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Owen Farrell to sign for Wigan?


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4 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

Maybe comes over in 2023 after World Cup so he can go to France with England RL, again internationals being the only incentive to come over. 

Can't see it.. will got to Japan or France for massive cash for club rugby

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It's hilarious that many can't accept that Farrell would have been a top rugby league player.

If he crossed over now then he'd be at least serviceable halfback in both super league and the NRL at the very least.

He's a big "what if?" On many levels. Like a load of lads that grew up with a league background and then went to the dark side.

It's clear that plenty would happily see him fail just to get some kind of win over union. It's pathetic.

 

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13 minutes ago, RP London said:

Can't see it.. will got to Japan or France for massive cash for club rugby

You have to factor in that his mam and Dad are from Wigan. His Dad and uncle are two of Wigan's greatest ever players and his grandad is still makes a living scouting rugby league players.

Owen Farrell was born Owen O'Loughlin because his mam is Sean's sister.

He's made a few quid in his career. He will play for Wigan before his career ends.

He might be terrible when that time comes around but he 100% will end his career at Wigan in rugby league.

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7 minutes ago, Welshleaguelover said:

You have to factor in that his mam and Dad are from Wigan. His Dad and uncle are two of Wigan's greatest ever players and his grandad is still makes a living scouting rugby league players.

Owen Farrell was born Owen O'Loughlin because his mam is Sean's sister.

He's made a few quid in his career. He will play for Wigan before his career ends.

He might be terrible when that time comes around but he 100% will end his career at Wigan in rugby league.

Already factored in to my thinking as I knew that anyway. Just don't see it even with that. 

He's made a good few quid but it's still not footballer type money, and there is a lot more for less in French and especially Japanese Club rugby where he won't potentially ruin a reputation or family history. 

Edited by RP London
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2 minutes ago, RP London said:

Already factored in to my thinking as I knew that anyway. Just don't see it even with that. 

He's made a good few quid but it's still not footballer type money, and there is a lot more for less in French and especially Japanese Club rugby where he won't potentially ruin a reputation or family history. 

Fair point, but I don't think top level athletes think like that.

I'd be shocked if he doesn't play for Wigan before he retires.

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2 minutes ago, Welshleaguelover said:

Fair point, but I don't think top level athletes think like that.

I'd be shocked if he doesn't play for Wigan before he retires.

Think like what? 

You recon history says go to Wigan I recon history says don't, both due to family ties to the club. 

Wallet would say league is down the pecking order. 

Legacy would be stay in union (he has more to lose going to league). 

The ONLY thing that takes him to Wigan is to prove a point he doesn't need to make at 32/3... Ronaldo tells you that that doesn't always work out well. 

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2 hours ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

God - you’re still infesting the site? We need vichies on here like Leigh needs a train station. 

The Troll always squats where the free meals are easiest to get.

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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17 minutes ago, Welshleaguelover said:

He might be terrible when that time comes around but he 100% will end his career at Wigan in rugby league.

Why should he bother? He's had a long and successful career in the other code and he'd need to learn (and unlearn) so much in the twilight of his career.

He can retire without feeling the need to put himself through all that and nobody without an axe to grind would say he'd dodged anything.

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Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

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1 minute ago, RP London said:

Think like what? 

You recon history says go to Wigan I recon history says don't, both due to family ties to the club. 

Wallet would say league is down the pecking order. 

Legacy would be stay in union (he has more to lose going to league). 

The ONLY thing that takes him to Wigan is to prove a point he doesn't need to make at 32/3... Ronaldo tells you that that doesn't always work out well. 

I don't think he's gonna be sat there thinking "I'll ruin the family legacy"

It'd be more that he might want to keep the legacy going and he's a competitive fella.

I don't think the Ronaldo comparison is applicable. That fella is something else on many levels.

I can accept we have a difference in opinion though.

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3 minutes ago, Futtocks said:

Why should he bother? He's had a long and successful career in the other code and he'd need to learn (and unlearn) so much in the twilight of his career.

He can retire without feeling the need to put himself through all that and nobody without an axe to grind would say he'd dodged anything.

I'm not saying he should be bothered either way.

I just genuinely feel he will play for Wigan before he retires.

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18 hours ago, UTK said:

Yes ultimately it is very difficult to spot, there's an endless line of NRL reserve graders that have gone on to become Wallabies/All Blacks but then again there's some very good players in RL who have struggled to transition to RU.

I did see the other day a Super Rugby prop from one of the NZ teams has signed with a QCup side, now I think that is a very bold transition - the front row of both codes are extremely different from one another.

