Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 2:49 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

It was in May 2014 according to the article I read which you would presume takes him to the end of 2018 (as the contract won't run out in May 2018).

Let's hope it's all just hot air! I'll be extremely annoyed if it isn't and serious questions would need to be asked.

My reading of that contract signing in May 2014 is that it may have been back dated to start in February 2014 so it will be up for renewal at the end of 2017. All of which means he is negotiating right now for a better deal and the Warrington rumour has been started by his agent as a bargaining tool. Perfectly reasonably of course. George will be looking for parity with the top earners to reflect his standing in the team. I doubt the last contract would have reflected that.

A similar thing happened to Blake Green this year. He was on peanuts at the Storm, but after a successful couple of seasons his earning power is significantly higher. Storm can't afford to pay him what they pay Cronk, Smith, Bromwich etc so a move was the only option unless he accepted considerably less than the market was willing to pay.

One thing that puzzles me is that Wire have Patten, Sandow and Gidley. Of all Super League clubs who have problems at half back, they don't seem to be one of them.

I would have thought that a more likely option is similar to the contract Sam Tomkins signed in 2012 - five years with a get out clause for the NRL. He needs to be careful though. He is still young and IMO should give Wigan another 3 or 4 years before contemplating a move to the NRL.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 6:30 pm  

Aboveusonlypie wrote:

One thing that puzzles me is that Wire have Patten, Sandow and Gidley. Of all Super League clubs who have problems at half back, they don't seem to be one of them.

Both Sandow & Gidley are off contract at the end of 2017, it will definitely be Gidleys last year. Sandow has more years in him, whether they are with us is yet to be seen. Maybe Smith is lining up a half back combo of Williams & Patton?

That said, I'm 99% sure it's just agent talk to up his Wigan contract offer.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 7:19 pm  

Alffi_7 wrote:

Both Sandow & Gidley are off contract at the end of 2017, it will definitely be Gidleys last year. Sandow has more years in him, whether they are with us is yet to be seen. Maybe Smith is lining up a half back combo of Williams & Patton?

That said, I'm 99% sure it's just agent talk to up his Wigan contract offer.

Thought his dad was his agent and hes on Warrington coaching staff

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 7:34 pm  

jaws1 wrote:

Thought his dad was his agent and hes on Warrington coaching staff

Don't confuse them with facts.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:46 pm  

jaws1 wrote:

Thought his dad was his agent and hes on Warrington coaching staff

No idea, point still stands doesn't it? Williams and his agent, will use all the tricks in the book to get the best contract he can.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:56 pm  

So he should and Wigan need to work out a deal the lads worthy of.

He's arguably our most important asset and a lad we can build the side around. We're obviously hoping Sam Tomkins will bounce back but if he doesn't, well that makes Williams even more important!

Williams and Bateman are our Crown Jewels and we need to keep them both for as long as possible.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:26 pm  

Give the lad the biggest contract offer we can muster. If he doesn't accept and wants to go to Wire, offer the same contract to Patton... See if Wire can up his wage too and stay under the cap.

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Wed Nov 02, 2016 11:35 pm  

If Wire offer him a fortune then they have an advantage over us. Whatever they pay him wont matter if he become their Marquee Player. His SC value is £170k but we can't have a second Marquee, Sam being ours.
That I think will be our difficulty if we try to retain him.
Forcing him to stay and see out his contract isn't likely to work.
If Wire want him that badly then ask for a massive fee, that will concentrate minds,

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Mon Nov 07, 2016 5:44 pm  

Only because people alleged there were rumours that we were in the hat for him.. http://www.totalrl.com/zak-hardaker-agr ... rd-tigers/

Only because people alleged there were rumours that we were in the hat for him.. http://www.totalrl.com/zak-hardaker-agr ... rd-tigers/

Re: Rumours and signings v9 : Tue Nov 08, 2016 6:10 am  

With Ben Barba being sacked for cocaine use, would anyone take a punt on him? He'd certainly be box office.