I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how this works out.



We're all resigned to the fact that Sam, our best player in many, many years, is leaving. Everyone is feeling very down about it, and frustrated, as we all thought he'd be here for at least another year.



The bigger picture is that the British game is under siege at present. Rugby Union in this country is obsessed with trying to sign RL players - and Wigan are picked on regularly as we have a production line of young talent. Now that the NRL is getting in on the act as well, it feels like our domestic game's best assets are being stripped away on a monthly basis. More importantly, there is no real leadership from the RFL, who can't seem to attract money into the British game with which we can fight back.



The problem is that, if we were to gain two or three very good young NZWs in exchange for Sam, even if only for a couple of years, that might soften the blow and make it look as this is actually a viable link-up - but there is no sign of that happening from this end. And if we can't get quality players in exchange for our best in a generation, how can we expect to do that for anyone else?



It's a bleak picture from our POV.

There is another problem with this and that is the stupid U19's rules. Unless any NZW player we get [iis[/i under 19 he's going to be sat on his backside not playing unless he is a first team regular.



It's the same problem Gellling has. As he is over 19 and as he is a Kiwi he can't go out on dual registration and so only plays if it's for the first team.



Which over-19 NZW player is going to come here on that basis unless they are guaranteed 1st team game time which would imply top players coming not prospects? Equally why would we actually be interested in taking any U19 players anyway? NZW may have a top junior set up but players of this age are still inexperienced.



Bottom line is over-19 players have to be good enough to get a regular 1st team slot and U19 players aren't much use to us in my opinion.



So if a tie up meant we got Kevin Locke coming this way with Sam going to the other that might look like an equal partnership but I doubt this is in the cards.

An interesting fact I have just seen in the NZ press is that Kris Radlinski is over there for 3 days on a fact finding mission.

Maybe he is there to tie up the loose ends prior to the big announcement, there is a photograph of Kris, Dean Bell and Jerry Seuseu taken at what I presume to be the NZ Warriors ground.

Did we not have one of these supposed partnership with Saracens and have we not been talking about an NRL partnership since IL bought the club. Are such partnerships a meaningless media tool to pacify disgruntled fans or are they actually productive?

I can see why you all are skeptics, there are lots of issues more complex than I realised at first.

What about our reserve grade players ? in positions where we have an excess of depth ?



Secound row for example / Prop .......there are young guys who will stroll into our first grade team tomorrow if Injury allows and they are the Maturing products of the 2010 /2011 NRL back to back junior Grand final Winning Teams ?



Sam Lousi is one example if you could see a use for a 6' 6" light footed offloading machine then it would be better for us to have Big Sam playing regular 1sts right now than playing reserve grade ( he was a hot prospect in the pre season trials and has been kept out by Injury ) now he's back in contention the incumbents are on a hot form streak and he wont get picked while that's the case ( long may it last ).



Konrad Hurrell ( another future super star kid with super human physical presence, young who is only in his third year of rugby league Bowled over Anthony Watmough on debut )



Konrad is bouncing in and out of first grade / needs some polishing......have a look at his youtube clips......Sam Lousi is the kid in the video "Rugby league Try of the decade " NZ Warriors juniors clip ( far from the try of the decade but for a bunch of teenagers you will see the potential we're excited about here ).



Other recent graduates from the 2011 team ( look up Shaun Johnsons Try against the Broncos )



I'm Sure you have players that would benefit us for short term boomerang deals.



As for whether any would want to come to England.....our boys fly back and forth to Australia every fortnight they many are prepped for the reality that they will end up having to chase contracts in other parts of the world as it is.....



Just food for thought.

So we get to keep NZ warriors kids in a game and keep them warm for a return there? We've got our own kids that are doing just fine and are all junior internationals. Our previous junior internationals have progressed in to full internationals.



We're not a club that needs cast offs or to be used as some sort of place for another clubs kids to get a game. We're Wigan Rugby League ffs, the biggest and most famous club in the game.



If Tomkins goes milk them for what we can get and move on. This deal will only benefit one set of Warriors and it ain't us.

Well intentioned though your posts are - I can honestly see that - you aren't the one making these decisions. The only names of players that are being mentioned at the present time are the British guys who'll be going to NZ. Clearly Sam is one, and maybe our coach Shaun Wane is another (though I personally doubt that). As far as we can see, no names are being lined up to come the other way - Locke was mentioned to be fair, but that story seems to have died a death. So you can understand why all this feels a bit like kidology.



As another poster said, we're not just anybody. We are Wigan, the most successful club in the British game, and a team who have beaten the Aussie champs several times in WCCs, including Brisbane in their own back yard. We would love to have access to some great young Kiwis, but those deals would have to be on terms that benefit us. We can't just bring a bunch of youngsters in on a 'boomerang deal', as you say, if that would hamper the development and opportunities for our own very exciting kids. They would need to be a proper signings - of at least a year or two years - with the new-arrivals understanding that they'd need to fit into the Wigan way of doing things and fight for their places.



But in any case, there is no sign of anything of the sort happening. At least not yet.

Lets use him as an example.



He is 22 so the only way he'd get any game time here is in the first team. That would mean he'd have to replace Thornley who is also a work in progress. We also have Gelling who can play centre, another work in progress, who is a Kiwi and also only plays if he can get in the 1st team and Hughes who has the no. 4 shirt but looks unlikely to keep it (in my opinion). Our other centre, Goulding is a top player so Hurrell would be competing for a 1st team place against the three other players already on the books.



Now if we signed Hurrell on a permanent deal because because he was a better player than any of those three that I have mentioned and because he fancied the overseas experience (a big reason Pat Richards came here) and if he wanted to make a commitment to the club for three years or longer then fine. Looking to improve the team is fine.



However all taking Hurrell for a season or two while he gained some experience before going home would do is probably prevent our current players from getting a game and improving themselves. They may well decide to leave as a result.



Part of the problem is the stupid U19 rule we have which means there is (and you won't believe this) no reserve grade footy available for players older than 19 who are foreign players and no dual registration for players older than 23 (where we send players to lower league sides on a kind of temporary basis). So if Hurrell got dropped he'd have nowhere to play. Can't see anyone like him coming on that basis if they are not being signed as a regular 1st team player.



These are the rules we operate under so unless they change the wisdom of taking short term signings from NZW seems about as sensible as selling Sam Tomkins!

So that's the deal, they get Sam, we get Jerry. Hope the op worked ok.

One of our main problems over the last few years has been keeping continuity within our playing squad. I really don't see what good bringing over a few fringe NZW players will do us when the likelihood is they'll go straight back as soon as they are offered an NRL opportunity. I think a "link-up" between the 2 clubs could be beneficial to both parties but not if it's just a glorified dual-reg system where we get players just because they can't break in the NZW first team, whilst they also pick and choose our best players.

The U19's are not being tested. I have raised this many times over the past 10 years.



We should be sending one or two of our better young players over to the NRL on an RL scholarship too see just how good they are. I have a feeling this will be one of the benefits of this link.

Will they come back though if they impress? That's the fear I've got.