the other hand, they have lost a lot of quality players, and it sounds like they are going to be relying on a lot of younger players stepping up from their reserves or maybe other Elite 1 teams.

 

James is staying, Daniel not. Unsure about Ilias, I assume staying (for now).

Lloyd won't play again, he had a massive operation to fix his back, which is a shame for him.  Lucas has an ACL injury and probably won't play for anyone before the end of May next year anyway. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

1 hour ago, kiggy said:

James is staying, Daniel not. Unsure about Ilias, I assume staying (for now).

Lloyd won't play again, he had a massive operation to fix his back, which is a shame for him.  Lucas has an ACL injury and probably won't play for anyone before the end of May next year anyway. 

Thanks for that, do you know where Alvaro is going? back to Aus?

[WN83]

16 hours ago, EagleEyePie said:

Wigan's statement saying there had been no formal offer and Bateman saying he'll talk about it after the world cup rather than denying it pretty much confirm that this is probably going to happen once the world cup has finished.

It seems like a good deal for everyone involved. For me Bateman is in exactly the same boat as Sam Tomkins was when he returned to Wigan from the NRL as a marquee player. Both struggled initially and then settled at a level that was decent but nowhere near good enough for that marquee tag. I think it's very likely that when Bateman leaves he'll be outstanding because he's a quality player. It was the same situation with Tomkins. For whatever reason both players just couldn't recreate the form they used to have at Wigan on their return. Perhaps being a marquee player just adds too much pressure that is hard to live up to. It's why I'm quite relived Williams didn't return. He'll be a quality player for Wire but nothing will convince me he'd have played well for Wigan given the evidence of other players.

Not that it only applies to marquee players. It seems to happen with pretty much every player that leaves and then returns - something that was quite frustrating when it almost seemed like Kris Radlinski's policy to re-sign former players.

In this situation, yes it's a shame to lose Bateman as I think his performances haven't been poor but they've been well below what he produced at his best and what you'd expect of a marquee player. Wigan get to free up some cap space and maybe put that towards strengthening another position. Going into next season with Farrell and KPP as our back row doesn't seem too bad. Smithies can cover there given how many loose forward options we have, Isa still under contract who is steady if unspectacular and there's Junior Nsemba who will hopefully get more opportunities next year. It's a shame Nicholson and Rushton left in the last couple of years but that's the way things go.

Good move all round I reckon.

I'd like to see what we do with any replacement before being confident we could say it's a good move. In big games Bateman has been fine but I do think overall there has been a motivation issue. I think in his case he loved playing in the NRL and the challenge that brings but he wanted to be closer to his family in the UK. I can understand why then coming back to Superleague may just make you lose a bit of that competitive edge and especially in lesser games, I don't think we've seen anything like his best. He was excellent in the Cup run last year, especially against Salford in the quarters and then in the final and I think that highlights that he's needed that big game, knock out jeopardy feeling to get him up and firing. He has come back from Oz with hugely inflated expectations though and by anyones standards he had a good 2022 but he isn't being judged by normal standards and as you point out, the marquee tag adds to that. The worry I have is that we lose a very good player and don't replace him. In that case us saving cap space is pointless and I'd rather we just keep paying him the money. Yes he might be getting more than his performances warrant but there's no doubt in my mind that we're better with him, than we are without him.