Got two touches of the ball for Sale reserves last evening before being subbed. He has to be on the verge of jumping back into RL otherwise he's going to rot in reserve grade RU. Money isn't everything , get yourself back to League lad

Money isn't everything? Why did he go in the first place?

I doubt it'll be back to Wigan but you'd have to think he'll come back before too long. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a Salford or Warrington shirt come 2018. If he fancies a change of scenne I'm sure Toronto would love a player if that profile as well.

He wanted to be the big celebrity but looks like it's gone tit's up for him

Like it does for so many of them.

I wonder how many actual successes there have been?

Jason Robinson, I suppose. Chris Ashton.

Faz went on to do big things as a coach, if not a player ... until they decided they needed they needed an ex-RL scapegoat for their innate amateurism.

The list of those who've not just failed, but actually come back much worse players, is longer. Just off the top of my head: Henry Paul, Karl Pryce, Iestyn Harris, Lee Smith, Joel Tomkins ...

I'm sure the money is good (though I still wonder how the likes of Sale can offer massive cash inducements). But as others have said, the money isn't too bad for big names in RL either. They must have very persuasive agents (who obviously want the player merry-go-round to keep going!), to ignore those who've failed and take a big chance themselves.

I suppose Josh was always likely to defect. He seemed to be a player whose enthusiasm for sport waxed and waned from one year to the next. For that reason as well, I doubt we'll see him at Wigan again.

Shaun Edwards hasn't done too badly as a coach either.

Yeah, but I'm really talking about guys who went over while they were still playing.

I would question the club's handling of him as despite him being a brilliant player for us (Wigan's highlights from 2011-2016 looks in part like a Charnley promo video) he always seemed lacking in confidence deep down. He always seemed to be the first one dropped or criticised when he really needed an arm round him. As soon as he was leaving Wane heaped praise, if this was done a little earlier he would't have defected and could have gone on to be a legend.

I'm not sure I'd call Harris, Paul and Tomkins failures in the same light as Charnley. They all got capped (rightly or wrongly) and were regular first teamers. Charnley isn't even that.

And yet South Sea Islanders seem to make the change at will.

I'm more than sure he will be at Salford next year wearing the #2 and a marquee signing so the pay decrease won't be so significant.

Didn't Stevo once complain that capping these players was built into in their contracts, which was part of the attraction to them?

Regardless of that, none of those I mentioned came back looking the part. Makes me wonder what standard they'd been used to in Union, whether in the first team or not.