General Nz Warriors And Wigan Warriors Partnership

[Freddie Futler]

The Mind boggles and the options on this one are endless , that's exactly the kind of wheeling and dealing that Owen Glen would need to set his best minds too , because frankly neither comp saw this coming ( I'm available Owen...I've got lots of ideas )

Whoa, get in the que brother, Glen pick me

 

[Sup42]

Whoa, get in the que brother, Glen pick me

Bro how would we audition ?

' uhm Owen I've got three likes for my posts and have only been ' Bogged ' twice '

 

[Freddie Futler]

Bro how would we audition ?

' uhm Owen I've got three likes for my posts and have only been ' Bogged ' twice '

Duh! pretty easy Bro drinking contest. Half yards at twenty paces

 

[Gizzyfan]

I fully embrace the concept of our club aligning with Wigan, they have a huge Kiwi connection and a successful history, now I've got two Warriors league teams to support.

I think it's a great initiative, it's outward thinking, it's innovative, new and bold , the possibility of player trading and intelligence sharing etc is all positive stuff, bring it on I say!

Not to mention it will piss the Aussies off and make them paranoid.

 

[mt.wellington]

Not to mention it will piss the Aussies off and make them paranoid.

The other good thing is that if this becomes the norm with NRL/ESL partnerships, we have arguably the best team as our partner.

Would like to see it enlarged over time to even having smaller partnerships with clubs in France, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, etc. We may only get the odd signing every 2-3 years but if they crack first grade then it'll all be worth it. All it would take for a place like Tonga is to spend $1500-2000 on small match fee, gear and uniforms and an annual clinic run by Wiki, Manu, and any number of Tongan players in our squad like Mateo, Laumape, Hurrell, Lousi brothers, Taukeiaho or Fisiiahi. They already do something along those lines at the moment in both Tonga and Samoa.

Also Id love to see the Warriors align themselves with a Queensland Cup team like they did back in the 90's with Newtown.

This is a great start and well done to the management of the Warriors for breaking new ground...

 

[Defence]

I seem to remember Andrew Johns going over to the ESL on a similar deal one year when Newcastle were clearly missing out on the finals. Could be wrong on that....

Yeah he did- cant remember what club but there was a bit of controversy coz sterlo let it slip that a few of them had put big bets on them winning the comp coz they had the inside word he was going.
Remember Hanley playing the last few games for the tigers in 88? too

 

[Sup42]

Yeah he did- cant remember what club but there was a bit of controversy coz sterlo let it slip that a few of them had put big bets on them winning the comp coz they had the inside word he was going.
Remember Hanley playing the last few games for the tigers in 88? too

Yeah that's right forgot about Hanley joining the comp Late, Warren Ryan rated that fullah as the best he'd coached.

 

[Lord Gnome of Howick MBE]

I seem to remember Andrew Johns going over to the ESL on a similar deal one year when Newcastle were clearly missing out on the finals. Could be wrong on that....

He went to Warrington or somewhere for a big cash payment for each game played in their finals series.

 

[OMG]

The other good thing is that if this becomes the norm with NRL/ESL partnerships, we have arguably the best team as our partner.

Would like to see it enlarged over time to even having smaller partnerships with clubs in France, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, etc. We may only get the odd signing every 2-3 years but if they crack first grade then it'll all be worth it. All it would take for a place like Tonga is to spend $1500-2000 on small match fee, gear and uniforms and an annual clinic run by Wiki, Manu, and any number of Tongan players in our squad like Mateo, Laumape, Hurrell, Lousi brothers, Taukeiaho or Fisiiahi. They already do something along those lines at the moment in both Tonga and Samoa.

Also Id love to see the Warriors align themselves with a Queensland Cup team like they did back in the 90's with Newtown.

This is a great start and well done to the management of the Warriors for breaking new ground...

Hurrell is a Kiwi budd, he will make the WC squad, hehehe..all moaning to be forwarded through the appropriate channels please.. if we are going down that road lets clear the decks, only be eligible for the country of your birth...oops those Island teams won't look so flash then..

 

[Gizzyfan]

I knew it. Told an Aussie mate about this partnership, his reply, 'they must be doing it to cheat'. Another aspect that hasn't been mentioned is the possibility of Coaching development between the clubs..

 

[OMG]

I knew it. Told an Aussie mate about this partnership, his reply, 'they must be doing it to cheat'. Another aspect that hasn't been mentioned is the possibility of Coaching development between the clubs..

We will be scrutinised more than any other club now, they will need to hire one of the accountants on Schuberts team, in theory this sounds good but the logistics of it and the practicalities of how it will be applied to the salary cap could become a very real nightmare. You have to remember clubs have not been allowed to fly families in for Grand finals and other petty things.
Are we just wasting more salary cap is a very real question?

