Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 12:44 am  

Duckie whistles a happy tune.
Just to recap. When I was tipped off he was coming to Wire, it was about a 3 year deal starting in Nov. Nothing about Wire making room in the cap for him this season.
I can only assume as a Wire in 2021, he’ll be loaned out.

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 7:38 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

Done deal. 3 year contract. Williams a Wire.

TBH that's written in present tense, not written as "will be a Wire from Nov...."

Which by all accounts was likely to be the case anyway, prior to all the faff caused by his early release from Canberra.

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 7:58 am  

shinymcshine wrote:

TBH that's written in present tense, not written as "will be a Wire from Nov...."

Which by all accounts was likely to be the case anyway, prior to all the faff caused by his early release from Canberra.

I don’t know if he’ll play for us in 2021. I was only tipped off he was coming to Wire on a 3 year deal.
Most seem to be convinced GW is going to play for us this season. I don’t know how that is possible. But let’s be honest, the crime of busting the cap is a tickle.
Leeds was £10k - Challenge Cup last time? Wigan was 2 points - 1 point - 0 points - Grand Final before that. Who said crime doesn’t pay!

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 8:09 am  

rubber duckie wrote:

I don’t know if he’ll play for us in 2021. I was only tipped off he was coming to Wire on a 3 year deal.
Most seem to be convinced GW is going to play for us this season. I don’t know how that is possible. But let’s be honest, the crime of busting the cap is a tickle.
Leeds was £10k last time? Wigan was 2 points - 1 point - 0 points - Grand Final.

I really can't see us breaking the cap intentionally.

I think the club probably tried hard to work something out for this season, but this has somehow become an expectation that he WILL join us imminently. I think all the signs point to an announcement for NEXT season. The Warrington staff comments suggest Widdop is going nowhere this season, the Wigan statement doesn't hint at anything regarding CW coming here immediately, it's just seems to stem from fans wanting it to happen right now.

If we can't fit him in yet, then such is life. We only found out he was going to be available last month. And to be honest we are not doing that badly without him at the moment. We have lost two games this season. So have Saints and Wigan. We have a superior points difference and we've beaten the top team twice already. Not sure it's worth a shameful cap violation just to get him sooner than we need to, and I don't think the club want that either.

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 8:13 am  

The dilemma regards to this season if whether SLE or RFL are willing to bend the cap, or come to some compromise, to allow Williams to play somewhere meaningful between now and the RLWC, as he's probably pretty important to England's chance in that tournament.

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 8:26 am  

shinymcshine wrote:

The dilemma regards to this season if whether SLE or RFL are willing to bend the cap, or come to some compromise, to allow Williams to play somewhere meaningful between now and the RLWC, as he's probably pretty important to England's chance in that tournament.

An agreement will be met by ‘no!’
It’s better to deed and plead!

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 8:47 am  

Back in 2007 Wigan were initially facing an 8pt deduction for the salary cap breach relating to Fielden joining them, eventually it was reduced to 4 pts. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/jul/26/rugbyleague.sport So a blatant disregard might well cost us a playoff spot, or as seen in NRL, any title achieved during that period expunged.

Back in 2007 Wigan were initially facing an 8pt deduction for the salary cap breach relating to Fielden joining them, eventually it was reduced to 4 pts. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/jul/26/rugbyleague.sport So a blatant disregard might well cost us a playoff spot, or as seen in NRL, any title achieved during that period expunged.

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 9:00 am  

Unfortunately our sport will remain a minority one given the fact that rules can be broken and - if it's by the big clubs - the fine / points deduction doesn't fit the crime.

It probably happens in other sports but the 'protection' over long periods of time to a select few galls.

Imagine if it was a lesser club or a lower league club.

In my view the TFL/ SL have a lot to answer for.

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 9:13 am  

You think we'd get the tiny punishments Leeds, Saints and Wigan got if we broke the cap? They'd relegate us in the blink of an eye.

Re: George Williams. : Sat Jun 19, 2021 9:15 am  

Even though Price said Widdop going nowhere watching the NRL earlier in the week they seem pretty sure Widdop will be joining NZ Warriors imminently!