Wigan Warriors • Re: Rumours and signings v9
NickyKiss wrote:
You mean the reason why the big players don’t come here anymore?
When we moved to summer and the season aligned, players did have to choose one or the other but we were still getting players to turn their backs on Origin and the odd one would come and give up their test place and lots of the best Kiwis were over here as well. Guys like Lammy, Renouf, Lyon, Paul, Vainakolo, Carroll, Vagana etc had to choose to play here or in the NRL. At the time Superleague was much closer to the NRL in terms of profile and quality (of the top teams anyway) and the exchange rate was nearly 3 Aussie Dollars to the pound. The NRL grew their league, we listened to Wakefield, Castleford, Salford etc and the exchange rate dropped drastically and now we only really get players who see this league as a way of building a profile or as a last resort.
Of course that's a factor too. Most of the players you mention weren't eligible for Origin, though, surely? And Lyon threw his toys out of the pram, didn't he, and that's the only reason he came to SL? I agree we don't get the Kieis we used to. Is the NRL stronger now than it was back then? Certainly so financially, I'd say.
Statistics: Posted by moto748 — Fri Jun 24, 2022 10:45 pm