 

[Sup42]

I knew it. Told an Aussie mate about this partnership, his reply, 'they must be doing it to cheat'. Another aspect that hasn't been mentioned is the possibility of Coaching development between the clubs..

Yeah the Coaching thing is a one of the Wigan many gripes , they have a thread on the topic of the NZW taking their coach and top player.

I think if we do get Tomkins then we'd better reciprocate with some quality their way or what's the use in combining resources if we are part of running Wigan / the English Rugby league into the ground in the way the union and the rest of the NRL are.

If we're smart we'll send them some good will players / somehow .....details details....and get their fans on board .....right now our so called partnership is alienating their fans big time because of the Tomkins thing.

 

[Danpatmac]

Hurrell is a Kiwi budd, he will make the WC squad, hehehe..all moaning to be forwarded through the appropriate channels please.. if we are going down that road lets clear the decks, only be eligible for the country of your birth...oops those Island teams won't look so flash then..

It is often brought up but a ludicrous idea.
It will never fly, especially not now when we have a global employment economy and people are constantly moving around the world.
Birthplace is about where your parents were living/working at the time more than your identity.

The captain of our school rugby team was born in Switzerland. Came here when he was 2, why should he miss out on playing for NZ if he is good enough?

 

[Hitman82]

Yeah the Coaching thing is a one of the Wigan lots gripes , they have a thread on the topic of the NZW taking their coach and top player.

I think if we do get Tomkins then we'd better reciprocate with some quality their way or what's the use in combining resources if we are part of running Wigan / the English Rugby league into the ground in the way the union and the rest of the NRL are.

If we're smart we'll send them some good will players / somehow .....details details....and get their fans on board .....right now our so called partnership is alienating their fans big time because of the Tomkins thing.

Great post man.

We need to be well aware this will be a TWO-WAY partnership. It's not just going to be a case of us stealing the cream of Wigan's crop plus a couple of their youngsters, giving them a tour of our gym and chuckling back to our offices.

I 100% guarantee: Wigan will be wanting some quality players, not just our cast offs.

What I expect is each season will feature a couple of our better developing players who aren't critical to the first grade team on a first-pick basis (ie Matagi, Laumape, Lousi) will be sent on 1 or 2 year stints to strengthen Wigan while allowing them top grade experience.
Accompanying a player like this could be an old head like Ropati, who is full of knowledge and experience but lacking in the physical department for NRL play.
Along with a hot junior or two.

This kind of arrangement will help out Wigan with their development and player power, help us out by allowing players a more exciting opportunity than playing in NSW (hahaha awesome autocorrect there, love it) Cup, and help out the players with better exposure, experience and potentially better money.

I certainly don't expect us to send 5 or 6 of our best players over, just 1 or 2 from each level.

 

[Apus]

With this being a formal partnership, I'd have no problems sending the likes of Locke/Fish their way to give Tomkins the ability to play NRL for a couple of years.

It really takes all the pressure out of it for both parties. They get a top calibre player (plus some Jrs) and we get to test Tomkins over here. If he fails to fire, we could swap back and no harm, no foul. Obviously it'd be a bit more complicated than that in practice, but it's not like we'd be left high and dry with an absurdly expensive player.

 

[OMG]

With this being a formal partnership, I'd have no problems sending the likes of Locke/Fish their way to give Tomkins the ability to play NRL for a couple of years.

It really takes all the pressure out of it for both parties. They get a top calibre player (plus some Jrs) and we get to test Tomkins over here. If he fails to fire, we could swap back and no harm, no foul. Obviously it'd be a bit more complicated than that in practice, but it's not like we'd be left high and dry with an absurdly expensive player.

What if they don't want to go? who would go to England for less money in a comp that isn't as good, when you can go play NRL and get top dollar and make international teams...The players have to look out for their own futures and Family..

 

[Apus]

What if they don't want to go? who would go to England for less money in a comp that isn't as good, when you can go play NRL and get top dollar and make international teams...The players have to look out for their own futures and Family..

I wasn't suggesting we force them to go. Much like everything else we've been discussing in this thread, it was a hypothetical situation. We're potentially going to have 3 fullbacks at the club next season - you can be sure that other NRL clubs are circling. If we can keep those players out of the hands of rival NRL clubs and send them to a sister club, that's great news for us. Why would you send a player who didn't want to go? That's a lose/lose for everyone involved.

 

[Sup42]

Wigans main strength these days is their junior development program.

