This is the issue now with Wigan's financial muscle. There are rumours from everywhere which creates a bit of scare-mongering. Don't get me wrong I'm as bad given that their wealth is worrying for the rest of SL, but there's no way Wigan are signing Welsby, Robertson and Lees.

I have absolutely zero desire to see Wigan sign Jack Welsby and I'd be surprised if the majority of the fanbase didn't feel the same way.

Really? Because you don't like him as a person or feel he is over-rated?

true, but even with financial muscle we can only spend the same (apart from marquee) as everyone else. I know we could theoretically offer a transfer fee to clubs for other players, but we can still only spend on the actual cap the same as everyone else

i think there are just loads of rumours flying around to wind up fans

i know one of my Saints friends posted something last night about the potential signing of the 2 young lads, and about how they should be allowed to rot for being underhand, and Wigan are corrupt, speaking to players without permission etc etc. Until i pointed out that they were out of contract at the end of the season, and any club could speak to them, so nothing underhand or wrong with it, if they have signed for next season. I also told him to stop believing everything he reads on social media / forums until the clubs have formally announced something as all it does is wind everyone up

It is going to be interesting what Saints do with them. We won't want to develop them too much but if we just don't play them at all and banish them from training, then I'm pretty sure that would potentially cause some legal problems.

Tomorrow is interesting as we will be naming our squad for the CC game on Saturday. Wellens has already said the big boys won't play- Welsby, Lees, Sailor etc so ordinarily Vaughan and Sambou would've made the squad. If they are not selected then do the club make reference or just hope that no-one notices!

Given that neither Wigan or Saints have confirmed anything adds further intrigue. I'm 100% sure they have signed as Matt Shaw is the David Ornstein of the RL world so will be bang on.

It's how we control the narrative that will be interesting.

to a lesser extent we are in the same boat with Liam Byrne (but have also done it with Kai Pierce Paul and Oliver Gildart when they were going to the NRL with mixed results). He needs to be match fit and ready to play, even though he is likely to be starting from the bench unless Thompson or Havard are injured, but equally we need to give Hill and some of the others game time, so do we leave Byrne out, knowing that we will need him or do we carry on as though he hasnt signed and with the expectation he is going to be professional and give his all for his current club. with KPP he was outstanding but Gildart looked like he had packed his bags and was preserving himself for when he went to the NRL, so its definitely a balancing act to get it right

I just think that its more that they are going to Wigan than anything else! I wouldn't feel as annoyed if it was any other club

If its true, Wigan must have seen something in them that they havent currently got in our academy / reserve setup which is also testament to the Saints academy

i also get the annoyance from Saints fans with it being Wigan. But as i said to my mate, it indicative almost of how the clubs are currently run, and how we've almost flipped from you being on top / making excellent signings with us retaining past it players etc, to us now doing it right and you making the bad decisions

I think as good as Wigan's Academy has been (and obviously still is) then that particular age group- and by that I mean Vaughan's age group- wasn't the best of ones before and after it, and there are probably less players coming through from that cohort than of different Academy intakes

So given the number of back rowers you have sold then they have looked at Vaughan. They've done nothing wrong, they've been proactive. It just feels different as players rarely transfer between the clubs.

i agree but i think it has tended to be more the players have signed for Saints / Wigan having come from a traditional amateur club in the other town. So for example Welsby and Makinson played for Shevvy Sharks and St Judes but signed for Saints and not Wigan, as opposed to signing for Wigan and then moving to Saints

it was interesting and i think its been covered before that we signed so many onto our scholarship level i think it was from Thatto Heath in our last intake