Yes, Alex Fidow. Not really sure where a rugby union prop fits in the thirteen-man code.

Edited by eal
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7 hours ago, Welshleaguelover said:

It's hilarious that many can't accept that Farrell would have been a top rugby league player.

If he crossed over now then he'd be at least serviceable halfback in both super league and the NRL at the very least.

He's a big "what if?" On many levels. Like a load of lads that grew up with a league background and then went to the dark side.

It's clear that plenty would happily see him fail just to get some kind of win over union. It's pathetic.

 

Agree with you. I totally understand the somewhat childish immaturity some fans have towards yawnion but Owen Farrell is so steeped in league that to deny he’d have been a top player is just pathetic. 

Anyway, the papers are sniffing around this: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/owen-farrell-crosses-rugby-codes-28569639

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7 hours ago, Welshleaguelover said:

I don't think he's gonna be sat there thinking "I'll ruin the family legacy"

It'd be more that he might want to keep the legacy going and he's a competitive fella.

I don't think the Ronaldo comparison is applicable. That fella is something else on many levels.

I can accept we have a difference in opinion though.

It's not a comparison to Ronaldo per se just saying that these dream moves can become a nightmare.. and there are more examples than just Ronaldo (it's just the present one). 

Problem with this "argument" in general is its how one person feels and that's almost impossible to really know and can be quite unpredictable..  I just cannot see what he has to gain from it. 

But as you say we're both pretty stuck as it isn't like there is a "fact" to present that explains it. 

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Would be interesting move if it happened and would generate a lot of interest from our game

I suspect OF has heard the would he have been any good in League all of his life.  With Wigan background despite his Union successes I suspect that that is pretty irritating too. 
 

What’s in in it for him is probably not money but a chance to try and prove Northern doubters wrong 

 

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15 minutes ago, headtackle said:

Would be interesting move if it happened and would generate a lot of interest from our game

I suspect OF has heard the would he have been any good in League all of his life.  With Wigan background despite his Union successes I suspect that that is pretty irritating too. 
 

What’s in in it for him is probably not money but a chance to try and prove Northern doubters wrong 

 

Thats the bit I am just not sure about. I understand the argument but also he is no fool. I dont see that many Northern doubters, there are a few on here that dont think he would make it, there are some that will think he would have gone ok and there are some that will think he would have been a world beater but there isnt the clammer of the whole game saying "he would have been no good". He will be 32 end of the next world cup. He is the type of player who puts his body on the line and will be feeling that at some point in the next year or so (probably already does to be fair). His pace will go etc.. We've seen it before when players come over later in life that they just cannot adapt and he will know this too. He has as much chance of proving the doubters right than he does of proving them wrong and will he really want to do that?

He may want the extra challenge, he may want to pull on the shirt that is linked to his family so much but equally he may be happy to go "I won over 100 caps for England, I was one of the best of my generation in the sport I played" and just leave it at that and I really wouldnt blame him, i'm a positive type of person normally but I just dont see anything but a downside to this.

What does succeeds actually look like in this, because I cant see him going to the world cup in 2025 at 34, so what a Grand Final win, a challenge cup, a solid place in the Wigan team?? But I would expect Wigan to win a trophy in the next couple of years anyway with or without him so is that his legacy? no i dont think so its the minimum for wigan and it wont be his influence that wins it, also hes taking a place away from one of the wigan academy players that could be more useful in the long term of Wigan and England. 

People will be looking for him to fail, they will make failure out of being dropped etc If Wigan dont win a cup while he is there he will have failed etc. 

I feel he is on a hiding to nothing by coming over when he can comfortably finish his playing career in union earning top dollar and living in a different country for a bit.

But I'm boring now so I'll leave it be.

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10 hours ago, Welshleaguelover said:

It's hilarious that many can't accept that Farrell would have been a top rugby league player.

 

There's absolutely no guarantees at all that he'd make even a half decent league player. In fact the majority of union players who make the switch invariably fail to get anywhere near the level expected of them when they sign. It usually takes them a couple of seasons just to adjust to the sheer physicality & speed of our game, and many just never get there. Going from making more tackles in 1 game than you make in an entire season in union is a big challenge, as is the pace of league. Compared to union there are very few breaks in play. The skill set needed for union isn't the same skill set you need for league

League players often find it equally as tough going the other way, mainly because of the technicalities of union, they too need a different skill set.

