Goodness me, where did that come from? With everything in the world of rugby league eerily quiet in recent weeks, the sport had almost taken a back seat in people's minds. That was until today, when Warrington confirmed the signing of rugby league superstar Greg Inglis for the 2021 season.
How exciting is this?! A simply colossal signing from the Wire that should get everyone's hearts racing in anticipation for 2021. For anyone unaware, Inglis is one of the all-time great NRL players, an Australian who has played for Melbourne Storm and South Sydney Rabbitohs, as well as appearing for both his country and Queensland on the representative stage. He is one of the finest players of modern-day rugby league with incredible technical skill.
Inglis has played plenty of his career at full-back but has been used as a centre in the more recent part of his career. Before taking a break from the game at the end of 2019, his NRL record stood at 150 tries in 163 games - a stunning stat. This tryscoring machine replicated his form internationally too, with a breathtaking 31 tries in 39 Australia caps, while he has also played in 32 State of Origin matches (scoring 18 tries!!!).
It's not just the tries we've got to look forward to though. Any rugby league player can score tries but to be held in the esteem as one of the greats of the game as Inglis is, you have to be about much more than just crossing the whitewash. He is arguably the most technically gifted ever to play the sport, as some pundits have surmised. At 1.92m, he stands tall, but still possesses superb balance and strength, particularly near the tryline. A freak of nature who has it all - he can be powerful and steamroller big guys before unleashing killer speed. He has leadership too and has captained at representative level, so could he be the Wire captain next year?
For me, this is probably the biggest signing in Super League history. There is a case to be made that it's not as big as Andrew Johns, and when Wire signed Johns he was the best in the world, but that was only for three matches, whereas this is for a full season and hopefully longer. Some may also point to Sonny Bill Williams, but I genuinely think this is bigger. This is huge news for Warrington and for the competition.
There are of course, inevitable questions about the salary cap. Inglis will certainly be on marquee money, so what does that mean for Blake Austin and Gareth Widdop? Either one of them will be leaving, or will be moving to regular money. There is also the possibility of the cap being axed altogether, something which is up for debate at the minute, as well as the notion of the cap being reduced. The departure of Ben Murdoch-Masila will free up some space, but there is probably still work to be done to get around the issue.
The big question on my mind is where Inglis will play. Will it be at full-back or at centre? If it is to be the former, where he spent much of his early career, then it would make sense for Stefan Ratchford to move permanently into the centres, or perhaps the halves, which would pave the way for Austin's departure. However, if there is a way around keeping Austin, Widdop and Inglis, then the new recruit could find himself in the centres, where he has played most of his recent stuff. In the press release on the Warrington website, they mention that he has played at stand-off too, which is interesting - he has rarely played there in his career, but could the plan be for him to be a direct replacement for Austin?
Thinking about the rest of the squad, we already know that Murdoch-Masila is leaving, while it seems like Declan Patton and Samy Kibula will be off too. I would like to think we can wrap up a deal to keep Ben Currie, Matt Davis and potentially Jason Clark, but the latter is on big wages and may end up being sacrificed. This could see Currie reinvented as a loose forward - something I would be fully in favour of. In such a circumstance, a second rower (we have recently been linked with Josh Jones) and a new starting prop, allowing Chris Hill and Mike Cooper to have the rest they need, would give us a complete squad in my opinion.
Ambitions and expectations can be high. In Inglis, Wire have secured the biggest signing in Super League history and have a squad full of talent for him to join up with. We've made some huge signings over the years: Allan Langer, Andrew Johns, Adrian Morley, Gareth Widdop and now Greg Inglis. Massive credit to the club for this.
A rugby league legend is joining the Wire.
Daniel (@daykind19)
No comments:
Post a Comment