Gone are the days of them buying out the competition , the whole ESL is in a miserable state and has been hammered by Union over there , Wigans Juniors pillaged the worst.
Their Salary cap has them under the pump from everyone , we''re the rich Eddies compared with their Cap.

We certainly can offer them some advice on surviving in a Rugby Universe.

The biggest hit they are taking on Tomkins is he is their Stacey Jones , the Hall of famer who didn't piss off on them..... local lad who stayed Loyal....they were expecting him to leave but not till after next year.

He's that good that they would have him back in five years if it took that long at aged thirty ( reading fan comments ).....I'm just wondering If we had a comparable player and straight away Ruben Wiki comes to mind / or Jones........not too many others.[DOUBLEPOST=1372300536][/DOUBLEPOST]

What if they don't want to go? who would go to England for less money in a comp that isn't as good, when you can go play NRL and get top dollar and make international teams...The players have to look out for their own futures and Family..

This is the Universe that could have existed and seen Henry Paul come home for more than one off tests against Australia.......The Pauls discovered better reasons to stay on England than just the Money......you might find some of these lads won't want to come back in too much of a hurry when they experience an atmosphere and the hype the English crowds generate.

If it were me I'd be at least curious.

 

[OMG]

This is the Universe that could have existed and seen Henry Paul come home for more than one off tests against Australia.......The Pauls discovered better reasons to stay on England than just the Money......you might find some of these lads won't want to come back in too much of a hurry when they experience an atmosphere and the hype the English crowds generate.

If it were me I'd be at least curious.

The Pauls were on massive money in those days, it used to the other way around.
I don't see any top liner wanting to go there with the current salary cap they have, there is far too much money in the NRL for the likes of Locke and Fish. They might be able to get young guys to go, but I doubt it unless we are subsidising which would come off our cap and then you have to take into account the quota limits of 5 only imports.
The thing with our team is we have underperformed, it isn't because we aren't good enough, it's because of Coaching, players out of position, structure and injuries to senior players.
The team we have been seeing of late has always been there but the Coaching staff haven't been able to utilise the team properly and haven't had the depth in positions where we have suffered the most.
A half is less likely to get injured than a senior forward or a structured hooker, those positions are we we have missed the depth and the halves take the blame for our inconsistency- that is madness a half can only do what his team allows him to do, any half in the comp would have looked rubbish with some of the teams we have put on the field, this year and last.
Blaming full backs is the same IMO, when a full back has a rubbish defensive line it puts him under pressure in more ways than one and he doesn't get the appropriate protection that is required, making him look rubbish when in fact it's the team in front of him that is rubbish.
We finally have some quality backs that certainly helps, but a few are missing fundamentals that haven't been taught because of coming from Rugby,not being too bright or just plain miserable Coaching.
Individuals can do good things in average teams, but average individuals can do marvellous things in good teams. Get the dynamic and depth right and the dynasty is there, that way anyone can step up and look like a star, a few former and current Storm players are testament to this.

 

[Sup42]

The Pauls were on massive money in those days, it used to the other way around.
I don't see any top liner wanting to go there with the current salary cap they have, there is far too much money in the NRL for the likes of Locke and Fish. They might be able to get young guys to go, but I doubt it unless we are subsidising which would come off our cap and then you have to take into account the quota limits of 5 only imports.
The thing with our team is we have underperformed, it isn't because we aren't good enough, it's because of Coaching, players out of position, structure and injuries to senior players.
The team we have been seeing of late has always been there but the Coaching staff haven't been able to utilise the team properly and haven't had the depth in positions where we have suffered the most.
A half is less likely to get injured than a senior forward or a structured hooker, those positions are we we have missed the depth and the halves take the blame for our inconsistency- that is madness a half can only do what his team allows him to do, any half in the comp would have looked rubbish with some of the teams we have put on the field, this year and last.
Blaming full backs is the same IMO, when a full back has a rubbish defensive line it puts him under pressure in more ways than one and he doesn't get the appropriate protection that is required, making him look rubbish when in fact it's the team in front of him that is rubbish.
We finally have some quality backs that certainly helps, but a few are missing fundamentals that haven't been taught because of coming from Rugby,not being too bright or just plain miserable Coaching.
Individuals can do good things in average teams, but average individuals can do marvellous things in good teams. Get the dynamic and depth right and the dynasty is there, that way anyone can step up and look like a star, a few former and current Storm players are testament to this.

Agreed re the Massive money the Pauls got , but correct me if I'm wrong but didn't we flick Henry off for Bugger all originally and he did the rest ? while we paid massive overs for Betts and Platt ? ....either way what ever we charged for Henry was shooting ourselves in the foot.