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9 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

There's absolutely no guarantees at all that he'd make even a half decent league player. In fact the majority of union players who make the switch invariably fail to get anywhere near the level expected of them when they sign. It usually takes them a couple of seasons just to adjust to the sheer physicality & speed of our game, and many just never get there. Going from making more tackles in 1 game than you make in an entire season in union is a big challenge, as is the pace of league. Compared to union there are very few breaks in play. The skill set needed for union isn't the same skill set you need for league

League players often find it equally as tough going the other way, mainly because of the technicalities of union, they too need a different skill set.

The difference with Farrell is that he used to play growing up so while many would be converts the conversation around Farrell is more about "what if he had never gone to union in the first place".. so many of the things you say (which are quite correct) arent over relevant to the conversation. 

10 hours ago, Welshleaguelover said:

It's hilarious that many can't accept that Farrell would have been a top rugby league player.

I'm not sure its so much people not accepting it but that people are questioning it.. they are questioning more if he would transition well now, or previously. Where as arguably if you look at my point above the only questions may come from the odd person that saw him play as a junior, if you look at the player in Union that he became I dont think many looking at that would question that if he had stayed in League with the attitude and skills he has shown at senior RU that he would have made a very very good RL player. He also wouldnt have found the obstacle some people do of that first opportunity, someone would always have taken a punt on Andy's son.

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1 hour ago, Saint Toppy said:

In fact the majority of union players who make the switch invariably fail to get anywhere near the level expected of them when they sign.

Have you any stats for this? It may be true for recent signings but I the past many union signings quickly became some of the best players in the game. For example Cliff Watson, Len Killeen and Merv Hicks at Saints, Graham Rees and Alan Buckley at Swinton, and I'm sure many others. These were not big name signings, just club players spotted by scouts.

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2 minutes ago, BadlyOverdrawnBoy said:

Have you any stats for this?

This depends entirely on when you started watching the game for those who were present when TGG and Yawn had a revolving door ...one way, it was clear how good some yoonion players were ( in a very different time it has to be said) and how many more by far disappeared never to be seen again.

I think you'd need to find any statistics for A N Others who played on a Friday night and reappeared in Llanelli having changed their name by deed poll the following week.

2 warning points:kolobok_dirol:  Non-Political

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

Agree with you. I totally understand the somewhat childish immaturity some fans have towards yawnion but Owen Farrell is so steeped in league that to deny he’d have been a top player is just pathetic. 

Anyway, the papers are sniffing around this: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/owen-farrell-crosses-rugby-codes-28569639

Very few sons go on to emulate what their fathers did. The vast majority don't even make it. That isn't to say Owen wouldn't have but it's not right to assume he'd be a top player just because Andy was either.

I did see Owen play Rugby League and he was pretty much like any of the top kids are at that age. A dominant player in a dominant St Pats team. He would have undoubtedly signed for Wigan, if Andy hadn't have gone to Saracens, as funnily enough George Ford probably would have if it wasn't for Mike and his RU employment. After that who knows but nothing is a given either way.

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3 minutes ago, Damien said:

Very few sons go on to emulate what their fathers did. The vast majority don't even make it. That isn't to say Owen wouldn't have but it's not right to assume he'd be a top player just because Andy was either.

I did see Owen play Rugby League and he was pretty much like any of the top kids are at that age. A dominant player in a dominant St Pats team. He would have undoubtedly signed for Wigan, if Andy hadn't have gone to Saracens, as funnily enough George Ford probably would have if it wasn't for Mike and his RU employment. After that who knows but nothing is a given either way.

It's not a given, no. But it's a bit like if I stood in the middle of the M25. I wouldn't know for certain that I'd get hit by a vehicle but I have a fair idea.

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7 minutes ago, Man of Kent said:

It's not a given, no. But it's a bit like if I stood in the middle of the M25. I wouldn't know for certain that I'd get hit by a vehicle but I have a fair idea.

It's really not. It's awfully simplistic to say that because Andy was a top player that Owen would be. I think anyone growing up in RL towns have seen scores of sons of famous players amount to little.

Who are all the players that have successfully followed in their father's footsteps and become a top player like Andy Farrell? There are very, very few. Considerably more don't make it at all, struggle to break through like Umyla Hanley or have a career like Lewis Tierney.

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10 minutes ago, Damien said:

It's really not. It's awfully simplistic to say that because Andy was a top player that Owen would be. I think anyone growing up in RL towns have seen scores of sons of famous players amount to little.

Who are all the players that have successfully followed in their father's footsteps and become a top player like Andy Farrell? There are very, very few. Considerably more don't make it at all, struggle to break through like Umyla Hanley or have a career like Lewis Tierney.

Seems like a good topic, sons of former professional players who made it or otherwise. 

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