Joel Tomkins

Anyone have any information on Joel Tomkins moving to rugby union with Saracens?

Apparently it's nearly a done deal. And should be happening by the end of next week so i've heard.

The stumbling block is Wigan want a transfer fee of over £250,000 as Tomkins still has over 4 years on his contract .

Such a shame that League doesn't have more money so it can rival union.

League is a far better game but we keep seeing some of the hottest prospects making the change

Yes i agree , but in todays Rugby league were transfer fees dont really happen anymore getting over £250,000 for a player is going to be hard to turn down especially when they want to leave .

From what i have read Tomkins is very good friends with Chris Ashton and he has just signed with the same agent , it is Ashton and the new agent who have convinced Joel that he can make more money in Union

From what I've been reading, he is only on 80K with Wigan and Saracens were easily able to pay more than that. As a union fan, I'll be really interested to see how he gets on. I'm guessing he'll play inside centre in Union.

MBTGOG wrote:From what I've been reading, he is only on 80K with Wigan and Saracens were easily able to pay more than that. As a union fan, I'll be really interested to see how he gets on. I'm guessing he'll play inside centre in Union.

I would of thought so , he has got pace but probably not enough to play wing .

Definitely not. He'll be a Sonny Bill Williams type player who is best suited to the inside channel but can play outside centre.

He has a very good pair of hands and a good offload , do you think he will be fast tracked into the England side ?

MBTGOG wrote:From what I've been reading, he is only on 80K with Wigan and Saracens were easily able to pay more than that. As a union fan, I'll be really interested to see how he gets on. I'm guessing he'll play inside centre in Union.

I'm being naive here, but does union not have a salary cap? If it does how much is it, if not do you think it needs one?

As for Tomkins, i agree that he probably will play center, to much to learn/change to play in the pack.

Union does have a salary cap. Around £4.5M I believe.

A lot more then Leagues approx £1.6 million then . RFL really need to have a re-think about our salary cap what with Unions and NRL being higher or we risk losing more players .

Not wanting to sound stupid but how many players does the Union cap cover ? I know in League its the top 25 earners .

There isn't a maximum or minimum I don't think but it's normally around 35-40.

KingKenny7Heaven wrote:A lot more then Leagues approx £1.6 million then . RFL really need to have a re-think about our salary cap what with Unions and NRL being higher or we risk losing more players .

Not wanting to sound stupid but how many players does the Union cap cover ? I know in League its the top 25 earners .

Agree with you that it's now time to take a look into the salary cap, personally i think that raising it to about £2 million for 28 players wouldn't be a bad shout.

Though do think it would have been intresting to see if as many youngsters would have come through if we had had a high salary cap for the last 10 years.

Sam Tomkins would be the one for me

Michaels, Sean wrote:Sam Tomkins would be the one for me

There are rumours that he could be off to union next year.

The salary cap is about right at the moment, in terms of the amount to be spent, what those in power should consider doing though, is removing whatever is paid to under 21s or under 23s from the cap.

By doing this, every team would be encouraged to give their academy players more of a chance and would also be able to keep hold of them that bit longer, obviously though, they'd have to (re)introduce some sort of system that makes sure no club could spend more than they earn.

The sooner Joel Tomkins signs for a union club the better. Wigan Rugby club and the fans need this sorted out so Rugby League the Wigan club and Rugby League fans can move on.

From what i have read Saracens and Wigan still can not come to an agreement over the fee .

Lets hope it can be sorted soon. If it can't Joel Tomkins will have to stick to playing Rugby League its as simple as that, and I'm sure Wigan won't mind.

Dont really think Wigan want him to go , he only signed a new contract last year . Hope they dont let him go on the cheap .