Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 10:42 am  

Jukesays wrote:

Oh will he now
He may as well stay in Australia then?

He’s homesick and wants to come back to the UK. He’ll sign for the club willing to give him the most cash in the UK.

I can’t even believe I’m having to explain such a simple point to you.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 11:34 am  

100% Warrior wrote:

:roll:

He’s homesick and wants to come back to the UK. He’ll sign for the club willing to give him the most cash in the UK.

I can’t even believe I’m having to explain such a simple point to you.

I'm not sure he would tbh (or at least I wouldn't).

Regardless of money, I wouldn't go to team outside the traditional big 4 (Us, Saints, Wire or Leeds). Well not if I wanted to A win stuff and B - be the best player I could be.

You see it in the NRL and how successful teams like the storm & roosters can offer below market value and still attract players. There was also the commonly accepted story that some of the Leeds players from their golden era didn't get paid as much as they could/should.

Now GW might not care and might just want to make his money. That's fair enough, but if true I wouldn't want him.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 12:31 pm  

CobraCraig wrote:

It’s a tough time to be away I suppose, I’m sure under normal circumstances he would have family visiting him fairly regularly but obviously that’s a no go now, same goes for the Ozzie lads over here and I know it’s easy to say with hindsight after winning but the club probably played a blinder letting Hastings and French have extended leave.

Is it?

Things have been back to normal in Australia for ages.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 12:45 pm  

It’s more normal in Oz but it’s not the standard norm is it? You can’t come and go as you please, your family can’t come and go as they please and there have still been restrictions on crowd numbers and the like at times and various places have gone in to mini lockdowns at points.

I laughed reading people’s comments on the Total RL site about how Williams should man up and get on with it and not throw a great opportunity away, whilst saying how easy they found it being away from home or saying how much they loved it. None of them had done it in these particular circumstances, so how can they make comments like that? Williams and his missus are stuck 12,000 miles away from home in a great country but it’s a country they can’t freely go in and out of, their families and friends can’t either and they’re expecting their first child, which for his partner is probably exciting but quite daunting without her family around.

What will be will be for the lad. If he comes here or goes elsewhere or stays in Canberra then let’s just hope they’re all happy. He’s been a great player for us in the past and might just be again in the future.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 1:26 pm  

100% Warrior wrote:

:roll:

He’s homesick and wants to come back to the UK. He’ll sign for the club willing to give him the most cash in the UK.

I can’t even believe I’m having to explain such a simple point to you.

So what your saying is there's more to it than money???
If he's Homesick for the UK that's one thing - But what happens if he doesn't want to travel 4hrs a day (2hrs there and 2hrs back) for training? That may put him off signing for Hull or X,Y,Z no matter how much they're offering.

What happens if he wants to win things - That'll put him off signing for A,B or C

What happens if he WANTS to play for someone i.e. Wigan or whoever else - maybe that may become important to him

How do we know that John Bateman came back to Wigan because we offered him the most? Maybe other clubs did? Maybe his relationship with the board of Wigan such as IFL & Rads swayed him to come back?

My reply was only to point out that your simplistic statement that he'll sign for the club who offer him the most cash is IMO over simplistic - As is his current situation it's not Always about Money only, there is a balance to strike

What I will say, Wigan's track record of being fair with players and how they treat them doesn't seem to leave them angry/bitter with the club.
This IMO puts us at the forefront of getting them back should we want them, but obviously striking that balance of loyalty/faith with Pure hard cash has t be struck between the two.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 1:35 pm  

Jukesays wrote:

So what your saying is there's more to it than money???
If he's Homesick for the UK that's one thing - But what happens if he doesn't want to travel 4hrs a day (2hrs there and 2hrs back) for training? That may put him off signing for Hull or X,Y,Z no matter how much they're offering.

What happens if he wants to win things - That'll put him off signing for A,B or C

What happens if he WANTS to play for someone i.e. Wigan or whoever else - maybe that may become important to him

How do we know that John Bateman came back to Wigan because we offered him the most? Maybe other clubs did? Maybe his relationship with the board of Wigan such as IFL & Rads swayed him to come back?

My reply was only to point out that your simplistic statement that he'll sign for the club who offer him the most cash is IMO over simplistic - As is his current situation it's not Always about Money only, there is a balance to strike

What I will say, Wigan's track record of being fair with players and how they treat them doesn't seem to leave them angry/bitter with the club.
This IMO puts us at the forefront of getting them back should we want them, but obviously striking that balance of loyalty/faith with Pure hard cash has t be struck between the two.

We should definately be in pole position should he become available

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 2:34 pm  

On the assumption that we make an offer for him (and I can’t see any reason we wouldn’t) we must have a great chance.

If as mentioned on this thread his partner/wife is pregnant it is highly likely they will want to be close to family. He’s from the Wigan area i think therefore immediate family is also likely to be from Wigan.

Most likely options are us and Warrington IMO. I reckon they’ll go all out for him.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 3:58 pm  

Trainman wrote:

On the assumption that we make an offer for him (and I can’t see any reason we wouldn’t) we must have a great chance.

If as mentioned on this thread his partner/wife is pregnant it is highly likely they will want to be close to family. He’s from the Wigan area i think therefore immediate family is also likely to be from Wigan.

Most likely options are us and Warrington IMO. I reckon they’ll go all out for him.

Warrington will need to be a bit more savvy with their cap space going forward for me. I think they’ll get Trueman but he won’t be cheap and at the minute they probably don’t know for sure what’s happening with Widdop. If nothing lands in Oz for him then that’ll be two halves (with Trueman) tied up for next season on very good money. One worry we could have on the Wire score is if Canberra thought Widdop would be a viable replacement for Williams this season. The Canberra statement made it sound like George is quite keen to get home ASAP to me but they’ve asked him to stick it out. A swap deal this season could scupper us but that’s probably a long shot.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 5:11 pm  

nathan_rugby wrote:

Is it?

Things have been back to normal in Australia for ages.

It is if you’re a home bird and want to see your family, wouldn’t bother me personally and like you said Oz has faired much better than us with covid.

Re: George Williams : Tue May 04, 2021 6:20 pm  

NickyKiss wrote:

Warrington will need to be a bit more savvy with their cap space going forward for me. I think they’ll get Trueman but he won’t be cheap and at the minute they probably don’t know for sure what’s happening with Widdop. If nothing lands in Oz for him then that’ll be two halves (with Trueman) tied up for next season on very good money. One worry we could have on the Wire score is if Canberra thought Widdop would be a viable replacement for Williams this season. The Canberra statement made it sound like George is quite keen to get home ASAP to me but they’ve asked him to stick it out. A swap deal this season could scupper us but that’s probably a long shot.

I'm loving it to be honest. First Bateman now Williams, I really do hope it's starting to annoy Canberra (both staff and supporters). The more it happens the less chance NRL clubs will look to raid us on an annual basis.